Designing the Classroom Curriculum Designing the Classroom Curriculum | Page 58

Designing the Classroom Curriculum
Chapter 5:
Applying the Learning
(Management) Design Process
To engage with Learning Management is to create a needs and evidence based classroom curriculum. In this
chapter we outline the key steps involved in ‘answering’ each of the 8 Learning Management Questions: the
answers of which come together to form the classroom curriculum.
These eight questions are the engine room for developing the classroom curriculum and are designed to
‘reveal;’ the things that teachers need to consider and deal with when preparing the classroom curriculum.
These eight questions guide the identification and preparation of appropriate teaching strategies and the
required assessment and reporting strategies. A Learning Management approach is one that is rich in
pedagogic detail.
In summary, answering these questions and recording answers using an appropriate recording
template results in a classroom curriculum ready for teaching, assessment and reporting.
Learning Management and the Learning Management Design Process
Earlier we defined Learning Management as the capacity to achieve learning outcomes in all students and
explained its application through its three capability domains, namely a specific knowledge base, a ‘new’
teacher mindset and strategic creativity. The message is that Learning Management represents a set of teacher
capabilities on which a teacher draws when answering each design question and when putting into action
teaching, assessment and reporting strategies. Learning Management therefore represents the scope of work
that is “teaching” and signals the things the teacher has to know, understand and be able to do to in order
to achieve classroom curriculum goals. This means that the teacher cannot apply the Learning Management
Design Process without drawing on Learning Management as the following scenario illustrates.
“Think of a musician playing keyboards, for example. While the musician may see herself or himself
as working in the popular music industry, the reality is that musicians now need a different lens to
deal with music today. The advent of digitised music, the Internet and global marketing challenge
the idea of a musician as performer in the old sense. The musician then has to evaluate and
strengthen his or her existing knowledge sets because the keyboard and music are as much electronic,
acoustic engineering, marketing, web-based presentation and fashion as they are performing music
in older traditions. Musicianship is fundamentally different to what it was even a decade ago. The
dilemma for a musician is to locate their performance craft in a new mix of potential opportunities
in a global entertainment industry. They require new knowledge sets, new perceptions of their skill
base and creative entrepreneurship in order to prosper” (Lynch and Smith, 2011, p. 71).
Drawing on this explanation, but importantly prefiguring the teacher’s approach to applying the Learning
Management Design Process, Table 4.1 illustrates the LMDP’s application and how Learning Management
uncompromisingly draws the teacher towards learning gains in their students. Considered in the light of
Table 4.1, we reiterate that the Learning Management Design Process is a function of Learning Management.
We now explore the process in more detail.
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