Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of the courses and programs we offer our students? In short: A LOT! But seriously, each of our three schools have a Director of Curriculum Development that works collaboratively with a team to ensure the courses we deliver to our students are relevant, and the knowledge gained can be applied to real-life problems and situations. Our curriculum focuses on transferring theory to action and is an overlap of our emphasis on Applied Experiential Learning.
Course development occurs through collaboration between adjunct faculty members who serve as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), full-time faculty members who are responsible for overseeing curriculum in each degree program, and qualified team members who work within our instructional design team. Beyond course development, SMEs and full-time faculty work with the instructional designers to keep the courses current through revisions.
At a minimum, the Instructional Designer (ID), Lead Mentor, Curriculum Director (CD), and Dean are involved in this process. Each of these roles has specific responsibilities within this process.
Responsibilities within the Process
The Dean: Assures the course aligns with University and School goals and vision; recommends final approval
The Curriculum Director: Reviews the course as a curricular component of the School Program; ensures all outcomes are met at the course and program level; ensures course follows NCU guidelines; edits and provides recommendations as necessary.
Lead Mentor: Develops activities and chooses resources that are specifically relevant to the discipline; reviews curricular component at specialization level; ensures relevancy and timeliness of content.
Instructional Designer: Guides the course design to be an instructionally sound product that can be measured, assessed, implemented and delivered.
This process is truly a collaborative and iterative approach to course development/revision that uses the expertise of everyone involved. This model ensures we deliver quality programs and courses to our students.