Curriculum Development Prototyping Session
December 1-2, 2014
Telus Spark

This two day session was part of the broader consultations on what the new curriculum should be. As such it has drawn on the insights of parents, businesses, educators, students and other Albertans who wish to engage in rethinking not just curriculum but the purpose of education - specifically the K-12 system - in the province.

The Alberta Education website http://education.alberta.ca/department/ipr/curriculum.aspx provides a launch pad for all the materials and surveys related to curriculum redesign. Anyone can contribute their input into the process.

The intentions appear to be genuine however the conversations about curriculum were often sidetracked or left behind as the issues of what I see as "system mechanics" (staffing, teacher education and preparation, textbooks etc.) became points of focus. I admit to frustration because while these are all important considerations, you cannot take the step to "inspired curriculum" by uncovering all the reasons why you cannot change the system. For my part I encouraged imagining the change we want to see and then structuring the system to deliver on those outcomes. I don't see how you can deliver on a whole new set of outcomes if you leave the system - designed as it was for outcomes associated with the industrial revolution - the same. Einstein is credited with the well known addage that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and hoping for different outcomes.

The systemic part that was for me most concerning is the language of scope and sequence. The linear progression of one thing after another is the backbone of education since the mid-1800s. We live in a world where multiplicity replaces singularity, where 'knowing that' is less important than 'knowing how', and the relationship between an individual and the group (society, community, etc.) is very different. So thinking in scope and sequence will mean that whatever is generated will look very similar to what most want to have changed as far as curriculum and education in general are concerned.

A bright spot was a discussion of an idea that seemed to be neglected in the broader discussion - provocations. What was meant by this was a big question or a project or activity which was experiential and which emerged from the world as lived. It combined math, language, science, arts etc. in varying degrees and could be either short term or long term, running over many years. For example, gifted education programs often pick a project and then from that project find doorways into mathematical concepts, writing, creative expression and science. The ancient world - selecting something from anywhere in time and any location - could be a hub of engagement, for example.  Completing a tax form could open doorways into life skills, budgeting, basic math, data management etc.

I know that within the Literacy and Essential Skills area, such life-oriented projects are being thought about to support essential skills.

What I took away was a great appreciation for the work that faculty are engaged in within curriculum and assessment development in the CEFL. While I think we will adjust our course based on what eventually comes from Alberta Education, I believe that we are easily a year or more ahead of the work being presented at this prototyping symposium.