Curriculum Online

Curriculum and online - I cannot think of two terms more purposefully vague.

What does curriculum include? Better question - what does it not include? Tests, unit plans, texts, videos, assignments, and lessons. But doesn't it also include the outcomes, declared or hidden. Could not the classroom event or the online chat be a learning activity that would fall under far reaching tendrils of the massive curriculum umbrella?

How does one manage curriculum? I am not wholly sure, at given moments. (If you have an idea, please let me know.) Do you choose a model or does it choose you? Oh, yes, there are models. In fact, there are categories of models, and as many books and online articles as there are models. In the end, does it manage itself, like some unwieldy beast, with the students and teacher locked arm-in-arm, armed only with their curiosity and fool-hardiness.

And then, there is online - the second half of my job. I coordinate an online learning program, even though I am sure that I mostly keep it falling over the edge, mitigating disasters. In fact, my colleagues and I do more learning than even many of our students. Every morning, I strap on the headsets and launch off into this brave new world, knowing full well that if we don't catch up, we will be left behind. I push through Word, Powerpoint, Google Docs, GMAil, Outlook, iTunesU, YouTube, iGoogle, Tweeter, Facebook and 100 other apps trying to develop courses that are navigable, simple, colourful, meaningful, engaging, concise and clear for students. In fact, it becomes an obsession.

In the end, there is a curriculum online. Or is it an online curriculum. Not sure. I'll get back to you on that one.

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