General Characteristics of Curriculum Development Models
Elements Instrumental
Description  Emphasizes a goal directed design
 Systematic development process based on a
thorough analysis. Clear measurable objectives for
the development process are formulated (i.e. the
step-by-step planning process allows for the
formulation of clear, measurable objectives for the
development process".
Development Phases This orientation is comprised of four key elements.
and Process  Identification of purpose or diagnosis of needs:
Which objectives should be the aim of education?
 Identification of the teaching-learning experiences
or selection of content: Which learning experiences
are most suitable to achieve the stated objectives?
 Organization of learning and teaching experiences
or content and learning activities: How can these
objectives the organized effectively to make it
identified learning experiences?
 Evaluation of the objectives: How do we know the
objectives have been achieved?
Process Activities Logical
Sequence
Main Characteristics of Rational process
Process
Definition of a "Good" Meets predetermined objectives or requirements
Curriculum
Strengths  Complex development process is reduced to a few
questions.
 Rational, fact-based and goal directed approach.
Challenges  Emphasis on attainment of predetermined
objectives these little flexibility for adjustments to
be made
 Limited to factual/empirical data. Does not reflect
personal views, opinions and socio-political aspects
that are important to curriculum.
 Relegates the art and informed practice of teaching
to a technical process based on built-in procedures.
Pragmatic
 Focuses on practical use of curriculum products
 Curriculum development requires close interactions with local
practice and those who actually use the product.
At the core of this orientation is a formative evaluation where the
development and evaluation processes occur in an interactive manner.
 Preliminary study: Experts in literature are consulted in a rough draft
of the possible product is developed fairly quickly.
 Prototyping: Specifications of the prototype are generated and a
prototype is developed to undergo rounds of design, evaluation and
revision. During this phase, there is close interaction with the schools
and school community to give the products and possibilities to the end
users.
 Deployment evaluation: Moves from prototyping to development of
curriculum products. The evaluation process means that a curriculum
product is never really finished, as it will be periodically revisited
assessed and revised
Cyclical
Frequent evaluation by and with end-users.
Meets the users requirements
Increased ownership and practical usability of the curriculum products.
 The close interaction with end-users can be challenging, at times; for
example, if the users wishes vary greatly (e.g. beliefs on the use of
worksheets in mathematics) or are difficult to combine with the
insights of experts and what has been identified in the research
literature; (e.g., strengths of problem-based learning.)
Current Alberta Curriculum Development Model Synchronous Alberta Curriculum Development Model
(1972-2012) (2012-)