Introduction to “Applying Competencies, Outcomes, and Standards to Curriculum Development

Video Transcription

Welcome to the unit, applying competencies, outcomes, and standards to curriculum development. The learning objectives in this unit include-- analyzing the difference between standards and competencies, distinguishing between knowledge and skills, evaluating the deeper learning theory and its connection to competency based instruction, developing a unit plan using the UbD template and mapping the aligned competencies to the standards and to the outcomes, and reflecting on how using a competency-based approach increases the authenticity and deeper learning of the curriculum unit.

We'll begin by addressing standards, competencies, knowledge, and skills. In this learning objective, we'll begin by defining these terms. And then we'll connect these terms to curriculum design in competency-based education. Finally, we'll also connect these terms to the stages of Understanding by Design. We'll look at how standards, competencies, knowledge, and skills all fit within the various stages and design principles of both CBE and UbD. You'll be able to reflect on whether you are currently implementing any of these stages of UbD or the design principles of CBE, and whether your current understanding of all of these various terms is aligned with the definitions that we'll be using throughout the course.

This will lead us into our second learning objective focused on deeper learning. We'll begin by reviewing deeper learning theory, and then we'll identify the deeper learning core competencies. Finally, we'll connect these ideas back to competency-based education, again, with the understandings that we developed in the first learning objective regarding those various key terms that are involved in CBE and UbD. We'll be better able to approach the ideas in the core competencies for deeper learning. And we'll have a better idea of how to incorporate deeper learning theory to help our students achieve new levels of understanding of the curricular content.

Once we're comfortable not only with the elements of competency-based education in Understanding by Design but also with the theory of deeper learning, we'll be ready to put all those pieces together into a unit plan. We'll review those stages of Understanding by Design because they will be providing the framework for our unit plan. And then you'll get an overview of what curriculum maps and unit plans should entail and what they might look like. You'll see some examples and some templates that you can refer to as well. Then I will walk you through the process of creating your own unit plan that incorporates elements of CBE and deeper learning and again is framed around the UbD framework.

After creating your unit plan, and perhaps even implementing some of the lessons from the plan, you'll be prompted to reflect on your use of competency-based education in the fourth learning objective in this unit. We'll put together all of iNACOL's five principals, the elements of UbD, and the deeper learning theory. And we'll reflect on these elements using a plus/minus delta chart. Throughout our reflection, we'll focus on whether we've employed authentic assessments and learning opportunities for our students because these types of assessments and opportunities help students to build that deeper understanding that we're looking for.

To recap, the learning objectives in this unit include-- analyzing the difference between standards and competencies and distinguishing between knowledge and skills, evaluating the deeper learning theory and its connection to competency based instruction, developing a unit plan using the UbD template and mapping the aligned competencies to the standards and to the outcomes, and finally reflecting on how using a competency-based approach can increase the authenticity and deeper learning the curriculum unit. So welcome to the unit. I hope that you'll join me in my tutorials in this unit. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.