The emergence of modularized curriculum in community college career and technical education (CTE) programs has received substantial attention over the last decade, with researchers suggesting that this type of curriculum redesign may assist with student retention and success. The purpose of this study was to describe advisory committee member involvement in modularizing CTE programs. This study was undertaken for three reasons: (a) to address the limited research on the topic of advisory committee involvement in modularizing curriculum; (b) to respond to the increased momentum to expand working lifetime opportunities, in which modularization may play an integral part; and (c) to explore the suggestion that employers must take a leadership role in shaping the workforce and that this may be done effectively through work on an advisory committee.
The research was designed as a quantitative descriptive study using survey methodology. The study focused on community college CTE advisory committee members in Oregon and Wisconsin who were identified as being engaged in developing career pathways. The primary research question asked respondents to describe their involvement in modularizing curriculum, and the secondary question asked them to specific the degree to which their involvement had occurred in the various aspects of modularizing curriculum.
The key findings of this descriptive study suggest that responding CTE advisory committee members in Oregon and Wisconsin are aware of the concept of curriculum modularization but have little involvement in the actual process of breaking down associate degree programs into smaller certificates. This study also shows that these same advisory committee members endorse more than they assist with developing the various aspects of modularizing curriculum, such as defining skills sets for various jobs, developing courses for appropriate content, reordering courses in an existing program, adding or deleting courses, and developing measureable outcomes.
Implications for practice from this study are: 1) provide more information and training to advisory committee members involved in modularizing curriculum in order to increase their level of understanding and thus strengthen their ability to participate effectively in reviewing and endorsing work already done by faculty, 2) provide advisory committee members with complete and detailed instructions regarding their work on the committee, and 3) develop a mandatory advisory committee orientation for all members to provide the needed information and training. / Graduation date: 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35374 |
| Date | 14 November 2012 |
| Creators | Malosh, Ann M. |
| Contributors | Stern, Sam |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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