Design of Issue-Centered Character Curriculum and Application on the Liberal Arts Course of University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design and implement an issue-centered character curriculum for university students in order to explore its educational effectiveness. To this end, a four-stage model of the issue-centered character education curriculum was designed, cycling through ‘topic recognition,’ ‘diachronic issue consideration,’ ‘synchronic issue analysis,’ and ‘practical decision-making.’ This model is designed to integrate knowledge, attitude, and practice. The ‘topic recognition’ stage focuses on knowledge, the ‘diachronic issue consideration’ stage focuses on knowledge and attitude, the ‘synchronic issue analysis’ stage focuses on attitude and practice, and finally, the ‘practical decision-making’ stage focuses on practice. According to the designed model, teaching and learning materials were organized into nine topics: freedom and responsibility, human dignity, personal relationships, ethics, self-identity, human origins, body and soul, mature love, and life. In order to explore the effectiveness of the issue-centered character curriculum, it was implemented into basic liberal arts courses at universities in the metropolitan area for one semester. The effectiveness of the curriculum was analyzed for a total of 321 university students, and both character competencies and value recognition showed statistically significant improvement. Based on the results, pedagogical implications for the design and practice of character curriculum in universities were proposed.