Abstract
Since the 1950s, Process Systems Engineering (PSE) concepts have traditionally been applied to the process industries, with great effect and with significant benefit. However, the same general approaches and principles in designing complex process designs can be applied to the design of higher education (HE) curricula. Curricula represent intended learning journeys, these being similar to the design of process flowsheets. In this paper, we set out the formal framework and concepts that underlie the challenges in design of curricula. The approaches use generic and fundamental concepts that can be applied by any discipline to curriculum design. We show how integration of discipline-specific concepts, across time and space, can be combined through design choices, to create learning journeys for students. These concepts are captured within a web-based design tool that permits wide choices for designers to build innovative curricula. The importance of visualization of curricula is discussed and illustrated, using a range of tools that permit insight into the nature of the designs. The framework and tool presented in this paper have been widely used across many disciplines, such as science, engineering, nursing, philosophy and pharmacy. As a special issue in memory of Professor Roger W.H. Sargent; we show these new developments in curriculum design are similar to the development of process flowsheets. Professor Sargent was not only an eminent research leader and pioneer, but an influential educator who gave rise to a new area in Chemical Engineering, influencing its many directions for more than 50 years.
Highlights
Curriculum design stands at the heart of all education
This work has shown the use of certain Process Systems Engineering (PSE) principles in developing complex curricula
The design of curricula resembles in many ways the basic ideas of process design and flow sheet development, since curricula design is an educational process
Summary
Curriculum design stands at the heart of all education. It is a multiscale challenge across different time and space scales—from whole-of-curriculum design considerations, to distinct learning units or modules, down to the day-to-day learning elements at the lowest level of consideration. In 1967, Roger Sargent wrote in Chemical Engineering Progress a review on “Integrated Design and Optimization of Processes” He stated the following: “ we are in sight of a truly integrated approach to design of complete processes, a great deal of work remains to be done. The discipline area of PSE arose from the application of systems engineering concepts to industrial processes [2,3]. The tasks require an integrated approach that ensures the final curriculum design is “fit-for-purpose” It is a complex set of tasks dealing with many interconnected learning units, their attributes and intended outcomes. The expanding digitalization trends across society, with the creation and growth of the internet, have brought the need to use enabling information technologies, visualizations and user-centered web systems, to improve curriculum designs and their deployment These information and communication technologies (ICT) can enhance the curriculum design process.
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