Create an Outline
First, we want to determine our audience and develop an outline of content that should be covered in the resource. Fortunately, we already know our audience – students! And, believe it our not, you already have a start on your outline – the Course Outcome Summary (COS). The COS includes the competencies, learning objectives, and criteria that should be covered in the course. COSs are developed through a rigorous process involving content experts, advisory boards (industry), the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and individual colleges, and relevant associations or industry organizations. For more information on the curriculum development process for Wisconsin technical colleges, visit WTCS Curriculum Training or contact your institution’s curriculum department.
For WisTech projects, we like to make things simple – both for us as developers and for our students. We develop each competency into a chapter. This means that if your COS has 10 competencies then your finished resource will likely have 10 chapters. To determine what should be included in a specific competency, we use the criteria, as learning objectives can vary between different institutions. Below is an example of a drafted outline. You can find the template here.
External Standards
We also include any required external standards. For example, nursing follows standards provided by the American Nurses Association and early childhood education follows standards provided by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. This is especially important to maintain the integrity of accredited programs.
