Building Back Better? Exposing Enduring Challenges of Curriculum and Learning Design

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study analyses challenges to curriculum and learning design and suggestions for support, as described by educators at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand. Thematic analysis informed by specialist literature on course design shows the COVID-19 pandemic was not a purely anomalous episode. While nationally mandated lockdowns forced the institutional response of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), and COVID-19 added novel challenges, this time of emergency also exacerbated more enduring challenges of resources (skills, support, and time), as well as of meeting student needs. Further, it hastened a long-called-for move to incorporate online and blended learning. Some institutional responses, such as insisting on dual delivery, were discretionary. Reviewing challenges (“big asks” and “sheer obstacles”) forced participants to reconsider the basics of course design. The study vindicates course design as a field whose knowledge is integral to teaching and learning but not pre-provided by teachers recruited for their disciplinary expertise. A basic lesson from this research for both future emergencies and “normal” times would be to consider the relationship between technology and pedagogy, the strengths and requirements of online/face-to-face modes, and the professional development and other support mechanisms for curriculum and learning design.