1.3 Curriculum Development

Concepts

1. Course: A course is an organized sequence of sessions containing  Pages, demonstrations, practicals, field visits, role plays, quizzes, Pre-test and Post-tests, which will be used for the training related to the program. A course is always specific to a cadre of staff, with a define role and specified competencies under the programme. A course should comprehensively cover all training requirements of that cadre. 

   Each course will have pages organized under the Page ---> Chapter ---> Module structure. Different courses will have different pages, but they may also use the same page as per the requirement of the course (which is linked with the same knowledge unit or node, and hence based on the same training need). This is depicted in the following schema:

   Fig: Course structure

   Each course will have a number of attributes as outlined below.

   Course ID	This is the unique identifier assigned to the course at the time of creation.
   Title:	The course will be named according to the cadre it is intended to train. Eg. Course for Treatment Supporters on NTEP
   Course Description	This is a short description of the course, which will outline the objectives of the course and the topics covered under it.
   CourseStructure	The course structure will contain the data regarding the linkage of the various pages organized under chapters/ Modules and the corresponding quizzes at various stages within the course/ Module/Chapter.
   Intended Cadre	This will indicate the various cadres eligible to take the course.
   Status	This will indicate the status of the course in terms of whether it is in draft stage/ unpublished or published status. It may also include statuses such as depreciated.
   CourseMaintainer	This is the person assigned to this course as the maintainer.

2. Module: A module is created for a specific knowledge / functional area which is to be covered for a cadre based on the course objectives. A course may have different modules (knowledge areas) with different pages. For example, in the course for a Lab Technician, “ZN microscopy” may be a module. 

   NOTE: Modules may also have independent existence outside a course as well. These may be used for imparting a new knowledge area as a part of new expansion in the program or may be used for re/update training.

3. Chapter: Chapters will be the topics that are to be covered under knowledge areas (modules). As above, there may be different topics (chapters) under each knowledge area (module). For example, in the module on Microscopy, “staining using ZN technique” may be one of the chapters. Chapters will hold the standardized learning material in the form of pages.
4. Quiz: Courses will have quizzes at various stages (pre / post at the level of either course, module or chapter). The quizzes are created/ drawn from the questions attached to the pages that are contained within the course/ module/ chapter. The quiz, depending on how it is set up, will randomly draw questions from a set of questions that were associated with the pages. Based on configuration set by the course creator, the learners must pass/ clear the quiz to proceed and eventually complete the course and earn the certificate. The number of questions in an assessment and passing marks for each assessment will be set at the time of configuring the course/ module as per the need of the training. In the future a quiz may also be manually assessed/ scored.
5. Certificate: Each course / module at the end or at achieving completion of the post-test successfully will have a certificate. The certificate is awarded from NTEP, and / or relevant institutions / stakeholders. A sample certificate has been provided in the Annex.   
6. Webinar:  a webinar or an online training session would be scheduled inside the course whenever a remote facilitator would interact with the trainees for any particular purpose inside the course. This could be to deliver an instructor led session, conduct discussions or clarify queries. 

Principles

The broad principles to be followed while creating a curriculum/ course are as follows.

1. One cadre One course- At a time in the training system of NTEP a specific cadre/ designation will only have one active standard course. A course should be comprehensive, such that it allows all necessary content required to successfully execute the TOR/JD of the corresponding cadre. The monitoring of the training status of a trainee will be considered as Trained/ Untrained under his/her cadre based on whether he/she has successfully completed the single course for that cadre. The individual may undergo modules that are independently available outside his/her course and will count as additional credit.
2. Logical flow in sequencing of content: The training content will have to be placed in a sequence within the course. The pages will be sequenced within a chapter, followed by Chapters into Modules and finally modules into Courses. This sequence depending upon the intended audience/ cadre will have to be selected and ordered to ensure that both the appropriate high level concept is introduced and necessary in depth concepts are also discussed afterwards.
3. Inbuilt pre/ post test : All courses should have an inbuilt assessment mechanism to objectively identify whether he/she has completed the requirements/ gained all necessary knowledge and skills expected from the course.
4. Standard schedule: The course may be executed/ operationalized as per the convenience of the institution; however a standard scheduling pattern may be set. 

Roles

1. Content creator - The content creator(described above) will also double up as the course creator/ curriculum designer. They will select and organize the pages prepared into chapters> modules> Courses in a sequence appropriate to the cadre. The content creator can create the course in unpublished form.
2. Maintainer - The maintainer may review the draft/ unpublished courses and publish them. They may also unpublish existing courses and send them for revisions to the content creator or depreciate them altogether. 
3. Operational Roles
   1. Course Coordinator - The course co-ordinator at various states/ STDCs will schedule the various courses according to the plan and training needs of the state and coordinate the conduct of the course
   2. Trainee - The trainee may access the course if he/she is one of the cadres for which the course is listed
   3. Facilitator - Facilitators may access the course when it is scheduled and he/she is added to that schedule as a facilitator.

 

Processes

1. Create a new course: Once pages are available, a content creator may organize the pages into a course. After the Type A0 page is approved and published on the CTD e-learning platform, it may be included into a course. 
2. Review and Approval of the course: Once the course is configured, approval from CTD and other stakeholders will be sought. A meeting of relevant stakeholders will be called to discuss feedback and will be documented. Relevant changes will be listed and made by course creator,
3. Set up the course evaluation: As described in the previous section a course will have pre / post evaluation at the level of either course, module or chapter, randomly drawn from the questions attached to the pages that are contained within. The number of questions in an assessment and passing marks for each assessment will be set as per the need of the training in consultation with the relevant stakeholders.
4. Configure the course certificate: A certificate for successful completion of the course will be awarded to the participants based on their performance in the course evaluation. The certificate will be designed with appropriate logos of the awarding organizations and will be decided based on consultation with the relevant stakeholders. A sample certificate is provided in the Annex for reference.
5. Setup the feedback form: two types of feedback for a course will be sought from the facilitators and trainees: 
   1. Performance or retention of knowledge / skills from the course / module.
   2. Qualitative and Quantitative feedback from the end users on various aspects of the course/ module.
6. Scheduling the course: Generally, once a course is configured, it needs to be scheduled for it to be accessible to trainees. Scheduling a course involves setting the start and end date for the course, adding webinars, contact sessions/ evaluations, adding facilitators, enrolling participants etc. The scheduling is done by the course coordinator based on the training plan.