Fostering and managing curriculum change and innovation

This paper describes general guidelines for fostering and managing curriculum change that the authors used to redesign and implement the electrical and computer engineering programs at the Universite de Sherbrooke. Based on recent research advances in cognitive science as it applies to student learning, these curricula have led to new instructional models. The paper focuses on the process of curricular change, not the content of new curricula. Managing a curriculum change is a complex problem. Once motivation and the conditions necessary for change have been established, two frameworks support the process. The first is a learning framework centered on how students learn; the second is a conceptual framework enabling the detailed design of learning activities, which implies a change in attitudes towards teaching. The last step and not the least is implementing the curriculum. The authors think that these guidelines may help other institutions manage their own change process.