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This chapter presents five differentiated models of curriculum, each designed with templates created from learning theories. The discipline of distributed leadership is chosen to develop a cognition-based curriculum, a behavior-based curriculum, a performance-based curriculum, a values-based curriculum, and collectively arranged into a competency-based curriculum. The research literature frames the attributes of a competency-based curriculum on psychological competence.

In this chapter, curricula are developed to demonstrate the process of adapting theories of learning, instruction, and environment into design templates with which to differentiate the dimensions and components of a curriculum. In these curricula, multiple conceptual frameworks are employed to translate the content and structure of the discipline into instructional objectives, instructional engagement, instructional experience, and instructional environment to align the instructional processes with the intended learning. For these demonstrations, the discipline of organizational leadership is chosen due to the multidimensional structure of this discipline and the opportunities it presents to differentiate the curriculum and learning. Each component of the curriculum adapts an appropriate framework to align and interconnect the instructional processes into an optimized learning experience. The result is curricula that have a coherent flow horizontally across the components for each outcome as well as interconnectedness vertically between the outcomes. This approach creates coherence, alignment, and interconnectedness to the curricula and order to the learning process for the learners.

This methodology is applied to design the curriculum for five instructional modules. Module 1 focuses on dualistic thinking developed through a cognition-based curriculum. Module 2 presents a multiplistic learning experience through a behavior-based curriculum. Module 3 presents relativistic learning through a performance-based curriculum. Module 4 delivers complex learning through a values-based curriculum. Module 5 compiles these four modules into a competency-based curriculum model.

Each of these modules employs a unique set of theories to configure the components of the curricula to reflect the structure of each discipline. The use of each theory is explained and demonstrated in the design process.

In this chapter, each of the completed models of curriculum is presented and evaluated using criteria from the attributes of effective curricula discussed in Chapter 1. Explanations of the design strategies that are used to demonstrate each attribute in a differentiated manner are included. The evaluation process provides an evaluation methodology to demonstrate the effectiveness of each model of a curriculum in a credible and trustworthy way.

In the previous chapters, the individual parts of the curricula were configured, aligned, and interconnected to deliver specific outcomes in each learning module. In this chapter, the components of each curriculum are assembled into one table to exhibit the order contained within each learning module within the overall curriculum. The standards for curricular attributes adopted at the beginning of the design process are the criteria for the evaluation of the completed curriculum. The strategies used to configure the components of each curriculum provide evidence of the curriculum’s characteristics, which demonstrate compliance with each criterion.

The evaluation of these attributes within a curriculum serves several purposes. First, they provide a checklist to guide the design process toward curricula that reflect these standards as developed by the profession of curriculum design in higher education. Second, they provide a measurement of the attributes of the curriculum to demonstrate the compliance of each curricular design with conventional standards. Third, these measurements can be compared with other institutional data to uncover correlations between the design assumptions and learner performance. These correlations often reveal unanticipated results, which inform the effectiveness of the instructional system.

These criteria are applied to the evaluation of the curriculum for each module to demonstrate the diverse manner in which each can be achieved in a discipline-specific manner. The compliance with these criteria is explained to be a matter of demonstration, as used in the discipline of qualitative research. These qualitative evaluations can then be compared with other operational data to understand the effectiveness of the design assumptions for each curriculum.

The rapid introduction of new technology and the various needs for human resource development are changing the priorities for vocational and technical training. While the fundamental goals for training remain, emphasis is shifting from a focus on content delivery to a recognition of the importance of a systems approach. As a consequence, professionals involved with training are increasingly aware of the need for more rigour in the process by which training is developed, implemented and evaluated. The chief purpose of this monograph is to introduce training and other interested personnel to the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) approach. Collected in this one document is the essential information on the ISD process for the development and conduct of efficient and effective performance‐based training programmes. For those planning a new training programme, this logical and organised approach provides a road map. Furthermore, the procedural steps presented are useful when modifying and revising existing programmes. Instructional Systems Development methodology is presented in five phases: analyse, design, develop, implement and control.

Instructional design involves the identification of strong learning objectives and the selection of instructional methods to accomplish them. In this chapter, we consider how to write online course objectives that will serve as a foundation for future redesign decisions. Strong learning objectives are observable, measurable, attainable, and specific. They are focused on the needs of our target audience and should fit with our instructional philosophy as reflected by our metaphor. We explore how individual differences, such as demographics, personality, past performance, and expectations can affect learner needs and preferences, which should inform learning objectives and instructional methods. We structure the design process around decisions related to four essential activities that instructional methods should facilitate: the sharing of information, the demonstration of skills, the ways for learners to practice skills, and the means to ensure learning has happened. We concentrate on selecting general methods of instruction, which we will later refine and adapt for online delivery. We walk through the DeSIGN process in detail, determining strong objectives and exploring how to use them in identifying instructional methods. Intersections between these decisions and future redesign considerations are also discussed.

This study examines 117 verbs associated with 2,872 learning objectives, and 377 questions taken from 24 textbooks across the accounting curriculum. To determine the level of cognitive ability associated with the individual learning objectives I analyzed the verbs based upon Bloom's Taxonomy. To reach across the accounting curriculum I chose texts from Financial Accounting, Intermediate Financial Accounting, Advanced Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Cost Accounting, and Auditing. Results of the analysis found that the authors used verbs at the lower learning levels of the cognitive domain. The verbs used by the author teams depend upon individual preference rather a specific segment of the cognitive domain. In addition, as the student progresses through the accounting curriculum some topics in upper level textbooks use learning objectives at the same level as in introductory level textbooks.

Instructional materials enhance the teaching/learning process by exhibiting information necessary to acquire knowledge and skills. Focuses on printed forms of instructional materials and provides detailed information, including examples, on five types of job performance aids, three types of instruction sheets, and two types of modules. Checklists of considerations that affect the quality of finished products are also provided. Job performance aids (JPAs)provide procedural or factual guidance in the performance of tasks. They store essential details in a variety of functional forms for use just before or during task performance. Research shows that JPAs are a cost‐effective supplement or alternative to training. They reduce the time needed to master task performance and facilitate the transfer of learning from the training setting to the job. Instruction sheets assure that all trainees have the same complete and accurate information for performing practical work and for completing assignments. These sheets also help manage large groups of trainees with diverse abilities who are working simultaneously at several different tasks. Modules are carefully structured documents which facilitate self‐directed and self‐paced learning. While their components may vary, modules typically include learning objectives, an introduction, instructional content, directions, learning activities, and test questions with feedback answers. With modules, trainees assume personal responsibility for their progress. Regardless of the care used in their preparation, all types of instructional materials must be evaluated prior to general use. Presents a comprehensive quality control procedure for confirming effectiveness and value. This was prepared to enhance both formal classroom instruction and individual study. Figures, tables, checklists, appendices, and a glossary of keywords and terms, supplement the text in explaining the content.

Despite “decent work” being pertinent, as situated in the International Labour Organisation's “Decent Work Agenda”, one of its substantive elements on the need for safe work environments remains a concern for semi-skilled construction workers. Evidently, sustainability learning objectives within this element must be identified and implemented as a remedy. Therefore, the aim of the reported study was to reveal sustainability learning objectives that are significant towards attaining safe work environments, through also assessing statistically significant differences due to demographic variables.

The design of this research followed a quantitative questionnaire survey strategy to obtain insights from semi-skilled workers and site/project managers in Zimbabwe.

Knowledge of relevant prevention strategies to foster positive physical and mental well-being in the workplace was considered the most critical sustainability learning objective. Semi-skilled workers revealed the most interest in objectives that affected their socio-economic beings while site/project managers preferred those that had more economic value to the organisations they work for. Educational levels are also critical when instituting any training interventions.

The absence of a database for semi-skilled workers was a limitation towards achieving the practical significance of the findings. Due to semi-skilled workers significantly contributing to unsafe work environments, structured on-the-job training schemes that are sufficiently planned, monitored and controlled are recommended.

The determination of sustainability learning objectives for construction semi-skilled workers, through on-the-job training schemes, will contribute to the improvement of safe work environments.

Intelligent control for unidentified systems with unstable equilibriums is not always a proper control strategy, which results in inferior performance in many cases. Because of the existing trial and error manner of the procedure in former duration of learning, this exploration for finding the appropriate control signals can lead to instability. However, the recent proposed emotional controllers are capable of learning swiftly; the use of these controllers is not an efficient solution for the mentioned instability problems. Therefore, a solution is needed to evade the instability in preliminary phase of learning. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel approach for controlling unstable systems or systems with unstable equilibrium by model free controllers.

An existing controller (model‐based controller) with limited performance is used as a mentor for the emotional learning controller in the first step. This learning phase prepares the controller to control the plant as well as mentor, while it prevents any instability. When the emotional controller can imitate the behavior of model based one properly, the employed controller is gently switched from model based one to an emotional controller using a fuzzy inference system (FIS). Also, the emotional stress is softly switched from the mentor‐imitator output difference to the combination of the objectives. In this paper, the emotional stresses are generated once by using a nonlinear combination of objectives and once by employing different stresses to a FIS which attentionally modulated the stresses, and makes a subset of these objectives salient regarding the contemporary situation.

The proposed model free controller is employed to control an inverted pendulum system and an oscillator with unstable equilibrium. It is noticeable that the proposed controller is a model free one, and does not use any knowledge about the plant. The experimental results on two benchmarks show the superiority of proposed imitative and emotional controller with fuzzy stress generation mechanism in comparison with model based originally supplied controllers and emotional controller with nonlinear stress generation unit – in control of pendulum system – in all operating conditions.

There are two test beds for evaluating the proposed model free controller performance which are discussed in this paper: a laboratorial inverted pendulum system, which is a well‐known system with unstable equilibrium, and Chua's circuit, which is an oscillator with two stable and one unstable equilibrium point. The results show that the proposed controller with the mentioned strategy can control the systems with satisfactory performance.

In this paper, a novel approach for controlling unstable systems or systems with unstable equilibrium by model free controllers is proposed. This approach is based on imitative learning in preliminary phase of learning and soft switching to an interactive emotional learning. Moreover, FISs are used to model the linguistic knowledge of the ascendancy and situated importance of the objectives. These FISs are used to attentionally modulate the stress signals for the emotional controller. The results of proposed strategy on two benchmarks reveal the efficacy of this strategy of model free control.

The process of differentiating each of the dimensions of learning is demonstrated by the application of three possible conceptual frameworks for each dimension, which are based on the theories of learning, instruction, and environment. Multiple existing theories apply to each dimension of the curriculum, including one framework that is a synthesis of several related theories. The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate how theories may be adapted into design templates and used to configure the components of the curriculum. The outcome of this process is to create coherent curricula through the practical application of theories of learning as design templates.

A blueprint template is presented to visualize the internal alignment, interconnectedness, and overall coherence of each curriculum. This template visually depicts the functional interactions between the curricular components as dynamic relationships. This tool reveals the design relationships within the curriculum for purposes of design and evaluation. For curriculum design purposes, this form is used to establish and maintain the alignment among the dimensions of a curriculum (horizontally in the template) as well as the interconnectedness of the components. Engagement with the learning process begins by translating the content of each learning objective into instructional objectives, which aligns the instructional components with each learning objective. The instructional objectives are configured to align the content and structure contained in the outcomes and objectives with the instructional components. In this curriculum design system, the instructional taxonomies of Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, and Krathwohl (1956) are adapted as design templates to demonstrate three strategies to configure the structure of the learning engagement dimension into three distinct purposes of developing cognition, skills, or values within each dimension (vertically in the template).

The learning experience in this curriculum demonstration differentiates three distinct instructional functions: the learning of thinking skills, the learning of performance skills, and the learning of values-based performance. A template adapted from credible theories of instruction configures the specified learning.

Three models also differentiate the learning environment dimension of a curriculum. The learning environment is structured to deliver learning through individual, cooperative, or collaborative processes. Although the environmental considerations mostly impact the activities through which learners interact with the content of the curriculum (reinforcement activities, assignments, assessments), the environmental factors influence all components of the curriculum and can be differentiated to promote and enhance learning. From the learner perspective, the learning environment is created by the dynamic interaction of all components of the curriculum to facilitate an unobstructed path to learning.