Establishing a Curriculum Outline

DOE-HDBK-1074-95

establish the basis for the development of a training plan or summary.

This is a very important series of activities that provides management with

the information necessary to ensure the program will meet the needs of the

organization.

3.5.1 Establishing a Curriculum Outline

A curriculum outline documents the general structure of a training

program. The outline is developed by using information from analysis

to design initial and continuing training programs. The curriculum

outline helps prioritize training and identifies training materials that

must be developed. Requisite knowledge and skills, systems, topics,

tasks, and testing requirements are grouped within the training

program curriculum. Designers determine the most effective strategy

for presenting information by determining the sequencing of content

presentation, selecting the most appropriate training setting for the

objectives, determining testing methods, and identifying the most

appropriate approaches to instruction. Instructional approaches

should be based on objectives and the setting selected for conduct of

the training.

Instructional approaches may include lecture, demonstration and/or

practice, discussion/facilitation, oral questioning, role playing, use of

case studies, simulation, exercises and walk-throughs, and

individualized instruction (structured self-study). The approaches

selected will also be influenced by the hazard and/or complexity of the

task or job. For example, more structured, formal instructional

approaches are appropriate when the hazard or risk consequences of

improper performance are greater. Conversely, less formal

approaches are sufficient when the consequences are lower. The

same holds true with the curriculum outline.

Curriculum outlines may vary from a simple one page outline when the

hazard or risk consequence is low to a complex multi-page outline

when the hazard or risk consequence is high. After the curriculum

outline is developed it should be verified by SMEs. The following

techniques may be used individually or combined to establish a

curriculum outline.