Designing a Higher Education Curriculum Framework Based on Connectivism Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design a higher education curriculum framework based on Connectivism approach. This is a qualitative research in terms of design, and a descriptive-analytical one in terms of methodology. The statistical population consisted of all digital documents, articles, and books related to Connectivism Theory from 2005 to 2017, out of which 120 valid sources were identified and ranked based on the degree of relevance to the research topic. Code extraction began from the most relevant sources and continued until the theoretical data saturation which was obtained after reviewing 30 articles. To validate the proposed curriculum framework, the viewpoints of 5 experts who were selected through Purposeful Sampling were sued in classic Delphi method. To this end, the experts reviewed and modified the proposed framework and eliminated its flaws and ambiguities in three phases and finally, the desired framework was developed. After reviewing the documents related to the Connectivism approach through a descriptive-analytical method, the curriculum was discovered based on this approach and then it was developed within the Nine Elements of Klein`s Curriculum (1992) including Objectives, Content, Teaching-Learning Strategies, Learning Material & Resources, Learners` Learning Activities, Time, Learning Space, Learners` Grouping, and Evaluation methods.

Keywords

• curriculum
• higher education
• connectivism approach