In 2018, Women Building Futures (WBF) received funding to review and improve the delivery of curriculum in their core workshops: plumbing, sheet metal, carpentry, electrical and pipe fitting. Each workshop is a week-long in duration for 8 hours per day . WBF was expanding and wanted to teach their curriculum at other locations. The problem: there was no physical or electronic record of what was actually being taught in the workshops. Individual contractors hired to teach were often the only people familiar with what was being taught and would often determine the actual curriculum. The problem: Many of the contractors were close to retirement or leaving to pursue other job opportunities. Compounding matters: not all contractors had the same skill set or curricular priorities. To solve the problem, I rolled up my sleeves and enrolled as a learner. Armed with my iPhone to take photos, my trusty memory, note taking abilities and photoshop skills, I set out to produce a detailed record of their current educational offerings.
The Result
100+ photos
40+ educational diagrams
30+ supporting educational videos
Integrated safety information and documentation
25 curriculum documents (one documenting each day of each workshop)
Approximately 300 pages of documented curriculum
5 Moodle courses housing all curriculum now available to staff and students province-wide
To get a sense of the workshops, meet Colin, the carpentry instructor. I had the chance to sit down with Colin for a discussion.
Steam Fitting Curriculum – Sample
Documenting the curriculum in action. This is me!
- Hire SMEs and establish contracts
- Develop a template to make a consistent recording of daily educational activities
- Participate in all workshops
- Write and record: daily learning outcomes, daily activities and projects, step-by-step instructions on how to complete each activity/project
- Create content – photograph educational process and completed projects, create diagrams and locate supporting educational videos
- Hire a graphic designer to create additional diagrams and format overall curriculum documents. Provide feedback to graphic designer
- Integrate additional student safety information into the curriculum
- Review curriculum with SME and integrate feedback
- Provide recommendations on how to improve educational delivery to Training Manager
- Create 5 moodle courses and upload all content on-line to provide access to students and instructors.
- Advise instructors at other locations on best practices for curriculum implementation
