The document summarizes a workshop that uses the D4 curriculum development approach to address metrics related to teaching excellence and learning gain. The workshop walks participants through the four stages of the D4 approach: Discover, Dream, Design, and Deliver. In the Discover stage, participants share experiences of great learning. In the Dream stage, they envision ideal graduate attributes. In the Design stage, they map skills development or plan learning activities. Finally, in the Deliver stage, participants reflect and create action plans. The presenters analyze strengths of the approach such as being experiential, positively framed, and structured to promote holistic, team-based curriculum design and action toward goals like attainment, retention, and employability

1. Using the D4 Curriculum Development Approach
to address TEF metrics
Liz Bennett and Sue Folley: University of Huddersfield
SEDA Spring Teaching Learning and Assessment Conference 2017:
The quest for teaching excellence and learning gain: issues, resolutions and possibilities.

2. Format of the session:
Introduction
to the D4
workshops
Task 1:
Discover
Task 2:
Dream
Explanation
of Design
and Deliver
Phases
Analysis of
the
Approach
Plenary

3. Introduction to the D4 Workshops
Originally a University Strategic Project around Developing Digital Literacies in Staff
Approach used to encourage the ‘late majority’ (Rogers, 1983)
Later developed to focus on other key issues, attainment, employability, retention

4. Aims of the D4 Workshops:
To provide a starting point, and space for discussions about course/module design
To introduce the participants to a range of curriculum design tools (including
Appreciative Inquiry and Course Design cards) and understanding of the topic.
To create a personal/course team action plan
To be aware of range of further reading and further support available

5. From: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADB195.pdf (p.16)
Appreciative Inquiry is a theory of organization development
management or research approach that focuses on the “best of
what is” instead of focusing on problems.
Appreciative Inquiry

6. Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Appreciative Inquiry
The best of what has been
Best that might be
What it might truly look like
What we will
commit to

7. Split into groups as instructed.
In your group, reflect on the question ‘What examples of great learning have you experienced in
your professional life?’
Think about:
o What happened?
o What did you do to make that happen?
o What did others do to contribute to that experience
o How did that experience feel?
Discuss your stories and write down some of the characteristics of what makes a great learning
experience and agree on one person to share these with the whole group later. (10 mins)
Feedback to whole group some of the characteristics of the learning experience (10 mins)
Task 1 – the Discover Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver

8. Still in your small groups you are going to create a vision of what the desirable attributes a student
graduating from your course/University are.
Think about: How you want your course/module to enable graduates to:
- Work effectively with others
- Meet employer’s expectations
- Work with professional bodies (if appropriate)
- Be adaptable and agile to work and learn in a variety of contexts
- To be able to work in a digital world
Draw a mind map or other diagram to represent the ideal graduate attributes. (10 mins)
Feedback to whole group and distil into a list of themes
Task 2 – the Dream Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver

9. Task 3 – the Design Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
This is stage is tricky. We want staff to design something but this takes a long time to work
through and refine.
The cards are used to stimulate thinking with ideas.
There is a danger that we just use the cards for audit, and this isn’t design, but often you start
from an audit process to move forward.
• For D4A: Attainment, we ask them to identify 3 areas that they want to develop;
• For D4R: Retention, we ask them to map the student’s journey over the first 12 months of
their course;
• For D4E: Employability, we ask them to map the skills that are developed across the 3 years of
the degree;
• For D4L: Active Learning we ask them to design a single learning activity.

10. ViewPoints Learner Engagement Cards

11. Task 3 for D4A: Curriculum Design for Attainment

12. Task 3: D4E – Curriculum Design for
Employability
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
These cards and the stickers are used to colour code these activities on a mapping
sheet for the course
Bennett & Folley (2016)

13. Task 3 for D4R – Curriculum Design for Retention

14. Task 4: Delivery Stage -
All the D4 Workshops
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Reflecting on all the tasks done in this workshop, note any changes you would like to make to your
module and then please complete your action plan template including anything you have decided
needs to take happen or be discussed, such as:
- What have you learned from the activity design stage that you could adapt or use in your course?
- What staff development do you need to undertake?
- Do you need to arrange any discussions with the course leader or other staff to take any of your
ideas forward?
- Write down a list of actions with names of who is responsible for taking them forward and
timescales

18. Plenary
Our analysis
Your feedback
Resources/photos

19. Analysis of the D4 Approach: its strengths
• Experiential;
• Positively framed;
• Structured with flow between the stages.
• Efficient;
• Facilitated;
• Embedded;
• Discipline-based;
• Holistic (not siloed);
• Space for critique;
• Team based dialogue, unfreezing change;
• Action orientated;
• Resources and tools;
• Manage upwards.
• Sharing of ‘good practice’

20. Virtuous circle
attainment
retention
employability

21. Your Feedback of the D4 Approach
Discussion in groups:
1. To what extent do you agree
with our analysis of the
strengths of this approach?
2. How could the approach be
improved further?
3. How it might be used in your
context?
Experiential
Positively framed
Structuredwithflow
Efficient
Facilitated
Embedded
Discipline-based
Holistic(not siloed)
Space for critique;
Teambaseddialogue, unfreezingchange,;
Actionorientated;
Toolsand resources;
Manage upwards;
Sharing of ‘good practice

22. Resources:
Full resources including workshop plans, presentation slides and printable copies
of the cards are available at:
http://ipark.hud.ac.uk (in the training & development folder) or shortened url
is: http://goo.gl/e3hBAM
Liz Bennett: e.Bennett@hud.ac.uk @LizBennett1
Sue Folley: s.folley@hud.ac.uk @SueFolley