The document describes an undergraduate curriculum called "The World Today" that uses a "Live, Love, Learn" approach to curriculum design. It aims to develop students' skills through authentic, active learning experiences. Students work collaboratively in teams to research global issues. They are given choices in topic selection, task structure, and skill development. Evaluation of the course found that it provided an unusual learning environment that improved students' skills like teamwork and presentation abilities. While challenging, students reported gaining confidence and finding the experience intellectually stimulating. The explicit curriculum design allowed in-depth qualitative research on students' learning experiences.

1. Dynamic
Curriculum Design
Leaving Space for Students to Live, Love and Learn

2. Dr Elizabeth Hauke, Principal Teaching Fellow
Global Challenges
Page: 2
Undergraduate courses that explore
sustainable human development
using the ‘Live, Love, Learn’
approach to curriculum design
Cross faculty courses available to
all undergraduate students for
degree or extra credit
Imperial Horizons Centre for
Languages, Culture
and Communication

3. Designing Dynamic Curricula
1. Our Approach – Live, Love, Learn
2. Skills and Decision Making
3. Example Curriculum – The World Today
4. Evaluation – Are We Moving in a Good
Direction?
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Undergraduate research and enquiry based learning

4. OUR APPROACH
LIVE
Prior learning, individual
and collective
experiences are valued
as a foundation for new
knowledge and
understanding of the
lived world.
Empathic engagement
with others critically
anchors learning to the
real, messy, intricate
needs of individuals and
communities around the
world.
LOVE
Pursuing challenging,
active learning is vital to
create independent,
critical thinkers who
approach complexity
with confidence and self-
awareness.
LEARN
Page: 4

5. Global Challenges
All learning and assessment
is tailored to the student and
the topic
AUTHENTICITY
Explicit, practical,
kinaesthetic, democratic,
dynamic classes
ACTIVE LEARNING
Students make as many choices
as possible to direct their learning
STUDENT EMPOWERED
Priority given to skill
development and working
processes rather than content
PROCESS BASED
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We offer courses to all undergraduate years, all of which use the
LIVE LOVE LEARN APPROACH

6. Global Challenges
• 1ST YEAR: Library and empirical research
• 2nd YEAR: Library and empirical research
and real world problem solving
• 3rd/4th YEAR: Library research, analysis
and synthesis
CURRICULUM DESIGN
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7. Leaving space for students to make choices
DYNAMIC CURRICULA
All our curricula are designed to allow students to create their own
learning profile – they can pick a relevant topic, prioritise the
development of a particular skill-set and collaborate freely with their
peers and co-learners

8. Leaving space for students to make choices
DYNAMIC CURRICULA
Every choice that students make is linked to the development of a
particular skill that is critical to the Live, Love, Learn approach – and to
making independent, resilient and creative thinkers

9. SKILL MAPPING
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Building Resilience
Thinking
Handling Information
Networking
Maximising Creativity

10. SKILL MAPPING
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Developing versatility as a learner
Time management and meeting deadlines
Coping with uncertainty
Dealing with work and study stress
Establishing and maintaining a good work-life balance
Managing your ‘learning fitness’
Independent learning
Managing disagreements and understanding different perspectives
Being generous to yourself
Building self confidence in a range of settings
Developing a real understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a learner
critical thinking
independent thinking
interdisciplinary thinking
reasoning and formulating an argument
thinking and imagining with compassion and empathy
building on your own prior experience and your internal resources
building on the prior experience and resources of others
tolerating uncertainty, complexity and dilemmas
close reading
accessing a variety of sources
evaluating the quality of different sources
analysing data
evidencing an argument
respecting and understanding the ideas of others
generating your own data using appropriate methods
performing library research
performing and designing your own empirical research
team working
collaborative working
leadership
communicating your ideas using a range of media
meeting new people and forming new relationships
learning from others
problem solving
thinking outside your discipline
recognizing your unique and full potential
developing radical and fearless vision
divergent thinking
creative working
Imagineering
writing
speaking
exchanging ideas
asking good questions
reflexive practice

11. SKILL MAPPING
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Building Resilience - Skills in this category help you to
perform well in your studies and make you the best ‘learner’ you can
possibly be. This category includes skills that build your ‘Learning
Fitness’.

12. SKILL MAPPING
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Thinking - Skills in this category help you to develop advanced
thinking capability. This includes independence of thought and critical
thinking.

13. SKILL MAPPING
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Handling Information - Skills in this category help you to
find, evaluate and analyse different types of information. This includes
both library research where you evaluate information produced by
other people and empirical research to generate your own data.

14. SKILL MAPPING
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Networking - This category includes communication,
collaboration and team working skills.

15. SKILL MAPPING
Page: 15
Maximising Creativity - This category includes skills that
will help to make you an effective and fearless problem solver.

16. SKILL MAPPING
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17. Students must work
collaboratively in teams to
investigate the key issues facing
the world today.
In teams the students must
produce a wiki that details the
issue that they have researched,
covering four key topics – the
current status of the issue, how
the problem is measured, any
uncertainties that exist and the
likely future of the issue.
The student teams have an
embedded supervisory co-learner
who is an ‘expert’ in learning and
research.
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THE WORLD TODAY
1st Year, Autumn Term

18. Building Resilience –
Thinking –
Handling Information –
Networking –
Maximising Creativity –
Page: 18
What is a global challenge?
Student driven activity

19. Page: 19
Other Handling
Information Tasks

20. Page: 20
Other Handling
Information Tasks

21. Page: 21
Other Handling
Information Tasks

22. Page: 22
Other Handling
Information Tasks

23. Page: 23
Other Handling
Information Tasks

24. Page: 24
Other Handling
Information Tasks

25. Page: 25
Other Handling
Information Tasks

26. Page: 26
Other Handling
Information Tasks

27. How many decisions and choices are students really
making in The World Today?
Page: 27

28. The World Today – Choices and
Decisions (session 1)
1. What is a ‘global challenge’?
2. What makes a good team?
3. How does diversity improve thinking and understanding?
4. How can the most diverse teams be formed?
5. What experience, expertise and interests do you have - how do they
compare to your team?
6. What global challenge is your team suited to tackle?
7. Define your global issue and pitch it to the class for approval
8. Define the scope of your global issue
9. What relevant skills do you have – complete the self assessment and pick
a skill-focus for your assessment
10. Set up a team page on your wiki and introduce yourselves with photos
and a mini-bio
11. How should the wiki be organised?
12. How much work should I do for next week?

29. How many choices are individual and how many
democratic?
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30. The World Today – Choices and
Decisions (session 1)
1. What is a ‘global challenge’?
2. What makes a good team?
3. How does diversity improve thinking and understanding?
4. How can the most diverse teams be formed?
5. What experience, expertise and interests do you have - how do they
compare to your team?
6. What global challenge is your team suited to tackle?
7. Define your global issue and pitch it to the class for approval
8. Define the scope of your global issue
9. What relevant skills do you have – complete the self assessment and pick
a skill-focus for your assessment
10. Set up a team page on your wiki and introduce yourselves with photos
and a mini-bio
11. How should the wiki be organised?
12. How much work should I do for next week?

31. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Typical Topic Selection
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32. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Wiki Set Up
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33. SKILL SELF ASSESSMENT
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Building Resilience
Thinking
Handling Information
Networking
Maximising Creativity
Each skill group is rated using a Likert 1-5 scale

34. Are choices and decisions good or easy for students?
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35. KEY CONCERNS
Page: 35
• High cognitive load (learning effort)
• No traditional teacher/expert-student model
• The content is messy and complex
• Fine-grained continuous assessment of the learning process (including self
and peer marking) – requires continuous effort and engagement
However, these factors can all be managed and actually provide useful challenge

36. KEY CONCERNS
Page: 36
Content Effort
Work collaboratively
Find own information
Decide how much
work to do
Define own topic
Complexity of
material
Quantity of material
Sweller, J (1988) Cognitive load
during problem solving: Effects on
learning. Cognitive Science, 12 (2),
257–285.

37. The Research
The World Today: a space for disorientation, self-reflection and
re-orientation towards a future ripe for transformation
• Ethnographic participant observation of a cohort of 51
students
• Investigating how students engage with an unusual and
challenging learning environment

38. The Research
Why observational research?
• Qualitative research to explore the ‘experience’ of learning
• ‘Authentic’ evaluation to honour the values of the learning
endeavour
• Individualistic insight – understanding ‘everybody’ is
understanding nobody

39. The Research
Why observational research?
• Qualitative research to explore the ‘experience’ of learning
• ‘Authentic’ evaluation to honour the values of the learning
endeavour
• Individualistic insight – understanding ‘everybody’ is
understanding nobody
Ashton, S. (2010) Authenticity in Adult Learning. International Journal of Lifelong
Education, 29 (1), 3-19.
Kreber, C. (2013) Authenticity in and through teaching in higher education. London,
Routledge.

40. The Research
Why observational research?
• Qualitative research to explore the ‘experience’ of learning
• ‘Authentic’ evaluation to honour the values of the learning
endeavour
• Individualistic insight – understanding ‘everybody’ is
understanding nobody
Rose, T. (2015). The End of Average: How we Succeed in a World that Values Sameness .
San Francisco, HarperOne.
Rose, T., Rouhani, P., & Fischer, K. (2013). The Science of the Individual. Mind, Brain, and
Education, 7 (3), 152-158

41. To increase reliability and validity of data, several data types were
triangulated to develop each piece of analysis
• Direct participant observation
• Indirect observation of online collaboration
• Interrogation of learning products
• Initial and final learning reflections
• Completed wikis
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Tempering the qualitative and subjective
WITH TRIANGULATION

42. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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Actions on Team Wikis
IndividualStudents

43. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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44. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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45. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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46. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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47. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Indirect Observation
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48. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Interrogation of Learning Products
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49. “Finally, please write a short statement about
your learning experience on this course. You
might want to comment on working
collaboratively with other students, structuring
your own learning and researching topics
independently or on developing particular skills
or interests.”
Page: 49
Interrogation of Learning
Products
FREE TEXT COMMENTS

50. I love this course. It made you think out
of the ‘science’ box. I got to know a lot
of new people and use my imagination,
while still working hard as a group,
getting your ideas out there. I really
liked the part that made me think
differently about how to solve a
problem.
Page: 50
Interrogation of Learning
Products
FREE TEXT COMMENTS

51. Page: 51
FREE TEXT COMMENTS
Creating the timeline was an entertaining
experience, it was great to see so many minds
and ideas working together
It has been easy working
collaboratively with other students
because everyone’s opinions were
respected on this course.
I am pleased with the progress made throughout the
course. I believe my Imagineering and team working skills
have improved in particular, especially understanding and
supporting the ideas of others. My learning fitness has
also improved dramatically throughout the course – I
began the course having pulled an all-nighter and I
haven’t done that since. I really enjoyed applying the
skills back in my own degree course too.
Skills such as
organisation,
thinking outside
my discipline and
group
cooperation were
greatly challenged
and improved.

52. Page: 52
FREE TEXT COMMENTS
This course also showed me
how feed back isn’t
necessarily criticism and
should be taken on board in
order to improve.
Imagining the ‘ideal’ world was an exciting and
intellectually stimulating part, making my mind race at
100 miles per hour.
The course was really helpful as we have
developed a variety of skills by doing
something different than in our specialised
course and broadened our horizons at the
same time. The different tasks that we had to
fulfil as well as the structure of the course was
very interesting and I think that everyone
enjoyed it.
This Imperial Horizons course has
provided me with an opportunity to
work in a team, which is rare in my
subject. It has allowed me to think
creatively, while looking into the world’s
pressing problems. By writing the wiki, I
now know how to plan my work with
good referencing. In these few weeks, I
have met new friends and learned a lot
from them.

53. Page: 53
FREE TEXT COMMENTS
This course also showed me
how feed back isn’t
necessarily criticism and
should be taken on board in
order to improve.
Imagining the ‘ideal’ world was an exciting and
intellectually stimulating part, making my mind race at
100 miles per hour.
The course was really helpful as we have
developed a variety of skills by doing
something different than in our specialised
course and broadened our horizons at the
same time. The different tasks that we had to
fulfil as well as the structure of the course was
very interesting and I think that everyone
enjoyed it.
This Imperial Horizons course has
provided me with an opportunity to
work in a team, which is rare in my
subject. It has allowed me to think
creatively, while looking into the world’s
pressing problems. By writing the wiki, I
now know how to plan my work with
good referencing. In these few weeks, I
have met new friends and learned a lot
from them.

54. SOME FINDINGS
Page: 54
Things I was looking for:
• Students were able to make sense of the learning environment and reflect
on how it was different to their core study
• Students were able to reflect on their own progress with complex ‘soft’ skills
– and value this
• Some students were ready and able to engage with a ‘transformative’
experience

55. SOME FINDINGS
Page: 55
Things I didn’t expect:
• Students graded themselves lower for a range of skills at the end of the course than
at the start
• Combined with observations and comments from their final learning reflections
this seemed to represent greater self awareness
• Many students were encountering learning with a high cognitive load and less
structured learning environment for the first time and it exposed the level of
their skillset in new ways
• Conversely, some students also found they could achieve things that they
thought they were incapable of

56. SOME FINDINGS
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Things that would have passed me by:
“At the beginning of the course I did not know how to break down such a big global
challenge into weekly chunks, and this has helped my view/thoughts on tackling other
issues outside this Horizons course. Also I feel I have gained confidence in
speaking in front of a large group, as previously I had not really done this before.
I have even been able to talk about uncertainties of whether aliens exist with no
notes, which I am particularly proud of. I have loved learning in a group of people
with mixed courses/backgrounds as ideas have really been able to be bounced
around/off people which really aided learning and improved my experience.”

57. This evaluation and research was possible due to the explicit nature of
the learning experience
The Live, Love, Learn approach brings together a range of pedagogic
and learning design tools that create this explicit experience for both
students and staff
We would like to see whether this could be embedded in other teaching
environments to allow qualitative, individualistic, authentic evaluation to
be carried out
Page: 57

58. As a first step, we have set up a website detailing our approach, along
with a KnowledgeBase to explore the theoretical basis and practical
implications of the approach
www.livelovelearn.education
Page: 58

59. IMAGE NAME 1 IMAGE NAME 2
Thank You
Page: 59
STUDENT FEEDBACK AND REFERENCES