Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the “Unbundling” of Higher Education

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  In Roundtable Session: Case Study Approaches to Understanding Higher Education Culture

Abstract

This paper is about the forms in which curriculum and pedagogy are being redrawn in schooling and higher education in Australia. It contrasts the nationalization of school curriculum with the institutionalization of pedagogic practice in universities and the rise of new online curriculum forms that seek to ‘unbundle’ the curriculum work of content development from the pedagogic delivery of defined materials. The paper suggests that these policies and practices increasingly appear to be constructing curricular and pedagogical matters as separable and delimited concerns, and that a contrasting prioritization in their central management is evident between the two sectors. The argument draws on policy analysis and interviews with academics with responsibilities for developing new online courses in three different Australian institutions.

Authors

• Kate O'Connor, The University of Melbourne

• Lyn Yates, University of Melbourne