Devising a relevant and well-rounded curriculum that meets students’ dynamic learning needs is among higher education’s more challenging and overarching missions. The scholarly landscape has evolved dramatically in recent years, requiring a modern approach to course creation, process approvals and curricular management.
Changes within these institutions have faculty and administrators wondering what tools are most effective for curriculum strategy in universities, resulting in greater student performance and academic outcomes. Whether conceiving new programs or improving existing ones, these tools can shape the future of higher education.
5 Best Tools for Curriculum Strategy in Universities
Universities and faculty members have several curriculum strategy tools to help educators design effective and engaging student learning experiences. The best technologies allow them to evaluate student performance, provide analytics and execute relevant curriculum plans that enable the higher education community to meet their goals.
1. Watermark
Watermark delivers software solutions to universities, enabling them to adhere to assessment and accreditation benchmarks. The company aims to free up more time for faculty and staff to focus on what counts — university and student success.
Watermark’s curriculum strategy solution is a simplified platform for preparing and collaborating on course development, while student feedback features facilitate curricular modifications to optimize learning. With this program, you can use visual curriculum mapping to design a course that fulfills your university’s requirements.
Keep a list of status updates and edits, track changes, and manage proposals on your curriculum management dashboard. Enhance consistency by decreasing data duplication, course descriptions, credits and offerings. Then, customize your catalog for a seamless format or print it to share with accreditors. Watermark’s catalogs are accessible, searchable, and straightforward to navigate on a mobile device.
When you join the community of 1,700 colleges and universities partnering with Watermark, you’ll gain access to an extensive library of client resources, 24-hour technical support and product training workshops.
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2. Kuali
The Kuali curriculum management software makes it easier to create, oversee and revise higher education programs in compliance with evolving academic policies. The cloud-based solution allows you to suggest, examine, collaborate and approve changes to curricular programs, manage graduation requirements and monitor learning outcomes using garnered insights.
More rapid curriculum updates and the creation of new programs ensure the relevancy of learning experiences in alignment with the most current industry trends. Greater curricular organization also leads to a more efficient and supportive academic landscape, fostering higher student achievement and retention.
Course developers can also utilize the company’s curriculum strategy tool to simplify the accreditation process by keeping course offerings up-to-date and of the highest quality. Kuali stands out because of its attractive catalog interface and ability to rank course-program hierarchies appropriately.
If you require assistance, Kuali’s expert support team averages a four-minute response time for urgent matters, a 22-minute response time for high-priority tickets and a 51-minute response time for all other queries.
3. Coursedog
Coursedog serves over 300 campuses and 2.5 million students, ensuring optimal academic achievement through innovative and impactful curriculum management. With Coursedog’s curriculum strategy tools, the Pratt Institute has reduced course management completion time by 90%, while Parker University has decreased catalog publishing times by 75%.
This program emphasizes collaboration with real-time proposal workflows and integrated tracking to engage participants. You can even initiate drag-and-drop approval streams that align with your university’s policies and processes.
Another feature includes consolidating academic information on Student Information System (SIS) and non-SIS platforms into a unified system. Ultimately, it allows you to manage and organize student records, course materials, schedules, and grades in one place. Coursedog also lets you push through curricular changes with the click of a button and automatically syncs them in real time.
Coursedog partners demonstrate high satisfaction with the company’s customer support, training and user experience. When opting for its curriculum strategy solutions, you’ll be assigned a project manager and account manager, receive an individualized implementation plan and gain access to its online community forum.
4. Modern Campus
Formerly Curriculog, Modern Campus serves over 325 higher education institutions, reducing curricular preparation time by 50% and improving data consistency by 76%. Its curriculum management system optimizes proposal submissions and final authorizations, allowing universities to simplify manual processes and adhere to academic standards.
The technology promotes teamwork and transparency among educators, staff, and administration, providing real-time status updates regarding curricular procedures. This includes monitoring proposals, adding comments and approving courses via an online workflow. The centralized approach improves accuracy and consistency for accreditation or institutional compliance using built-in tracking and documentation.
Additionally, over 800 higher education institutions use Modern Campus’s catalog platform. The system ensures a revised student-facing design across all online spaces. Staff can easily modify course and program information with a fully synced, easy-to-navigate catalog for students to peruse.
As part of the company’s Connected Curriculum suite, you can ensure this management system is always updated and valid. Likewise, Modern Campus delivers exemplary customer support with a 30-minute response time, 24-hour online help, a feedback forum and training videos.
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5. CourseLeaf
CourseLeaf is one of the most effective tools for curriculum strategy in universities. This program management solution simplifies curricular development with tailored forms and innovative workflows aligning with your institution’s policies. You can easily submit, modify, and approve essential changes by populating the forms with details from your school’s SIS. Automated email notifications inform you of critical items with configured alerts identifying potential conflicts before you take final action.
Integrate CourseLeaf’s curriculum strategy technologies with your institution’s SIS, learning management system, degree auditing, and assessment platforms. More recently, the company launched a new integration with Ellucian Banner SaaS.
An experienced consultant will help you implement the software, providing on-site consultation and training to faculty, staff, administrators and information technology professionals. Address your university’s greatest challenges and establish short- and long-term strategic goals using the program.
CourseLeaf serves over 500 global institutions and offers comprehensive customer service. Representatives can assist you through 24-hour phone, email, or chat support. You’ll also have access to weekly training opportunities and backend software updates for the highest customer satisfaction.
What Are the Benefits of Curriculum Strategy Tools in Higher Education?
Curriculum strategy tools are critical for developing high-quality learning that’s engaging and suitable for students. These programs boost collaboration among faculty members, enabling them to share ideas and create, analyze and adjust curricula to meet educational and institutional objectives. They ensure the learning resources are useful, accessible and inclusive for everyone.
Common tools include curriculum mapping, curriculum management, and needs assessment implementation. Using these technologies, curriculum developers can monitor changes to educational requirements and accreditation standards, editing courses for precision, consistency and intent.
For university students, the outcome should be a clearer understanding of the course content, improved engagement and an ability to connect their learning to real-world situations. Collecting data and other essential insights can help developers measure student performance against the curriculum’s effectiveness while modifying content delivery and teaching methods.
Choosing the Best Curriculum Strategy Technologies for University Teaching
When deciding which tools are most effective for curriculum strategy in universities, educators must compare technologies to guarantee they meet specific learning requirements, help students and institutions reach their goals and provide essential resources. Some of the most critical considerations include:
- Curriculum mapping: You must be able to design a cohesive and aligned curriculum combining course content, learning outcomes, and assessments.
- Instruction: Decide the appropriate teaching strategy based on the curriculum’s objectives and student learning goals.
- Collaboration: Determine whether the tool fosters cooperation and partnership amongst faculty members.
- Data analytics: Ensure the technology collects and analyzes student learning progress information to inform curriculum improvement decision-making.
- Technology integrations: Consider whether the curriculum strategy tools are compatible with existing university programs.
- Cost: Determine program costs, including training and support, versus the available budget.
Defining the goals and areas where students and the university require the most support will ensure a more straightforward process of researching, comparing, and selecting the appropriate tools.
Optimize Higher Education With Effective Curriculum Strategies
The most effective curriculum strategy tools for universities meet faculty and students where they need them. In the modern and highly digitized academic environment, schools must deliver efficient, reliable, and relevant programs for student and institutional success.
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