HMEF5073

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

SEPTEMBER 2018 SEMESTER

NAME : KAUSALYIA A/P APPANNAN

MATRIX ID : CG501674006

LECTURER : DR LIM PEK CHOO

LEARNING : KUALA LUMPUR LEARNING CENTRE

CENTRE

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The Importance of 21st Century Learning Skills in Education

Introduction
In this current world, leaners are exposed to information, messaging, opinion and etc. it can
come from their peers, internet or social networking such as Instagram and Facebook. The
purpose of this study is to focused on the developments of 21st century skills in students learning.
The 21st century skills are referring to abilities of the students involving collaborative learning,
critical thinking, creativity and communication. It is also known as 4Cs of curriculum
development.

Definition of student learning

Student centered learning is define as educational program, students learning experiences, the
instructional approach, strategies are used to distinguish learning needs, interest of students. In
order to fulfill the goal, the school authorities which involve the teachers, counselors or other
educational specialist may use the educational methods such as modifying the test questions,
assignments and instructional strategies in the classroom. Gibbs (1992) has defined student
learning as giving students the greater autonomy and control over choice of subject matter,
learning methods and pace of study. He also highlighted three important things in student
learning and they are what is learned, how it is learned and when it is learned.

Definition of 21st century skills

The term 21st century skills refer to core competencies such as communication, creativity,
collaboration and critical thinking. This four skills are helpful in developing the schools to teach
and to help students thrive in today’s world. According to Barnett Berry the Founder and CEO,
Center for Teaching Quality, he said that student scan only master the content once they can
produce, synthesize and evaluate information from variety of resources. Meanwhile, Sarah
Brown, The National Teacher of the year (2010) said that it is an approach to teaching. The
teachers teach the students the skills and if the students doesn’t have the skills, then they will left
out with memorizing facts. Furthermore they are not able to become a critical thinker or problem
solver. Milton Chen the senior Fellow & Executive Director, Emeritus, The George Lucas

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Educational Foundation; author of Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in Our
Schools said that 21st century learning should not be contentious because it is an effort to use
modern tools in teaching for example Internet which enable the students to access the
information and they are able to receive the information at their fingertip an work in groups to
accomplish their assignment.

21st century classroom characteristics

Why 21st century classroom? 21st century is a platform where students can enhance their skills
that they will require in the workplace. In order to have this, the teachers has to guide the
students to achieve their goals. A 21st century classroom is designed so that the students can
experience their lifestyle at work place and at the same time enhance their thinking skills,
communication skills, collaborative skills, critical thinking skills and creativity skills. This skills
are used with the help of the technology. Since 21st century skills are developed, there is no
longer traditional classroom because it is no longer effective as everyone is moving towards the
current technology where students does more research to get their information up to date. In
order to facilitate them, the teachers should create new teaching strategies that are different from
traditional classrooms. Since we are in the modern era, the classroom should be more on student
centered and teachers are there to guide them instead of spoon feeding them with information.
Teachers’ instructional approaches should be very clear and it must be aided with the technology
so that the learners are aware on what they are doing in the classroom. The students should
change their role as active participants when comes to learning and they should do their own
learning and must seek out professional development to improve their performance and their
students learning. The characteristics of 21st century classroom are student centric where here
the learners play an active role and teachers serve as guidance. The teachers help the students to
think critically when they are selecting resources Next, the classroom should be filled with
computing devices such as computer, projector and Internet. It is because these tools are
important tools in 21st century skills and this can be replaced with pens, paper and books. With
the current technology, students are able to read or print online materials such as online research,
journals and articles and it also gives an opportunity for students to conduct or participate in
online research. This not only enhance their skills but also an opportunity to improve their
lessons. Moreover, with the help of computer and technology, the students can be more engaging

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and effective in teaching learning process. Active learning is also a helpful tool for the students
to learn. In modern classroom, the students can be actively participate by working in groups or
on computers to complete their project or other interesting activities which can help to develop
new skills. They are active when they talk, listen, write, read and reflect. Adaptive learning is
where we have different learning abilities. In modern approach the students are given freedom to
learn at their own pace in the way they are comfortable with. The students also take
responsibility of their learning for example if they participate in their own learning, they will
become responsible for their learning. The students here wants to achieve the goal so that they
will work with the teachers to achieve their academic goals. Lastly collaborative learning which
the most effective tool in teaching is and learning process. It also includes critical thinking.
Collaborative learning includes group projects, role play, talk show, debate and more. In
conclusion, technology plays a vital role in developing the characteristics of learning in
classroom and prepares the students for higher education and workforce.

Principles of Student Centered Learning

The term student learning centered were founded by Frank Herbert Haward in 1905 and then it
was given to John Dewy in 1950s. According to (Machemer et al, 2007) student centered
learning is defined as method of learning or teaching that puts at the center. Student centered
learning is also known as instructional approach where the students influence the activities,
material, content and style of learning. The teacher who is also known as guidance, facilitator
provides the students the opportunities to learn independently and guide them if they need help.
The students are expose to materials such as problem solving, critical thinking or creative
thinking. The students are also exposed to role plays, group discussion and etc. According to
(Collins & O’Brien, 2003), he said that if the student centered learning is handled in a proper
manner, it can increase the student’s motivation to learn, increase the understanding of the
knowledge and create more positive attitudes towards the subject being taught. Meanwhile,
McCombs and Whistler 1997, state that learners are treated as co-creators in the learning process
where the learners deserve attention and consideration. Students are given choice of what they
have learn in student centered learning. There are also frequent assessment for the students to
ensure the content is mastered. There are four major principles in student centered learning.
Firstly student centered learning requires active learning and ongoing reflection where the

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students should be active in learning. The activities that the teacher creates should incorporate
with own learning experiences and also to find ways to improve their experiences. Secondly, it
also recognize the student diversity in which students has different learning style, motivation and
interest. Students learned through trial and error for example in problem solving or doing
experiment in lab. There are learners who often learned through practical experiences, for
example some learn through reading literature, debate and sometimes through theory in order to
understand the content. There are also students who are being motivated by others. This type of
students come from different background, different learning needs, different levels of language
competencies and different readiness to learn. There are also student with special needs such as
students with hearing and visual impairments and physical disabilities. These students needs
special attention to learn. Thirdly, students have different experiences and background
knowledge. The learning can be more interesting if they can connect their experience with the
existing knowledge. The students are encouraged to use technology to find the information that
they want. This can also boost their level of confidence and can motivate them and also deepen
their understanding. The students have their own choice to make their own learning. Students can
also take their own control of their own learning process and it is important for teachers to
provide activities which can give the student an opportunity to make their own decisions
pertaining to the subject matter, the learning methods and pace of learning. This will be a best
way to make them to participate actively and also to shape their own learning experiences.
Student learning centered also enables higher order thinking skills in assessments. For example,
critical, logical, reflective and creative thinking which can help them to analyze, synthesize,
criticize, apply or solve problems.

Student Centered Learning vs. Teacher Centered Learning

The characteristics of Teacher centered are the level of students’ choices are very low. The
students also passive where they only listen to the lecture. They will be no hands on activity in
classroom. The power is primarily with the lecturer. The teacher assumes that the students have
little useful knowledge. The course has specific objectives relating to what students have to
know for formal assessment. The teacher only presents the facts to the students. Mostly the
teacher covers the information from the text book. The teachers follow the structure of the course
to help the students pass the format of assessment. Teacher provides the set of notes for the

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students. The teacher will also provide information or give tips on what is out for exam. The
characteristics of student learning centered are the level of student choice are high. The students
are active in learning. They love to participate in groups, role play, debate and etc. They always
develop the conversation with others for example, sharing opinions, commenting or criticizing
on an issue. Next, provide students an opportunity to reveal change. The teachers also encourage
the students to restructure the existing knowledge and set aside some teaching time for students
to discuss among themselves. Besides, the teacher use examples to provoke debate so that the
students can involve actively in the participation. Moreover, they also discuss their changing
understanding of the subject. Next, student generate own notes and learn the content
independently. They are also responsible for their own learning. They don’t prefer to rely on the
teachers when comes to learning. Lastly, they question their own ideas.

4 Cs of 21st Century Learning

The four Cs of Century Learning are Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and
Creativity. Based on the theory (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009) Critical Thinking is an important in
21st century skills. Critical thinking is defined as a student who is able to analyze and synthesize
information or in other words students are able to investigate their own thinking. Next is
problem solving skills where students have the ability to select, evaluate, organize and interpret
information. According to (Mansilla and Jackson, 2011) they said that learning and innovation of
21st century skills are promoted as the students can recognize the perspectives, communicate
ideas, take action and able to solve problem. According to (Recker et al,.2011), they said that if
the students have strong communication, they are able to express their views, thoughts clearly
and both in oral and written. According to other researcher, the collaboration is a productive
method in 21st century skills. Creativity plays an important role in 21st century where it is the
ability to produce new, various and different ideas. Students are able to look at different
perspectives which is not restricted by rules and norms.

Conclusion
In conclusion, 21st learning is effective and it should be followed by all teachers in the education
line. These skills are important for everyone and it is also a way for the students to increase the

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access of technology. In this world, every student should instill 21st century skills to succeed in
life. Therefore, 21st century skills should be instill in education system as it gives a lot of positive
impacts to the education system. Besides it also enhance the skills of students and also the
teachers.

Task 2
Lesson Plan 1

Day/Date : Monday 24.09/18

Course : English for Communication

Course Code : FHEL 1034

Program : Foundation in Arts

Topic : Memorandum Writing

Time/Duration : 12pm-2pm (2 Hours)

Venue : KB 106

Lecture Group : L1

Teaching Aids : PowerPoint Slides, Projector & White Board

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify the formatting conventions of memo.

2. Use simple and clear language in written and spoken form.
3. Apply appropriate format and techniques to produce business documents and information
sheets.
4. Write a Memo

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Time (min) Lesson Focus Slides No.
Introduction
15  Introduce the chapter, learning outcomes and objectives of the 1–2
lesson.
 Recall previous knowledge – Students to recall previous
knowledge on Email.
 Teachers shows a text on board and students respond what is
the text all about? Teacher asked question: Have you seen
them? Do you think it’s an email? Teacher then begin the
lesson by explaining that sample is a memo.
 Teacher then explain what a memo is and why do we use it?

5  Teacher introduce the elements of a memorandum.

 Teacher explain the Heading, Body and Closing

10 - Teacher ask question: What should consist in a Heading? 3-7
Teacher explain the importance of designation.

20  Teacher explain the 4 Point plan and the tips to write the 8
message effectively. Teacher shows a few examples to
students. Students are given time to look at the samples of
memorandum.

 Teacher explain the Introduction, details, action/response and 9-18

20 Closing
- Ask students what is the purpose of a memo?
- Explain the context and problem
- Brief them on the specific assignment or task
- Explain what can they can include in their information
- Explain the role of a receiver
- Explain the closure
- Explain the importance of tone in memo
19-21
15  Teacher shows students two examples of memo
introduction. Students are given time to view the examples.
Students give comments. Students then choose the best
introduction.
 Teacher gives examples on a discourteous memorandum.
Students are given time to read the discourteous memo.
Students then share their views.
 Distinguish Memo vs. Email. Show the students the
differences between a memo and an email.
30 22
 Students refer to the worksheet. Students then refer to the
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suggested answer in the slides. Students share their views
on the suggested answer. Students then write a memo with
 the guidance of the lecturer.
 Students are divided into groups of five. Students to
complete the worksheet.
 Students then paste the their Mah jong Paper on the wall
and students from different group to comment their work.
Closure 23

5  Summarize what we have covered today.

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Lesson Plan 2
Day/Date : Monday 1.10.18

Course : English for Communication

Course Code : FHEL 1034

Program : Foundation in Arts

Topic : Letter Writing (Invitation Letter)

Time/Duration : 12pm-2pm (2 Hours)

Venue : KB 106

Lecture Group : L1

Teaching Aids : PowerPoint Slides, Projector & White Board

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify parts of business letter.

2. Use simple and clear language in written and spoken form.
3. Apply appropriate format and techniques to produce business documents and information
sheets.
4. Write an Invitation Letter

Time (min) Lesson Focus Slides No.

Introduction
15  Introduce the chapter, learning outcomes and objectives of the 1–2
lesson.
 Recall previous knowledge – Students to recall previous
knowledge on Memorandum Writing.
 Teachers shows a text on board and students respond what is
the text all about? Teacher asked question: Have you seen
them? Is it Invitation Letter or Permission Letter? Teacher then
begin the lesson.
 Teacher then explain what is Invitation Letter and why do we
use it?
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5  Teacher introduce the parts of business letter writing.

 Teacher explains the importance of parts of business letter and

10 they are Letter Head, Sender’s Address, Reference, Date, 3-7
Inside Address, Salutation, Heading, Complimentary Close,
Name and Designation and Enclosures.
20 8

 Teacher explain the 4 Point plan and the tips to write the
message effectively. Teacher shows a few examples to
students. Students are given time to look at the samples of
Invitation Letter. 9-18
20
 Teacher explain the 4 Point Plan which is Introduction, details,
action/response and Closing
- Ask students what is the purpose of Invitation Letter?
- Explain the details of the event e.g date, time, venue,
theme, and etc
- Explain Response and Action – state the expected action
from the recipient
- Explain what can they can include in their information 19-21
15 - Explain Closing – how to end the letter appropriately

 Teacher shows students two samples of Invitation Letter

Students are given time to view the letter and students to
identify the mistakes from the letter. Students then give
comments.
 Students refer to the worksheet.
 Students are divided into groups of five. Students to write
an Invitation Letter. Teacher guides the students.
 Students then paste the their Mah jong Paper on the wall
30 and students from different group to comment their work. 22

Closure 23

5  Summarize what we have covered today.

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Characteristics of Urban Learners

The target learners for this course belongs to the age group of 18-25 and mostly are from local.
Only a handful of students are from International and they come from Iran. These students are
currently pursuing their Foundation Semester 2 and they are from X and Y stream which is
known as Business and Accountancy Programme. The total number of students in my class are
50. There 30 males and 20 females and majority of them are Chinese. The student’s level of
English Proficiency is intermediate. Some students are able to write and speak well in English
and there are also students who are not able to write simple sentence in English as they are not
expose to the language frequently as they always communicate in Mandarin with their friends.
Besides, based on my observation, there are students who are dependent. For an example, when
the worksheet is given to them, they will not write the answers is the space provided but
scribbling on the paper. This is because they are not confident with answer and they always wait
for the answers from the teacher. And, I also observed that, some students prefer to work in
group as they believe sharing ideas among each other will enhance their knowledge.

Description of the course and the topic selected

The name of this course is English for Communication. This course is 4 credit hours paper (3+1).
3 represents 3 lecture contact hours per week for the duration of 14 weeks. 1 represent 1 tutorial
contact hours per week for the duration of 13 weeks. The students are able to download the notes
from Web based Learning portal. Students should key in their username and password in order to
view the course structure. There are 2 types of assessment for this course and they are
coursework and examination. Both contributes 100 % in total. For coursework, the students will
be doing midterm test and that contributes 20 marks (10%). Moreover, there is also assignment
for this course. The students are required to prepare a proposal for an event and they have to
present their proposal to their lecturer. This contributes to 40 marks. 30 marks for proposal and
10 marks for presentation. The students will have their final exam in December 17 2018 (week
15). There are 4 sections for this paper. There are Section A – Active Passive Voices, Section B-
Notice writing, Section C- Email / Memo Writing and Section D – Letter Writing
(Invitation/Permission/ Sponsorship). I chose two topics which is Memo writing and Letter
writing because these two contents will be tested in their Final exam. Furthermore, the students

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have to remember the formats for these two topics because the marks will be deducted if they fail
to follow the correct format. The total marks for these two topics will be 50 marks. In addition, I
want the students to expose to the writing conventions which are used in technical business
writing. Next, to provide them with basic knowledge on formal letters and memos. Besides, to
teach them on using the appropriate vocabulary pertaining to business documents.

Diagnosis of target learners’ needs

Every student needs inspiring role models because models offer ideas, and they can act as
scaffolding, providing a pathway to students. Teachers should be more creative, authentic and
inspiring to the learners as they believe they can change the students to a better person.
According to Tomlinson (2000) there are four ways in which teachers can differentiate
instruction. Firstly, content where the learners need to learn or how they get the information they
need. Secondly, process the teachers recommend different ways of approaching the content.
Next, products where the learners are allowed to rehearse, apply, and extend what they have
learned in a variety of ways. Lastly, learning environment where teachers create a flexible
classroom with quiet places, areas for interaction, and teach routines that create independence.
Based on my observation, the students want to achieve quality in learning. There are students
with mix ability, students who come from a poor background or other challenges that may limit
their learning abilities. So, the teachers identify the strength and weakness through assessment.
This is to ensure that the learners are not left out or discriminated from the rest. There are
students pursue their understanding diligently where they always put their 100 percent effort
when comes to team work. They always search for information. Besides searching information,
they always read, analyse and evaluate information from their reading. At times, these students
ask question during the class as they believe by asking a lot of questions they can improve their
learning as well as to make them to understand the content well. The students even share their
knowledge to their friends as they believe the more they share the more they learn. It also gives
them the confident to learn more. Most of them prefer group activity rather than sitting there for
hours listening to the lecture. Based on my observation, they prefer hands on activity in
classroom as they believe by doing activities in class can enhance their understanding towards
the lesson. The weakness of the students is they do not have confident in them. For an example,
memo and email the lecture which I have carried out, I have shown them few samples on how to

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write memo and email. The students did took a copy of it. When it comes for their turn to write,
their self-esteem becomes low because they are not able to construct a simple sentence. They
always expect the answers from the tutor. Besides, they are also weak in tenses. They are not
sure of which tenses to be used to construct sentence.

Formulation of course objectives and learning outcomes

Educational goals describe the competence skills where the students possess upon completion of
a course or program. The course objectives and learning outcomes are design based on Blooms
Taxanomy which also known as cognitive domains of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Educational goals are outcomes to be achieved by the students at the end of the course. Course
objectives are defined as clear objectives which the teacher wants the students to learn by the end
of the course. Learning outcome and course objectives are not the same. Both course objectives
and learning outcomes are different from learning goals, which are more broadly convinced.
Learning outcome describes what the teachers wants the learners actually learned. Based on the
lesson plan above, the students will be able to identify the formatting conventions of memo and
email writing. The learners are able to use simple and clear language in written and spoken form.
Besides, apply appropriate format and techniques to produce the business documents and
information sheets and finally they are able to write a memo and email. Since this topic is tested
in final exam, the students will apply what they have learnt and thus produce a good result. It is
important to have course objectives or learning outcome in the syllabus because by doing so the
teachers can easily align the objectives with the course content. Furthermore, the teachers can
communicate the teachers’ expectation of the students and to provide students an opportunity for
them to make connections across the courses. The most powerful learning outcomes are specific
and measurable. According to Diamond (1998), the learning outcomes should contain the
following and they are a verb that describes and observable action, a description of the
conditions under which the action take place for example, ‘when you give X, you will be able
to?’’ and lastly the acceptable performance level.

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Selection of organisation of content
The curriculum was design so that it can improve students learning and also improve students’
grade. It is a term to describe how useful or purposeful organisation. Curriculum design is also
known a way for teacher to plan their instruction for the students. Once they have designed the
curriculum, they know what to do, who will do it and when they want to do it. Based on my
lesson plan above, the lesson plan is designed based on the curriculum that is approved by the
senate. Based on the curriculum design, I will decide the task as in naming the topic or unit, plan
the objectives, learning outcomes, teaching materials, activities to be done in class and lastly the
evaluation. Curriculum Content means what we plan to teach the students. The content here
refers to facts, concepts, principles and the concept. There must be clear objectives to be
achieved by the end of the lesson. It can be in a form of attitudes, knowledge, skills and values.
When selecting content, there are four criteria that we should follow and they are significance,
utility, validity learnability and feasibility. For the above lesson plan, the content is significant
because the content is developed of learning activities, skills, process and attitudes in solving
problem. Next, utility where it refers to the usefulness of content. The content above is useful
because the content is tested in their final exam. Moreover, the activity is designed as student
centred where the students involve in collaborative learning where they do the activities in group
for example the lesson on memo and email writing. The students were exposed with the format
and samples of memo and email were shown to the students so that the students will have an idea
on how to write memo and email. Once they have received the knowledge, they will apply it.
They will work in group so that the ideas can be exchanged thus they will learn more. Besides,
validity here refers whether the information passed on to students is authentic and obtained from
credible resources. Referring to the lesson plan, the content of my curriculum is valid because
the content and the curriculum has been approved by the senate in terms of topic, tutorials,
worksheet, lecture notes, references and assignments task sheet. The contents are checked twice
a year to determine the accuracy and constantly updated. Here, in my university, we practiced
writing a course report once the semester has end. The course report summarizes the curriculum
whether the lecture slides should be remained or changed. Not only that, they will also explain
the mean, and the standard deviation for the particular subject. This is to show the senate the
percentage of failures and passes of the subject and what can be done to improve. Next,
learnability where the students can learn the content within their experience. This is to maximize

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their learning capacity towards the lesson. Lastly, feasibility where the teachers plan their lesson
according to the time given. Referring to the lesson plan above, the lecture is for two hours per
topic. The teacher has to finish his or her teaching within the two hours.

Selection of teaching methods

Teaching methods are the methods used by teachers to enable student learning. It is the most
important tools. They are used to achieve the teaching objectives and learning outcomes. Once
the teacher is clear about the educational goals, the teacher decides the teaching methods for the
students. Based on my lesson plan, the teaching methods that I used is pair work and group work.
Students were asked to move around in the classroom. For example, memo and email writing.
Students were shown on the format which is known as 4-point plan and few samples of writing a
memo and email writing. Students then in pair to read and identify the error in terms of
organization, format, language and content. Next, students in group of 4 to write memo and
email. This only happens once they have learnt the format of writing memo and email. Once they
are done with it, they have to paste the mah jong paper on the wall and then the students are
required to walk around the classroom and take a look on what others have written on the mah
jong paper. In this part they are more to student centred where the teachers coach them and
facilitate them and also to measure the students learning. Moreover, it is continuously measured
during teacher instruction.

Selection of learning activities

Learning activities are activities designed by the teachers. The teacher decides the learning
activities for the students. Based on my lesson plan, the learning activities that I use are quiz
where I quiz them on the previous knowledge which is memo before I proceed to email. Next, I
use questioning where I question them on the definition of memo and email and student response
to the question. I also use pair work where students learn or finish the activity with their pair.
Lastly, group activity. Students are divided into groups. They discuss and exchange ideas and
later present it to the class.

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Selection and resources and materials required
Teaching materials are the resources a teacher use to deliver their instruction to students. This is
also known to support the learning. Teaching materials can support learning and increase student
success. The teaching materials that I use are power-point. The lectures are delivered using
power point. The lecture notes, worksheet and assignment task sheet are available for the
students where they can download the notes from web-based learning portal. Students will jot
down the notes when the teacher is teaching. I also use whiteboard to explain the notes in detail.
Besides explanation, I also provide them extra examples for them. There will be worksheet for
them too. As soon as they are finish with the group work, they were asked to complete the
worksheet as their homework and submit it during the one-hour class. Students were given
immediate feedback through face to face or email. The resources and materials were selected
because it is very useful for the students as it saves time and paper. Moreover, it is very easy to
download the notes as long as there is sufficient internet connection. These materials are
developed for learning and teaching process. Besides, it is also use for the students to participate
actively in the learning. Learning materials in teaching are important to the success of student
achievement. Teaching materials helps the students to gain new knowledge and skills.

Evaluation of learning outcome

Evaluation of teaching is conducted to collect feedback. This method is used to improve their
teaching. Besides, it used to monitor the learning progress of students during the period of
instruction. Based on the lesson plan, I observe that some students did fairly well and some did
not. In my first class out 50 students, only 30 to 35 students are able to write an email and memo
writing. This is because they applied the correct format and they are able to construct simple
sentences for email and memo writing. The language used by them are not so bad. There are only
few errors in terms of spelling and details. The other students who did perform well because they
have not used the correct format and most of them could not able to write a proper sentence as
their language are very poor. The other group of mines, only 40 students did very well. The
language and vocabulary that they use are very relevant and interesting. They have strong
command of English. Only few students were not able to write as they have poor language
background and they have low command in English. The learning outcomes were also achieved

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as the lesson carried out smoothly without any barrier. I finished and recap the lesson exactly for
2 hours.

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