Curriculum Innovation Advanced in VUCA Era through DECART Workshops

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UKZN, through its Teaching and Learning Office (UTLO), hosted two innovative and interactive workshops as part of the Designing Higher Education Curricula for Agility, Resilience and Transformation (DECART) project.

The workshops brought together academics, curriculum designers and thought leaders to reimagine how knowledge is structured and shared in an ever-changing global landscape.

The first workshop titled: “Constructing an Agile Curriculum Canvas”, was aimed at empowering Higher Education practitioners to design curricula that are responsive, resilient and transformative in the face of Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) conditions.

It introduced participants to the Agile Curriculum Canvas which serves as a practical and creative tool allowing educators to map out core curriculum components while accounting for VUCA-type disruptions. Participants engaged in collaborative activities that encouraged the sharing of best practices, the development of new methods and critical reflection on how to enhance the relevance and quality of academic programmes.

The second workshop was titled: “Unpacking Stakeholder Engagement in Curriculum Transformation”, providing an opportunity for participants to (1) explore the role of stakeholder engagement in facilitating curriculum transformation in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs); (2) engage in a stakeholder analysis exercise involving drawing rich pictures (systems thinking tool) to identify stakeholders and their interests and concerns, and (3) explore the influence, power and interests of the diverse stakeholders that had been identified.

The workshop emphasised how critical meaningful stakeholder engagement is in the curriculum transformation process in HEIs. 

Both workshops formed part of the DECART project, EU funded Erasmus+ Cooperation partnership in Higher Education.

The DECART project is a collaborative effort involving institutions from Africa, Asia, and Europe, including UKZN; IMT Atlantique (France); Reykjavik University (Iceland); Vilnius University (Lithuania); RWTH Aachen University (Germany), and IT Del (Indonesia). Together, these partner institutions develop frameworks and tools to transform Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and management education, ensuring that curricula remain relevant and effective in an ever-changing global landscape.

Leading UKZN’s contribution are Professor Cecile Gerwel Proches and Professor Macdonald Kanyangale of the Graduate School of Business and Leadership, and Professor Angela James of the School of Education, who focus on curriculum transformation and leadership in Higher Education. Their research has uncovered the multifaceted nature of curriculum transformation and identified both enablers and inhibitors of effective leadership in this domain.

Hosted under the umbrella of the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP), the workshops not only advanced the objectives of the DECART project but also aligned with UKZN’s broader mission to foster academic excellence and innovation in teaching and learning.

For more information on the DECART project, visit www.decartproject.eu.

Words: Lungile Ngubelanga

Photograph: Supplied