Transforming Content to Curriculum: Avoiding the Frankensystem

In my last blog Content vs. Curriculum: What Teachers Need to Remind Publishers, I discussed the difference between content and curriculum and I left you with this idea: Content is not curriculum, but curriculum needs content. Curriculum is made up of 4 components – standards, instruction, assessment and reporting.

The development of each component and creating the exchange between them is critical to learning success. In my experience, I’ve found that educational publishers tackling this challenge lack the infrastructure and resources to effectively and efficiently create or manage a course of study. Much like a repository of content lacks the structure to be curriculum, so too can a traditional Content Management System (CMS) lack fundamental structural elements to build what is needed in the K-12 educational context.

We’ve found that a generic CMS can only successfully handle one or two of the four components. And, here’s where the Frankensystem comes in – the stitching together of multiple CMS platforms and spreadsheets as a way to deliver on the promise of outstanding, standards-aligned, assessment-driven, powerhouse curriculum.

But, remember that Victor Frankestein died wishing that he could destroy the Monster he created.

All those multiple systems chugging away ultimately mean more work – for the publisher, their editors (that was me!), and the teacher. None of that work ultimately serves the learner.

When the elements of a curriculum are integrated into one CMS, it means greater efficiency in creation, delivery, and usage. It means greater efficacy of instruction and assessment. It means more robust reporting about how learners consume instruction and assessment. It means more clarity on next steps. It means the learning path is clear.

We’ve faced our own Frankensystems along the way and it’s how we got to building and licensing Content2Classroom. A one-of-a-kind CMS that: (1) starts with the standards; (2) empowers editors to organize and build robust courses of instruction materials; (3) includes a multi-item assessment builder aligned to standards and goals. All in one place.