Curriculum & Padagogy

UNIT 4
NEP-2020, and Curriculum and Pedagogy
SANTOSH PANDA
Director, STRIDE, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
Email: spanda.ignou@gmail.com

Introduction

The National Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020) articulates well on how the

entire system of education can be organised and implemented at various levels
such that the quality standard is enhanced, the quality of student learning
experiences increases, and the employability and quality of the graduates is
strengthened. The policy specifically focuses on the following, in so far as
teaching-learning is concerned:

• Grounding curriculum design, learning resources, and teaching-learning

strategies in the Indian culture and values and Bhartiya Gyan Parampara
(indigenous knowledge systems).
• Offer of learning resources and teaching-learning in regional/local languages,
mother tongue and local dialects, besides English and Hindi.
• Multidisciplinary and holistic education, encompassing courses from multiple
disciplines and by judiciously addressing the physical, mental, social, emotional,
moral and spiritual development of the students.
• Emphasis on outcome-based learning in which the student learning outcomes,
engagement of learning activities, and the rubric/strategies of assessment are
integrated to each other.
• Multiple entry and exit within an academic programme of study, and also
horizontal and vertical mobility between general education and vocational
education.
• Putting theory into practice, thereby equally dividing credit hours between
theoretical/conceptual studies and student engagement in activities and
internship (i.e. application of the conceptual learning in real life contexts or
situations).
• Integrating skilling and employability with curriculum and teaching-learning
across disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and multi-disciplinary studies.

___________
Unit 4, Module 2: ‘Curriculum, Teaching-Learning and Assessment’, is part of Professional Development
Programme on Implementation of NEP-2020 of IGNOU, New Delhi under PMMMNMTT. © IGNOU, 2022.

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• Accreditation of prior learning (knowledge and skills), credit transfer, and

accumulation of credits in the Academic Bank of Credits.
• Integrating technology into learning resources, teaching-learning, and
assessment.
• Strengthening discipline pedagogy, and researching pedagogy of the discipline.
• Blended teaching and learning by combining self-study, face-to-face, hands-on
and practicum, and online collaborative learning (and also face-to-face,
distance, online, and flipped lerning).

Based on some of the above important aspects relating to curriculum and

pedagogy, in this unit we shall discuss the framework of blended learning,
curriculum design frameworks, the availability of learning resources, and
pedagogic applications in higher education.

Learning Outcomes

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

• Describe the workable formulation of blended learning design.
• Analyse the framework of holistic curriculum design, and linkage between
learning outcomes, student activities, and assessment strategies.
• Describe various sources of digital learning resources.
• Reflect upon various pedagogic strategies, and linking learner activities
with various levels of learning outcomes.

Blended Learning

Our curriculum design and teaching-learning strategies should take into

consideration the NEP-2020 teaching-learning factors noted above. We shall deal
with some of the factors associated with curriculum and pedagogy in the
following sections. In so far as teaching-learning is concerned, NEP-2020
advocates for all higher education institutions to go for ‘blended learning’ -
blending self-learning, face-to-face learning, and online collaborative learning in
a judicious way (Figure 4.1).

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Face to Face
Learning

Online
Self Paced Collaborative
Learning Learning

Source: E-TQM College Blended Learning Approach

Figure 4.1: Components of blended learning

There are many ways blending can take place for curriculum design, learning
resources design, strategies and methods of teaching-learning, assessment and
evaluation, among others. Figure 4.1 exemplifies how the credit hours/credits of an
educational programme of study can be judiciously distributed across the three
strategies.

• Self-paced learning: Some credit hours may be allocated to self-learning by

the students with the help of self-learning materials (print, audio, video,
resources at social networks and sites, as also open educational resources).
This self-learning needs to be guided/mentored by the teachers through
various means available to them. Moreover, the self-learning component of
credit hours also forms part of both formative and summative assessment.
• Face-to-face learning: Some portions of the credit hours may be devoted to
face-to-face interaction, which may be organized largely for interaction,
discussion, counseling, student activities, conduct of practicum, and
internship (including virtual internships available for college and university
students).
• Online collaborative learning: The third portion of the credit hours may be
devoted to collaborative assignments and projects (including project-based
learning, case-based learning, and portfolio-based learning) which can be
organised through various online platforms or networks (like, for instance,
Moodle LMS).

Teachers and programme coordinators shall have the freedom to decide the
weightage to be given to these three components depending on their discipline
and programme/subject of study, institutional provisions, among others. We
shall focus, in the subsequent sections, on three major components: i)
curriculum design, ii) learning resources, and iii) pedagogy so that you

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develop better understanding about these and appreciate the need to devote
required time in designing curriculum and in sharpening your pedagogic
strategies.

Curriculum Design
NEP-2020 underlines design, development and delivery of multidisciplinary, holistic
and integrated curriculum - meaning thereby that:

• Multidisciplinary: Students shall be provided the freedom to choose courses

from other disciplines (besides their discipline core courses) which will
enhance their mental horizon and worldview, as also increase the aspect of
skills and employability (see Unit 5 for detailed discussion on holistic and
multidisciplinary education, and Unit 7 for skilling and employability).
• Holistic: Besides the disciplinary and multidisciplinary courses, the
curriculum design will focus on social and life skills including health,
environment, community engagement, values, happiness/well being, among
others as compulsory components of any academic programme. NEP-2020
proposes that at least two areas should be compulsory courses of study across
all types of education (general, technical, professional, etc.) – i) foundational
liberal arts education for developing humaneness, and ii) a component of
vocational education to enhance the employability skills and to follow one’s
life passion. This aspect also includes holistic development – physical,
mental, social, emotional, ethical and spiritual.
• Integrated: Various individual, social, environment, cultural, and local
dimensions and concerns should be integrated within the curriculum, so also
integration of general education and vocational education, and integration
and continuity between school education and higher and further education.

Holistic but flexible curriculum components are depicted in Figure 4.2 which
specifies integration of, besides the components noted above,
multidisciplinary and multiple entry and exit in the curricular structure, and
integration of arts education with the STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics education, to make it STEAM).

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Holistic Curriculum

Integration of
STEAM Industry-academia
Multidisciplinary linkages
& holistic
education
Flexible Multiple entry &
Skilling & exit
employability Curricular
Structures
Community
Indian language, engagement and
culture & art service
Environment & Research and
value-based internships
education

Figure 4.2: Holistic and flexible curriculum components (Courtesy: CIQA, IGNOU)

Besides the various components as outlined above, the NEP also underlines
incorporation of the twenty-first century skills into curriculum and teaching-
learning activities in any programme of study (see Table 4.1)
Table 4.1: 21 century skills

Skills
• Communication skills
• Independent learning skills
• Thinking skills (critical thinking, problem solving, creativity)
• Responsibility and ethics skills
• Leadership skills
• Knowledge management skills
• Self-directed learning/self-regulated learning/happiness skills

An example of the proposed four-year undergraduate programme by the University

Grants Commission (UGC) is indicated in Table 4.2 in which besides the discipline
core and disciplinary/interdisciplinary elective courses, credit hours need to be
allocated to skill enhancement, value addition, internship and communicy
engagement, and research areas.

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Table 4.2: NEP: FYUP (UGC)

S.No. Courses Credits
1 Disciplinary/Interdisciplinary: Core 48
2 Disciplinary/Interdisciplinary: Electives 32 (24+8 Generic)
3 Skill Enhancement/Ability Enhacement/Vocational 16
4 Value Addition 12
5 Field Project/Internship/Apprenticeship/ Community 12
Engagement
6 Research / Advanced Discipline Courses 40
Grand Total 160

‘Generic’ learning outcomes include: problem solving, critical thinking, creativity,

communication, analytical reasoning, research skills, coordination and
collaboration, leadership, learning to learn, digital literacy, multicultural
competence, value inculcation, autonomy and accountability, environmental
awareness, community engagement.
Irrespective of the discipline or subject that one is teaching, we need to take care
and devote more time to designing our curriculum very well. A representative
formulation of curriculum design is given in Figure 4.3 which spells out the stages
and especially the aspects that we need to focus on.
• Starting from a ‘needs analysis’ to the consideration of ‘faculty expertise’
and ‘curricular best practices’ of that particular programme of study, we
need to consider a wide range of factors for designing our
curriculum/courses of study’ (extreme left box).
• Besides the disciplinary and interdisciplinary and other considerations like
social and life skills, etc., we need to take care of the aspects of
multidisciplinarity (as discussed above) and multiple entry-exit (e.g. a
student can complete the first year of UG programme of 40 credits and can
exit with a certificate and enter the world of work; come back and complete
the second year and exit with a diploma; and come back again to complete
the third year and get the degree, till one completes the fourth year to obtain
the degree with honours). The accumulated course credits from one’s
discipline, other disciplines, social and life skills, etc., can be deposited in
the Academic Bank of Credits by the student and can be utilised/encashed
to obtain a certificate/diploma/degree. Above 32 lakh students have already
registered in the centralised Academic Bank of Credits.
• The above two considerations (i.e. the first and second column in Figure
4.3) will lead to the development of a programme ‘concept map’ and
programme ‘blueprint’, and also the programme learning outcomes, course
learning outcomes, and unit learning outcomes (For a detailed discussion,
see Das et al, 2022).

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Factors affecting design Concept Credits and Learning

Mapping/ Outcomes (knowledge,
Programme attitude, 21st century skills,
• Needs analysis. employability skills).
Blueprint
• National/regional
development needs.
• Human resources Learning activities
requirement. - Multidisciplinary.
Learning resources
• Global developments. - Multiple entry-exit.
• Expert opinion. Teaching-learning strategies
• Discipline knowledge
- Discipline.
structure. Formative and summative
- Interdisciplinary.
• Research and development assessment
- Skill-based.
(R&D) findings.
- Social & life skills.
• Indigenous knowledge Programme delivery and
- Vocational/job-
base. maintenance
related/
• Faculty expertise. professional skills.
• Learner profile. Programme evaluation
• Social expectations.
• Curriculum best practices. Programme revision

Figure 4.3: Academic programme design

An example of learning outcomes for a ‘master’s programme in media governance’ is given

in the box below:

• Describe, infer, distinguish and interpret various media legislations and policies
concerning our media environment.
• Analyse key theoretical and methodological tools from social sciences and
media studies to discern trends and shifts in evolving media policy fremeworks,
industry and democratic practices.
• Appraise and articulate analytical links between policy evolutions, policy
formulation, inputs (collective demands and preferences)....
• Differentiate and critically debate policy shifts in media, market and state, and
explore their consequences to democratic processes, market structures, public
interest and communication....
• Apply theoretical concepts and raw data in coherent formats like reports to
illuminate key arguments that explicate policies, elements and strategies....”
(Das et al, 2022, pp28-29)

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Once the programme and course learning outcomes are formulated, it will be appropriate to
design ‘learning activities’ that the students need to be engaged with to achieve the learning
outcomes. The activities may include, for instance, critical reviews, writing essays, debates
and discussions, undertaking projects, field studies, lab work, case development,
development of learning journal or portfolio, collaborative assignment and peer review,
application of tools, among others.
Based on the learning outcomes and learning activities, learning resources may be located or
developed or curated. The learning resources may include text books, self-learning materials,
audios, videos, open educational resources, web links to resources/activities/best practices,
youtube videos, network resources, etc. The learning resources need to be carefully selected
and prescribed/provided, and should be simple, conversational, appropriate to the content and
level of students, and should preferably contain cases, activities, examples, applications,
reviews, etc. [We shall discuss teaching-learning and assessment under the section
‘pedagogy’ below].
We need to take care and ensure that there is compatibility or linkage between curriculum
concept mapping, graduate attributes and learning outcomes, learning activities and tasks, and
the assessment rubrics/strategies (Figure 4.4).

Curriculum mapping/ Graduate attributes and

Concept mapping learning outcomes

Design of a variety of ‘learner Authentic tasks and

activities’ to meet learning authentic assessment
outcomes rubric

Figure 4.4: Curriculum, learning outcomes, activities, assessment linkage

That would simply mean to establish categorical linkage between first learning outcome with
appropriate activities and assessment strategy; between second learning outcome with
appropriate activities and assessment strategy; and so on (Figure 4.5).

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Learning Activities Assessment 1

Outcome 1

Assessment 2 Activities Learning

Outcome 2

Learning Activities Assessment 3

Outcome 3

Figure 4.5: Integration of learning outcome, activities, and assessment.

It will be very facilitative if we can develop a programme or course design matrix (Table 4.3)
which clearly spells out the courses and modules, and corresponding credit hours, learning
outcomes, learning activities (with credit hours), learning resources (with credit hours), face-
to-face interaction (with credit hours), learner support/remedial teaching/tutorial (with credit
hours), and the corresponding assessment strategies for each course/module. This transparent
matrix shall also be handy for fellow teachers, students, parents, employers accrediting
agencies, collaborators, among others.

Table 4.3: Course design matrix

Course/module Learning Credit Activities/ Learning Learning Assessment

/ Lesson outcomes hours Assignments support resources rubric/
(P/A/V/F2F) methods
Course

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Unit/Lesson 1

Unit/Lesson 2

Unit/Lesson 3

Unit/Lesson 4

Unit/Lesson 5

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Learning Resources
Besides the above noted types of learning resources, teachers may like to locate and
suggest to students some of the MOOC-based resources that are available in our country:
• SWAYAM (swayam.gov.in) national platform houses above 3000 credit-based
courses from various disciplines, and this online platform has four components or
quadrants (digital text, video, additional web resources, and tests, besides interaction
through discussion forum). Institutions can approve in their statutory bodies the
courses that the teachers prescribe and that the students would like to go through/take
up from SWAYAM so that those course credits and course completion grades are
transferred to the programme of study to obtain the diploma or degree.
• NPTEL (nptel.nic.in) online platform (created by seven IITs and IISc) contains
curriculum-based instructional videos in engineering and related subjects.
• IITBX (www.iitbombayx.in) platform by IIT-Bombay provides four types of MOOCs
- eduMOOCs, skillMOOCs, techMOOCs, and lifeMOOCs - which the teachers and
students can access and use in their teaching-learning.
• IIMBx (www.iimb.ac.in/iimbx) platform offers MOOCs in various management areas
(offered by IIM-Bangalore).
• mooKIT (mookit.in) platform through which IIT-Kanpur provides Arch4Cloud
certification in six languages (in collaboration with IIT-Ropar).
• agMOOCs (agmoocs.in) is a consortium of four institutions/agencies which offers
MOOCs in agriculture education to teachers, students and agriculture practitioners.
Besides the above, students of banking and finance can also access Vskills MOOCs; the
ePG-Pathshala online courses of UGC; the online resources base of INFLIBNET of UGC;
and the online resources offered through E-Vidya Bharati. Teachers and students can also
access curriculum-based print, audio and video resources of E-Gyankosh of IGNOU free
of cost, and the curriculum-based telecasts of Gyandarshan and Swayam Prabha TV
channels.
Recently, the UGC has initiated the scheme of 5 lakh Common Service Centres in 2.5
lakh village panchayats where students can take up courses online (about 23,000 PG
courses and 137 SWAYAM courses) and deposit the courses completed and credits
earned in their Academic Bank of Credits to encash toward obtaining a degree.
You may also like to locate and recommend your students various authentic and
appropriate open educational resources (OER) that are declared under Creative Commons
(CC) licensing. These include print, videos (including YouTube videos), audios,
graphics, animations, etc.
The most neglected part in out teaching-learning system is ‘pedagogy’ which the
professional development programmes need to emphatically focus on. The establishment
of Teaching-Learning Centres (TLCs) under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National
Mission on Teachers and Teaching was primarily aimed at developing discipline-specific
pedagogies, and developing best practices through research on discipline pedagogy.

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Pedagogy
The quotation from a recent analysis and articulation on reformations in teaching-learning
by Amelia Peterson from the Harvard University should be handly to explain pedagogy :
“Pedagogies provide frameworks for the multitude of decisions teachers have to make
about how they teach” (Peterson et al, 2018, p.8). As teachers, we have to make a variety
of decisions on how to teach our discipline or multidiscipline course - about selection of
learning resources, content delivery strategies, student collaboration and engagement,
learning activities, selection and integrated use of media including social technologies and
social networks, design of appropriate assessment strategies, among others. Grounding in
pedagogy shall not only facilitate this but also enhance the quality of teaching-learning
and the quality of student learning experiences (and therefore the quality of the
graduates).
For a general understanding, the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy, and learning
theories is depicted in Figure 4.6.

Curriculum
(Sets out aims and objectives in
relation to student learning)

Pedagogy Learning Theory

(Provides strategies to meet the (Informs the design of
educational aims and objectives) pedagogy)

Figure 4.6: Relation between curriculum, pedagogy and learning theory (Taber, 2016)

While the curriculum expresses the goals of educating programme of study and its
contents, pedagogy on the other hand provides strategies (i.e. how) to achieve the
curricular goals; and grounding in various pedagogic or andragogic learning theories
facilitates effective design and application of pedagogies. To explain a little more, it
may be noted that there are three components of ‘pedagogy’ which we need to know
and develop appropriate skills:
i) Teaching-Learning Strategies: Various theories of learning like constructivism
or situated learning, etc. Which provide the required conceptual frameworks
to teaching-learning.
ii) Instructional Design: Various instructional strategies and instructional/learning
design models which facilitate organisation of content and learning activities.
iii) Pedagogic Methods: Various teacher-centred, content-centred, and learner-
centred methods including presentation, tutorial, demonstration, discussion,
collaboration, field trip, apprenticeship, case study, project-based learning.
Various important pedagogies that you may like to consider as appropriate to your
programme and subject area are summarised as follows:

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• Project-based learning: Developing skills for minute project tasks and

implementation.
• Case-based learning: Working on a case/problem, with guided inquiry (with
collaborative learning and mentored advice), team work and experience sharing.
• Portfolio/ E-Portfolio: Evidence of application of relevant skills; reflecting on
experiences/situations; integration of academic learning with livid experiences
(i.e. digital compilation of work experiences/achievements).
• Competency-based learning: Mastering a set of skills in one course before moving
to the next (i.e. application of knowledge in practical situations).
• Conversational learning: Discussion forum interaction, collaboration, reflection,
experimentation, active engagement by sharing application in local contexts
(combining theory and skills, with livid experiences).
• Self-regulated learning: Set goals, manage time, decide what help is needed,
search resources, choose learning strategies, reflect, evaluate learning outcomes (i.
e. controlling learning, monitoring progress, focusing on outcomes).
Based on the levels of learning outcomes, starting from the level ‘knowledge’ to
‘creativity’ and ‘constructivist’ learning, the student activities corresponding to the
levels of learning are given in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4: Level of learning outcomes and corresponding learning activities
Learning Activities /Engagement in-practice
Outcomes
Knowledge Multiple choice test Memory, knowledge of subject, ordering of
material. Potential to assess analysis, problem solving, evaluation and
decision making.
Understanding Oral examination Communication skills, knowledge and
understanding, ability to think quickly under pressure
Poster presentation or Ability to interpret and present findings
attractively exhibition – individual or group.
Application Case Study or open Application of knowledge, analysis, problem-
solving problem and evaluative skills
Analysis Course essay or Gathering, selecting, synthesizing and presenting
dissertation information, developing an argument, understanding,
synthesis, analysis and evaluation, writing skills.
Internship Applying theory, interpersonal/communication/time
management/problem solving/technical skills, reflection.
Creativity Project work (PBL)-Planning, project management, research methods,
individual/group problem solving, relating concepts to situations,
application of knowledge, decision making.
Constructivist Individual reflective tasks. Portfolio: Recording progress over time,
skills development, self-reflection, analysis, applying theory, organizing
and presenting material.

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It may be underlined that, irrespective of the discipline or subject of teaching three

pedagogic methods, i.e. case-based learning, project-based learning (PBL), and
portfolio-based learning should be considered by the teachers for enhancing the
quality of student learning. Besides, technology provides for greater flexibility and
more possibilities to enhance students’ reflective experience,. For instance, ‘blog’
can be built into student learning activities to enhance ‘individual reflection’, and
‘wiki’ can be used for collaborative learning and ‘group reflection’. Reflective
learning is a higher order learning, and facilitates development of meta-cognitive
skills and self-regulated learning of the students.
Portfolios are considered to be the best pedagogic and assessment strategy at all levels
of education, and especially for higher education. Two types of portfolios may be
formulated:
• Formative Portfolio: Assessment ‘for’ Learning (maintained throughout class to
provide feedback to improve learning).
• Summative Portfolio: Assessment ‘of’ Learning (structured around outcomes/
standards, especially based on rubric and quantitative data to determine outcomes of
instruction).

Conclusion
We have underlined in this unit that with the formulations as suggested by NEP-2020,
the entire higher education is moving toward ‘blended’ teaching-learning (by
combining self-learning, face-to-face interaction, and online collaborative learning, as
also by combining traditional classroom education, distance learning, and online
learning). The recent UGC guidelines also stipulated that campus-based, distance, and
online learning are all equivalent in educational delivery, quality of learning and
academic degrees. As you know, any student from any HEI can take up a maximum
of 40% courses/ course credits from the national SWAYAM platform online and
transfer the earned credits toward one’s own programme of study and degree
(meaning thereby, those courses will not be taught in the formal classroom).
In the future, there will be more of ‘course-based’ registration, allowing students to
take up courses (even outside one’s core discipline area) from other disciplines and
interdisciplinary areas – e.g. a student of social science can take up any science course
or a course in music or even artificial intelligence – not only from one’s own
institution but also from other institutions and deposit in his/ her account in the ABC,
and transfer to obtain a diploma or degree. The institutions which offered the highest
amount of course credits will award the degree. Therefore, we need to formulate our
curriculum with due consideration to ‘multidisciplinary’, ‘holistic’, and ‘multiple
entry-exit’ aspects.
While the entire higher education is going to practice blended learning, the
educational resources need not confine to textbooks – students can access open
educational resources (OERs), social networks, YouTube resources, and the digital
resources available through various national and regional networks in the country

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including SWAYAM, other MOOC platforms, etc. To enhance employability,

multidisciplinary courses and skill-based courses need to be offered. Courses on
values, environment, community engagement, social and like skills etc will not only
enhance employability skills but more so will contribute to holistic, integrated and
balanced life and happy life.
We need to take special care that there is congruence among ‘learning outcomes’,
‘learning activities’, and ‘assessment strategies. The NEP proposes almost a 50-50
formulation – i.e. on the one hand there can be 50% discipline core and rest 50%
from other disciplines, on the other hand there can be 50% conceptual/theoretical
teaching and the rest 50% time/ credit hours can be devoted to application of the
concepts into practice/ student engagement in activities/ apprenticeship and
internship. Our pedagogic methods should focus more on student-centred and
problem-centred/ based and project-based learning and activities. Portfolios should be
an integral part of student activities as also student assessment across all disciplines;
and student assessment should be viewed from the perspective of ‘assessment as
learning’ (i.e. learning while carrying out an assessment activity).

Additional Resources
Das, B., Panda, S. & Parthasarathi, V. (eds.) (2022). Pedagogy in Practice. London
& New Delhi: Bloomsbury Academic.

Peterson, A. et al (2018). Understanding Innovative Pedagogies: Key themes to

analyse new approaches to teaching and learning. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Taber, K. (2016). The role of new educational technology in teaching and learning: a
constructivist perspective on digital learning. In A. Marcus-Quinn and T.
Hourigan (eds.), Handbook of Digital Learning for K-12 Schools. Switzerland
AG: Springer.

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