Why Does It Take "Forever" To Revise the Curriculum? Accent on Improving College Teaching and Learning, 3

This paper explores the course-planning activities of faculty teaching introductory undergraduate courses, in order to assess influences on the process of curriculum revision. The findings of a survey of 2,311 faculty members in 97 institutions of higher education are previewed here, prior to publication. The study found that faculty from different disciplines discussing curriculum revision have various disciplinary influences that are associated with their beliefs about the purposes of education, about what describes a discipline, about what influences on course planning should be considered, and about how one should plan a course and arrange its content. It is felt that these differences create difficulties among members of curriculum revision committees in agreeing on the content of a curriculum. Thirteen additional readings are listed. (JDD)