Some time ago a friend of mine wanted to start a business. Not having majored in Business I did not know much of the terminology he was using. He broke certain things down for me which was beneficial to our conversation. At one point he mentioned how we would need to declare what sort of business we were: LLC, Corporation, etc. He gave me a break down of how each type of business was organized and I was reluctant to accept any of the plans. I told him how I thought the business should look but I was quickly informed that companies can’t look like what I had proposed. We would have to fit the previously created mold. I had issues with this but soon realized that my reasoning was not going to change anything. All I could think during that time was that I love educational curriculum and instructional planning because there isn’t one set and defined mode.
Flexibility in how things look and are presented is a wonderful thing, even though there can be some drawbacks. The text chapter mentioned how interchangeable certain terms are (e.g. course of study, syllabi, scope and sequence, etc). Even when things are understood there may be differences (additions or omissions to the outline of the program) which need further explanation, but it isn’t difficult to catch on to. Once the terms are defined by the user, however, clarity is restored. Imagination and creativity are given the leading role in deciding the structure of educational design.
