Some Salient Points to be Considered in Designing and Developing Undergraduate Honors Curriculums: An Experience from BA Honors Degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) in the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Designing and developing curriculum is more rigorous when the subject fields are too philosophical, theory bound and non-job focused. However, this situation is not there when the subject is job or professional oriented. The principal objective of this paper is to investigate the salient points to be considered when designing and developing honors curriculums, to examine the qualities like pragmatic value, appropriateness, suitability and the motivational factors impounded on the curriculum. Survey method adopted and content analysis, interviews, discussion and observation were commenced a few months back with the purpose of collecting primary data. Data and information related to the researcher’s experiences in designing and developing curriculums, and the exposure in pedagogy, advice, consultations, industry experience, interactive communication with the students and the major stakeholders were very useful for this research. There are some hard and soft points to be considered when designing curriculums. Soft points are more significance than the hard points. Some of the soft points are student’s skills, competencies, attitudinal and behavioral conducts, leadership, communication skills, perseverance etc. This factor has been validated by the views, pointed out by the key library employers. Experience of a job is another point and therefore the Industrial Training (IT) has been made as compulsory. Particular point here is that the students go three days to recognized library and information centers for the training while the other two days taking part for the lectures. Additionally, two to four hour period, the Academic Training Advisor of the Department holds Practical Training Discussion (PTD) with the students. For the evaluation purpose, the students are asked to submit an innovative training report, a project proposal for developing a new library, a library newsletter, report containing the duty list for library attendants, Assistants including Assistant Librarians and with curriculum vitae of the students. Both IT and PTD are targeted to develop the soft skills of the students. It was planned to inculcate and develop the five points like 1. Subject knowledge and practical exposure 2. Attitudes and behaviors 3. Skills and competencies 4. Mindset and vision, and 5 World of work and experience through the syllabus, classroom discussions, IT, PTD and so on. More attempts have to be made use the syllabus as well all through other strategies. These five sets are discussed in the Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF) of UGC Sri Lanka. 7 independent assignments are embedded in the syllabus for group work and individual work for developing soft skills. Through stakeholder analysis, it has been found those points depicted are better to use when design and developing a curriculum.