Concurrency in course design
What do we mean by concurrency of the learning experience?
As you plan your CP course it is important to keep in mind three stages - who will plan, design and deliver the curriculum. It easy for these three stages to get out of balance with a lot of attention paid to one particular area - remember it is about having a team with sharing the load. Embrace that this course will evolve over time and the start is putting yourself in the students' shoes and considering the learning experience you would wish them to have over the two year course.
... we mean those who have worked within the CP long enough to embrace the evolving nature of its core and how it really does reflect lifelong learning for the teacher. Every teacher knows that everything is always a work in progress and what might have worked one year really well, will need reviewing for the next year.
What is like committing to finding connections?
'It's also constantly evolving and not quite working for us! Yes- we are all so much more aware of overlaps and where we can refer to / build on things which are happening in other subjects - and where we can team teach. We try and plan for that at the start of each term - but we are still missing connections. And we need to also document what did actually happen as - for example - [one DP teacher] used the plane crash stranded on a dessert island scenario as part of decision making theories lessons and the [CRS] teacher was going to use that the following week for decision= making in teams. Neither realised that they were looking at decision making. And I use is it in September in PPS as part of decision making models leading into decision making for uni. Will we remember this next year at this time? Or - do we re-schedule the DP and CRS lessons to fit with PPS (as initially planned)? Finding the time to keep it live is tough and since we are all teaching in a new environment to a different rhythm it'll take a few years to all even out. Finding time to really reflect on the order of teaching accross the different curriculum even harder.'
CP Coordinator 2022
Consider this viewpoint in your own context. Which bits do you identify with the most?
Building in connections pastorally
'The other thing which ... has turned out really well is that we have a 15 min mentor session each day and each week day has a theme. For example:
Monday - what's in the news which we should know [for their CRS].
Tuesday - something about looking after themselves - mentally / phsyically - a mini PHSE ([DP] teacher).
Wednesday - team game - often related to vocab & English as an EAL thing (English teacher).
Thursday is about ethics in context [PPS coordinator].
Friday - 2 stars and a wish. The students can do this publicly (white board) or privately (post it note) and it's a great way to connect and create that community spirit. A time to reflect and say thanks. It's an amazing way to end the week. Everyone is expected to be there - teachers also join in too!'
CP Coordinator 2022
Where in your timetable do you or could you do something similar? This is an example from a school in a particular context so this might not be completely relevant for your context. What tweaks would you make?
Designing the CP Course and Core
In this chat, we discuss concurrency of learning in the CP with Stephanie Lacher, and building a collaborative team, especially if you already offer the DP.
Designing the CP core. (0:00)
- The importance of concurrency of all the components of the core and being mindful about how they happen when they happen.
- The need for a team to collaborate and generate ideas.
Planning and brainstorming for concurrency. (1:21)
- Talk with head of languages/CAS/TOK/EE coordinator to help brainstorm ideas around language development/Service Learning/ PPS/Reflective Project .
- every school context is going to be different about what is accessible
Full transcript
Okay, so shall we chat about designing the CP? Course? And starting with the core, what are your thoughts?
So when I think about designing the CP core, I'm thinking about it from the perspective of being a CP coordinator and working with the way our original structure has been implemented for these first several years. But also thinking about it from that authorization standpoint, the thing I feel that's most important to keep in mind when determining a structure is the concurrency of all the components of the core. And, and being mindful about how they happen when they happen. And that they are happening throughout the two years of that CP core programme.
But the other thing that I think is really important to keep in mind is that when you're a CP coordinator, and you're having that bird's eye view of all the different components, you shouldn't be doing it alone, right, in that the fact that you should be collaborating and having a team around you to generate ideas and to talk through things.
- If you've got your head of languages, speak to them about what they're doing with their language acquisition courses, to help brainstorm ideas around language development.
- If you're already running a diploma programme, presumably you would hopefully have a CAS coordinator. So make sure that you are speaking with your CAS coordinator about how the service learning component of the CP can run concurrently and complementary with the CAS programme in the diploma programme.
- Again, if you've got the diploma programme, and you have an extended essay coordinator, meet with that person to talk about running concurrent things with the reflective project.
- And finally, of course, if you've got a TOK coordinator, speak with them about what what their TOK structure looks like, and how the PPS course could also be complimentary.
And then reasonably, if you've got all of those DP components, you also have a DP coordinator. And you can sit and brainstorm with that person as well. So I think the two big things just have general overall structure is how do you make it so that the four components are concurrent throughout the two years, and don't build in isolation, right? Create a team, have your team, find your people so that you can generate more ideas, so that both programmes can grow and be successful together?
And any pitfalls you can think of?
I think the thing to keep in mind, is that every school context is going to be different about what is accessible, what's reasonable, what's feasible, just within a timetable, what's allowed in terms of being able to access communities in need, what that looks like, wherever your CP school gets located, and what access you have to different resources and technology. So I would say just be just be conscious of what is accessible and what's reasonable. And, strive to make things work within your context. And once they're working within your context, they're just going to blossom and grow naturally.
Yes, that sense of not trying to fit the IB, contextualise the IB and that's why all CP schools are different. And that's how they can flourish. Thank you. That's brilliant.
Set your vision
We have heard here from some different perspectives on creating a learning experience for students where the subjects complement each other through their placement in the timetable but also the explicit identification of shared skills and concepts. When considering your own school it is important to consider how you visualise it. Look at this image and consider which picture or pictures jump out at you as most relating to how you see concurrent learning but also your own vision of a cohesive learning experience.
