Overview

Meaningful learning refers to the idea that to acquire knowledge, material must be meaningful and interesting to the learner and build on existing knowledge (Ausubel, 1963). Meaningful learning relates to a range of other concepts such as deep learning, authentic assessment, employability and collaborative learning.

At the heart of the University of Bedfordshire’s Curriculum Framework is a curriculum for the real world. A meaningful curriculum makes explicit links and relevance to students' personal interests and their future professional aspirations, knowledge and skills. Students should be able to see how the curriculum they are studying is relevant to them.

Reflecting on your practice

When designing a meaningful curriculum consider the following:

• The curriculum is a process, not a product. The curriculum is not simply a syllabus stating the knowledge and skills required but should be dynamic and respond to student need.
  
  
• Check students' prior knowledge and skills and build upon these.
  
  
• How the curriculum is sequenced. What are the core threshold concepts (Meyer and Land, 2006) that students need to understand before being able to access the rest of the curriculum?
  
  
• What are the skills and knowledge required by future employers and how are these included in your curriculum?
  
  
• What choice do students have in choosing what to study and how they are assessed to make the curriculum relevant to them?
  
  
• How do students shape the curriculum and what is co-created with them?

Reference

Ausubel, D. (1963) The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning, New York: Grune & Stratton.