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What does it mean to keep faculty at the centre of curriculum renewal? And what strategies can academic leaders use to do this? 

According to School of Interactive Arts and Technology lecturer and undergraduate curriculum chair Andrew Hawryshkewich, the key is building a process that is collaborative and transparent.

Curriculum renewal is a structured, ongoing process in which academic units review and update their programs and curricula to ensure they remain relevant, effective and responsive to student needs, industry trends and institutional goals.

“We recognized we hadn’t made major changes to our curriculum in a very long time. The goal was to redesign it, starting at the upper-division level, so students could clearly understand the value of a SIAT undergraduate degree. This meant clarifying pathways of learning and how students would navigate them to achieve their goals. As the person responsible for leading the process, it was essential to me that faculty were involved in meaningful ways to make the necessary and sometimes difficult curricular decisions,” says Hawryshkewich.

One of the main drivers for the renewal was feedback gathered from a student survey conducted during the school’s 2022 external review.

• Learn more about how SIAT solicited and integrated student input into their curriculum renewal process

To support this complex, 18-month project, Hawryshkewich collaborated with CEE educational developer Barbara Berry to design a process for engaging faculty in collaborative decision-making.

Berry describes her role as twofold: “I supported the leader to design and facilitate an overall process by acting as a consultant on topics such as how to coach faculty in processes of change. At the same time, I assisted faculty teams to clarify curricula and courses within several concentrations.”

The resulting process, explains Hawryshkewich, placed a strong emphasis on communication and faculty teamwork. 

“I aimed to be persistent and consistent when it came to communicating with faculty participants to ensure clarity and focus. I talked about the process in school meetings, followed up with emails, checked in a few weeks later with reminders, and sent additional notices as deadlines approached. I also followed up with individual groups to ensure nothing was missed.” 

Hawryshkewich adds that communication also meant creating opportunities for instructors to share their experiences of the process. 

“We built feedback loops into the review process itself—asking whether we needed changes and if we were still on the same page. That kind of formative evaluation of leadership is critical to ensure success. It meant people could tell me directly if things weren’t working, rather than waiting until frustrations boiled over.”

Hawryshkewich emphasizes that respecting faculty time was a high priority.

“It was important not to add to faculty workload outside of meetings. This limited what we could do, but we included curricular peer review during faculty retreats to share the work,  enhance understanding and ensure efficiencies.”

Another key part of the project, notes Hawryshkewich, was managing conflict with creative approaches. 

“We recognized that differences of opinion were normal, and used creative approaches to manage conflict and support decision-making across the faculty. For example, there was disagreement around how a course might ‘fit’ within two concentrations at one point. To break the stalemate, I invited those most invested to an informal ice cream meeting. It worked—they showed up, engaged, and we moved forward after weeks of silence.”

Interactive arts and design professor Brian Fisher says the diversity represented in the end result of this process was impressive.

“SIAT’s unique strength is being a connector across disciplines. It is what some now call a ‘nexus’—a space where different forms of expertise come together to create programs and technologies that truly benefit society. As a result, we have one of the most diverse programs at SFU, bringing together academics with backgrounds in design, science, applied sciences, and the arts. Through the curriculum renewal process, we were able to combine perspectives from all those areas to create a program we could all accept—that’s powerful.”

Berry echoes this sentiment, noting the key role curriculum renewal plays wihtin the university's mission.

“Curriculum renewal that supports deep faculty engagement such as what happened in SIAT is demanding and yet very creative work. It’s the heart and soul of learning in higher education. Curriculum revitalization is a powerful way to build the academic community over time to ensure that students and faculty reach their full potential in teaching and learning.” 

To find out how CEE can support your unit's curriculum renewal process, go to their Connect With Us page