Our approach to adult education underlies our principles of good practice, listed in Chapter 2. If you believe adults learn to improve the "self" as well as to gain new skills, then your curriculum materials will provide not only job-specific skills but also opportunities for self-discovery. If you believe that adults' past experiences form their attitudes toward learning, then you must examine those experiences at some stage of curriculum development — in needs assessment, learning-to-learn sessions, etc.

Thus, curriculum design brings together approach (theory) and practice (method). We may share theories of adult education with colleagues, but our methods may be different. The methods you use to design curriculum determine how you

Workplace education curriculum design can be shown as a continuum.(*) At one end are programs with pre-selected and pre-organized content and activities — designed to yield predetermined outcomes. For example, courses for high school diploma or computer literacy are commonly part of an education initiative. They are often predetermined and textbook- or software-driven, but they usually offer the only way to earn recognized credit.

Some boards of education in Ontario are experimenting with alternatives in gaining high school credits. The Ottawa Board of Education gave credits to employees at Island Lodge Nursing Home for an employee handbook written and designed by employees in a co-op workplace education program.

At the other end of the continuum learners collaborate with educators and other interested parties throughout the planning cycle.