A STUDY TO IDENTIFY THE CURRICULUM GOALS OF UNITED
STATES EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACADEMIC PROGRAMS BY ACADEMIC
DEGREE LEVEL THAT ARE PERCIEVED AS NEEDED BY FACULTY
AND EMERGENCY MANAGER
PRACTITIONERS
CURRICULUM GOALS
• Curriculum: Are the courses, or group of courses, that make up a specific academic program, such as a general education program or major.
• Goals: The general aims or purposes of the program and its curriculum.
ACADEMIC DEGREE PROGRAMS
• A program of study which offers a full concentration in a single academic or professional field of study
• An academic degree program is often referred to as a concentration at the associate degree-level; major at the bachelor’s degree-level; and concentration or track at a master’s degree-level
ACADEMIC DEGREE LEVELS
• Associate Degrees: Two-year undergraduate programs of approximately 60 semester credit hours
• Bachelor’s Degrees: Four-year undergraduate programs of approximately 120 semester credit hours
• Master’s Degrees: One-to-two year graduate programs of study
PERCIEVED AS NEEDED
• Need is operationally defined as the level of importance ascribed to each curriculum goal, and each degree level, by faculty (or program directors/representatives) and emergency manager practitioners
PURPOSE
• General importance of developing emergency management programs to society
• Enhancement of curriculum designers ability to develop curriculum appropriate for each degree-level by moving from general to specific
• Improve student and employer’s ability to distinguish degree-level aspects
• Develop the discipline and enhance the profession
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
• This study will examine the perceptions that academic program faculty/ administrators and emergency managers have of what are, or should be, the general or broad curriculum goals for emergency management associate, bachelors and masters degree programs.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Is there significant consistency between emergency management degree-program experts on what the set of general curriculum-level goals for emergency management academic degree programs should be?
• If so, can these general curriculum-level goals for emergency management degree programs differentiate between associate, bachelors and masters program degree-levels?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• If there significant consistency between emergency management degree-program experts on whether or not these general curriculum-level goals for emergency management academic degree programs can be combined to form a set of overarching curriculum-level goal concepts?
• If so, can these overarching curriculum-level goal concepts differentiate between associate, bachelors and masters program degree-levels?
LITERATURE SEARCH
• History of Emergency Management in the United States
• Academic Degree Programs • Academic Program Planning • Influences on Curriculum Development • Emergency Management Educational Programs • Emergency Management Academic Degree
Programs • Emergency Management Academic Degree
Program Educational Goals
History of EM in the US
• Ad Hoc Legislation • Civil Defense and the Cold War • Shift to Emergency Management • Founding of FEMA• Reorganization of FEMA • Paradigm Shift in Emergency
Management• Homeland Security
Academic Degree Programs
• Undergraduate Degrees– Associate-level institutions concentrate upon
skills training while bachelor’s-level instruction concentrates upon the development of critical thinking skills
• Graduate Degrees– Master’s Degrees: are a balance of practical
education and training focused on career fields in a concentration, with the development of theoretical concepts in the same field of study
Academic Program Planning
NeedsAssessment
TaskAnalysis
Organization
Analysis of Resources
Specification of Objectives
Strategy of Teaching
Production of Learning Tasks
Instructional Media
Didactic Modeling of Subject Matter Domains
Design of Learning Environments
Curriculum
Learner Characteristics
Implementation
Evaluation
• Diamond’s Basic Design Sequence
Statement of Need
- Student- Community
- Field of Knowledge
Statement of Goals
- General to Specific
Design of- Instruction
- Assessment
Implementationand
Assessment
Revision asNeeded
Influences on Curriculum Development
• Administrators, students, state governments, regional accreditation agencies, faculty discipline and department membership, foundations, socioeconomic conditions, administrative leadership, business and industrial community, and other educational institutions competition for students
EM Educational Programs• A broader view of disasters has meant a
revolution in the way emergency management and the academic programs that teach emergency management handle disasters.
• However, the programs are not coordinated and lack common frameworks, guiding principles, or standards from which to develop their core curriculum.
• Key to the effective development of these new subject areas is the ability to arrange courses in the curricula into logical sequences that will integrate the body of knowledge into the curriculum and result in a holistic discipline.
EM Academic Degree Programs EM Degree Programs
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20
40
60
80
100
120
1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Years
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EM Academic Degree Program Goals • Research Methods Masters*• Analytical Methods Masters*• Dimensions of Emergency Management Masters• Practice • Governmental Systems, Political Skills Masters Bachelors Associate• & Human Relations • Legal & Regulatory Aspects Masters Bachelors Associate• Application of Technology Masters Bachelors Associate• Planning Theory & Disaster Planning Masters Associate• Organizational Theory, Leadership & Masters Bachelors Associate• Teamwork • Communications Theory & Skills Masters Bachelors Associate• Human Resource, Fiscal Management Masters Bachelors Associate• & Resource Management • Healthcare Bachelors*• Environmental Design Bachelors*• Critical Incident Stress Management Bachelors*• Physical Sciences & Climatology Bachelors*• Public Works & Critical Infrastructure Bachelors*• ICS, NIMS & Disaster Management Associate*• Risk Assessment & Hazard Knowledge Associate*• Basic Terrorism/WMD Associate*• Social Dimensions of Disasters Associate*
• Relationship of Curriculum and General Goals to Instructional Design
Emergency Management Curriculum
General Goals and Overarching
Concepts
Instructional Design Process
- Specific Goals
to develop a list of
which guides thedevelopment of
Use the Delphi technique and a stratified survey to
examine participants sense of the importance of variables developed from
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 1Emergency management academic degree program experts can find significant agreement upon a set of general curriculum-level goals that should be common to all emergency management academic degree programs. – Specific Research Hypothesis 1
The researcher will survey a group of five or seven emergency management degree-program experts using the Delphi technique to search for agreement on the perceived level of importance of a set of general curriculum-level goals that the researcher has developed from the literature on the subject.
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 2Emergency management academic degree program experts can agree on a set of overarching curriculum-level goal concepts that should be common to all emergency management academic degree programs. – Specific Research Hypothesis 2
The researcher will survey a group of five or seven emergency management degree-program experts using the Delphi technique to search for agreement on the perceived level of importance of a set of overarching curriculum-level goal concepts that the researcher has developed from the literature on the subject.
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 3Is there a significant difference in the level of importance perceived by emergency management degree program faculty/administrators for each emergency management general curriculum-level goal for associate, bachelors or masters degree-levels? – Specific Research Hypothesis 3
Do emergency management faculty/administrators have significantly different perspectives on the importance of individual emergency management degree program, curriculum-level goals specific for each emergency management academic degree level?
Example Full Model: Calculate R2 for: YGOALS = a0U + a1AS + a2BS + a3MS + E
Example Restricted Model: Calculate R2 for: YGOALS = a0U + E
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 4Is there a significant difference in the level of importance perceived by emergency management degree program faculty/administrators for each emergency management overarching curriculum-level goal concepts for associate, bachelors or masters degree-levels?– Specific Research Hypothesis 4
Do emergency management faculty/administrators have significantly different perspectives on the importance of individual emergency management degree program, overarching curriculum-level goal concepts specific for each emergency management academic degree level?
Example Full Model: Calculate R2 for: YCONCEPTS = a0U + a1AS + a2BS + a3MS + E
Example Restricted Model: Calculate R2 for: YCONCEPTS = a0U + E
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 5Is there a significant difference in the level of importance perceived by emergency managers for each emergency management general curriculum-level goal for associate, bachelors or masters degree-levels? – Specific Research Hypothesis 5
Do emergency managers have significantly different perspectives on the importance of individual emergency management degree program, curriculum-level goals specific for each emergency management academic degree level?
Example Full Model: Calculate R2 for: YGOALS = a0U + a1AS + a2BS + a3MS + E
Example Restricted Model: Calculate R2 for: YGOALS = a0U + E
General & Specific Research Hypotheses
• General Research Hypothesis 6Is there a significant difference in the level of importance perceived by emergency managers for each emergency management overarching curriculum-level goal concepts for associate, bachelors or masters degree-levels? – Specific Research Hypothesis 6
Do emergency managers have significantly different perspectives on the importance of individual emergency management degree program, overarching curriculum-level goal concepts specific for each emergency management academic degree level?
Example Full Model: Calculate R2 for: YCONCEPTS = a0U + a1AS + a2BS + a3MS + E
Example Restricted Model: Calculate R2 for: YCONCEPTS = a0U + E
Participants
• In Stage 1 expert panelists were EM faculty/program administrator/managers.
• In Stage 2 faculty/administrators and emergency managers who are either members of the International Association of Emergency Managers and/or who are listed as contacts for academic programs by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Higher Education Project for associate, bachelors or master’s degrees, or related degree programs were surveyed via email.
List of Proposed Emergency Management Goals
Variable Description
RESEARCH Research methodsANALYSIS Analytical methodsFOUND Dimensions of emergency
management practicePOLYSC Gov. systems, political
skills & Human relationsLEGAL Legal & regulatory aspects
TECH Application of technology
PLAN Planning theory & disaster planning
LEADER Organizational theory & disaster planning
COMM Communications theory & skills
ADMIN HR, fiscal management & resource management
HEALTH Healthcare
ENVIRON Environmental design
CISM Critical stress management
PHYSICAL Physical sciences & climatology
WORKS Public works & critical infrastructure
ICS ICS, NIMS & disaster management
RISK Risk assessment & hazard knowledge
WMD Basic terrorism/WMD
SOCIAL Social dimensions of disasters
Goals Agreed to be Important by an Expert Panel, Ranked from Highest to Lowest Based on Their Means AS Rank Goals BS Rank Goals MS Rank Goals
1 ICS 1 POLSC 1 POLSC 2 WMD 2 PLAN 2 RISK 3 FOUND 3 ADMIN 3 ANALYSIS 4 ICS 4 PLAN 5 RISK 5 RESEARCH 6 SOCIAL 6 SOCIAL 7 WMD 7 COMM 8 COMM
Goals Agreed to be Important by an Expert Panel and Common for More than One Degree-Level: Ranked from Highest to Lowest Based on Their Means AS Rank Goals BS Rank Goals MS Rank Goals
1 ICS 5 ICS 2 WMD 11 WMD 1 POLSC 1 POLSC 2 PLAN 4 PLAN 5 RISK 2 RISK 6 SOCIAL 6 SOCIAL 8 COMM 7 COMM
Goals Agreed to be Important by an Expert Panel and Either Common or Unique for either Associate/Bachelor’s or Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree-Levels Common Unique Common Unique
AS/BS AS BS BS/MS BS MS ICS FOUND ADMIN POLS ICS RESEARCH WMD POLS PLAN WMD ANALYSIS PLAN RISK ADMIN RISK SOCIAL SOCIAL COMM COMM
Future Research
• Recast the emergency management academic curricular goals for additional homeland security variables and use Delphi technique to further develop the list prior to re-running the empirical survey.
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