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Trends in the design, development, and use of digital curriculum materials

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Abstract

We explore questions around the design, development, and dissemination of digital curriculum materials, the perspectives in these areas, and how these perspectives align with broader discourses in education. We identify and briefly describe four perspectives: (1) designer perspective; (2) policy perspective; (3) private sector perspective (e.g., publishers and philanthropists); and (4) user (teachers and schools) perspective. We discuss how these perspectives converge and diverge by looking at the different features of curriculum materials emphasized by each perspective and the reasons for these emphases. The discussion and findings speak to the promise of digital programs as well as limitations related to the rationales related to the development, dissemination and use of digital curriculum resources. The emergence of a dominant perspective speaks to broader concerns about educational priorities being formulated according to a market-based rationality.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by US National Science Foundation, DRL #1222359.

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  1. University of Rochester, RC Box 270425, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA

    Jeffrey Choppin & Zenon Borys

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  1. Jeffrey Choppin
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Choppin.

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Choppin, J., Borys, Z. Trends in the design, development, and use of digital curriculum materials. ZDM Mathematics Education 49, 663–674 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-017-0860-x

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