Curriculum change as collective sensemaking: Reflections from a participatory programme redesign

Abstract

Curriculum redesign involves more than gathering evidence and implementing change. In this Thinking Piece, I reflect on a participatory redesign of two master’s programmes that I lead, framing the work as programme-level scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The redesign began after my analysis of Studiebarometer data identified programme organisation as a student priority, prompting a local inquiry into students’ learning experiences across the two programmes. The findings informed domain-specific working groups, a faculty workshop, and consultations with individual instructors. As the redesign unfolded, student evidence was repeatedly interpreted, reframed, and negotiated as it moved through disciplinary and programme-level discussions. I argue that participatory curriculum development makes this movement visible and shows how evidence is remade as it becomes the basis for curriculum decisions. From this perspective, I conceptualise curriculum change as collective sensemaking, with the programme leader creating conditions for shared interpretation and integrating multiple legitimate perspectives into a coherent basis for action.