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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120

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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.