What Type Of Person Thrives In The Curriculum Development Industry According To A Sr. Curriculum Development Manager At Code.org
Success in curriculum development, according to Amy, a senior manager at Code.org, requires a "deep conviction" and the ability to "say no to other good ideas" to focus on a "minimum viable product." This focused execution, she explains, prevents "mission creep" and allows a single idea to reach its full potential, ultimately resulting in a higher quality product.
Visionary, Decisive, Disciplined, Creative, Persistent
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Amy Berkhoudt Woodman
Sr. Curriculum Development Manager
Code.org
Point Loma Nazarene University - 2009
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - MA in Education Policy & Leadership
Creative Writing, Journalism
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Student Athlete, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. A strong vision and conviction are crucial for success in curriculum development. Having a clear idea of your goals allows you to prioritize effectively and make difficult choices about what to include and exclude.
2. The ability to say 'no' to good ideas is essential to avoid mission creep and ensure that resources are focused on a core set of objectives. It is important to be able to advocate for a particular vision and follow it through to completion.
3. Entrepreneurial skills, such as idea generation and the ability to focus on a minimum viable product (MVP), are highly valuable in curriculum development. This involves brainstorming, selecting the best ideas, and iteratively improving the product over time.
Transcript
How would you describe people who typically thrive in this industry?
I mentioned entrepreneurship a little bit in my last answer. You really need to have a deep conviction towards what you do and therefore have a really clear idea and vision for what it is that you want to make.
There are so many different directions to go when you're starting from nothing. There should be a moment of generative idea building. You should brainstorm thoroughly to get all the different ideas out there.
Then there's the moment where you edit it down to its minimum viable product. What is the thing that will really get at what we want students or teachers to do? Having that single goal in mind and working towards it, and being able to say no to other good ideas, is probably the hardest but most important piece of the work that I do.
People need to be able to not only have great ideas but also say no to other good ideas to make that one good idea as good as possible. It's the number one reason why things fail, too.
We call it "mission creep" when things that would be cool to add get tacked on, but you still only have the same resources you started with. It doesn't become as good as it could have been if you just stayed with the original idea.
It's really about advocating for a particular thing and continuing to run that course until it's totally done. Then you can add new features later.