Curriculum design at scale: How developers actually work

Curriculum development is critically important to the educational enterprise, yet we lack insight into if and how ideal design and development practices are enacted in organizations that create curricular programs and resources intended for large-scale implementation. This study identified essential elements of curriculum development practices which, together, provide a framework for considering: When is the curriculum good (enough)? What is being made? How is it being made? Why is this important for whom? The framework is valuable on its own, and provided the foundation for a survey to inventory routines and clusters of designers oriented toward large-scale implementation.