# Presentation: 417587

## 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

- Diamond’s Basic Design Sequence

## 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 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*

## General & Specific Research Hypotheses 

- General Research Hypothesis 1
- 	Emergency 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 2
- 	Emergency 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 3
- 	Is 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 4
- 	Is 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 5
- 	Is 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 6
- 	Is 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 methods
- 		ANALYSIS		Analytical methods
- 		FOUND			Dimensions of emergency management practice
- 		POLYSC		Gov. systems, political skills & Human relations
- 		LEGAL			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

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## Slide 29

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## 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.