Designing Microcurricula-as-a-service: The case of large class, cross programme, and online asynchronous module

Repurposing higher-education curriculum to tailor to the needs of learners is becoming common in response to recent societal and technological changes. Designing existing and new modules into microcurriculum is taking place with the objective of delivering very specific knowledge and skill set based on the requirements of learners. This paper outlines the design of Microcurricula-as-a-Service (MaaS) based on “As-a-Service” principle borrowed from the software engineering domain. The paper presents the design of a Data Literacy and Analytics (DLA) module at Dublin City University under the DCU Futures programme as a case study. DLA is an online and asynchronous module designed for ten DCU Futures programmes, embedded into 34 standard modules, and delivered to eight hundred first- and second-year students in the 2023/23 academic year. The module consists of 14 carefully selected data literacy and analytics microcurricula worth 0.5 to 1 ECTS. This paper further demonstrates that MaaS can furnish microcurricula focused on specific topics, that are self-contained, composable, flexible, scalable, and economical. MaaS can be composed into large credits catering for the requirements of individual programmes, or embedded into other modules maintaining high quality at a lower cost.