DACUM - Developing A Curriculum

DACUM - is an abbreviation for Developing a Curriculum.

The DACUM process for occupational analysis involves expert workers- the local men and women with reputations for being "the best" at their jobs. These workers tell us what they do and how they do it. Their descriptions are in the language of the occupation. That means we get the straight story from the people on the job, the ones who know. In turn, information gathered is the information that's hard to come by. And when the process is completed, you've got a complete DACUM chart - a graphic profile of the duties and tasks required in an occupation developed by expert workers from the occupation.

DACUM philosophy states that:

    * Expert workers can describe and define their jobs more accurately than anyone else.
    * An effective way to define a job is to precisely describe the tasks that expert workers perform.
    * All tasks, in order to be performed correctly, require certain knowledge, skills, tools, and worker behaviors.

A DACUM chart can be used as a basis for:

    * Management Decision Making
    * Curriculum Development/Training
    * Human Resources/Organizational Development
    * Career Advising/Counseling
    * Assessment/Testing
    * Certification/
    * Licensing

Strengths of DACUM Process:

Users report the following major advantages of the DACUM process:

    * Provides solid foundation for program development or revision
    * Maximizes stakeholders input
    * It's efficient - 2 days instead of weeks
    * Identifies all the critical tasks and related general knowledge, skills, tools, and worker behaviors
    * Maximizes quality because of the group synergy and consensus