Digital Innovation for Curriculum Design: Developing Academic Capability Through a Curriculum Intelligence Platform

Abstract

Curriculum development in higher education increasingly requires academics to navigate complex regulatory frameworks, institutional policies and evidence-informed curriculum design principles while responding to rapidly changing educational and societal needs. Despite their disciplinary expertise, many academics have limited formal preparation in curriculum design, leading to an extensive reliance on curriculum specialists during programme development and review. This paper presents the design and evaluation of the Curriculum Intelligence Platform (CIP), an innovative digital staff development environment that embeds curriculum expertise directly within the curriculum design process. Grounded in Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development and informed by constructive alignment, understanding by design and the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework, the platform provides real-time developmental guidance as academics construct curricula. Rather than functioning solely as a compliance or curriculum management system, CIP supports professional learning by offering contextualised feedback aligned with qualification frameworks, institutional requirements and recognised curriculum design principles. The study adopts a pragmatist mixed-methods design to evaluate the platform's influence on curriculum quality, curriculum design competence, user confidence, workflow efficiency and institutional capability building. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from academic staff and educational developers during a phased implementation. The project contributes to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning by reconceptualising digital technologies as mechanisms for scalable academic development rather than administrative compliance, offering a transferable model for strengthening curriculum capability, supporting curriculum transformation and enhancing the quality and sustainability of higher education curriculum design.