A Dynamic Alignment Mechanism for Curriculum in Higher Vocational Education under Emerging Technology Ecosystems: The Case of HarmonyOS Talent Development

Abstract

The training cycle for technical talent is measured in years, whereas emerging technologies iterate in quarters or months. When the time for a technology to become an essential competence for mainstream industrial positions is shorter than a full program of study, a vocational curriculum characterized by fixed structures remains perpetually in a state of "catching up." Taking the full-scenario distributed operating system ecosystem (HarmonyOS / OpenHarmony) as the technological context and smart ships as the application scenario, this study adopts design-based research to conduct three iterative cycles. It finds that alignment failures are distributed across four levels—training orientation, instructional carriers, collaboration mechanisms, and faculty development—whose common mechanism is the absence of routine demand transmission and system adjustment channels. Accordingly, the study proposes a three-dimensional dynamic alignment framework—"technology trajectory–curriculum architecture–industrial competency map"—together with three design principles: structural decomposability, authentic carriers, and external standards. It further constructs five mechanisms covering curriculum structure, project chains, collaboration platforms, multi-source evaluation, and faculty renewal. Evidence from three iterations shows positive changes in technical competency attainment, engineering practice outcomes, and faculty capability, while exposing unresolved issues such as curriculum updating lagging behind technological evolution; because the pilot class has not yet graduated, long-term effects at the job-performance level await follow-up. The transferable value of this mechanism lies in its operating logic of "demand identification–system adjustment–effect evaluation–recalibration."