The aim of this talk is to introduce a novel curriculum design process that addresses the core purpose of any curriculum: specifying the content to be transmitted and its relation to other content and for what purposes. I will apply the Autonomy dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to curriculum design because this dimension explains how the constituents of knowledge (such as ideas, theories, perspectives) are put together (such as through explicit procedures or tacit conventions) for specific purposes. The presentation will describe the theoretical basis of LCT and focus on the Autonomy dimension for its explanation of relations between practices from different disciplines to define what content is to be transmitted and its relation to other content and for what purposes. LCT Autonomy contributes to a new way of thinking about curriculum structure that makes the selection, pacing, and sequencing of curriculum contribute to the work of achieving knowledge integration (the connection of

topics across disciplines) by engineering students. Such a concept enables curriculum design to go beyond chaining courses by technical prerequisites. This concept is being proposed to the NSF ISUSE/RED program under the Innovation track. Involving collaboration between engineering, mathematics, and physics, the project will reconceptualize and redraw course boundaries in the second-year curriculum for the undergraduate mechanical engineering program. The project extends the success of block mode course delivery in improving student learning for students from low socio-economic backgrounds and weaker high school preparation by having non-fixed-length blocks.