Aligning the curriculum with the student learning outcomes
With program outcomes that reflect our institutional learning outcomes and our program goals, we move to a mapping process that makes explicit where in the students’ course of study each outcome is addressed and to what degree or level. This leads the department to a clear decision about where assessment of student learning will take place.
More about curriculum mapping
A curriculum map aligns the program’s curriculum with the program’s student learning outcomes, showing where outcomes are introduced, where they are reinforced or practiced, and where students are expected to demonstrate their mastery of an outcome. Demonstration of mastery indicates that this is the level of learning a program would expect of their graduates. It is in these courses that we conduct our assessment of student learning.
What should be included in a map?
All required courses or course clusters should be included in the map (also called a matrix). If a program has a cluster of courses in which all courses in the cluster address a particular learning outcome, those classes should be included as well and shown as sharing that outcome. If a program has multiple tracks, students may have a learning outcome associated with each individual track. The courses within these tracks would also be represented in the curriculum map. Through its program learning outcomes, the department is making a commitment that all students who graduate from that program should achieve the intended learning.
Sometimes a program only requires a couple of courses (or none at all.) In this case, a program will have to determine which sets of courses meet particular learning outcomes, and consider having students take a certain number of courses from each set. This way, the program can ensure that all students have the opportunity to meet all of the program learning outcomes.
Maps reveal how programs scaffold learning
We don’t assume that students achieve mastery in a single course or learning experience. Rather, programs scaffold learning across courses or experiences, challenging students to engage with the course content in deeper and more complex ways over multiple courses. By using the map to identify where students are introduced to an outcome, where they have opportunities to rehearse or practice their knowledge or skills, and where they will demonstrate mastery, we can trace the expected pathway by which we expect students to become proficient. If there are gaps in how the learning is scaffolded across the curriculum (e.g., students are only introduced to the learning inherent in an outcome and never rehearse it until they are expected to show mastery), we can expect that students will fall short of the expectations department have for their learning.
Sample Curriculum Map
| Type of Program | SLO1 | SLO2 | SLO3 | SLO4 | SLO5 | SLO6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower-Division A | I | I | I | I | ||
| Lower-Division B | I | I | I | I | ||
| Lower-Division C | I | I | ||||
| Lower-Division D | R | I | I | R | ||
| Upper-Division E, F, G | R | R | R | |||
| Upper-Division H, I, J | R | R | R | |||
| Upper-Division K | R | R | M (A) | |||
| Upper-Division L | M (A) | R | R | |||
| Capstone | M (A) | M (A) | M (A) | M (A) |
I = Introduced: Key ideas, concepts or skills related to the learning outcome are introduced and demonstrated at an introductory level. Instruction and learning activities focus on foundational knowledge, skills and/or competencies and entry-level complexity.
R =Reinforced: The learning outcome is reinforced with feedback; students demonstrate the outcome at an increasing level of proficiency. Instruction and learning activities concentrate on enhancing and strengthening existing knowledge and skills, as well as expanding complexity.
M= Mastery: This refers to advanced learning. Students demonstrate the learning outcome with a high level of independence, expertise and sophistication expected upon graduation. Instructional and learning activities focus on and integrate the use of content or skills in multiple levels of complexity. This is where assessment of student learning at the program usually takes place.
(A)=Assessment to be conducted here
Adapted from California State University, LongBeach (n.d.) and Veltri, Webb, Matveev & Zapatero (2011).
Checklist for Program Student Learning Outcomes
The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) provides the following questions to ask when creating a curriculum map in its Mapping Learning: A Toolkit (2018):
- In the key courses, are all outcomes addressed, in a logical order?
- Do all the key courses address at least one outcome?
- Do multiple offerings of the same course address the same outcomes, at the same levels?
- Do some outcomes get more coverage than others?
- Are all outcomes first introduced and then developed?
- Are students expected to show high levels of learning too early?
- Do students get practice (introduced, developed) on all the outcomes before being assessed (assessment occurs at the mastery level), e.g., in the capstone?
- Do all students, regardless of which electives they choose, experience a coherent progression and coverage of all outcomes?
- What do your electives, individually and collectively, contribute to the achievement of your student learning outcomes?
We gratefully acknowledge:
Adam Andrews, A Program Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Designing Effective Assessment Plans (2019).
National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. (2018, December). Mapping learning: A toolkit. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois and Indiana University, Author.