Planning for Assessment at the Program Level
Curriculum Mapping
Curriculum mapping is about examining how courses offered by a department or program fit with its student learning objectives. One way to do this is to create a table (or map) showing which learning objectives are addressed by each course. Grouping courses (e.g., all those fulfilling a particular requirement) works well for some units, as does including outside courses frequently taken by their students. Units can also use a more complex system indicating not simply whether a particular learning objective is addressed, but also the extent to which it is addressed. If an internship or immersion experience is required, that should go in the table, too.
One step in developing a curriculum map is to inspect recent course syllabi. Discussions with instructors can provide further details on assignments and in-class activities—on what students actually do in the course and what learning opportunities are provided.
What benefits does a curriculum map provide?
Identifying the relationships between courses and learning objectives can make it evident that:
- some courses are central to one or more key learning objectives
- some courses are less relevant
- some learning objectives are rarely addressed in the courses students take
Curriculum mapping can show that courses and learning objectives are well matched—and it can also suggest changes. Perhaps some category of courses should be required, rather than optional. Perhaps new readings or problem sets or writing assignments, more closely aligned with the learning objectives, should be added to some courses. Perhaps new courses should be introduced. Or, if some courses faculty members see as valuable don’t coincide with the stated learning objectives, maybe the objectives should be revised. An important consideration is that curriculum maps don’t directly get at what students learn; providing opportunities relevant for a learning goal does not mean that the intended learning necessarily happens.