As outlined by Doren (1956), “[…] college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless”(p.108).
As an increasing number of institutions in higher education are required to adhere to quality assurance standards set by governments and accreditation agencies, many post-secondary programs must now undergo some form of cyclical review process. Among the variety of approaches and tools used to review these programs, the process of curriculum mapping is emerging as a particularly helpful option. Curriculum mapping, in a large sense, is the visualization of a program’s underlying framework (Borin, 2010). It maps each course to the program-level learning outcomes, and can often map the level at which each of these outcomes is presented (introductory, intermediate, advanced), how the outcome is covered in a given course (taught, practiced, assessed), and if assessed, by what means. When complete, this data can provide a fairly accurate image of what actually occurs within a program and what the learning experience of a given student looks like from beginning to end.
Curriculum mapping is most frequently used for two main purposes in higher education: 1) to ensure the alignment and sequencing of learning outcomes and assessments across courses when developing a new program, and 2) to evaluate the current alignment and look for any gaps, redundancies and inconsistencies in order to enhance an existing program (Uchiyama & Radin, 2009; Kopera-Frye, Mahaffy & Svare, 2008).
Used as part of curriculum design and the support services offered at many Canadian universities, curriculum mapping has proven most effective when it is faculty driven, data informed and supported by curriculum design specialists (Wolf, 2007). Recently, in the pursuit of making the process of data collection easier, the Centre for University Teaching has been using FluidSurvey as a tool for data collection and analysis.
This session will provide an opportunity for faculty members, administrators and curriculum design specialists to discuss and share best practices relating to curriculum mapping and analysis. Current curriculum review questionnaires used at the University of Ottawa and sample curriculum maps will be shared.