Project Background
Curriculum Mapping is a way for teaching staff and students to recognise how the learning strategies embodied in individual courses work together to produce outcomes in terms of student learning, and also how courses work together to build learning outcomes for an entire program.
Curriculum Mapping, thus, has two interrelated components:
One is to map the articulation of the course curricula: teaching approaches, topics, and assessments, along with course aims, teaching philosophy and stated outcomes. This will allow staff and students to understand the articulation of these elements, and for staff to strengthen this articulation. Increasingly, Course Outlines are also requiring an articulation of these elements, and the mapping process will assist the development of informative Outlines.
The other is to map an entire program in terms of how individual courses contribute to the overall goals of the degree. This involves looking at Graduate Attributes: those generic qualities, skills and understandings that we expect our students to develop over their period at COFA. These are more than specific disciplinary expertise or technical knowledge, but include broader capacities that contribute to the student’s life-long capacity to act as a professional, citizen and learner. The process maps the introduction and development of these attributes in the courses that a student completes. A whole program map allows a clearer sense of where gaps or overlaps exist in terms of developing, practicing and assessing these broader capabilities or attributes.
The COFA Curriculum Mapping Project was funded by the Faculty under the Learning and Teaching Award Scheme, which is managed by the Learning and Teaching Unit.
Its aim is to support and to build upon the outcomes achieved by the review of all undergraduate programs at COFA that took place between 2002 and 2004, and to use the mapping process to support COFA staff and Schools in the development and implementation of revised courses and programs which will not only meet the University’s guidelines on learning and teaching, but also clearly link with and contribute to the COFA Graduate Attributes.
Project Aims
Assist program authorities and course coordinators to understand the overall pattern of learning in each program, the contribution of each course and the adequacy of the curriculum to university-wide and program goals.
Identify gaps, overlaps in program curriculum
Understand and support the learning process in the courses that engages graduate attribute outcomes
Allow a program-wide view of the teaching process
Assist staff expanding their teaching repertoires in the light of an understanding of student outcomes
Project Stages
(Stages 1-4 are complete, stages 5-7 will be undertaken soon)
Collecting and reviewing Course Outlines. These now ask for information on Course Aims, articulation with other courses and Teaching Strategies, which assist mapping process.
Develop Mapping Tool. This is an Excel spreadsheet that uses Student Activities as the key focus for each course, and then correlations Student Outcomes, Assessment Tasks and Graduate Attributes.
Preliminary Mapping. Selected core courses in each UG program has been mapped into Excel tool.
Meeting of small groups of academic staff. To discuss the adequacy of preliminary maps, and the correlation of Handbook entries, Course Outlines and the maps.
Whole Program Mapping. Correlating course student activities and outcome maps across whole programs.
Review Program Maps in the light of COFA Graduate Attributes and key UNSW Learning and Teaching goals.
Meetings with staff to assess process and implications for course structures and teaching strategies.