'Right' Mapping

Ensure effective mapping of program level outcomes to unit level ones

The following steps identified and tested by the Learning and Teaching leaders at the Fellowship workshops will help your program team to ensure ‘mapping’ of program level outcomes to units is systematic and effective.

Key questions addressed in this section

What is good practice in mapping Program Level Outcomes to units of study?

Suggestions from Fellowship participants

Box Five summarises the key checkpoints identified at the workshops to foster effective mapping from program level outcomes to unit level ones. They also align with the guidelines given in earlier OLT and other projects.

Box Five

Right' mapping of learning outcomes to subject/units of study

Identify/justify which subset of program level learning outcomes (PLOs) each subject/unit of study will pick up on;
Ensure that all of the PLOs are being addressed in assessment somewhere in the combined set of subjects/units of study;
Ensure that there is no duplication between subjects;
Ensure there is an equal assessment load across units/subjects;
Consider if there will be ‘scaffolding’ of related areas/units of study between earlier and later years of the program.

Key exercise for your learning program team

Take the program you are reviewing or a new one and, together, critically review it to determine the extent to which your program design has met each of the tests listed in Box Five .

Annotated resources

Exemplars, guidelines and further reading on effective mapping

Romy Lawson’s OLT Fellowship report provides practical suggestions on course level mapping on pgs 27-29
Romy Lawson's Assuring Learning website at: http://www.assuringlearning.com/
This site, developed as part of Romy Lawson's OLT Fellowship on the area, has a wide range of practical tips and resources on mapping graduate attributes in higher education and leadership strategies for engaging staff in these processes. It includes practical resources covering writing and embedding course (program) level outcomes, constructing whole of course rubrics, designing course level outcome assessments, productive learning activities and leading the way along with quality enhancement resources and a curriculum design workbench (tool).
UTS Graduate Attributes Project. The UTS approach to graduate attribute development is based on the UTS Graduate Profile Framework. Rather than specifying a set of generic, University-wide attributes, the UTS approach acknowledges that the vision, purpose and the UTS model of learning already imply some overarching attributes, but recognises that attributes are best developed within the context of specific professions or disciplines. This approach enables Faculties to develop graduate attributes that are contextualised to the needs of their disciplinary and professional areas. The UTS Graduate Attribute Project (UTS GAP) is based on a 12-stage framework
UNSW
Griffith University: Mapping the graduate attributes. This site provides a range of resources, including a program mapping toolkit.

In the USA

California State University College of Education
The University of Connecticut Assessment primer: curriculum mapping
The US National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment – NILOA guidelines on curriculum and assessment mapping.
University of Hawaii – Manoa

In Canada

Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (2015): Learning outcomes assessment: a practitioner’s handbook, HEQC, Toronto, Canada. Sections pgs 20ff.
University of Manitoba Case study of how best to engage faculty in curriculum mapping in pharmacy programs
Curriculum mapping at the University of Guelph and at Carleton University

In Ireland

University college Dublin provides an excellent overview and review of a range of mapping schemes.