Option 4: Undergraduate Curriculum Mapping Online

Use this option if you:

  • Have completed writing program learning outcomes
  • Have sought and integrated feedback from faculty members on program learning outcomes
  • Want to develop Curriculum Maps for your undergraduate modules.

Note: If you are using these materials to support curriculum development or review, please let us know at curriculum@uwo.ca so our team can continue to track our impact.

Steps to undergraduate curriculum mapping online

Option 1 flow

1. Contact CTL Curriculum Team

Contact us <curriculum@uwo.ca> and let us know you would like help with curriculum mapping. We will connect you with one of our team members to be your key contact. Feel free to peruse our example curriculum map before you get in touch.

2. Finalize Program Learning Outcomes and Send to Curriculum Contact

Finalize your program learning outcomes and send them to your CTL curriculum team contact. The CTL team member will work with you to develop an efficient mapping approach that captures the variation in your modules while minimizing the amount of data entry required by your faculty members.

3. Curriculum Map Set Up

The CTL team member will set up the curriculum map with the outcomes included. The curriculum chair or an appointed staff member will add courses and assigned instructors to the Data Entry sheet. In most cases, there will be one editable Data Entry sheet (where instructors input their data), with multiple output maps (one for each module). These output maps are suitable for including in the self-study. Output maps include:

  • Progression of Learning maps (one per mapped module)
  • Summary of Assessments
  • Summary of Instructional Activities
  • Assessments and Instructional Activities by Year

The curriculum map is a collaborative document. Once set up, instructors can enter their own course data.

4. Invite Faculty Members to Map their Courses

The curriculum chair sends out a link to the collaborative curriculum map with detailed Curriculum Mapping Instructions and a deadline to relevant faculty members and instructors (see linked resources below). It is helpful if the chair or another faculty champion inputs their course data before the map gets sent to the wider group of instructors.

Include in your email:

Suggested email language

Dear colleagues,

One of the steps in writing our self-study for IQAP review is to create curriculum maps of our undergraduate program modules. We have worked with the Centre for Teaching and Learning to create a collaborative curriculum map so that we can each enter data about our own courses. The data we collect is only meaningful if we are using the same process and definitions. For this reason, I ask that you complete these tasks, in order, by (deadline).

  1. Read the Curriculum Mapping Instructions
  2. Watch "How to enter your course data into a curriculum map" (optional video – 6 minutes)
  3. Open the curriculum map [INCLUDE LINK]
  4. Find and enter data for the courses you are responsible for mapping on the Data Entry sheet. Check the "Assigned" column to see if there are additional courses you have been asked to map.
  5. Select "Done" to signal to us that the task is complete.

[Departmental curriculum champion name] has filled out their course data as an example. Please do not hesitate to ask [Departmental curriculum champion name] if you have clarifying questions.

Tip: During mapping, make copies of the In Progress map. Remember that everyone can edit your Excel Workbook, which means accidental edits can happen as well. We have not run into problems with this, but we have also been careful to ensure there is always a back up. We suggest periodically SAVING a copy of your Excel Workbook over the period during which faculty members are entering their data. You can do this by clicking "File> Save As> Download a Copy".

5. Complete and Share Maps

At the deadline, follow up with faculty whose course data are missing from the map. Once the maps are finished, adjust the map outputs to fit on a printed page or publish them to the web and include links to the web version in the self-study.

How to export your map to the web for easy sharing

  1. Open the Curriculum Map (a Google sheet).
  2. Click File > Make a Copy > Name it [Program] Curriculum Map for Self-Study. This way, any changes you make to the curriculum map will not compromise your original copy.
  3. In the new copy of the curriculum map (which will open automatically), click File > Share > Publish to Web.
  4. In the dialogue box that opens, leave the default of "Entire Document" and "Web Page". Click Publish.
  5. Copy this link and paste it in a new window to view. This is also the link that you can use to hyperlink your changes. Your maps will be viewable with some noticeable differences.
    a) The tabs to switch between sheets are now links at the top of the page.
    b) The Google Sheets menus, including the ability to edit are missing. This means that a reviewer viewing your map cannot accidentally edit it.
  6. Any changes you make to the new Google Sheet “[Program] Curriculum Map for Self-Study” will be reflected in the published web version, however you will need to refresh the browser for the changes to take effect. Consider the following to make your curriculum map easier to read and navigate:
    a) Hide sheets that are not final versions of the maps, including: Data Entry, Methods A and I, and any others you think are extraneous.
    b) Adjust column widths and font size is for legibility.

6. Using Curriculum Maps to Support the Self-Study and Continuous Curricular Improvement

Curriculum maps can be a great source of data for fostering discussions about the undergraduate curriculum. These conversations are important for continuous improvement and they can help you respond to key sections of the self study.

Consider hosting a zoom discussion, or assign groups to discuss and report back on observations about the curriculum map.

You can ask people to write responses to the self-study components directly, or use the prompting questions that we typically use at curriculum mapping retreats. Both sets of prompts are listed below.

Curriculum Mapping and the Self-Study

Mapping the curriculum - page 4

  • "Alignment and integration of learning outcomes across courses
  • Distribution of student workload
  • Types of assessments of student work
  • Gaps identified through curriculum mapping and possible future development of the curriculum"

Learning Outcomes

  • "How is the mode(s) of delivery appropriate and effective in meeting the program learning outcomes?" - page 4

Assessment of Teaching and Learning - page 5

  • "Provide evidence that methods for assessing student achievement of the learning outcomes are appropriate and effective"

Answers to additional self-study questions such as "How does the curriculum address the current state of the discipline", "…describe special and unique features of the program…",

Questions for reviewing curriculum maps

Progression of Learning Maps

  • What trends do you see?
  • Where do you see gaps? Are these real gaps (e.g., students never reach proficiency in an outcome) or are they suitable considering the outcome (e.g., a few core courses are all that are needed for this outcome)?
  • Where do you see redundancies? Are these necessary redundancies or unnecessary repetition?

Assessment and Instructional Methods Summary graphs

  • How do the types and variety of assessments/ instructional activities align with program values and learning outcomes?

Category of assessment and Instructional Methods by year

  • Are assessments required of students in 4th year scaffolded throughout the program (introduced in earlier courses)?
  • Do instructional methods used throughout the program align with the outcomes and values of the program? Are there opportunities to introduce signature instructional methods earlier in the program?

 

See also:

        

Questions?

If you would like to discuss this topic further, please contact a member of the CTL curriculum team.