To prepare for curriculum mapping, I have developed an efficient and collaborative process.  Collaboration is key, to leveraging the in-depth understanding of the modular structure, course requirements, and learning outcomes that the curriculum chair and administrative staff within a department can provide. The steps to setting up the map are as follows:

  1. I provide the link to an editable skeleton google sheet to the curriculum committee.
  2. The administrative assistant and curriculum chair decide which courses ought to be mapped, sometimes with guidance. They then enter these courses and the associated instructors into the data entry sheet of the curriculum map.
  3. The curriculum chair passes on a list of learning outcomes of all modules to be mapped.
  4. I map the learning outcomes within the module, and make a recommendation as to how many outcomes ought to be mapped.  This step is critical, as programs at Western can have upwards of 5 modules to be mapped, each with their own outcomes.  If all are mapped separately, faculty members could be mapping 70+ outcomes, many of which are fairly repetitive. In the example below, outcome is sufficiently similar for 3 modules (in green) and different in 1 module (in blue).  The learning outcome does not apply at all to the majors. For outcome 7, therefore, it only has to be mapped twice, even though it will appear on the maps for 4 modules.

    Example of outcome mapping in order to determine overlap

  5. After agreement from the curriculum chair, the outcomes are entered into a single data input sheet, along with the courses.  Progression of Learning maps are also created for each module, but the data is linked to the primary data input sheet, so that work does not have to be repeated.
  6. The sheet is ready for data entry, and so it is shared, along with instructions, with the faculty participants. Each instructor enters data for their own courses. The instructions are critical to develop a shared understanding of terms like “Introduce, Reinforce, and Proficiency”.

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As a result of this process, the data is ready to be discussed and analyzed as soon as its entered.  During a retreat, faculty members can divide into groups, each discussing the data for a different module.