3.2 Alignment, AI, and Course Documents
Reflection Questions: Alignment and Your Course and Program
- How well do the current course topics align with the learning outcomes? Are there any topics that need adjustment?
- Are there gaps or overlaps between the learning outcomes and the week-by-week content? What changes can be made?
- Does the week-by-week schedule support the development of skills and knowledge? Are there any gaps or overlaps?
- Are key terms, concepts, and processes consistently covered throughout the course? What adjustments are needed?
- Are assignment due dates and deadlines realistically set and aligned with the course schedule? What changes can be made?
Analyze Your Course Alignment with Course Documents
In outcomes-based education, alignment is vital to a quality earning experience. How can you use AI to become familiar with the course and ensure alignment with learning outcomes? Here are some ideas for investigating alignment using Copilot and course documents uploaded to Copilot.
- Program alignment: Map program outcome to the courses in your program. This ensures that students receive multiple opportunities to practice and meet outcomes.
- Course description alignment: Map each course outcome to the topics covered in the course description. This ensures that every outcome is addressed in the content, highlighting topics that need adjustment to align with the course goals.
- Weekly schedule: Review the week-by-week schedule to ensure it supports the progressive development of skills and knowledge required by the learning outcomes. AI can also check if the timing of assignments and activities aligns with the overall learning outcomes and suggest any necessary adjustments. You can verify that your weekly schedule adequately covers key terms, concepts, and processes in the Course Outline. It will ensure these elements are introduced and revisited appropriately to support the learning outcomes.
- Learning materials: Assess how your lesson materials and lab activities correspond with the practical skills required by the learning outcomes. AI can suggest additional content or activities where needed and identify redundant elements. It can also extract course concepts or terminology for a glossary or terms list.
- Assignment due dates: Confirm that assignment due dates and deadlines are appropriately set for the course’s semester. It will ensure that deadlines are realistic, aligned with the course schedule, and fall on the correct day of the week.
For more on building outcome-aligned assignments and evaluation rubrics, see section 4.1 Designing Assessments with Integrity.
Note
Outputs should always be verified for accuracy and quality of analysis. This means double-checking that the correct documents are analyzed, the prompts are clear, detailed, and specific, and the outputs are carefully reviewed for quality against established quality criteria for lesson plans, rubrics, etc.
Conestoga’s Copilot should be used whenever analyzing any course documents. See the Evolving AI Guidelines.
Try This! Alignment Among Course Documents
Use Copilot to analyze your course outcomes. Copy and paste the prompt(s) below into Copilot. Upload your Course Outline. What ideas might be helpful for you?
Support program goals
AI can help ensure that your Course Outline effectively supports the broader program outcomes. Ensure your course contributes meaningfully to your program’s outcomes. Faculty can find their program goals on the Conestoga program page.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, please review the Course Outline and assess how the course supports the learning outcomes listed on the Conestoga program’s web page. Identify areas where the course content, topics, or assessments may need adjustments to better align with and support the program goals.”
Course topics and learning outcomes
Use AI to map each learning outcome to the topics covered in your course description. This ensures that every outcome is addressed in your content, highlighting topics that need adjustment to align with the course goals.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, please analyze the course topics listed in the Course Outline and verify their alignment with the stated learning outcomes. Identify any topics that are not directly linked to outcomes. Review all required readings and describe how they support the learning outcomes.”
Explain course outcomes to students
Use AI to help craft plain-language explanations of how the course outcomes listed in the Course Outline will support students in achieving their personal and professional goals. This activity helps ensure that students understand the relevance of the course content and how it contributes to their overall development.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, you are an expert in outcomes-based education and higher education. Please help create clear and engaging explanations of how the course outcomes listed in the Course Outline will benefit students in their personal and professional lives. Ensure these explanations are in plain language and show how each outcome supports students’ goals.”
Try This! Analyze Your Instructional Plan with AI
Use Copilot to analyze your Instructional Plan. Copy and paste the prompt(s) below into Copilot. Upload a copy of your Instructional Plan. What ideas might be helpful for you?
Assignment and rubric alignment
AI can verify if your assignment instructions and rubrics are aligned with the learning outcomes. It will identify any gaps or overlaps and suggest modifications to ensure these assessments accurately measure the skills, knowledge, and attitudes outlined in the outcomes.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, I am going to share with you these documents: [a) course learning outcomes (listed in the Course Outline), b) the assignment instructions, and c) a screenshot of the assessment rubric for the assignment]. Please carefully review the information to ensure alignment. Identify gaps or overlaps for documents b and c and make suggestions and recommendations. Place them in a table format, highlighting the suggested changes based on the numbered learning outcome.”
Lecture materials and activities alignment
AI can evaluate whether your lesson and/or lab activities correspond with the practical skills required by the learning outcomes. It will suggest additional content or activities and identify redundant elements where needed.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, I will share a lesson plan and the course learning outcomes (listed in the Course Outline). Please review them carefully, then assess the alignment of lesson and/or lab activities with the targeted learning outcomes. Highlight any gaps, overlaps, or areas where additional content or activities might be needed. Place them in a table format, highlighting the suggested changes based on the numbered learning outcome.”
Week-by-week schedule review
AI can review your week-by-week schedule to ensure it supports the progressive development of skills and knowledge required by the learning outcomes. It can also check if the timing of assignments and activities aligns with the overall learning outcomes and suggest any necessary adjustments.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, I will share a copy of a Cours Outline and the Instructional Plan for a course. Please review both documents carefully, then evaluate the week-by-week schedule in the Instructional Plan to ensure it supports the gradual development of skills and knowledge as outlined in the learning outcomes. Suggest any gaps, overlaps, or improvements in the Short Description of the week, Preparation Requirements, and Assignment Due Dates.”
Course terminology coverage
AI can verify that key terms, concepts, and processes listed in the Course Outline are adequately covered throughout your weekly schedule. It will ensure these elements are introduced and revisited appropriately to support the learning outcomes.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, I will share a Course Outline and a list of course terms with you. Please review both documents carefully, then check if the key terms, concepts, and processes outlined in the Course Outline are consistently covered throughout the weeks in the Instructional Plan. Identify any gaps or overlaps and suggest adjustments for comprehensive coverage.”
Due date verification
AI can confirm that assignment due dates and deadlines are appropriately set for the course’s semester. It will ensure that deadlines are realistic, aligned with the course schedule, and fall on the correct day of the week.
Example Prompt: “Copilot, I will share a copy of an Instructional Plan with you. Please review it carefully, then verify that assignment due dates and deadlines are correctly set for the current semester and year. Ensure that all due dates match the specified day of the week for each week of the semester and are aligned with the week-by-week schedule and overall Instructional Plan.”
Try This! Analyze Your Micro-Credential with AI
Use Copilot to analyze your micro-credential courses with AI. Copy and paste the prompt(s) below into Copilot. Upload a copy of your micro-credential outcomes, course outcomes, and unit outcomes. What ideas might be helpful for you?
Example Prompt: “Copilot, you are an expert in outcomes-based education, backwards, design, and curriculum development and review. I require your assistnce for a curriculum analysis. I will share the following information with you [program outcomes, program description, course descriptions, course outcomes, and unit outcomes]. Please complete the following steps.
- Analyze carefully each course for:
- Alignment with the micro-credential course outcomes
- Specificity of the verb, action, and context of the outcomes
- Clarity and alignment of course and unit outcomes.
- Feasibility within this timeframe or hour count [timeframe, hour count]
- Overlap or gaps in content across the micro-credential.
- Revise course outcomes specifically where needed to:
- Use a single, high-order verb that aligns with a learning domain of Bloom’s taxonomy.
- Reflect the intended learning focus and final assignment.
- Strive for the following number of outcomes {number]. Consolidate multiple outcomes into one where there is overlap, or distinguish outcomes if appropriate.
- Revised unit outcomes to:
- Ensure alignment with the revised course outcome.
- Use lower-order, measurable verbs that do not exceed the domain level of the course outcome.
- Limit the total number of unit outcomes to [number] per course.
- Provide a title for outcomes related to a similar topic.
- Reflect the actual instructional content and activities from the slide decks (where available)
- Created comparison tables for each course showing:
- Original vs. revised course outcomes.
- Original vs. revised unit outcomes.
- Original vs. revised course descriptions (where applicable).
- Confirmed that each course is distinct, complementary, and aligned with the goals of the micro-credential. Make other suggestions where appropriate.
Try This! Develop a Curriculum Enhancement Matrix Using AI
Use Copilot to create suggestions for enhancing your curriculum using program outcomes as your guide. Copy and paste your course information and your program outcomes, then copy and paste the prompt(s) below into Copilot. What ideas might be helpful for you?
Example Prompt: “Copilot, you are an expert in outcomes-based education and backwards design. I will share the following information with you [program outcomes, course outcomes, unit outcomes]. Please complete the following steps. I am designing or evaluating a program with core outcomes. I need a comprehensive analysis of how well each course aligns with these outcomes. Please create a 5-level alignment matrix (1 = No Alignment to 5 = Excellent Alignment) showing each course’s support for each outcome. Where appropriate, for a program in which courses are delivered in a sequence, provide a matrix that shows when outcomes are introduced, reinforced, and assessed. Then, based on the matrix, identify gaps or areas of moderate alignment and provide targeted suggestions for improvement. Recommend which courses are best suited for integrating enhancements based directly on the program outcomes. Finally, create a curriculum enhancement matrix that maps these suggestions across the courses. The goal is to ensure that the courses differently support the program’s pedagogical goals and ensure that graduates have had multiple opportunities to practice and meet expectations for each program outcome.”
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