Up to this point, you’ve developed a vision for the curricular structure of your program as a whole, and you’ve articulated program-level learning outcomes that determine what students will be able to know, value, and do by the end of the program.

How do you turn these visions and intended outcomes into a curriculum that supports learners from program entry to graduation?

The next step to program development is to plan the curriculum. Here, we introduce curriculum mapping as a flexible method for curriculum planning. The ultimate goal of curriculum mapping is to develop plans for student learning and assessment (i.e., through courses and other formalized learning experiences). This unit is focused on orienting academic leaders and program administrators to what curriculum mapping is and why it’s a recommended approach to curriculum development. With such a focus, the unit provides a high-level overview. For many academic leaders, this overview will provide sufficient context to key concepts and strategies for managing, guiding, or leading others to engage in a curriculum mapping process (e.g., your program design/development team).

This unit focuses on the Program Outcomes, Program Vision, Course Design, Teaching and Learning elements of the Online Program Ecosystem. Read more about the ecosystem in Module 1, Unit 1: Collaborating to Create the Online Learner Life Cycle and its Ecosystem

We recognize that some readers will want more – they will want to get into the specifics of how to conduct curriculum mapping for program and course design. For this, we recommend Unit 4: Curriculum Mapping in this module – a separate unit that expands and elaborates on curriculum mapping at the program level.

Program and curriculum visions set the direction and overall intentions of a program and its curricular structure. For students to be successful in the program as a whole, everything they do for learning and assessment should aid them in progressing toward those goals.

The rationale for this unit is grounded in two related concepts – Constructive Alignment and Backward Design. When educators use curriculum mapping strategies, they engage constructive alignment and backwards design principles into curriculum planning.

The What and Why of Curriculum Mapping

Curriculum mapping is “the process of associating course outcomes with program‐level learning outcomes and aligning elements of courses (e.g., teaching and learning activities, assessment strategies) within a program, to ensure that it is structured in a strategic, thoughtful way that enhances student learning” (Dyjur, Grant, & Kalu, 2019, p. 4). Mapping enables designers to plan a course in a way that is strategically and thoughtfully aligned to program intended outcomes (Harden, 2001). While curriculum mapping is taken up in a variety of ways depending on the intended conversation, this unit applies the concept of curriculum mapping to the initial design and development of an academic program and the courses that will shape it.

A ‘map’ is commonly presented as a diagram, table, or matrix that visually shows the connections between elements of a curriculum, such as program learning outcomes, and course-based details, such as course outcomes, teaching & learning activities, or assessments.

Review the various images of curriculum maps below and click the question mark icons to reveal information about each. Map #1 (top) is an excerpt from a theoretical biology program curriculum matrix by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2022). Map #2 (middle) is an example map by the Office of Teaching and Learning (n.d.) at the University of Guelph. Map #3 (bottom) is a map generated by Cecil & Krohn (2012) for a competency-based tourism program. Notice how no two maps look quite the same.

Why Engage in Curriculum Mapping?

The following list is adapted from Dyjur et al. (2019) to summarize the many benefits of curriculum mapping:

• It provides a view of the program’s curriculum as a whole (Jacobs & Johnson, 2009)
• Relationships within the curriculum can be easily identified, such as connections between learning outcomes, student assessments, and teaching and learning activities (Tariq, Scott, Cochrane, Lee, & Ryles, 2004)
• Engaging in mapping activities encourages communication amongst faculty members within a program (Metzler, Rehrey, Kurz, & Middendorf, 2017)
• Mapping conversations and resulting products provide opportunities for reflection (Fraser, Crook, & Park, 2007; Tariq et al., 2004)
• It helps faculty members to articulate tacit understandings about a program
• It provides a context for planning and discussing the curriculum

Curriculum mapping for new online program development seeks to devise initial plans for the arising course-level planning. Doing so frames the scope of each course to the individuals and teams who go on to develop each respective course. This helps to ensure that each course is developed within the decided bounds or scope of the intended learning outcomes.

Leading Curriculum Mapping

There is no singular “right” way to begin engaging in the curriculum mapping process for course design. The process must ultimately be organic to best serve your program and the program development team. In addition, curriculum mapping is a process of data collection requiring both dialogue and informed team-based decision-making about a program and its overall design. Since no one person singularly designs and teaches an entire academic program, no one person can possibly capture all the elements of program and course design into a curriculum map; it must be a team effort. Here are some ideas for collaborative mapping:

• Host a program retreat to engage in a curriculum mapping exercise as a group.
• Have each member of the team design their draft map, such as how they would represent the program visually or as a mind-map. Then, come together to share design ideas. Where your ideas compare and contrast could lead to exciting new revelations about the overall program structure and course design.
• Connect with stakeholders (e.g., prospective students of the program, recent graduates in a similar discipline, employers). Ask them: What should students learn in this program? What lasting knowledge, skills, values, or attitudes are important for graduates 5 years after graduation?

Unit Reflection and Resources

If you plan to engage in curriculum mapping – what’s your why? What value do you see in taking this approach? What would you like to get out of your curriculum mapping process?