Constructive Alignment

Regardless of whether you are designing a new course or teaching a course you have taught several times, it is important to ensure that your course has clear intended learning outcomes and that they are aligned with the course’s assessments and teaching and learning activities. This is referred to as constructive alignment.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

Establishing and communicating what you want your students to know or be able to do the end of the course is beneficial both to you, and to your students. Intended learning outcomes can easily be formed by stating “By the end of this course, you should be able to [verb] + [noun].” The best learning outcomes are specific, measurable, and concise, and are composed with the student perspective in mind. For more information on creating learning outcomes, see this guide from the University of Toronto or this short LinkedIn Learning course on creating learning objectives (you will need to login to LinkedIn Learning with your MacID first).

Assessment Methods

Your assessment methods should allow you to accurately evaluate the extent to which students have achieved the course’s intended learning outcomes. Assessments can be graded or ungraded, but it should be clear to students how they can meet the criteria.

Teaching and Learning Activities

Once you have established your course learning outcomes and your methods of assessment you can start to think about what strategies you can use in the classroom to help students practice and achieve the intended outcomes. This is often where students can engage in active learning to practice and reflect upon the lessons.

Thinking about constructive alignment at the level of the course is an important consideration when planning your teaching. You might also think about how your course relates to the broader curriculum in the program itself, and how course-level considerations are reflected in individual lessons.