Once Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for a degree/certificate program have been identified, they are mapped onto the program curriculum. Aligning intended SLOs with program curriculum and assignments is a hugely beneficial activity. The mapping process allows you to visually represent what is taught to students, where and how. Narrowly speaking, the curriculum map is a chart that shows in which specific courses various knowledge and skill sets are initially taught, further developed and reinforced, and finally mastered. After students have been provided sufficient opportunity to develop each SLO, evidence of learning is collected. In order to determine if students have indeed gained the desired competencies, each one is assessed using appropriate assignments and methods.
In the templates provided below, you will find additional information about curriculum mapping and specific instructions on how to fill out the map/matrix for programs of various degree levels. Each file contains an example of an abbreviated completed SLOs x Curriculum map/matrix and SLOs x Assignments map/matrix and two partially filled out templates. Feel free to adjust them in any way to meet the needs of your program
Please contact us at ipa@fsu.edu with any questions about curriculum mapping. You may also email us to request a facilitated curriculum mapping session for your department/program. Below are some additional supporting resources.
- FSU Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) hosts custom workshops and seminars on designing curriculum, courses, assignments, and rubrics;
- National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) published a brief introductory paper that provides an overview of mapping student learning;
- University of Hawai’i at Manoa lists some best practices in curriculum mapping and offers more examples of curriculum maps/matrices;
- Our higher education colleagues inform about selecting an assessment measure, briefly describe some common assignments, and share an inventory of direct and indirect assessment methods;
- NILOA put together an extensive library of peer-reviewed assignments created and used by instructors in various academic disciplines.