Curriculum design and development
Everyone involved in teaching has a role in curriculum design. When starting to teach that role is usually confined to designing sessions, whereas with a lectureship usually comes the need to design or modify modules and work as part of a departmental team on course design.
This document offers guidance on all these levels of curriculum design and development, which are held together by the principle of constructive alignment. In a well-designed curriculum there will be alignment between courses, modules, modes of teaching, assessment and grading criteria and this is achieved by linking everything to clearly stated learning outcomes.
The principles for good design of teaching and learning are much the same for individual sessions, modules and courses so these pages start by outlining the key characteristics of constructive alignment and how learning outcomes can make curriculum design easier.
Constructive alignment and learning outcomes
Constructive alignment is the dominant theory underpinning curriculum design processes. You can read more about constructive alignment from John Biggs but in terms of curriculum design, it is about aligning everything to the learning outcomes. Starting the design/development process by deciding what the successful learner will be able to DO by the end of the session, module or course gives a clear focus for content, mode of teaching, assessment and even grading criteria.
Learning outcomes also allow us to differentiate between expectations at different levels. In order to achieve alignment it is important that session outcomes contribute to module outcomes which in turn contribute to course outcomes - which themselves align with the QAA Quality Code Part A which is concerned with setting and maintaining threshold academic standards. This includes programme (course) and subject level guidance. So a first step before writing your learning outcomes is to check where they fit in the bigger picture, by reading the relevant QAA subject benchmark statement, the requirements of any external accrediting bodies, course or module documents. Once you have familiarised yourself with the context you can set about writing clear learning outcomes for your course, module or session.
Matching outcomes and assessment
Schools will develop their own teaching, learning and assessment strategies. However, when designing a new course, it is important to consider the following:
- What are the relationships between the course outcomes, the individual module outcomes and the assessment modes?
- Are these relationships made explicit?
- Taken as a whole, do the assessment modes that a student experiences during a whole course:
a) steadily increase in complexity as the student progresses through the course?
b) form a set of complementary, rather than repetitive, tasks? - Taken as a whole, do the assessment modes that a student experiences during a whole course align with the graduate attributes and programme outcomes specified for that course?
To get an overview of a course, it can be helpful to carry out a module mapping exercise. This is done by:
- identifying the core module combinations for a course;
- producing a 'module map' showing the most common module combinations across the three years of the course;
- collecting information for these modules;
- plotting learning and assessment tasks for these modules onto the module map;
- An exercise like this will identify gaps or redundancies in a course and check that learning and assessment increase in complexity over the three years of the course.
Module design
When designing a new module or modifying an existing module there are a number of important considerations. This page will take you through some important issues and link to further guidance.
When setting out to design a module it is important to understand the approval process and timescale.
It is also important to be aware of QAA subject benchmark statements and the requirements of any external accreditors or professional bodies, though these become much more important when designing courses.
Most modules are part of a course (a particular degree, certificate etc.) so it is important that the module fits well within the larger whole. Whether it is a new module or the modification of an existing one, the starting point for module design should be the course documentation which will set learning outcomes as well as modes of teaching, learning and assessment.
Increasingly when planning modules it is also important to think about internationalisation and employability.
Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes are statements that describe what a student will be able to do as a result of learning. Clearly stated learning outcomes help students understand what is expected of them and help staff focus on precisely what they want students to achieve. They are specific measurable achievements of the student and specify the minimum acceptable standard for a student to be able to pass a module or course (threshold level). There is sometimes some confusion between aims, objectives and learning outcomes but aims are broad purposes or goals whereas objectives are stated as intentions of the tutor.
The basic 4As of learning outcomes
Active
Learning Outcomes use action verbs to describe what students should be able to do at the end of the session, course or degree programme. However, it is best to avoid words such as 'know' and 'understand' in favour of more specific verbs that say what a student can DO to demonstrate their knowledge or understanding. That will be much easier to assess. For example, if you want a student to 'know' the dates of the Kings and Queens of England then a learning outcome that they will be able to 'list' them will test that knowledge. And if you want them to 'understand' how cells divide your learning outcome might be that students can 'explain' the process.
Aligned
Learning outcomes should be aligned with the rest of the curriculum. So session learning outcomes will contribute to the achievement of course outcomes, which in turn contribute to programme outcomes - and all learning outcomes must align with assessment.
Achievable
It is important that learning outcomes be achievable. Learning outcomes are written at the threshold level for a pass, so they describe what a student needs to be able to do in order to pass a course (which for undergraduates usually means 40%). Learning outcomes should not be aspirational; they do not describe what we hope the best students will achieve but the minimum that is required in order to pass.
It is also important to consider what is achievable at different levels, with the available resources and in the time allowed. By setting achievable learning outcomes at the start of the course design process we set ourselves a clear focus for the content.
Assessed
All learning outcomes must be assessed, which does not mean that we need to set lots of assignments. For courses it is often possible to assess several learning outcomes with one piece of work, and for sessions the learning outcomes will usually be assessed informally, based on classroom tasks or discussions.
Writing learning outcomes
When writing learning outcomes it is important to get the language right. Start with 'at the end of the session/course/programme a successful student will be able to...' then choose an action verb that says clearly what you expect the students to be able to do and the cognitive level they are expected to operate at when assessed. Remember that the learning outcome represents the threshold level for a pass. It is also important to use language that students understand.
Try to avoid expressions such as 'know', 'understand', 'appreciate', 'be familiar with', 'be aware of' as these are too vague to convey the exact nature of the outcome being sought and are difficult to assess accurately.
There are many lists of appropriate verbs available, mostly based on Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Objectives (1956) which identified 6 levels of the 'cognitive domain', each subsuming the last:
- Knowledge
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
At each level, a range of verbs are listed which can be used in learning outcomes. We have provided a few suggestions below that you might find useful. You may find that in your discipline the hierarchy is not as straightforward as Bloom's model implies, but the associated verbs are still useful when writing learning outcomes.
Knowledge is the first step, but although it is a verb 'know' is not a good word for learning outcomes - it is better to think of a verb that describes what a student can DO to demonstrate their knowledge, so verbs like describe, identify, recognise, define, name, recall and list are better.
Comprehension or understanding is important, but as with 'know', 'understand' is not a very useful verb for learning outcomes as it is imprecise, better to use words like explain, summarise, discuss, recognize, report and review which will show students' understanding.
Application is at a higher level where students are able to put their knowledge and understanding to use in new situations so some relevant active verbs are: employ, illustrate, interpret, practice, solve and use.
Analysis is about understanding complex structures by the identification of parts and their relationships so learning outcomes can ask students to analyze, appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, experiment or question.
Synthesis is about putting parts together to form a new whole, which is important in constructing an argument and integrating knowledge so verbs such as construct, create, design, develop and organise can be used.
Evaluation is posited as the highest level where students can make judgements based on the value of evidence and material for a given purpose. Verbs like appraise, argue, assess and judge are relevant.
These are just a few suggestions. You can use any active verbs that are appropriate to your context.
Aligning assessment with learning outcomes
Whether designing a session, a course or a programme it is important to make sure that the assessment aligns with the stated learning outcomes. If, for example a programme has as a learning outcome that graduates will be able to 'communicate ideas verbally' then assessing all courses by written work alone means that students will not be able to demonstrate that outcome.
Different modes of assessment are better suited to particular learning outcomes and there are plenty of options so it should be possible to find the perfect type of assessment for any learning outcome. For example, a multiple choice quiz can assess students' ability to 'identify a class of plants' but would probably not be the best way to assess the ability to 'explain photosynthesis'.
Here are some suggestions for the sorts of assessment tasks which lend themselves primarily or best to assessing particular outcomes. As with the guidance on writing learning outcomes these ideas are arranged in line with Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive domains so they progress from basic 'knowledge' to the higher level 'evaluation'. There are just a few ideas here, but there are many approved modes of assessment that you can choose from.
Knowledge - represented by verbs such as describe, identify, recognise, define, name, recall and list which could be assessed by exercises, professional log, multiple choice questions, matching questions, research plan/proposal, test etc.
Comprehension - represented by verbs such as explain, summarise, discuss, recognize, report and review could be assessed by concept note, field/lab notebook, laboratory report, project feasibility study, practical report, short answer questions etc.
Application - represented by verbs such as employ, illustrate, interpret, practice, solve and use could be assessed by learning plan, oral examination, project management docomentation, problem sets, progress report, software exercise etc.
Analysis - represented by verbs such as analyze, appraise, compare, contrast, criticize, experiment or question could be assessed by briefing paper, case analysis, case study, personal journal, precis, research journal, statistical assignment etc.
Synthesis - represented by verbs such as construct, create, design, develop and organise could be assessed by essay, group presentation, learning diary, open book exam, programming project, poster presentation (individual or group), report, synthesis paper, take-away paper, unseen examination etc.
Evaluation - represented by verbs such as appraise, argue, assess and judge could be assessed by dissertation, group project report, lecture, literature review, term paper, portfolio, presentation, project report, reflective essay, review paper etc.