Phase 2: Course mapping
How does each of the courses within a program support the development
of program graduate attributes?
Stage 1: Planning learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment
Stage 2: Discovering possibilities
Stage 3: Planning learning activities across a semester
Aim
To develop
an overview of how your course supports the development of each program
graduate attribute through the planned learning outcomes,
learning activities and assessment it offers. The activities in this
phase will help you to think about your course in specific terms,
that is, how each learning outcome is developed through specific learning
activities and assessment tasks, and how and where across a semester
particular instances of support for graduate attribute development
are identifiable.
Process
For each program graduate attribute, use the Ideas bank in conjunction with the Outcomes tables and the Learning activities grids to guide you as you map program graduate attributes across a course. You may like to seek facilitation for this process from TEDI.
Note:
A program will, overall, provide support for the development
of program graduate attributes. Each course within a program
makes
a contribution
to the overall development of program graduate attributes.
This means that each course will not necessarily contribute to
all program graduate
attributes. The combined courses (i.e. the full program),
however, will, overall, contribute to the development of all the program
graduate attributes.
This process is in three stages:
Stage 1: Planning learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment
During this stage, you will consider how the intended or planned learning outcomes, through their associated learning activities and assessment, support the development of program graduate attributes.
To do this, use the suggestions provided in the Ideas bank as stimuli to help you to complete the Outcomes tables for each graduate attribute. The outcomes tables appearing in this package are examples only. You may wish to photocopy and enlarge these examples, or you may find you have to develop new ones to cater for your specific needs.
The ideas bank consists of lists of activities and other ideas to help you to think about the learning activities and assessment tasks you include in your course to support students' development of each graduate attribute. As you reflect on the ideas contained in these lists you may want to add more examples that fit your area/topic/field/discipline more specifically.
Step by step use of the learning outcomes, activities and assessment tables
- In the left column, list the planned learning outcomes for the course.
- In the column to the right, list the relevant planned learning activities to show how each learning outcome for the course supports the development of each graduate attribute.
- In the next column to the
right list the planned assessment activities associated with the
planned learning
outcomes
and learning activities.
Stage 2: Discovering possibilities
During this stage you will consider any new possibilities for program graduate attribute development that have emerged as a result of undertaking the mapping exercise in Stage 1, above.
To do this, reflect on the mapping exercise you have just completed in Stage 1, together with the suggestions in the ideas bank and your knowledge of your course, overall, to help you to complete the bottom half of the outcomes tables for each program graduate attribute.
Step by step use of the learning outcomes, activities and assessment tables
- Consider the planned learning outcomes listed in the left hand column.
- Reflect on the planned learning activities and assessment supporting the development of the planned learning outcomes in the middle columns.
- Now, in the right hand column of
the table, record your 'discoveries' about the learning
activities
in your course.
'Discoveries'
could be:
- learning activities, or aspects of them, you already include in your course, that you do not normally state explicitly as offering support for the planned learning outcomes, BUT that you see now as providing support for program graduate attribute development
- new ideas for learning activities, or aspects of them, that could be included in the future as a means of enhancing students' learning experiences of program graduate attributes
- remember, each course will not necessarily contribute to
the development
of all
program graduate attributes.
Stage
3: Planning
learning activities
across a semester
During this stage you will consider how the learning activities across a semester support the development of program graduate attributes?
To do this, use the information gathered in Stages 1 and 2, above, to help you to fill in the Learning activities grid. The learning activities grid appearing in this package is an example only. You may wish to photocopy and enlarge this example, or you may find you have to develop a new one to cater for your specific needs.
Step by step
- For each graduate attribute, identify the specific learning activities you implement in the course to support the development of that graduate attribute. Take these from the outcomes tables. Remember, each course will not necessarily contribute to the development of all program graduate attributes.
- Record in the learning activities grid a justification of why you believe each learning activity supports the development of the program graduate attribute, noting, for example:
- during which weeks the learning activity occurs
- the form the learning activity takes
- whether the learning activity is described in the course outline
- whether the learning activity is assessed, and how
- to what level
of attainment you think
your students
develop the
program graduate
attribute
through
the learning activity,
for example,
low,
medium, high. You
will need to talk
to other
teaching staff
to develop
a shared
sense of, and make
a judgement about,
what
you mean by
low,
medium and
high levels
of
achievement.
Analysis
From the map, you will be able to identify overburdening or gaps in the courses' development of the program graduate attributes. Your reflection upon the mapping exercise as a whole will help you to identify where in your course you can capitalise on previously unidentified opportunities for program graduate attribute development in the future. The ultimate outcome of this reflection will be the translation of the program graduate attributes into course level graduate attribute statements.
