Graduate Academic Learning Compact
Curriculum Outcomes Map
Faculty name: ____________________
For departmental assessment purposes, we would like to map our curriculum content to our departmental learning outcomes. The outcomes are listed
below. For the most recent offering of each undergraduate course you teach, please indicate at what level of mastery the course addresses the outcome
using the following scale. Remember that it is not reasonable to expect that all courses will address all outcomes—please be selective, and rate only the
outcomes of highest importance in your course. For outcomes that are addressed minimally or not at all in your course, leave the cell blank.
I = Introduced
R = Reinforced
M=Mastery demonstrated
Course number
Outcomes
Graduate Academic Learning Compact
Curriculum Outcomes Map

Fill in your department’s learning outcomes in the first column of the attached template.

Distribute the template to faculty, asking them to use the code provided (I, R, M for Introduced, Reinforced, Mastery demonstrated) to
indicate the level at which departmental outcomes are addressed in each course. Instructions for faculty are on the template. For
simplicity’s sake, you may want to limit the exercise to the last one or two academic years. Remember, it’s not reasonable to think that
every course will address all or even most outcomes, so encourage faculty to be selective and leave some spaces blank!

Compile the responses from faculty in one copy of the template. Here are some suggestions for how to organize the display.
o In one area of the map, include only key courses—those that are required, or that almost all of your students take.
o If more than one faculty member teaches a given course, display all of their responses in side by side columns.
o Group electives, perhaps by the requirement they fulfill, or by subdiscipline, or by the level at which they are taught.
o You might do multiple versions of the map, each of which contains a typical student “trip” through your curriculum. You can do
this by looking at real student transcripts, and including in the map just the courses that that student took.

Devote a faculty meeting (I would suggest at least a full hour session, if possible) to discussion of the results. Here are some possible
questions for discussion:
o In the key courses, are all outcomes addressed?
o Do all of the key courses address at least one outcome?
o Do multiple offerings of the same course address the same outcomes, at the same levels?
o Do some outcomes get more coverage than others?
o Are all outcomes first introduced and then reinforced?
o Are students expected to show high levels of learning too early?
o Do students get practice on all outcomes before being assessed, e.g., in the capstone?
o Do all students, regardless of which electives they choose, experience a coherent progression and coverage of all outcomes?
o What do your electives, individually and collectively, contribute to the achievement of your student learning outcomes?

You can use the results of this discussion in a number of ways:
o To inform a discussion of possible changes to your learning outcomes.
o To identify learning outcomes that should receive high priority in developing your assessment plan.
o To inform a discussion of changes to individual courses.
o To inform a discussion of changes to the curriculum. You might consider adding or deleting courses, or changing requirements or
prerequisites, or changing the sequence of courses that you recommend to students.