HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
OBTL SAMPLE MATRICES FOR
CONSTRUCTIVE ALIGNMENT MAPPINGS
Based on the principle of constructive alignment, OBTL at HKBU should be considered at two
concurrently operating levels.
The micro-level happens in courses, where constructive alignment is enacted amongst the Course
Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), the Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs) and
Assessment Methods (AMs). That is, once the CILOs are confirmed, the TLAs and AMs must be
designed in such that they will help students achieve the CILOs. The OBTL course syllabus
template and course checklist assist Course Leaders/Instructors in constructive alignment at the
micro level.
At the macro-level, courses taken by students are normally for the fulfilment of specific
programme or major requirements. That is, the sum of the courses should help students achieve
the ILOs of the respective programmes or majors they have chosen (these are usually called
programme or major ILOs or PILOs for short). This is important as it provides a guide to the
design of the CILOs of the various courses and how the courses are to be offered within a
programme or major. The Courses – PILOs mapping matrix provides an easy reference on how
the curriculum has been designed to help students achieve the PILOs of their respective
programmes of study.
The University Senate has approved a set of Graduate Attributes (GAs) based on our longstanding and well-recognized whole person ethos. Ultimately, the various activities within the
entire learning environment for the students, whether they are for the academic curriculum or for
the co-curriculum, should be mapped onto the Graduate Attributes (GAs) such that when students
participate in, and complete, certain activities, they know that these are aligned to help them attain
the GAs. Hence on the macro-level, OBTL requires constructive alignment of PILOs to the GAs
as well. Correspondingly, the GAs – PILOs mapping matrix provides a concise guide on how
achieving the PILOs helps students towards attaining the GAs on graduation.
Updated/CHTL/v2/Jan2014
The following matrix in Table 1 is a sample of how the mapping of courses to the PILOs can be
shown such that both teachers and students can be made aware of the coverage of the PILOs as
well as the rationale for the offering of the various courses.
Table 1. The OBTL PILOs – Courses Mapping Matrix
Courses \
PILOs
Course 1
Course 2
Course 3
Course 4
…
PILO1
Exchange
Internship
X
X
PILO2
PILO3
X
…
PILO4
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
As for the constructive alignment of PILOs to the Graduate Attributes, the mapping in Table 2 is a
sample and example of how the PILOs of a programme are mapped to the HKBU Graduate
Attributes (GAs). This will further assist both teachers and students identify how successful
completion of the PILOs can help the students to attain the Graduate Attributes.
Table 2. The OBTL GAs – PILOs Mapping Matrix
No. of
GAs
addressed
Citizenship Knowledge Learning Skills Creativity Communication Teamwork by this
PILO
HKBU Graduate Attributes1
PILOs
PILO 1
X
X
PILO 2
X
X
PILO 3
X
PILO 4
…
X
X
3
X
2
X
X
No. of
PILOs
2
addressing
this GA
X
X
X
3
2
3
3
3
2
3
3
4
Both Tables 1 & 2 and descriptions on their contents are required OBTL components in an OBTL
Programme template.
Related resources and links, such as the OBTL programme checklist, OBTL course syllabus checklist, the
OBTL course syllabus template and regulations from AR can be found at URL –
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/chtl/main/prog-accreditation/