Curriculum Mapping
A curriculum map is simply a crosswalk table (grid, spreadsheet) with the following purposes:
- To show the alignment of course curricula to the stated program objectives
- To describe how the objectives will be assessed and to outline how results will be used.
- To inform team work to deliver the curriculum
- To identify curricular sequence, balance, as well as over- or under-emphasis on learning objectives
- To reveal a curriculum’s level of complexity (If a group of faculty experts can’t get their heads around the curriculum map, expect that students and administrators can’t either!)
- In times of crisis or financial difficulty, a curriculum map can also inform fundamental decisions about the educational mission of the program.
A curriculum map is ideally an artifact of discussion among the faculty in a department. If only one person is charged with developing a Curriculum Map, then its effectiveness and purpose is diminished.
One axis of the grid contains the program learning objectives. The other axis contains the courses associated with the program.
| Learning Objective 1 | Learning Objective 2 | Learning Objective 3 | |
| Course 1 | Information to show alignment of courses and learning objectives |
||
| Course 2 | |||
| Course 3 | |||
Using various symbols (see template for instructions), the middle of the matrix reveals
- The intersection of courses and program objectives, or to show where the faculty deliver each of the program objectives over the span of the curriculum.
- And a basic description of how faculty will conduct assessment on each of the objectives in each of the respective courses.
- How the faculty intend to use assessment results to inform discussions about the curriculum.
Curriculum Map Template
There is not one way to develop a curriculum map, but some faculty have used this
simple template (login required)
Examples
Here are some examples of curriculum maps from Stony Brook programs. Not all of them use the above template, but all were developed through department dialog and all have accomplished the purposes stated above.
Resources:
Jacobs, H. H. (2004). Getting Results with Curriculum Mapping. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), 1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311.
Sumsion, J., & Goodfellow, J. (2004). Identifying generic skills through curriculum mapping: a critical evaluation. Higher Education Research & Development, 23(3), 329-346.
Arafeh, S. (2016). Curriculum mapping in higher education: a case study and proposed content scope and sequence mapping tool. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 40(5), 585-611.
Caulfield, S. L., Paul, D., & Visscher, C. (2019). Curriculum Mapping as a Path for Success.