2. Learning outcomes, activities & assessment

Developing and aligning the learning outcomes with the teaching and learning activities and their assessment is the most challenging yet most important aspect of preparing a unit of study outline.

An alignment table for each unit of study will contribute to good teaching by:
- relating the program’s learning outcomes to the unit-specific learning outcomes
- linking the UoS learning outcomes, graduate attributes, learning activities with assessment and assessment criteria
- enabling the use of the online feedback marking tool ReView
- providing a framework for assurance of learning

Discipline-specific examples of alignment
- Accounting
- Business Law
- Centre for International Security Studies

The alignment table is comprised of 5 elements:

1. Intended learning outcomes in a program are expressed at the University of Sydney as graduate attributes. These program learning outcomes are developed in the units of study. Each unit of study has unit-specific learning outcomes that relate to at least one of the five graduate attributes.
2. Graduate attributes include knowledge, skills and attitudes related to:
   - research and inquiry
   - personal and intellectual autonomy
   - communication
   - information literacy
   - ethical, social and professional understanding
   Because knowledge changes over time, employers expect our graduates to have generic qualities and attributes beyond an ability to recall current theories and facts. 
3. Student learning activities are the experiences provided for students to enable them to develop these skills, acquire these qualities and construct this knowledge.
4. Assessments enable students to demonstrate that they have achieved these learning outcomes in a valid and reliable manner.  Students should have opportunities to practise tasks, to receive timely and useful formative feedback to improve their final performance prior to summative assessment.  
5. Assessment criteria provide the standard by which students' work is judged as well as guidance for students in completing each assessment task.

For assistance in developing your alignment table please contact:
- Your Program Director
- Your Discipline's Learning and Teaching Associate
- The Office of Learning and Teaching in Economics and Business(Dr. Lesley Treleaven)