2.1 Alignment table

View discipline-specific examples.

Steps to develop your unit’s curriculum alignment table, using the UoS Outline template:

• Draft 6-8 unit-specific intended learning outcomes specifying level to be achieved
• Align graduate attributes students will develop with each learning outcome
• Identify the main student learning activities for each learning outcome
• List 3-4 assessment tasks with their weightings
• Identify the assessment criteria for each task
• Review alignment and seek peer feedback

The alignment table should then demonstrate that learning outcomes align with the graduate attributes, student learning activities, assessment tasks and assessment criteria.

2.1.1 Draft unit-specific learning outcomes

Using the UoS outline template, draft 6-8 unit-specific learning outcomes.

Intended learning outcomes should be unit-specific and describe how students will develop some of   the University’s five graduate attributes through their learning of the discipline content of your particular unit of study.

Learning outcomes may include skills, knowledge or other qualities acquired through the teaching, learning and assessment activities.

 

 

 

The following statements may assist you to draft the learning outcomes:

• As a result of successfully completing this unit, students should be able to…
  What skills exactly do I want them to be able to demonstrate?
  How will they demonstrate these skills?
• As a result of successfully completing this unit, students should know…
  What knowledge exactly do I want them to have constructed?
  How will they demonstrate their knowledge in terms of recalling, describing, explaining, interpreting, critiquing?
• As a result of successfully completing this unit, students should value... (about the discipline, the world, themselves)
  What exactly will they value?
  How will they demonstrate their appreciation?

Ensure that you specify the level of each learning outcome. The learning verb you choose indicates the level of outcome you expect students to achieve (e.g. ‘identify’ is a more introductory level verb than ‘evaluate’).  It is also used to effectively communicate intended learning outcomes to employers and the learning that will be assured to academic colleagues and accrediting bodies.  To avoid ambiguity, it is useful to specify the level of outcome to be achieved for each learning outcome in your unit of study.

Different taxonomies and frameworks are possible and may suit different disciplines.  There are two well-known ways of conceptualising levels of learning:

Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) with six levels of learning outcomes expressed as learning verbs: known as recall, comprehending, applying, analysing, synthesising and evaluating and 

Biggs SOLO taxonomy (1999) with five levels of learning outcome, from ‘missing the point’ to 'integrating components into a whole' with each part contributing to the overall meaning with clear learning verbs for each level.  More detail on the ITL website.

Cognitive Verbs - Approaches to Learning and the Level of Cognitive Learning Activities

Other Institutions' Resources

Aligning teaching for constructing learning (The Higher Education Academy)

Developing course learning goals and graduate attributes (The University of Queensland)

What are learning objectives and why do we need them? (Murdoch University)

The SOLO taxonomy (Murdoch University)

2.1.2 Integrate graduate attributes into these learning outcomes

Identify for each learning outcome, which graduate attribute students will develop through their learning of the discipline content of your unit of study. To relate the learning outcomes to the graduate attributes you might want to use the following questions:

• Which of the Faculty’s five graduate attributes do you think your unit of study might best contribute to?
• What would these graduate attributes enable students to do in the context of the content of your unit?

Several pointers that may be helpful:

Do	review the outcomes from your first draft (in step 1) with your answers to these questions.
Do	revise as appropriate so outcomes expressed as graduate attributes integrate to your content.
Don't	write a separate set of ‘generic attribute’ outcomes to add to your ‘content’ outcomes.
Don't	attempt to address all five graduate attributes in one unit of study.

Refer to the five graduate attributes of the University of Sydney adapted for the Faculty:

• Personal and Intellectual Autonomy
  Graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Business will be able to work independently and sustainably, in a way that is informed by openness, curiosity and a desire to meet new challenges.
• Research and Inquiry:
  Graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Business will be able to create new knowledge and understanding through the process of research and inquiry.
• Information Literacy
  Graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Business will be able to use information effectively in a range of contexts.
• Communication
  Graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Business will recognise and value communication as a tool for negotiating and creating new understanding, interacting with others, and furthering their own learning.
• Ethical, Social and Professional Understanding
  Graduates of the Faculty of Economics and Business will hold personal values and beliefs consistent with their role as responsible members of local, national, international and professional communities

 Note: The Faculty has four or five examples of learning outcomes for each graduate attribute. Use these merely as a guide as to the kinds of outcomes under each attribute. It is not necessary to develop all five graduate attributes across each unit of study in a program.

The development of global citizenship, through the University's 5 graduate attributes, is important and elements can be incorporated into your UoS as detailed in ‘Beyond the numbers – levels and layers of internationalism to utilise and support growth and diversity’.

2.1.3 Identify the main student learning activities for each learning outcome

Identify the main learning activities through which students will practice and develop their knowledge, skills and attributes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.1.4 List 3-4 assessment tasks with their weightings

Name 3-4 Assessment Tasks in your alignment table.

Too many assessment items can result in students adopting a surface approach to learning, failing to achieve quality learning outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a wide range of assessment methods. It is useful to go beyond the standard essay and exam assessment regime to allow students to develop their graduate attributes in ways that will be significant as professionals (e.g., report writing; presentation; case analysis). Variation also allows students different ways to demonstrate their learning (e.g., discussion board contributions and reflective journals may be more effective in drawing out quieter students' abilities).

2.1.5 Identify the assessment criteria for each task

Identify a total of 4-7 assessment criteria for each assessment task, aligning them with the intended  learning outcomes and graduate attributes.

 

 

 

 

 

2.1.6 Review alignment and seek peer feedback

Review and adjust curriculum alignment across the table. Ask an academic colleague to review the outcomes, or contact the Office of Learning and Teaching in Economics and Business’ Senior Academic Adviser to work with you.