This page was created to help departmental and college curriculum committee colleagues think through processes and resources related to curricula and degree maps. Although the topic is timely due to the implementation of our revised general education curriculum (rebranded 'Crossings') revision, the information and resources are also appropriate for other curriculum revision tasks.
Key definitions:
A curriculum for an academic program consists of the set of courses that a student must complete in order to earn the degree associated with that program. By successfully completing a course, a student should attain the learning outcomes associated with the course, while also earning the number of credit hours associated with the course. For instance, most associate degree programs require a student to earn a minimum of 60 credit hours, and most bachelor's degree programs require a student to earn a minimum of 120 credit hours.
A degree plan or degree map is a term-by-term arrangement for taking all of the courses in a curriculum, layed out so as to satisfy all requisite relationships. It is common for schools to offer two-year degree plans for associates degrees and four-year degree plans for bachelors degrees.
There is a one-to-many relationship between a curriculum and the degree plans that satisfy the curriculum - i.e., many different degree plans can be constructed to satisfy a single curriculum. Furthermore, it is likely that some of these degree plans are better suited to the needs of students than others. In addition, it is important to note that a degree plan may contain more courses than are stipulated in a curriculum. For instance, a student may not have the background necessary to take the first math course in a curriculum, necessitating the addition of a prerequisite math class as a part of the degree plan.
Reference - Curricular Analytics: Terminology
I.) What does the research tell us about student curricular needs?
The first year matters! What students are doing in the first year needs to connect to their commitments to the institution, to stay and complete a degree, and to career or life goals.
Students need a course in the intended major in the first year, or they need access to faculty experts who will help them explore an area of interest to provide a path to the major.
Sequencing of courses matter. Data analytics are showing us this. It's not just what the students are taking. It's what they are taking in combination with other things. Aim for balance.
- A semester that is only quantiative courses? A semester that is only project-based/lab-focused? Problematic. Consider balancing with a course or two focused on reading or rehearsing or creating.
- A semester that is all reading and writing-based? Problematic. Consider balancing with a course or two focused on quantiative or hands-on or performance-based learning.
- **And please keep this in mind in determining where courses in the major, in allied disciplines, and in general education/Crossings could or should be in the degree maps!**
A good curriculum is an equity issue! Complex curricula are not an indicator of rigor; they are an indicator of "information asymmetry" that stymies student academic success. (Want to know more? Check out the Gardner Institute's series on Socially Just Design in Postsecondary Education, especially the session on the Curriculum.)
II.) HOW DO WE SHARE OUR CURRICULUM AND DEGREE MAPS WITH STUDENTS?
A.) Our current method
Degree maps in the electronic catalog. Shows everything in one place. Doesn't provide 'coherent rationale' to students. Lots of footnotes. Doesn't provide a clear path for students with credits earned elsewhere (i.e.- our first-year students are rarely academically first-year students). Every time a degree requirement changes (even if it doesn't affect the major course of study), maps must be updated.
B.) Visual approach
Some departments (working with CUSG) have created visualizations of the curriculum. These help students and faculty and staff to see how courses build within major courses of study. They also help us to see where there is flexibility in course sequencing. Indicates to students (especially transfer students) why we have certain courses in certain order.
C.) "clustering" approach
Other institutions share their curricula in a format that makes it distinct that there are: a.) requirements in the major course of study, b.) requirements in the general course of study, and c.) other university-level requirements for a degree.
For example, Penn State shares each of their curricula in this way. In one place, it's possible to visualize degree requirements, a *suggested* academic plan, and programmatic learning outcomes.
(Wow - look at that short and clean list of learning outcomes! See more about that in section III below.)
D.) The Data & Equity Approach
This isn't so much a way to show the curriculum to students as it is a tool for faculty. The tool Curricular Analyics (free!) can be used to visualize your curriculum and all of the nuances. It provides a means for us to review, locate, and mitigate curricular impediments to student success.
If you want to learn more about how this works:
- Look at futurist Bryan Alexander's blog post with embedded video. (Link)
- Check out the open access paper by Curricular Analytics founders (Heileman, Abdallah, Slim, Hickman) from arXiv. (Link)
E.) Where do we go next?
Let's keep talking about curriculum, right-sizing it, communicating it, and doing what helps our students while upholding our academic values.
III.) putting the pieces together with curriculum mapping
From Linda Suskie, a great curriculum is designed around what students need, not just what we want to teach and when we want to teach it. Students need us to be responsive to employers ans societal and human needs, not just content coverage. A few broad, important learning goals - pervasive across the curriculum and across multiple requirements leads to richer student development. (See her book Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide.)
Do you have programmatic student learning outcomes?
- If yes, then great! Revisit them every now and then with your assessment data to see if any revisions are needed.
- If no, this could be a problem. Programmatic outcomes are a SACSCOC requirement. Talk to your College assessment liaison for some advice.
Do you know where in the curriculum faculty are introducing, reinforcing, and mastering those outcomes?
Do you know how faculty in allied courses and general education/Crossings courses are introducing, reinforcing, and mastering the outcomes?
- If yes, then great!
- If no, then consider doing some departmental curriculum mapping. Taimi and Bridget created a quick guide to curriculum mapping. (The OTEI website also has a page specifically dedicated to course & curricular design resources.)
IV.) GUIDANCE FOR INTEGRATING DEGREE MAPS WITH CROSSINGS CURRICULUM.
If a course is not a pre-requisite course to any other courses in a curriculum, why does it matter when a student would take it? Well, there are some reasons!
SACSCOC has specific language expecting that curricula should have a "coherent rationale" behind their design. Trying to fit in courses wherever there seems to be a spot is not a coherent rationale. Balance is important. (See above.)
For instance, the Global Challenges courses should draw from different fields of study, both by nature of the content and through intentionality with our student learning outcomes. When possible, it is advantageous that students take their Ways of Knowing courses (or at least one from each of the four knowledge domains - arts/humanities, mathematics, natural science, social science) before the 3000-level Challenges course(s).
Increased transparency and intentionality = increased student graduation, retention, and engagement.
Checklist is in the Box Open Resources Folder. (Clemson credentials required.)
Credits:
Created with images by Ghinzo - "compass map retro" • Pexels - "kindle ereader tablet" • ElisaRiva - "head man person"