A Curriculum Map is a matrix that graphically organizes important information about the introduction, reinforcement, and assessment of the SLOs in a degree program. Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes (University of Florida, 2011-12a) and General Education SLOs (University of Florida, 2011-12b) are presented in the online catalog. In their current format, the undergraduate SLOs are mapped across selected courses in each degree program. The Curriculum Map uses a similar table format as the current online SLO matrices but includes additional information. In the Academic Assessment Plan, the Curriculum Map is evaluated on these criteria:
- link SLOs to program courses
- identify where SLOs are introduced, reinforced, and assessed
- identify the assessments used for each SLO
Figure 1 presents a general example of a Curriculum Map. The top row lists the course numbers. The left column lists the SLOs by category (NOTE: in an actual map, these would be written out fully). The cells in the Map indicate if the SLO is introduced (I), reinforced (R), or assessed (A) in a particular course. For the courses where the SLO is assessed, the name of the assessment is included.
Not all courses in a degree program are mapped to the SLOs for that program. The only courses in the map are those where the SLOs are introduced, reinforced, and assessed. In Figure 1, the Map also shows that in some courses the assessments measure two SLOs in different categories. For example, the Case Study in Week 15 of Course 7 measures Content Knowledge SLO#2 (which is likely a paper) and Communication SLO #6 (which is likely an oral presentation related to the paper). Also note that each course does not assess an SLO, but each SLO is assessed at least once in the program. In some programs, SLOs are assessed using methods that are not tied to particular courses – for example, licensure exams, state required proficiency tests, etc. For programs that use these types of assessments, an additional column should be provided to list these additional assessments.
Figure 1: General Example of a Table-Form Curriculum Map