Vertical Alignment and the Program-Level Views

Modified on Mon, 10 Apr, 2023 at 4:01 PM

In curriculum design, it is often necessary to track how higher-level outcomes (program outcomes) influence lower-level outcomes (course outcomes) and ensure that all higher-level outcomes are addressed through the lower-level outcomes. Vertical alignment is the process by which course-level and program-level outcomes are linked.


The role of the course-level Workflows in building a curriculum is to plan both the week-to-week details of a course and the course outcomes. Program outcomes are typically very broad, and might be instantiated in different ways in different courses. Course outcomes, on the other hand, are specific to the context of the particular content and the level and category of the course in the program.


The assigned program outcomes, in conjunction with the content of the course, should guide the development of the course outcomes. These can be seen in the right-hand toolbar.


Vertical alignment is the process of ensuring that the course-level outcomes adequately address the program outcomes. The competencies that were assigned to the course at the program level can now be assigned to the course outcomes, creating links between the two.


The outcome analytics view is particularly useful for exploring and displaying the relationships inherent in the vertical alignment process.


  Outcomes assigned at the program level


Tagging course outcomes with program outcomes


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