Course Outlines
Welcome to Module 4. This module has two main objectives. The first is to get familiar with your course outline and to point out all the important information that it contains, including your course learning outcomes. The second objective is to emphasize how all the parts of your course relate to each other, to the program, and to the College’s Quality Assurance (QA) measures.
As you will see from the structure of the course outline, it is very important to make sure that course learning outcomes, assessments, and learning activities all match and support each other in a logical way.
Course-level learning outcomes are critical to an effective course for two main reasons: design and alignment. First, they inform the design of the course assessments, materials, methods, and sequence. All aspects of teaching (activities, instructional content/media, and assessment) should be designed with outcomes in mind.
Course Outline Overview & Context
When you are looking at your course outline you should find the following areas:
- At the top of the course outline, you will see the course title and hours; next, you will find the course description, which tells your students a bit about your course, and any prerequisites or co-requisites, which are the courses that must be taken either before or concurrently with your course.
- Next, you will find the course learning outcomes, which are what the students will be expected to know or do by the end of your course. At Fleming, this section always starts with half a sentence: “Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to…”
- Next, you will see a section on learning resources that will list any textbooks or other materials and resources used in the course.
- The next two sections will cover course assessments and the course learning plan. Both of these sections are divided by task and timeline in order to help you and your students know what to expect during the semester.
- The Learning Plan section will outline your course week by week, including what content will be covered and what activities will occur to support student learning. These are also linked to the course learning outcomes and assessment.
- The Assessment Requirements section will outline each graded assignment, when it will happen, what learning outcome it provides evidence for, and what percentage of the final grade it is worth.
If you have time, you can also look at your program map. These are available for all Fleming programs. You can locate the program maps by navigating from the myCampus portal to the Evolve Administrative System (found on the left-hand widget); in Evolve choose VLO Mapping from the list. The curriculum map will provide you with more context for how your course fits into the whole program.
Outcomes also align with the program and college-level learning outcomes, such as:
Vocational Learning Outcomes (VLO) which are the standard program-level learning outcomes,
Essential Employability Skills (EES) are skills that, regardless of a student’s program, are critical for success in the workplace, day-to-day living, and for lifelong learning.
Indigenous Perspectives Designation (IPD) has outcomes that outline the integration of Indigenous knowledge and experiences throughout programs with this designation. For more information on Indigenous education at Fleming please visit the Vice President, Academic Experience website.
Sustainability Learning Outcome which is Fleming College’s outcome that supports the integration of sustainability in all our programs. For more information about sustainability in our courses at Fleming please visit the Office of Sustainability website.
Finally, your course learning outcomes are also essential for providing an overall quality measure of the course.
Course outlines are your “contract” with the students and reflect the weekly progression of the course and assessment requirements. The course outline provides details about the method and timeline of course activities and evaluations, including how much each assessment will count toward the student’s final mark. Each course outline at Fleming includes the course description, course learning outcomes, assessments, and learning plan. Course outlines are typically created during program development and updated following curriculum mapping processes.
Alignment Overview
Once you have found your course outline, you can begin to explore its contents. As you review your course outline, here are a few questions to get you started:
- Where are the learning outcomes for your course?
- Where are the assessments for your course?
- What is the learning plan for your course? This includes activities and sequence.
It is worth taking some time to review your course outline in detail and to come back to it as you teach your course. You can add notes about what worked well and what could be improved for next time as part of your reflective teaching practice.
As you can see from the structure of the course outline, it is very important to make sure that course learning outcomes, assessments, and learning activities all match and support each other in a logical way. That is what the second part of this module is all about.
This visual from Fink (2003) shows how the three parts of curriculum; Outcomes & Goals, Assessments, and Learning Activities work together to create a strong structure for your course. It also shows the supporting context or learning environment which influences all three.
Curriculum alignment happens when all parts of the curriculum are logically consistent with each other. There must be a “match” or a fit between parts. Having clear outcomes and goals is critical to providing quality feedback, assessment, and evaluation. Understanding your students and the learning environment provides the context for all of your teaching decisions. Keep context and alignment in mind as you review your course outline and plan for your course.
Try this Activity
It is time to check the alignment of your course learning outcomes, assessments, and learning activities. Bring out your course outline and examine it to find the VLOs, EESs, and CLOs. With these in mind do you think that the learning plan, including activities and assessments, makes sense?
Some questions to ask yourself:
- Will the assessments provide evidence that the students have achieved the learning outcomes?
- Will the learning activities allow students the time to practice and develop their skills enough to be successful on their assessments?
Wrap Up
Now you know more about your course outline, where to find it, and how course learning outcomes support your course and your program. In the next module, you will learn more about engaging teaching strategies.
Resources
- How-to Guides and Resources for Course Outlines: Course Outline Knowledge Base
- A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning By Dee Fink
Module 4 Reflection
Please rate your current confidence level on the following items using the following 5-point scale in which 5 = Very confident and 1 = Not at all confident.
