FAQ

Who should be included in the conversation about constructive alignment?

While this site is primarily intended to be a resource for those leading writing programs, including faculty members in efforts to create a constructively aligned curriculum can be powerful. Gottschalk explains how important it is for WPAs to work collaboratively with faculty members in a writing program, establishing the program’s goals and practices as a group and giving instructors a stake. Instructors may engage more with a curriculum that they participated in creating.

Wijngaards-de Meij and Merx highlight the importance of faculty involvement specifically in alignment efforts, asserting that “all staff” should have a stake and role in curriculum mapping (225). Gagné et al. also point out the importance of instructor involvement in alignment, writing, “Once the teachers had recognized [misalignment] themselves, it often led to interesting insight in terms of best practices” (11). Their observations show that faculty involvement not only leads to better engagement, but faculty members also have a unique perspective on the courses and assignments that they teach. Their participation can further improve a program or curriculum.

When should a WPA check for constructive alignment?

Literature on curricular design indicates that the process of curriculum development is never entirely complete. Camba and Krotov write, “Aligning the curriculum is a complex, iterative, and multidimensional process relying on multiple stakeholders and resources” (456). Their indication that curriculum design and assessment for alignment is iterative means that it should be constant and cyclical. Wijngaards-de Meij and Merx further emphasize that alignment should be assessed at regular intervals, rather than assessed or implemented once.

What are strategies for implementing and assessing constructive alignment?

Backward design can be a useful tool for creating a constructively aligned curriculum. Backward design, coined by Wiggins and McTighe, refers to strategy of curriculum design in which “one starts with the end-- the desired results (goals or standards) and then derives the curriculum from the evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform” (Chapter 1). In other words, backward design begins with a learning objective, followed by an assessment method, then activities planned to help students become successful on the assessment. Backward design is one way in which WPAs or faculty members can create the aligned triangle discussed in the Introduction.

(Image: Wiggins and McTighe)

Backward design can be a helpful tool for creating and assessing alignment at all levels, including program, course, and assignment.

Another tool that is more helpful for implementing alignment at the program level is curriculum mapping. The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) defines curriculum mapping as follows: “mapping is a key strategy for examining the role of different elements of learning environments as they build towards shared learning outcomes as well as to better understand where to assess and document learning” (3). As discussed in the Literature Review, mapping has proven to be a helpful tool for administrators, faculty, and students in academic departments.

While this site will not give a detailed description of how to map a curriculum, the NILOA provides a guide to mapping learning that may be of use.