Mapping and embedding graduate profile capabilities in the tertiary curriculum with the support of an online mapping tool

Abstract

Curriculum is commonly defined as a plan for learning (Taba, 1962). A defining feature of a quality curriculum is its relevance and responsiveness to the changing needs of industry and community (Kessels & Plomp, 1999). These needs are now captured in the graduate profiles (GP) of tertiary programmes. Curriculum mapping has proved to be a useful curriculum renewal activity to help ensure GP capabilities are embedded in programmes to realise a consistent and well-aligned curriculum. The University of Auckland has recently developed a new GP and expected degree programmes within each faculty to produce their own discipline-specific GPs and embed the associated capabilities in their teaching and assessment. Informed by design principles from the curriculum mapping and graduate capabilities literature (e.g., Spencer, Riddle, & Knewstubb, 2012; Oliver, 2013), the Innovative Learning and Teaching (ILT) team at the Business School has researched and evaluated alternative mapping tools, developed a simple online mapping tool and a mapping process to help teachers to map their courses to their new GP capabilities and hence get a global picture of their curricula. The tool also aimed to raise the teachers’ awareness of the nature and progressive development of each GP capability and to make it clear how each course contributes to the GP. In this session, we will share the curriculum mapping approach we followed and the mapping tool developed along with the guiding principles. We will invite discussion on how mapping activities and tools could support the actual teaching and assessment of GP capabilities and bridge any gaps between the ‘planned curriculum’ and the ‘enacted curriculum’.