In accordance with relevant University Policies, curriculum maps are required for all curriculum (including majors, honours specialisation and postgraduate coursework courses).
The sequence of units (core/options) must demonstrate developmental progression by way of mapping their learning outcomes to those of the major/honours specialisation or postgraduate coursework course.
Reasons for mapping
To demonstrate how:
- a student develops the discipline’s knowledge, skills and dispositions and how they are taught and assessed
- the requirements of UWA’s courses including communication skills, research skills and embedding educational principles, are met
When the mapping document should be developed
A mapping document should be formulated as part of the development of a new proposal.
Rationale for different curriculum mapping models
Choices will depend on the structural configuration. These are as follows:
- A simple mapping model should be used if the academic development and sequential building of knowledge occurs through core units (at least one core at each level) – see Model A.
- Where a major comprises a large number of options and a student has more than one pathway to achieving the overall outcomes of the major, the mapping should be undertaken not only for the major as a whole but also at each level by way of mapping the outcomes of the options to the generic discipline-based outcomes at each level – see Model B.
Circumstances in which the mapping document requires updating
Continuous mapping ensures integrity of outcomes. Specifically, the mapping document should be updated when there are:
- Changes to the outcomes
- Changes to the structure resulting in the:
- replacement of core units with a new core
- removal of core units and replacing them with options and consequently widening prerequisites
- inclusion of new options and consequently widening prerequisites
- Changes to the unit sequence. These include:
- changes to unit prerequisites by way of widening prerequisites (for example, any level 2 unit)
- changes to the outcomes of a core within a unit sequence comprising at least one core at each level
- changes to the outcome of an option within a unit sequence comprising only options
Mapping document ownership
Each faculty owns its mapping documents and must ensure they are updated accordingly.
A SharePoint site has been developed for central storage of the mapping documents.
Curriculum Committee and/or other relevant boards will review the mapping documents when new proposals are submitted and/or when significant changes have occurred.