Color-Coded Course Maps

What is it?

A course design map, also known as a curriculum map, is a visual representation or outline that depicts the structure and organization of a course. It serves as a snap-shot or roadmap for the entire course, outlining the key components and their relationships. Color-coding provides additional support in highlighting the essential components.

Why use it?

The purpose of a course design map is to provide a clear, comprehensive, and aligned overview of the course's content, objectives, assessments, and activities. If re-designing a course, it is recommended you use the map to deconstruct your course to ensure alignment is evident and transparent to students (Caruana, 2015).

The additional use of color-coding a course map serves as a visual strategy for cohesiveness, identifying misalignment, and working with multiple course designers.

How do I use it?

Course Design Map:

As Covey (1989) states, “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination". Using Backward Design as a framework, while simultaneously plotting the design on the course map, helps ensure the design aligns with the overall student learning outcomes (SLOs), provides ongoing assessments, and employs evidence-based instructional strategies. In this vein, Darby (2019) recommends using the analogy of a roadmap to (re)designing a course. The following tabs represent the three-step process and reflects the roadmap approach.

Step 1: Where are we going?
Step 2: How will we know we have arrived?
Step 3: How will we get there?

Where are we going? These are the specific goals and objectives (LOCRs and discipline-specific learning outcomes) of intended learning. Learning outcomes clearly describe what students will know and be able to do at the end of the course. As summarized by Bowen (2017), Wiggins and McTighe suggest the course designer ask themselves:

1. What knowledge and skills should students briefly encounter? Course content that is the lowest priority.
2. What knowledge and skills should students become proficient in? Content that is important to know and do. Facts, concepts, principles, processes, strategies, and methods students should know when they leave the course.
3. What are the big ideas and important understandings? Big ideas are referred to as enduring understandings--ideas that students should remember after they’ve completed the course (Sample, 2011).

How will we know we have arrived? The outcomes inform the assessments that most effectively demonstrate student understanding. As recommended by Bowen (2017), consider the following two questions:

1. How will I know if students have achieved the desired results?
2. What will I accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?

How will we get there? The final stage of backward design is to select the instructional strategies, activities, resources, and information necessary to attain the goals of the course. Bowen (2017) recommends asking the following questions:

1. What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills?
2. What will need to be taught and how?
3. What materials and resources are necessary to accomplish these goals?

Color-Coded Course Design Map:

To expand on a course map the learning type (verbs) of each objective is color-coded and used as the key. Each assessment and/or learning activity is color-coded based on the learning outcome and type. Multiple codes (learning outcomes) may be used with any one assessment and/or learning activity as they may address more than one outcome.

color coding-1.jpg

P. Cecile and Li, Q. (2022)

Color-Coded Content Map:

A course design map provides a high-level term-long snapshot of the course, while a content map is more granular. A content map can provide a week-by-week view applying and communicating how and where the learning outcomes are addressed throughout Canvas modules, weekly outcomes, readings, technology tools and activities, and/or policies.

color coding 2.jpg

P. Cecile and Li, Q. (2022)

Resources

Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.

Cecile, P. & Li, Q (2022). Visual strategies for cohesive course design. Teaching Professor.

Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. John Wiley & Sons.