Why create a course map?

Creating a course map helps you connect each learning experience and assessment in your course to one or more of your course's learning objectives. This process shows you which learning objectives are supported by learning experiences and evaluated via assessments, and which might need more support/assessment. A course map also shows you whether the activities in your course are supporting students toward accomplishing learning objectives versus leading students toward other kinds of learning goals. A course map might demonstrate that you have a learning objective backed into the course that you hadn't identified. Or, a course map might signal that one of your learning objectives needs a bit more attention over the quarter (in the form of in-class activities, projects, etc.) for students to really master the skill. Creating a course map may illuminate the reason/s behind a sticking point in your course, or may help you anticipate those sticking points differently. Course maps can also help you anticipate the perceived weight or importance of each learning objective for students.

Course mapping helps you organize your course design and revision processes. The course mapping process helps you shift from a topic-based, monster-of-the-week course design approach to a scaffolded, backwards design approach to creating your course. You can use a course map to ensure that each of your learning activities, assignments, and projects scaffold toward your learning objectives, and that each assessment evaluates one or more of those learning objectives (and not some other potential learning objectives). If you're creating a course from the ground up, using a course map helps you ensure that each learning experience or assessment you create directly relates to one or more of your learning objectives.