Constructive Alignment
Applying the principles of constructive alignment helps you design your course and learning experiences purposefully.
When planning a trip, most people choose a destination or a type of trip they want to take before deciding on anything else. They wouldn't start with what pictures they will take, what reviews they might leave on a travel site, or what they'll pack to take with them. They start with the experience they want to have or the place they want to go.
After that, they choose appropriate modes of transportation, what to pack, and where to stay, making sure that if going to Hawaii from Saskatoon your plan includes airline tickets and not a plan to drive there. The mode of transportation wouldn't be in alignment with your destination.
When we design a course, we also need to start with the destination in mind. What do we want students to know or be able to do by the time they finish the course? It isn't the final project or exam, but rather what it will provide evidence of.
Much like planning a trip, planning a course needs to include alignment between the key elements, which is referred to as "constructive alignment."
Learning Outcomes
The first step in the design of a course should be writing the learning outcomes. By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Analyze the relationships and events that led to the start of World War 1 using the medium of their choice
- Present a marketing plan for a new brand of electric vehicles as part of a team to a panel of their peers
- Explain the potential side effects of certain pharmaceuticals to a patient
Assessment
Once you know what you want from your students, then you need to decide what you might accept as evidence that the learners have met or are making progress toward your stated outcomes. This is where assessment comes in. Any assessments in the course, whether formative or summative, should align with at least one of the learning outcomes, and only to the learning outcomes.
When designing the assessments, consider what it would look like if a student met the outcome(s) you're assessing beyond their time in university. What would it look like in their community or workplace? Can you create an assessment that would look like that?
Learning Strategies
Only after determining your outcomes and then your assessments, can you choose appropriate learning strategies to help the students learn and practice what is spelled out in the learning outcomes. Are lectures appropriate? What about labs? Some debates? How about experiential learning?
Without good alignment, you may have an outcome that calls for students to interact with others and an assessment designed to provide evidence of that, but never allow students the opportunity to practice these skills.
This video on constructive alignment will provide further explanation of the parts and benefits of using constructive alignment by thinking of course design as a bridge that learners cross as part of their learning.
Title Photo credit: Mohamed Almari from Pexels