The document outlines the role of curriculum mapping in enhancing educational quality by linking outcomes, assessments, and teaching practices at Newcastle University's Faculty of Medical Sciences. It discusses the implementation of dynamic learning maps to monitor curriculum effectiveness, identify gaps, and improve learning experiences for students, particularly in the context of medical education. Challenges such as curriculum changes, staff engagement, and mapping strategy development are also addressed to optimize the curriculum mapping process.

1. Curriculum Mapping: linking outcomes,
assessment and more
Simon Cotterill
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Newcastle Universty
http://learning-maps.ncl.ac.uk

2. Curriculum Maps: Potential role in Monitoring & QA
Identify ‘gaps’
in teaching
Declared
curriculum
Monitor access & equality of
learning opportunities
Taught
curriculum
Identify
duplication
Learning &
development
‘Constructive Alignment’
(curriculum – T&L – assessment)
Better insight into learning
outside the curriculum
Map to other
Curricula
(widens learning
opportunities)
Identify popular
external resources
(QA + peer review)
External resources Prior learning ‘Life-wide’ learning

3. Maps: levels of detail
Curriculum strands Module maps Session maps

4. Dynamic Learning Maps
Key curriculum drivers for the project:
1: Modular courses
Part of the Curriculum
Delivery Programme
- promoting cross-modular learning
- mapping to transferable graduate skills / careers
2: Medicine: Communicating Complex Curricula
Understanding linkages
within the spiral curriculum
(students & teachers)
Occasional Teachers
-some unintended duplication in
teaching

5. Choice of views
Text-based
interface
Mind-map style
interface
I Prefer:
n=193 (student response system)
Diversity and strong polarisation of
personal preferences for visual, text or other views
Further evaluation results:
https://learning-maps.ncl.ac.uk/

6. Search over the curriculum
utilises ‘semantic’ connections made
between topics and with resources

7. Case Study: Dentistry
Dentistry at Newcastle
All course leaders were invited to a ‘hands-on’ workshop
• Brief demo of how to use DLM
• Brief instructions (2 pages with screenshots)
• Clear task to enter their course outcomes and map them to the GDC
Stepwise Strategy: Course outcomes were later mapped to assessments.
• 1,616 course outcomes mapped over the 5 yr programme
• 3,741 linkages between course outcomes and 173 GDC outcomes.
• 2,747 linkages between course outcomes and 51 assessments.
• DLM extrapolates how GDC outcomes are assessed.
Course outcomes mapped to Graduate Skills Framework
by a final year student
• 1,834 links between outcomes & skills/attributes
• Identified 2 areas with relatively thin coverage
• Presented at NU Learning & Teaching conf. 2013

8. Knowing how a teaching session relates to the
rest of the curriculum is important to me
 “Will increase relevance of Phase I lectures
to clinical presentations/experience”
n=193 (student response system)
 From a students point of view, one could be
much clearer on ‘the big picture’, as you have a
curriculum map laid out in front of you...”
77% Agreed
Stage 4 Medical Students
- Focus groups

9. Having the map will be useful for revision
 “Excellent revision tool”
? “Any way of ticking off lectures revised?”
n=193 (student response system)
Stage 4 Medical Students
 “Helpful revision tool”
Clinical Teacher
91% Agreed

10. It would be useful to add notes and reflections to
teaching sessions and other parts of the map
“[liked] linking the portfolio (which may
appear otherwise abstract) with the rest of
a student’s education”.
“link to portfolio may
increase its usage!”
Stage 4
Medical Students
(Focus Group)
73% of students agree
But clinical teaching staff skeptical:
n=193 (student response system)
“Can this really be used for
portfolio (if voluntary) ?“
“How to engage student with e-portfolios
– won’t work without their engagement”

11. Challenges for Curriculum Mapping ♯1
The curriculum changes over time
Between major restructuring of the MBBS curriculum (aprox. every 5-7yrs):
 stable: units (modules), programme outcomes
 minor adjustments: sessions, cases, unit outcomes (responsive to evaluation / QA)
 more variation in assessment & differences in delivery by 4 ‘Base Units’ (stages 3 & 5)
Stage 5     
Stage 4     
Stage 3     
Stage 2     
Stage 1     
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12
Student journey
through the
curriculum
‘here and now’
teaching focus

12. Challenges for Curriculum Mapping ♯2
• Staff time / Staff engagement
• Level of Granularity
• Consistency
Developing a Mapping Strategy
• Stepwise mapping
Course Outcomes
Professional Outcomes
Assessment
• Involve Staff early (including Admin team)
• Roll out to students later?

13. Open Educational Resources
OER Bookmarking (JISC-CETIS Rapid Innovation project)
RIDLR & SupOERGlue (2 x JISC funded OER Rapid Innovation projects)
Return Paradata
LR
Node
DLM
Harvest OERs /Paradata
PublishOER (HEA/JISC UKOER Phase 3 project)
• Investigating new business models for embedding publishers content in OERs
• Partnership with Elsevier, JISC Collections, Rightscom and education providers
• Some DLM-related activities
Project blog posts at: : http://www.medev.ac.uk/

14. Co-Curate
DLM ‘lite’ with visual resource system

15. Project funded by
Thank You
Further information & Public Demonstrator:
http://learning-maps.ncl.ac.uk