Presented by Dan Thompson, Coordinator of Instructional Design, Assessment, and Educational Technology, Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences In order to satisfy accreditation requirements and appropriately map the curriculum, Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine is using ExamSoft’s category feature to map assessment items to the appropriate learning objective for each lesson. These items are then mapped with the instructional method using the Bloom's level of the assessment item. Mapping assessment items with the objectives and instructional method allows the instructional design team and faculty to link these items back to the course objectives, course goals, program goals, and school mission. This mapping effort was part of a recent accreditation visit and proved to be a vital tool in showing our accrediting body how we "close the loop" from the beginning of the program to the end of each course assessment. This was well received during the accreditation visit and has prompted growth of this mapping effort throughout the curriculum.

1. Dan Thompson
Coordinator of Instructional Design, Assessment, and
Educational Technology
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

2. Session Objectives
 At the completion of this session,
participants will be able to:
 Describe category mapping and how to
appropriately use this feature in curriculum
mapping for accreditation
 Utilize category mapping to appropriately align
assessment items with necessary accreditation
requirements
 Create a simple categorization process that is
conducive for curricular mapping to assist in
meeting accreditation needs

3. What are Categories?
 Each item in ExamSoft can be tagged to
categories that will allow us to identify the
exact subject matter, difficulty level (ex.
Bloom’s), author, instructional method
implemented, style of question, learning
objective(s) being assessed, etc.
 Items can be placed into an unlimited number of
categories
 Stats can be acquired based on each
category to learn the desired information.

4. How to Categorize
Questions
 Questions can be easily categorized when the question
is being created in ExamSoft
 Questions that have already been created and used in
assessments can be categorized as well
 Statistical analyses of these questions can be done
retroactively
 Categories should be pre-made, which will allow
question creators to simply click on the categories and
add them for each question
 Categories work as a folder structure if needed
 Very helpful in staying organized in curricular mapping and
preparing for accreditation!

5. Faculty/Staff Roles for
Curricular Mapping
 Primary item categorization in the system is
completed by instructional design staff
 Faculty and academic support staff contribute
to this effort as well
 **Recommendation: create a process first and
limit the number of individuals that work with
this process.
○ Improves consistency and program organization

6. Faculty/Staff Roles for Curricular
Mapping
 Content experts are needed for this process
as assessment items need to be matched to
learning objectives
 Assessment items can be mapped to more than
one learning objective if applicable
 Category statistics are monitored and
reviewed to assure program effectiveness and
to identify areas for improvement

7. Categorization Structure
Methodology
 Systems-based curriculum
 For curricular mapping and in
preparation for accreditation, items
are categorized by:
 Discipline
○ Example: pharmacology, physiology, histology
○ Case-based clinical lectures/sessions and
clinical problem solving group sessions
○ Indicates that we address the content (by
quantity) in our curriculum appropriately

9. Categorization Structure
Methodology
 Items are also mapped to the learning
objectives they address
 Functions on two levels:
 Small scale:
○ Indicates that we are assessing our learning objectives
○ The mapped items can come from quizzes, exams, and/or
other assignments
○ Shows student outcomes by learning objective – are students
appropriately meeting the learning objectives and therefore
reaching our course goals? This allows us to prove that
statistically

10. Categorization Structure
Methodology
 Large scale:
 Completes the back end portion of the
curricular mapping for accreditation
 Throughout the curriculum mapping for
accreditation process, the focus is to
completely map the curriculum from the
beginning (program mission) to the end
(course assessments)
 This ties the process together and closes the
loop on curricular mapping for accreditation

12. Moving Forward
 Our categorizing of assessment items
with learning objectives is currently
growing
 Once completed, an overall view of how
we are meeting learning objectives (and
therefore course goals, program goals,
mission, etc) will be available
 This initiative is being continued after
receiving positive feedback

13. Tips/Tricks
 Begin this process as early as possible
 Establish the process before categorizing any
exam items
 Identify individual roles in the mapping process
 Create the folder structure in advance
○ *The folder structure can be altered, so this process can be
flexible to meet an evolving curriculum
 Be proactive – ask/require faculty to identify which
learning objectives their assessment items map to when
questions are entered into ExamSoft
 This was not done at our institution initially
 Retroactively categorizing items is an option, but is a more
difficult task

14. Unintended (Positive!)
Outcomes
 Created an opportunity to improve and
streamline our learning objectives to
improve communication with students
 Improved faculty knowledge in the
educational process – built in faculty
development!

15. Thank you!!
 Questions?
 Dan.thompson@okstate.edu