House of Alignment

To illustrate the concept of course alignment, we will use the house graphic below. The house is an apt analogy for how the various pieces of a course work together to create a cohesive whole. Think of each course as its own house, where a program is all of the houses that sit on a street, and the neighborhood makes up the University. All of these must work together to create the functional neighborhood where residents live and work together to meet common goals over time.
This process starts with a single house.
As with a single house, we build from the ground up, and furnish the interior when the structure is complete.

To use the graphic below, please click on an aspect of curriculum design (for example, objectives) in the section below.
Interior Content
Course content is like the interior content of the house. It may differ from house to house, room to room. It can be changed out, updated, and moved around often. It can range from simple to elaborate. As with a house, this is the last part of a design.
Roof
The roof in this example represents the methods of measurement. As your assessments and evaluations are supported and guided by the objectives, the roof is supported by the external walls and together they wrap around the content. Changing the methods of measurement will affect other structural parts of your course.
Exterior Walls
The objectives are the exterior walls of the house. They provide a container for the interior, and support the roof, in the way that objectives provide a shape and outline of the course and drive the form and support of the methods of measurement. But as in a house, these pieces are often structural, and changes to them can radically affect the other aspects. For example, changing your objectives in a course will often cause additional changes in the methods of measurement.
Front Door
The course description, like the front door, guides you into the course. It provides a brief understanding of what is in the course, before "walking in" and engaging with the course content.
Foundation
Competencies and essentials provide the foundation for the course. They provide the basis for developing your objectives, similar to how the foundation provides a basis for the house.
The aspects of course content and course structure build off each other. In course design, it is necessary to look beyond the individual pieces you are changing or creating and look at how they fit together with the other parts of your course. Like a sturdy house, a well-designed course can be an efficient and functional home for teaching and learning. However, when the parts of the house are not well designed and do not align, you will find yourself constantly fixing problems, looking for damage, and wondering what will break next (much like having a leaky roof).

Please email citl@frontier.edu with any questions or concerns you may have.