Congratulations, you’ve been selected to teach ABC-461 this coming quarter!  The department thinks you’re the perfect expert to update the course and a copy of the last professor’s syllabus has appeared in your inbox. Now retired, Dr. Otto Heare left you some of his notes and course materials, but seems you’re going to have to do some serious work.

During your meeting with your instructional designer, you state that you have full freedom to modify the syllabus but note there are some pesky standards that must be included. Dr. Heare didn’t really give you much guidance on what they mean and your department chair told you there was documentation somewhere but they can’t find it right now.

You mapped out a blueprint of how your objectives, activities, and assessments align with each other throughout the course (some of the Quality Matters (QM) “critical course components”) and updated two of the course learning objectives to better reflect the current offering expectations.

But what about those standards? Ignoring them is a dangerous practice that can cause the course to drift away from the standards and leave gaps in the curriculum.

What do the standards mean?

Not all standards are created equally and many have varying levels of detail or requirements. When you see “CARET 1.m.4” and “SNT 4a” listed on the syllabus, is a description provided also provided? A description of “Respect and Consider Contexts” does not give as much explanation as “Respects and considers cultural contexts in order to determine how to be responsive to learners and to proactively promote all students’ learning.”

You may not need to include an exhaustive explanation of each standard in your syllabus, but you should have a clear reference and understanding of what your course is supposed to address as well as be able to communicate it effectively.

What is the context of the standard?

Is it required for a licensure or credential? Or perhaps it was created by the college or another organization? After some searching, you find that “SNT 4a” is actually a national licensure standard for your program that must be addressed. 

You remember Dr. Heare was a technophobe, so why did he have a lengthy ePortfolio assignment in his course? After consulting with your program chair, you now understand that it is part of a larger plan in which students use the ePortfolio across multiple courses as evidence to address “SNT 4a.”

How does your course address the standard?

So, you’ve determined what the standards mean and how they relate to your course (and that ePortfolio assignment), but that doesn’t mean you should make the standard your course learning objective. In fact, many standards are not written as measurable learning objectives!

Working with your instructional designer and institutional assessment office is the best way to align standards and course design. Even if you have dozens of standards to address, simply annotating which standards correspond with specific course learning objectives can help you identify pedagogical gaps, as well as ensure they are meaningful and measurable.

Imagine if Dr. Heare’s predecessor had changed objectives without checking the standards only to have Dr. Heare adjust them again. With each unchecked iteration, the course objectives, and therefore the course, migrates (or “drifts”) from the standards.  Perhaps students are no longer addressing those required national certification standards!

Although considering standards is always important in course and curriculum design, it is critical when designing courses that will be taught by different faculty and/or constructed to be faculty-agnostic. By aligning course objectives and standards ahead of time, new instructors are equipped to teach meaningful courses that truly address standards.

The dance between standards, instructional objectives, and curriculum design is a tricky one, mixed with politics and philosophy. But next time you see a large list of “pesky standards” listed for your course, don’t just ignore them or assume they are covered. Your ABC-461 can be the best version yet.