Ensuring coherent and purposeful program-level design has become a strategic and educational imperative as universities grapple with the challenges of digital transformation, shifting student expectations, and the integration of AI. In a previous Teaching@Sydney article, I explored curriculum mapping as the essential first step in ensuring all elements of our degrees are designed at a program-level. This article focuses on the next important step: unit alignment – where curriculum mapping is translated into our unit design and student learning experiences. If your program curriculum has not yet been mapped, you can still get started on reviewing the alignment of your unit(s). Outlined below is an evidence-informed quick guide to unit alignment I designed for academics that has successfully been implemented in the Faculty of Medicine and Health to support program and unit of study design and review. You can use the guide yourself, or with colleagues in your program!
What is unit alignment?
While curriculum mapping gives us the “where” and “when” of learning across a program, unit alignment addresses the “what” and “why” (find out what a curriculum map is and how it impacts our programs). Unit alignment refers to the connection between units of study, course learning outcomes (CLO; otherwise known as program learning outcomes), and overall learning progression required across a program. It is an intentional and systematic design process that ensures course learning outcomes → major learning outcomes (if applicable to your program) → unit learning outcomes (ULO) → teaching content → learning activities → assessments are aligned (see “Figure 1. How units look when aligned” for a break down).
The benefits of unit alignment
When units are intentionally aligned, the amount, complexity, and order of ULOs, teaching content, learning activities, and assessments are more likely to support the broader learning pathway across the degree, as it enhances curriculum transparency, making it easier for students to understand how each unit contributes to their overall development. This has shown to improve curriculum coherence, support student motivation and engagement, enhance performance in assessments (e.g., Biggs & Tang, 2011; Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), and improve graduate readiness and ability to integrate knowledge in real world contexts (Uchiyama & Radin, 2009). When units are misaligned or not intentionally aligned, both unit design and the overall curriculum can lack coherence, instead causing confusion and disengagement, and hindering student motivation and ultimately learning (Boud & Falchikov, 2007).
For educators, unit alignment is also a powerful tool for keeping units organised and more easily adaptable over time. It provides a clear structure for designing or revising a unit, making it easier to identify and address gaps, reduce unnecessary repetition, and ensure assessments are purposeful and well-supported. Most importantly, it helps preserve the integrity and quality of program-level curriculum design, even as individual units evolve. Many common issues – such as content gaps or repetitions, and assessment drift – arise when units are updated in isolation from the broader curriculum map.
Figure 1. How units look when aligned
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Curriculum map established |
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Course learning outcomes aligned with unit learning outcomes |
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Unit learning outcomes aligned with teaching context |
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Teaching content aligned with learning activities |
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✓
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Unit learning outcomes aligned with assessments |
How to ensure alignment in your unit
Below is a step-by-step guide for ensuring alignment in your unit. The order of steps is intentional – starting with “1. Course to unit learning outcome alignment” provides a clear and systematic foundation for the rest of the unit. It ensures that teaching content, learning activities, and assessments are then planned with purpose and coherence, and contribute meaningfully to course outcomes (i.e., resulting in a program-level design). Next, the steps work backwards from “2. Assessment alignment”, to “3. Learning activity alignment”, and “4. Teaching content alignment”. This ensures every learning activity and piece of content has a clear role in supporting student learning CLOs, ULOs, and ultimately achievement in assessments. Starting with content instead risks misalignment and designing around “what you want to teach” rather than “what students need to learn and demonstrate”.
To help you quickly and systematically align your unit, each step is broke down into ‘content’, ‘learning’, and ‘order’. This structure helps to ensure that in each step you’re ensuring content is relevant, learning is supported, and order so elements flow coherently.
Step-by-step alignment guide
1 Course to unit learning outcome alignment
Content
- Read the content of each ULO and consider:
- Which CLO(s) it best aligns with (and MLO, if relevant)
- Whether it addresses too much or too little content
- Whether it’s as clear and short as possible (i.e., make the ULO usable by students as a goal)
Learning
- Read each ULO and:
- Check the curriculum map to determine required learning for the aligned CLO(s) (and MLO, if relevant)
- Consider what verb(s) is appropriate for the required phase of learning (see Table below for examples)
| Acquisition / Introduction | Retention / Development | Transfer / Mastery |
|---|---|---|
| Describe | Apply | Adapt |
| Explain | Demonstrate | Analyse |
| Identify | Implement | Create |
| Recognise | Interpret | Design |
| Understand | Practice | Evaluate |
Order
- Read the ULOs and place them in logical order.
2 Assessment alignment
Content
- Align ULOs → assessments (i.e., map ULOs that are the main focus of the assessment)
Learning
- Use the phases of learning for relevant CLOs to determine whether assessments should be secure and/or open
- Acquisition / Introduction = open
- Retention / Development = open
- Transfer / Mastery = secure
Order
- Use the ULO order to guide the order of assessments
3 Learning activity alignment
Content
- Align ULOs → learning activities (i.e., map ULOs that are the main focus of the activities)
Learning
- Use the curriculum map and assessments to determine activity types, i.e., consider what assessment and phase of learning the activity is supporting
Order
- Use the order of ULOs to guide order of learning activities
4 Teaching content alignment
Content
- Use the content of ULOs and aligned CLOs (and MLO, if relevant) to determine what is / is not included, and ensure there are no gaps, repetition, or redundancies in content
Learning
- Use phase(s) of learning for aligned CLOs to guide content complexity
Order
- Use the order of ULOs, learning activities, and assessments to guide order of teaching content
Tell me more!
Maintaining clear alignment between units and learning outcomes for our programs is essential, particularly as our assessment practices are evolving. This guide offers a timely and practical way of reviewing and ensuring unit alignment as we move to the new Sydney Assessment Framework.
If you’re reviewing or designing a unit of study, or planning a program design or redesign, and you’d like to hear more about this guide or would like assistance running a curriculum workshop with academics, reach out to [email protected]. Alternatively, keep an eye out for upcoming workshops Course Design Institute and Proactive Design Intensive.
