Curriculum and Instruction Support

Are you working with colleagues to create a new program or renew an existing one? Are you tasked with Educational Goals assessment for your external review or mid-cycle report?

Program development and curriculum renewal are a key focus area within SFU's Academic Plan 2025-2030. This is challenging and important work—you're not alone. 

We support faculty-led curriculum teams with all aspects of program development, curriculum renewal and assessment—helping you to determine what you want students to learn, embed these in a coherent way throughout your program, and assess how effectively your program is meeting its aims. 

Our aim is to work with units to ensure that SFU's academic programs are up to date, coherent, inclusive, and set students up for success. We support traditional degree programs as well as non-degree offerings. To accomplish this, our approach is collaborative. We listen carefully to identify your unit's specific needs, and work with you to design and iterate a process that will attain your goals. We are also mindful of your limited time, and work with you in ways that are effective and efficient. 

• Developing program-level educational goals
• Mapping curriculum with faculty-led teams
• Analyzing learning outcome maps for alignments
• Formative evaluation/assessment of academic programs
• Compare your program to peer institutions
• Coaching leaders, undergraduate chairs, and committees
• Shape and support evidence-based curricular changes
• Providing resources to support curriculum decisions
• Co-facilitating program development and curriculum review workshops

EDUCATIONAL GOALS

Educational Goals are a cornerstone of academic program development and curriculum review. 

We support units with all aspects of the Educational Goals cycle, including defining program-level Educational Goals, mapping them to the curriculum, and helping units to assess student attainment of the Goals. In addition, we support the reporting that is required as part of the external review cycle. 

For more information about Educational Goals, please click here: https://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/our-role/academic-planning/educational-goals/program-level-educational-goals.html

RESOURCES

• Curriculum Mapping Primer (University of Windsor)
• SOAR Analysis  for Curriculum Renewal  (Thompson Rivers University)
• Ethical Space of Engagement for Curriculum Development Projects: Indigenous Guiding Principles for Curriculum Development Projects  (Gabrielle Lindstrom, University of Calgary)
• Examples of Program Renewal (University of British Columbia)

• Designing and revising course learning outcomes
• Mapping alignments between assessments and course outcomes
• Designing assessments, feedback and grading systems for deep learning
• Supporting the application of pedagogies such as team-based learning and experiential learning to enhance student engagement
• Integrating media to enhance active and engaged learning across modalities

• Supporting the collection and integration of teaching feedback 
  
• Coaching on instructional techniques across modalities
• Supporting decolonial and antiracist learning approaches
• Observing teaching in disciplinary settings and contexts
• Consulting on ways to enhance teaching presence across modalities
• Hosting faculty learning communities on teaching excellence
• Facilitating discussions on effective teaching in disciplinary contexts
• Enhancing dossiers and teaching portfolios for promotion
• Supporting applications for teaching and learning awards