Department Programs

CTE’s Ideas-to-Action program helps academic units develop actionable plans for curricular improvements that promote equitable student growth, discovery, and success. Department teams will use novel sources of data – such as student success and learning analytic data drawn from institutional sources and student narratives drawn from focus groups – to explore questions, challenges, and opportunities in their programs and develop a vision for course and curricular innovations. Our goal is to empower faculty teams to ask and address questions about their students’ experiences to guide improvements in student learning and student success.

Learn more about and apply to the Ideas-to-Action program on the RFP page.

In order to better represent their teaching and assess student learning, multiple departments at KU have initiated a process known as “curriculum mapping.” This process aims to “identify and address academic gaps, redundancies, and misalignments for purposes of improving the overall coherence of a course of study and, by extension, its effectiveness” (Glossary of Education Reform).

Equipped with funding they received from the CTE Department Teaching Grant, the KU Department of Geology and the Music Therapy Program are utilizing curriculum mapping to assess the goals and design not only of individual courses, but also of the degree program and course of study curriculum as a whole. Curriculum mapping is an effective and intensive means of departmental self-assessment, and it allows for greater transparency regarding course alignment and student progress.

Examples and results will be posted here as additional departments undertake and complete their curriculum redesign. CTE is proud to present these results to the intellectual community of teachers at the University of Kansas.

For support with curriculum mapping you can arrange a meeting or workshop with a member of CTE's Assessment team. Contact the team lead, Joshua Potter, CTE's Associate Director for Student Learning and Analytics, by email at: joshuadpotter@ku.edu or by phone: 785-864-4112.

The Mapping and Assessment Planning (MAP) Program is designed to help undergraduate or graduate academic programs build curriculum maps that meet/exceed degree-level assessment requirements. Programs identify a faculty team to lead the work for their unit. Led by Josh Potter and Drew Vartia.

In 2022-2023 MAP worked with 14 Undergraduate Programs to develop curriculum maps for the Feb 2023 unit-level assessment requirements.

In 2023-2024, MAP is working with 14 Graduate Programs to develop curriculum maps for the Feb 2024 unit-level assessment requirements. Applications for MAP are now closed. 

Workshops or consultations on degree-level assessment are aligned with department needs and can be arranged with a member of CTE's Assessment team. Contact the team lead, Joshua Potter, CTE's Associate Director for Student Learning and Analytics. 

For more information, please contact Josh by email at: joshuadpotter@ku.edu or by phone: 785-864-4112

1. The Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness Framework, to support the representation, review and evaluation of teaching through a multi-dimensional rubric, is designed to capture teaching in its totality and draw on multiple sources of evidence. The framework was highlighted in a recent AAU report (pdf) and is being adapted at institutions across the US.

2. The TEval project, funded by a grant from NSF ($614,237 to KU, $3 million total), is working to improve systems for evaluating teaching, organized around the Benchmarks Framework. The Teval project also includes the U of Massachusetts Amherst, the U of Colorado Boulder, and Michigan State. Project leaders work with departments to adapt the rubric, decide on appropriate evidence, and apply it to faculty teaching. Departments are supported by $5000 mini-grants. 

Continue to Benchmarks page for more information.