Investigating the alignment of teaching/learning activities with assessment activities in a CS/IT school: using a simple in-house survey of learning and assessment activities as a debugging tool

Abstract

It is widely recognised that alignment between stated course (subject) objectives, learning activities and assessment activities is a prerequisite for the development of an academic program that is successful in achieving its stated objectives. This research focuses on determining whether alignment has been achieved over an entire school program by investigating the actual alignment of learning activities and assessment activities in individual courses. In the past, responses from either in-school or university wide student feedback surveys have been used to provide an indication of problems in this area. To obtain additional information about alignment of learning activities with assessment activities, a survey of learning and assessment activities was administered to School of Information Technology lecturers. The survey required lecturers to indicate the learning and assessment activities used in each course they were convening. Survey results showed positive alignment of learning activities with assessment activities for most courses, but indicated that assessment activities in some courses were not supported by appropriately aligned learning activities. Information gained from the survey is being used to inform the ongoing process of debugging the CS/IT program of the School of Information Technology at James Cook University.