Curriculum Alignment

By Dr. Vlad Krotov & Dr. Pitzel Krotova

AACSB and ACBSP Curriculum Standards

Obtaining an international accreditation for a business school usually requires extensive revisions of existing curriculum in order to meet the requirements of curriculum-specific accreditation standards. For example, Standard 4 of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) requires that “the school delivers content that is current, relevant, forward-looking, globally oriented, aligned with program competency goals, and consistent with its mission, strategies, and expected outcomes” (AACSB International, 2022). Similarly, Standard 6 of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) requires that “the curriculum must be comprised of appropriate business and professional content to prepare graduates for success” and that the business school “must have a systematic process to ensure continuous improvement of curriculum and program delivery” (ACBSP, 2022). In this article, we talk about the most important elements of a business curriculum and how these elements can be aligned in order to meet the accreditation requirements and build an effective, self-sustaining quality assurance system in relation to business curriculum.

Curriculum Elements

In short, curriculum describes what is taught at a business school and how it is taught (Squires, 2012). A curriculum is usually formalized using a document or a plan that spells out the following:

1. Program learning outcomes (PLOs) that graduates must master
2. Course learning outcomes (CLOs) or goals that outline smaller and specific learning objectives to be achieved within each course comprising the program
3. Alignment of program learning outcomes (PLOs) and course learning outcomes (CLOs); this alignment is usually provided with the help of a course alignment matrix (CAM) that shows how individual courses and their CLOs support PLOs
4. Appropriate assessment tools that can be used to measure CLOs and/or PLOs
5. The content or material to be taught within each course comprising the program in the form of course syllabi

There are many other elements that comprise a curriculum (see Table 1). All these elements must be properly aligned to ensure effective development of the desired competencies among students.

Curriculum Element	Description
College Mission	Defines the aim of a college, its main reason for existence
Market Conditions	Economic marketplaces often dictate which professions or competencies are in demand in the workplace
Compliance Standards	Accreditation and governing bodies often mandate competencies that a particular program needs to develop
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)	High-level goals (or competencies) that students are expected to attain as a result of completing a particular program of study
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)	Specific course-level objectives (or competencies) that students are expected to attain as a result of completing a specific course
Course Materials	Training materials used as part of a course: textbooks, books, journals and journal articles, electronic and multimedia materials, etc.
Pedagogy	Various theories, methods, or tools employed to develop competencies among students
Technology	Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) used to deliver course content
Physical Resources	Physical facilities (e.g., classrooms, labs, specialized equipment, etc.) allocated to a course or program
Credit Hours	Amount of face-to-face or online interaction between a student and an instructor devoted to a particular course or program
Assurance of Learning (AoL)	How attainment of particular learning outcomes (or competencies) is assessed and reported at the course and program level

Table 1. Curriculum Elements (Camba & Krotov, 2015)

Curriculum alignment can be viewed as a triangle with the following three cornerstones: curriculum, teacher, and test (see Figure 1).

The model shows the need for the three elements to be connected or aligned. Educational goals that are targeted by the curriculum become the basis of defining the work to be done by teachers. Formal testing (or assessment) is used to evaluate the degree to which teachers further deliver the educational goals set forth by the curriculum. Thus, a well-aligned curriculum can also be viewed as a self-sufficient quality control system.

Managing Curriculum Alignment

Lewin’s process-based change management model (see Figure 2) can be used as a guiding framework for an effective curriculum alignment initiative.

Figure 2. Lewin’s Change Management Model (Kaminski, 2011)

The first stage of the curriculum alignment process is the so-called “unfreeze” stage. This stage aims to prepare for the desired changes in the curriculum by having clear and open communication with all the relevant stakeholders in relation to the desired changes in the curriculum. In this stage, people involved in delivering and managing the curriculum analyze the current curriculum and identify the changes that are necessary in order to meet the accreditation standards or achieve the desired improvements in relation to the curriculum. All the stakeholders participating in the “unfreeze” stage need to be convinced that new materials, structures, and processes must be adopted in order to achieve desired improvements. In the second stage called “change,” the stakeholders implement the intended changes to the curriculum. This phase is time-consuming, confusing, and costly. The third stage of the curriculum alignment process is the “refreeze” stage. During this stage, changes to the curriculum are stabilized. The main concern in this phase is to ensure that change becomes a permanent part of the normal process and the system does not revert to the old ways and habits.

References

AACSB International (2022). 2020 Guiding Principles and Standards for Business Accreditation. Retrieved from https://www.aacsb.edu/educators/accreditation/business-accreditation/aacsb-business-accreditation-standards

ACBSP (2022). Accreditation Standards. Retrieved from https://acbsp.org/page/accreditation-standards

Camba, P., & Krotov, V. (2015). Critical success factors in the curriculum alignment process: The case of the college of business at Abu Dhabi University. Journal of Education for Business, 90(8), 451-457.

English, F. W. (2000). Deciding What to Teach and Test: Developing, Aligning, and Auditing the Curriculum. California: Corwin Press, Inc.

Glatthorn, A. A. (1999). Curriculum alignment revisited. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 15(1), 26.

Kaminski, J. (2011). Theory applied to informatics-Lewin’s change theory. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 6(1).

Squires, D. (2012). Curriculum alignment research suggests that alignment can improve student achievement. Clearing House, 85(4), 129-135.

AACSB, ACBSP, Accreditation, Change Management, Curriculum, Curriculum Alignment

By Vlad Krotov, PhD

AACSB, AoL, Assurance of Learning, CAM, Curriculum Alignment, DBA, PLO

Client

A young, large private university in the Middle East undergoing initial accreditation with WASC and AACSB.

Client Requirements

Designing a simple and robust Assurance of Learning system for a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) executive doctoral program offered by a large private university in the Middle East. The system had to meet the following requirements:

a) Compliant with AACSB Standards. The College of Business where the program was offered was going through initial accreditation with AACSB; therefore, the system had to meet all the AACSB requirements in relation to AoL

b) Simple. The system had to be simple enough so that the DBA faculty could quickly understand and contribute to the continuous quality improvement program based on this AoL system. This was important to accommodate changes in the faculty roster teaching in the DBA program as well as general changes in the policies and the curriculum of this newly established DBA program

c) Reliable. The system had to produce reliable, useful results. It was important for the system to have a “pre-test” and then a “post-test” to produce meaningful results in relation to program learning goals. Also, the measurement tools had to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative results for further improvements.

Solution

As the first step, the curriculum of the DBA program was aligned along the five Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs). The results of the curriculum alignment process are provided in the Course Alignment (CAM) matrix below (see Figure 1):

**Figure 1. Course Alignment Matrix (CAM) for the DBA Program**

The extent to which Doctoral of Business Administration (DBA) students have mastered the learning outcomes of the program is assessed at 3 strategic points: METH 1 “Introduction to Business Research” course (Assessment Point 0), RSCH 1 “Research Proposal” (Assessment Point 1), and RSCH 2 “Dissertation” (Assessment Point 2) (see Figure 2 below).

**Figure 2. AoL System for the DBA Program**

At each of the assessment points, the Research Evaluation Rubric is used to assess student performance. The rubric relies on two other rubrics developed by the College: General Analytical Writing Assessment Rubric and Oral Presentation Rubric. In METH1 course, the basis for assessment is student “mock” dissertation proposal – an exercise where students, based on their limited knowledge of their research domain and high-level understanding of research methods, describe and present a rough plan for their possible future dissertation research. The assessment is done by the instructor teaching this course. This assessment point is used to establish a baseline for student knowledge and skills in relation to the program learning outcomes shortly after they join the DBA program. In RSCH the basis for assessment is the actual research proposal document and presentation. Finally, in RSCH 2 the basis for assessment is the final dissertation document and the final dissertation defense. In RSCH 1 and RSCH 2 assessment is done by the dissertation committee chair. In both cases, assessment results are submitted to the Program Director for analysis. Subsequent changes in the curriculum are subjected to the standard curriculum revision process implemented by the College and presided over by the College Curriculum Committee.

Results

With this simple, robust AoL System, the college was able to “close the loop” in relation to the DBA program in just one year (see Figure 3) below:

The results of the newly designed AoL system indicate a noticeable growth in the level at which doctoral students master the PLOs across semesters (see Figure 4 below). These improvements are largely a result of the recommendations for curriculum and policy changes submitted by the DBA faculty participating in the AoL process using the rubrics used in assessment.

**Figure 4. AoL Results Across Semesters**

The College believes that this assessment method allows for a closer monitoring of individual students with respect to their achievement of the learning goals of the program. The AoL system was received positively by AACSB Review Team.

AACSB, AoL, Assurance of Learning, CAM, Curriculum Alignment, DBA, PLO

Tag: Curriculum Alignment

Business Accreditation and Curriculum Alignment

AACSB and ACBSP Curriculum Standards

Curriculum Elements