The Missing Piece
Leo’s robust curriculum mapping capabilities are even more flexible now that you can include Course Objectives at the section level of a course. This option is enabled for each individual Academic Year in Leo. So not only are Course Objectives attached to the actual course in which they are mapped, but they are also distinct for each iteration of the course. Need to make changes to the course objectives this year? No problem, those changes won’t affect any previous iteration of the course!
With the addition of Course Objectives in Leo, there is now a home for any type of objective that you need or want to keep track of and connect to your curriculum map. You can map your curriculum all the way up from session objectives to course objectives and on up to program objectives and competencies at the highest level.
Making the Change
You may be asking, “How do we make the change?” In this tutorial, we are going to dissect this question and outline a step-by-step process to aid you as you migrate your mapping structure within Leo. In this tutorial, we’ll be making two assumptions: (1) the existing Goals and Objectives version includes all of your Course Objectives, and (2) your institutional or program objectives are listed as a competency set in lieu of, or in addition to, the PCRS competencies.
Note: No part of this process involves deleting or removing existing data from your system. The goal is to preserve the integrity of the historical record of your curriculum in Leo. So, while you may be tempted to delete various records, we urge you not to do so.
Let’s get started by creating a brand new G&O Version that includes your Institutional, or Program, Objectives.
- Admin Toolbar > Curriculum Mapping > Organization > Goals and Objectives > Version Manager > Options > Create New Version
- Name your new G&O Version. We suggest something to designate when this particular version was adopted by your institution (or when it was entered into Leo). For example, ours will be named Leo SOM Program Objectives v. 2022.
- Options > Goals and Objectives > [select your new version from the drop-down list] > Run Report
- You can create your Goals & Objectives from this screen. Remember! These should be your Program Objectives. There are different options for how to build your new G&O Version (user guide links provide below):
- You can manually build your new G&O version by adding relevant Goals and Program Objectives within those Goal(s).
- You can import your goals and objectives in bulk. ⚠️ Be sure to manually create or import your goals first as you’ll need the Goal Number when you are importing your Program Objectives.
- If you have your Program Objectives listed as competencies in Leo already, you can export them to get a head start. Go to Curriculum Mapping > Organization > Competencies > [Select your Program Objectives from the drop-down menu] > [Use the download icon to export this report (it will include the description) to a .csv file]
- Once you have reformatted the .csv file to work for your Objectives import, you can bulk import them into your new G&O Version. Remember! You’ll need to assign every objective to a goal (via the goal number) and assign each objective its own number as well. Save this import file! It’ll come in handy later if you also plan on importing your Course Objectives.
The steps in this process should be completed for each course in your curriculum. Remember, you can roll over curriculum mapping from one course section to another, so you only need to complete this process for one section in each Academic Year. Once the process is complete, you can roll the curriculum mapping over to other sections as needed.
Since your Course Objectives existed in your old G&O version (and since you aren’t deleting any data from your system), you can download all of your Course Objectives and then start the process of separating them into separate .csv files that are ready to be imported into various course sections.
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Admin Toolbar > Curriculum Mapping > Organization > Goals and Objectives > [select your old G&O version, the one that included your Course Objectives] > Options > Detail > [choose the icon to export this report to a .csv file]
- The resulting .csv file will include all of your objectives (name and description). This will help you prepare your Course Objectives for import into their respective courses.
- The Course Objective import template has required columns for the Course Objective Description and the Course Objective Code. It also has optional columns (as many as needed) to map the Course Objective to specific Program Objective(s) (in your new G&O version).
Note: We recommend that you use a standardized method for determining Course Objective Codes. For example, regarding an Anatomy course, I would use ANAT-01. We suggest collaborating with your curriculum department to determine and standardize these codes based on course numbers, abbreviations, etc.
- Divide the objectives in the file you downloaded above into separate spreadsheets for each of your Courses in Leo according to the import template found in the Leo User Guide. You’ll need to save each of these spreadsheets as a separate .csv file ready to import to Leo.
Course Objectives can be enabled in Leo, based upon your Academic Year settings. This allows you to preserve all of your historical mapping structure.
(1) Navigate to Admin Toolbar > Course Management > Years and Dates > Academic Years > [click on the Year Number (first column) for the Academic Year for which you would like to turn on Course Objectives] > [check the box next to “Enable Course Objectives”].
(2) Be sure that your Goals and Objectives version for the Academic Year is your new G&O version that you created in Step 1. If you haven't updated this already!
Note: Once you turn on Course Objectives for an Academic Year, it cannot be turned off. There’s no going back now! 😁
Now that Course Objectives are enabled, you can navigate to each of your courses in the Academic Year and upload your Course Objectives via the .csv files you saved earlier.
Go to the Course Section > Import > Course Objectives > [follow the instructions to import your Course Objectives]. If you already know or have the information with regard to how your Course Objectives are mapped to your Program Objectives, you can add that information starting in column C. Keep reading below to learn more about that process.
With all of these changes, you’ll need to create new connections between your Session Objectives, Course Objectives, Program Objectives, and Competencies. Some of this work can be divided among the various stakeholders involved in preparing and/or delivering the curriculum at your institution. We’ll outline some ideas to aid you in the process below.
Map Course Objectives
Your course objectives previously existed as a part of your old G&O version. Now they exist within each course section. So instead of mapping them to a competency set, you’ll be mapping them to your new G&O version (your program objectives). Often we’ll see institutions involve the Course Director of each course in this process. Here’s the step-by-step process from our User Guide that will walk Course Directors through creating and linking Course Objectives to Program Objectives.. We’ve also created a short video that you can share with your Course Directors if needed.
If you prefer to perform these types of actions in bulk, you can utilize the Course Objective import (you used this earlier to populate your course objectives). If you have already imported your Course Objectives, you can choose the option to “Download Template for Section”. Just add the Program Objective numbers (1.1, 1.2, etc.) from your new G&O version starting in column C, save the .csv file, and re-import with the mapping information!
Of course, you can do this when you import your course objectives the first time. Definitely consider this as an option to save time. Also, consider sharing these documents with your Course Directors via collaborative editing tools like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel 365 to involve them in the process and give them some ownership over the mapping process in Leo.
Map Session Objectives
Your session objectives were previously mapped directly to your G&O version (where your course objectives existed before this update). Now they’ll need to be mapped to the Course Objectives that exist within each Course Section. Here are a couple of ideas for how to accomplish this task.
Train your faculty. Each faculty member at your institution has the ability to access and edit the events in which they have been assigned as an instructor. In just a couple of minutes they can add all of the session objectives and mapping for any event they are leading. We’ve even created a video you can share with them! Also, you can find detailed step-by-step instructions in our user guide.
Another great option for mapping session objectives is to utilize the bulk import option in Leo. Go to the Course Section > Import > Session Objectives > [click the button to “Download Template for Section”]. ⚠️ One prerequisite for this approach is that all of the events for the course section already exist in Leo.
The .csv file that Leo provides includes important information about each event in the first five columns. Do not edit anything in these columns (A-E). Beginning in column F, you can start entering (and/or mapping) the session objectives. Each section objective gets its own column in the spreadsheet. So, if you have 5 objectives, you’ll use columns F-J. To add the Course Objective mapping to these objectives, just use a ‘/’ at the end of each objective and add the Course Objective Code to the end. Need to map to multiple objectives? Just add another ‘/’ and the next code.
If your events already had Session Objectives, you’ll just need to add the Course Objective Codes. Be sure not to edit the actual Course Objective. Doing so could create some duplicates.
Tip! If your institution utilizes collaborative documents (Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel 365, e.g.), you might consider sharing this spreadsheet with faculty members and ask them to add their objectives, mapping information, or both for their particular events! Consider listing the Course Objectives and their codes on a separate tab in the document to allow faculty easy access to those codes for mapping purposes.
Once you have all your session objectives entered, and mapped, you can always use the Session Objectives report at the Section level to check for anything that might have been missed. You can also edit session objectives and map them right from this report! Just click on the objective to make edits, and the number in the Course Objective column to add or adjust mapping details.
Need to check to see if any events are missing Session Objectives? Go to the section level of a course > Mapping > Summary. This report provides all the mapping details you could ask for! Sort and check the “SO” column to see if any events are missing learning objectives. The “SO/CO” is another great place to look for any events that haven’t had their session objectives mapped to their course objectives.
Now that you have a new G&O version with Program, Course and Session Objectives all mapped, you can start thinking about how your Program Objectives will map to your Competencies in Leo. Your competency set might be the PCRS competency set (allopathic medical schools or the AOA Core Competencies (osteopathic medical schools), or another competency set that pertains to your own curriculum.
Remember! You can map your new G&O version to as many competency sets as are needed. You will need to create the competency sets for your new G&O version though. Follow these steps (if you are adding the PCRS or AOA Core Competencies, skip down to learn how you can install these competencies from Leo’s built-in repository):
- Admin Toolbar > Curriculum Mapping > Organization > Competencies > Competency Set Manager > Options > Add Competency Set
- Select your new G&O version from the dropdown menu, give your competency set a name and an optional description.
- Click Save
- You should now see your new competency set listed in the Competency Set Manager, click on the number (it should be 0) in the “Competency Count” column.
- Choose Options > New to create a new competency. Give it a name and a description, and click save.
- Keep going until you have all of your competencies in Leo!
Install from Repository (PCRS, AOA)
If you are attaching the PCRS or AOA Core Competencies to your new G&O version, then follow these steps instead to install your competencies from Leo's built-in repository.
- Admin Toolbar > Curriculum Mapping > Organization > Competencies > Competency Set Manager > Options > Install from Repository
- Select your new G&O version
- Choose the competency set you wish to add.
- Voila! You have a new competency set for your new G&O version!
The last step in the mapping process is to connect the program objectives in your new G&O version to the competencies in your new competency set(s). You can do this one of two ways. You can map the competencies to the objectives, or the objectives to the competencies. It works both ways, and there is no particular reason to take one approach over the other. So choose what works for you! Check out the user guide articles linked below to get started!
Don’t have Institutional or Program Objectives to which you could effectively map your Course Objectives? Consider using your Competencies as your G&O version. You’ll still need to create a 1:1 match between the new G&O version and your actual competency set, but it will still allow you to move your Course Objectives into each Course Section as well as take advantage of more robust reporting on where the PCRS competencies are covered within your curriculum.
Have more questions? Reach out to our Help Desk. We are happy to support you in this process!
If your institution doesn’t have a need to track individual course objectives, Leo is flexible to meet your needs as well! Just don’t enable Course Objectives when you create a new Academic Year, and you’ll still be able to map your individual session objectives directly to your program objectives.
