Blueprints: Curriculum Design and Redesign is a series of workshops and webinars that guide the advancement of curriculum across Queen’s University, whether you are reconsidering the assessment structure of a course or innovating a new program.
Formally known as Curriculum Commons, the name Blueprints communicates the intentional planning that we bring to our learning environments to ensure teaching excellence that is rigorous, inclusive, and student-centered. Blueprints are creatively produced plans that are not fixed, but open to revision, reworking, and redesign as our educational landscapes evolve. Through Blueprints, the CTL enables you to transform your teaching philosophies and goals into practical strategies and student outcomes.
Sessions welcome all instructors, administrators, and staff engaging in the curriculum design process, especially as part of Queen’s University Quality Assurance Processes (QUQAP), which include Cyclical Program Reviews, New Program Proposals, and Major and Minor Modifications.
Blueprints’ shorter sessions complement the work undertaken in the CTL’s more intensive Course Design Series to ensure continuous curriculum improvement, even in the busiest times of the year.
Articulating Program-Level Learning Outcomes
Thursday, October 29, 2026
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
In-Person Event
Audience: all instructors, administrators, and staff engaging in the curriculum design process
Register
What knowledge, skills, and values do students demonstrate as graduates of your program? By the end of this session, participants will be equipped to devise/revise program level learning outcomes to effectively communicate the value of the program to external reviewers, current, and prospective students. This session will also discuss how to articulate distinct sets of Program-Level Learning Outcomes for similar programs, such as MA and PhD programs in the same field.
Navigating Curriculum Mapping
Wednesday, November 25, 2026
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Online Event
Audience: all instructors, administrators, and staff engaging in whole-program and/or department-wide curriculum design.
Register
This session will inform participants about curriculum mapping and how it can be used in developing academic programs and courses. Curriculum mapping is a process that helps units identify the progression of student learning and ensure that students are meeting program outcomes in a strategic, supported way.
Aligning Learning Outcomes with Assessment
Wednesday, January 20, 2027
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
In-Person Event
Audience: all instructors, administrators, and staff engaging in the curriculum design process
Register
By the end of this session, participants will be equipped to devise strategies for documenting and highlighting the ways in which assessment of learning serves to affirm program goals. Working at the course level? This session will encourage thinking on course design as connected to program outcomes. We will engage in assessment design that is flexible and adaptable for accommodations and explore how our assessments can integrate or mitigate Generative Artificial Intelligence.
Assurance of Learning
Thursday, February 18, 2027
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Online Event
Audience: all instructors, administrators, and staff engaging in whole-program and/or department-wide curriculum design.
Register
Assurance of Learning refers to the structures and practices in place to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes of a program/course. It also speaks to the processes that inform the continuous improvement of the programs. What information is being collected from past and current students, instructors and staff? How will it be leveraged to improve the program, and by whom? This webinar will introduce best practices for creating and reworking methods for assurance of learning, and share examples from teaching units within and outside of the Queen’s community. The session will be especially beneficially for units currently working through their cyclical program reviews (section 2.1.2.4 of the self-study) or those who will be starting the process in 2027. Assurance of learning frameworks are also required as part of new program proposals.
Essential Requirements and Assessment
Facilitator: Nevena Martinović, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Date and Time: Thursday, August 21, 2025; 10:00 – 11:30am
Location: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Rm F200
Essential Requirements, whether for a course or program, are the knowledge and skills “that all students must demonstrate with or without using accommodations” (Stanford University, 2019).
This working session will guide instructors in differentiating between essential requirements and course learning outcomes. We will work through existing or newly drafted assessments to navigate what skills, knowledge and values students must be able to demonstrate, and how assignments can be adapted to prioritize accessibility and equity.
Participants are encouraged to bring hard-copies of an assessment that they are interested in developing during the session.
Lessons Learned and Practical Tips from Occupation Therapy Program Revisions
Facilitator: Nevena Martinović, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Panelists: Setareh Ghahari, School of Rehabilitation Therapy; Eleftheria Laios, Office of Professional Development and Educational Scholarship, Queen’s Health Sciences; and Dorothy Kessler, School of Rehabilitation Therapy
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 1:30-2:30pm
Location: Hybrid – Ellis 321 Online/In-Person
This presentation refers to the curricular changes that were required within the Occupational Therapy (OT) program at School of Rehabilitation Therapy (Queen’s Health Sciences) to meet the requirements for new competencies of the profession. The changes had to be implemented within 3 years to meet the program accreditation requirements and ensure students’ success in the board exam upon program completion.
We will discuss the process of curricular change, people involved, and their way and type of involvement. Our focus will be on strategies that enabled this curriculum change to happen within the tight timeframe considering budget limitations, limited availability of faculty and staff, and complexity and inter-relatability of changes. We hope to provide the audience with tips on how to manage such change, including ways to promote buy-in, complete tasks, and engage interested parties. Our lessons learned include the importance of genuine communication, role clarification, and collaboration towards a common goal.
Articulating and Innovating Program-Level and Course-Level Learning Outcomes
Facilitator: Nevena Martinović, Yunyi Chen, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Date and Time: Wednesday, October 8, 2025; 9:30am – 11:30am
Location: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Mac Corry F200
What knowledge, skills, and values do students demonstrate as graduates of your program? By the end of this session, participants will be equipped to devise/revise program level learning outcomes to effectively communicate the value of the program to external reviewers, current, and prospective students. Working at the course level? This session will apply similar thinking at the course level.
Navigating Curriculum Mapping
Facilitator: Nevena Martinović, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Date and Time: Thursday, November 6, 2025; 9:30 – 11:30am
Location: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Mac Corry F200
This session will inform participants about curriculum mapping and how it can be used in developing academic programs and courses. Curriculum mapping is a process that helps units identify the progression of student learning and ensure that students are meeting program outcomes in a strategic, supported way.
Aligning Learning Outcomes with Assessment
Facilitator: Nevena Martinović, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Date and Time: Tuesday, January 20, 2026; 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Location: Centre for Teaching and Learning, Mac Corry F200
By the end of this session, participants will be equipped to devise strategies for documenting and highlighting the ways in which assessment of learning serves to affirm program goals. Working at the course level? This session will encourage thinking on course design as connected to program outcomes.