Assessing the Alignment of Objectives, Instructional Activities, and Assessments in a Biomedical Informatics Curriculum.

The objective of this research was to assess the alignment of course learning objectives, instructional activities, and course assessments in a Biomedical Informatics curriculum. Each syllabi in the curriculum was reviewed and scored according to a validated rubric. Disagreements among reviewers adjudicated by consensus. Only low and moderate levels of alignment were identified. The results indicated the needs and goals of courses could be more effectively met with faculty investment in syllabi redesign and clarification to achieve course objectives. Root causes included word choice in learning objective statement as well as lack of consideration of instructional scaffolding by the course developer.