Academic Program Alignment in Higher Education - Education Major Project A (EMP603)

This paper evaluates academic program alignment as an essential component of a program evaluation of higher education. It appraises the effects of lack of program alignment to program delivery, identifies the constraints due to lack of program alignment in the higher education institutions, and suggests and establishes a practical and theoretical basis for teaching humanistic and ethical principles.

Running head: EDUCATION MAJOR PROJECT A (EMP603) 1
Education Major Project A (EMP 603)
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

EDUCATION MAJOR PROJECT A (EMP603) 2
Education Major Project A (EMP603)
Introduction
Scholarly practices in education entail justification of our work in the theory and practical by
ensuring that what we are recommending is the justification of theory and practical to back it up.
Being a scholar-practitioner entails learning the body of knowledge that underpins our work. It is
also purposefully learning from experience, having a searching and analytic mindset, engaging in
reflective practices, and looking for research and theory to enlighten our project
recommendations.
This paper will seek to appraise academic program alignment as an essential component of a
program evaluation of higher education. As a matter of concern, education experience should
encourage and strengthen students’ learning objectives at the mastering level. The institutions at
high education levels should advance and offer solid curricular that are formal in alignment with
the program’s intended goals, and they should use the guiding objectives of preparing courses
and program schemes. In this context, program alignment involves expounding the relationship
between what students do in their courses with what faculty expect them to learn.
Background to the Study
There are conflicts between theoretical and applied faculty in some departments. In that
context, most faculty approve that students should advance into both competences. Students who
specialize in one approach gains more respect from colleagues who specialize in the
supplementary approach. Some faculties hate to have to teach those applied and theoretical
courses that their curriculum offer. A cohesive curriculum is, therefore, vital when it comes to
the matter of program alignment. A cohesive curriculum analytically provides students with an
opportunity to synthesize, train and develop complex values, ideas, and skills (Hopkins, 2014).

EDUCATION MAJOR PROJECT A (EMP603) 3
Therefore, critical learning objectives should be provided early, reinforced, and further
introduced through the curriculum.
Problem Statement
Most students in the education disciplines frequently come up at universities and colleges
without experience and lacking the practical competence needed to manipulate information. A
coherent plan for knowledge literacy that will integrate both theoretical and practical skills is
critical in teaching. It provides a framework for locating, evaluating, and synthesizing the
information for a particular use.
Aim of the Project
Academic program alignment in higher education project aims at evaluating the short-
comings that are due to lack of program alignment. Further, the target of the project is towards
the suggestion of the most effective recommendations for ensuring quality education and
competency to the students.
Guiding Questions
The following guiding questions will outline the dimension in which the project should take.
These guiding questions related to the objectives of the project:
How does a lack of program alignment affect education programs delivery by various
faculties in the university?
What are the significant constraints due to a lack of program alignment in high education?
Project Objectives
The following three objectives will rule the project;
To evaluate the effects of lack of program alignment to program delivery, in the higher education
institutions

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To identify the constraints due to lack of program alignment in the higher education institutions
Suggesting and establishing a practical and theoretical basis for teaching humanistic and ethical
principles
Literature Review
Programs Alignment as an Essential Component of Program Assessment
It is the role of the faculty to regularly identify the gaps when they examine the alignment
between their curriculum and the learning objectives. Further, they should make changes to
advance student learning opportunities before they start collecting assessment data (Belzer &
Ryan, 2013).
In response to the recent existing accountability assurance treaties, a plethora of standards and
educational policies have developed to encourage teacher assessment competency at various
levels. According to DeLuca & Bellara (2013), evidence has shown that initial teachers continue
to maintain low levels of assessment skills.
Faculty often develop an improved appreciation for the complementary fortes of all
departments as they consider their own and others' contributions. For instance, if program
objectives are valued, the corresponding faculties that promote such programs will be highly
valued (Mattick, Johnston & De la croix, 2018).
Program alignment is also essential for the sustainability of the program. The study conducted
by Coccetta (2018), it was found that there is a significant difference between the quality of
programs with degrees in sustainability, as many do not seem to combine realistic and social
theoretical literature. Emphasis on education quality assessment will assure proliferated, forceful,
and sustainability scholars and scientists.

EDUCATION MAJOR PROJECT A (EMP603) 5
The Cohesive Curriculum
A cohesive type of curriculum, systematically grand students the opportunity to synthesize,
develop, and practice increasingly complex ideas, values, and related skills. In his study on the
teaching profession, (Richlin, 2001) found out the four methods that can be integrated to ensure
better theoretical and practical experiences. The following listing consists of the four methods as
experimental learning of skills system of helping team, an appropriate and critical validated
curriculum. Such approaches together build a standard conceptual with mutually reinforcing
elements to strengthen adherence to core values and maximize the creation of professional
identity.
Higher Education Competency-Based Teaching
Competence-based teaching and its determination have gained prevalence in the modern
world. Nevertheless, evaluation tools are often restricted, for instance, single student skills or
unique teaching method components. This study on competence-based teaching evaluation
considers research development and participatory evaluation approach (Bergsmann et al., 2015).
Besides, the strategy for execution is incorporated to help the transition from the theoretical to
realistic definition. This assessment approach and its principles are designed for international
higher education evaluation and focus primarily on high schools that have already been
identified and developed. (Bergsmann et al., 2015).
What is the Concept of Evaluation for Competence-Based Teaching?
The assessment is performed as follows in three stages: screening to evaluate the teaching
practice and relative students’ competences, analysis of the theoretical skills model and through

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analysis of practical teaching methods. The importance of the evaluation of the theoretical
competency model is to appraise whether the practical, theoretical model stipulates that the
student has gained the ideal student's competence from the previous practical sections. Both
competence skills and knowledge are well presented, where competence is defined well for
medium abstract level field research. Also, a participatory method of assessment and the relative
theoretical model of competence must ideally be assessed using the appropriate participant
groups. (Lombardozzi & Tyler, 2017).
Conclusion
Professions are beneficial to society as they impact society with critical social goals. They
also differ in their definitions, and these definitions are gaining more complexity year after
another. Further, some professions face regulatory compliance issues in the form of licensor and
other legally defined requirements. The orientation of professions is towards the donation of the
state interest in ensuring public practitioners’ experience and qualification to safeguard the
collective interest and the well-being of the people (Potter & Kustra, 2011). Any faculty should
follow several routes towards preparation producing qualified professionalism through high
education. The academic decision regarding curriculum determines the routs, content alignment,
in-class and practical (out-of-class learning) learning experiences, philosophical approaches
towards the profession and further, integration of practices and the researches (Ferrandiz, Fidel
& Conchado, 2018). The institution should foster discussions through the implementation
process to enhance understanding of the typical students' competences.

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References
Belzer, A., & Ryan, S. (2013). Defining the Problem of Practice Dissertation: Where's The
Practice, What's The Problem?. Planning & Changing, 44.
Bergsmann, E., Schultes, M. T., Winter, P., Schober, B., & Spiel, C. (2015). Evaluation of
competence-based teaching in higher education: From theory to practice. Evaluation and
program planning, 52, 1-9.
Coccetta, F. (2018). Developing university students’ multimodal communicative competence:
Field research into multimodal text studies in English. System, 77, 19-27.
DeLuca, C., & Bellara, A. (2013). The current state of assessment education: Aligning policy,
standards, and teacher education curriculum. Journal of Teacher Education, 64(4), 356-372.
Ferrandiz, J., Fidel, P., & Conchado, A. (2018). Promoting entrepreneurial intention through a
higher education program integrated into an entrepreneurship ecosystem. International
Journal of Innovation Science, 10(1), 6-21.
Hopkins, D. (2014). Developing a focus. In D. Hopkins A teacher’s guide to classroom research.
Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education. Retrieved from
https://lesa.on.worldcat.org/oclc/899158614
Lombardozzi, C., & Tyler, J. A. (2017). Through a kaleidoscope: Dimensions of scholarly
practice. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 19(3), 247-261.
Mattick, K., Johnston, J., & de la Croix, A. (2018). How to… write a good research
question. The clinical teacher, 15(2), 104-108.

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Potter, M. K., & Kustra, E. D. (2011). The relationship between scholarly teaching and SoTL:
Models, distinctions, and clarifications. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning, 5(1), 23.
Richlin, L. (2001). Scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching. New directions for
teaching and learning, 2001(86), 57-68.