Curricular Analytics

About Curricular Analytics

Using an open-source visualization tool, academic programs can reduce unnecessary complexity in curriculum while maintaining academic rigor.

Factors to consider include:

  • Delay Factor: long chains in the curriculum that must be completed in sequential order.
  • Blocking Factor: gateway courses(s), the number of courses a student is prevented from taking until the gateway class is passed.
  • Centrality: bottleneck course(s), many prereqs, and after passing, unblocks many discipline-specific courses.

Complexity Score

The complexity score of the curriculum is based off the total of each course’s blocking and delay factors. Curricular Analytics provides a way for users to analyze data in a visualization tool for unnecessary complexity, while also providing peer institutions’ data for comparison.

curricular analytics terminology

Roadblocks to Student Success

  • Existence of long delays (more than 6 or 7 chains of pre-requisites)
  • Few free electives
  • Delay of Integrated Learning Core courses into junior or senior years
  • Existence of bottleneck courses
  • High complexity scores in first term

Resources

Academic departments should contact Anna Bartel, Assistant Vice Provost, for training and for a copy of their program's complexity score. 

contact anna bartel