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.
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.