Aligning the teaching of FCA with Existing Module Learning Outcomes

Careful design of teaching and assessment activities is required to properly align a topic to the intended learning outcomes of a module. This paper describes and evaluates a four year project to align the teaching of FCA with the learning outcomes of a final-year undergraduate Smart Applications module at Sheffield Hallam University. Biggs' constructive alignment, incorporating an adapted version of Yin's case study research method, was used in an iterative process to analyse and modify teaching and assessment activities. to align them more closely with the intended learning outcomes. The process involved examining written conclusions made by students from carrying out FCA case study assignments, to draw cross-case conclusions about the learning outcomes achieved and how they deviated from the prescribed ones. These cross-case conclusions were used to feed back into the design of learning and assessment activities for the next delivery of the module. After three cycles, the learning outcomes achieved closely matched the prescribed learning outcomes of the module. A fourth cycle without changes confirmed this.