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Constructive alignment refers to the fact that when planning teaching intended learning outcomes, content, teaching and assessment methods and study time allocation have to be aligned with each other. In the planning phase of teaching, the teacher reserves time for contact teaching and the types of teaching it includes. Time must also be reserved for independent study and the internalisation of what has been learned.

Study time allocation is based on one academic year, which is 1600 hours of student work. The studies are organized in such a way that the student's annual number of credits, studying full-time, is 60 cr.

Study time allocation

In course design, study time allocation means estimating the study time invested by the student for the learning related to the course to achieve the learning outcomes and complete the study attainments required for the course. Its goal is to ensure that students are given enough time to meet the learning outcomes of the course and to gain a genuine and deep understanding of the topic. The key is to learn the core content well, so choosing content and communicating it to students is important. Time must also be set aside for independent study and the internalisation of what has been learned, as learning does not take place in contact teaching alone.

Below you will find a downloadable and  ductile time allocation tool for this purpose. Note that there are language versions on different sheets.  However, it is worth remembering that the outcome of the study time calculation represents the time typically needed to complete the required tasks.

Workload

Workload refers to the time spent on the course by the student (and teacher) and also his or her experience of the workload of the course implementation. The teacher-allocated study time does not always correspond to the student’s perception of the workload: different students (and teachers) experience course workloads differently. When making choices regarding course design, it is thus essential to consider the perceived workload and individual variation in it.The study time allocated should be in line with the  workload of one academic year, which is 60 credits or 1600 hours of full time student work.

Collecting feedback during and after the course provides useful information on the students’ perception of the workload of the course. The feedback should be analysed carefully and the course developed based on both the student feedback and the teacher’s experience.

When assessing, you can ask yourself for example

• Did the content I selected meet the intended learning objectives (ILO)? How can I assess whether the ILO's were achieved?
• Was able to take into account the quality and quantity of materials and tasks in study time allocation?
• How could I support students during the course?
• Were there any groups of students on the course who felt the course had higher workload than others?
• Should I reconsider teaching or assessment methods?

Core content analysis is a tool that allows a teacher to classify the knowledge and skills related to the course they are teaching into core subject, supplementary knowledge, and special knowledge. Classification makes it easier for the teacher to think about how the teaching of the course is divided between the different classes and for the student to identify what is important to them in terms of goals.

Useful materials on estimating student workload:

• Time allocation tool to be downloaded (attached below, requires logging in)
• For ideas, questions and other feedback on the time allocation tool: