Constructive Alignment and the SOLO Taxonomy: A Comparative Study of University Competences in Computer Science vs. Mathematics

In 2007, all Danish university syllabi were reformulated to explicitly state course objectives to comply with a new Danish national grading scale, which stipulated that grades were to be given based on how well students met explicit course objectives. This paper analyzes 550 syllabi from the science faculties at University of Aarhus, Denmark (AU) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) that had been rewritten to explicitly incorporate course objectives, interpreted as intended learning outcomes (ILOs), using the principles of Constructive Alignment and the SOLO Taxonomy. In this paper we explain and discuss these principles, give examples of how the new syllabi were constructed, and describe the process by which they were formed. We also explain and discuss the results of a comparative study comparing the competences of Computer Science with those of Mathematics (and classical Natural Sciences for a point of reference). In this study, we focus on what specific competences the respective departments primarily use.