Career Technical Assurance Guides

CTAGs apply across, at least, all public higher education institutions. This does not alter the mission or degree authority of any institution; it does provide guaranteed pathways that enable students to reach their highest level of academic attainment in the most efficient manner.

The CTAG courses are composed of learning outcomes. CTAG course development and revision process is faculty-driven and student-focused. Faculty content experts help develop statewide CTAG course learning outcomes, provide feedback through a statewide survey, and implement the endorsed learning outcomes by reviewing institutional courses. 

All public institutions of higher education in Ohio are expected to comply with the Articulation and Transfer Policy and guarantee the transfer of courses in the CTAG for application to degree/program requirements.

Numerous degree pathways, spanning from construction and welding to interactive media or entrepreneurship have Career Technical Assurance Guides. Within each degree pathways is a set of multiple courses. Each course has a set of learning outcomes. See a list of pathways on the Ohio Department of Higher Education website.

In creating a match, the faculty member proposing the match must ensure that the course being proposed for a match advances the required learning outcomes created by ODHE.

Approximately one time each semester, the Senior Associate Provost in communication with representatives from the Ohio Department of Higher Education/Ohio Articulation and Transfer Network audit the existing course matches for Career Technical Assurance Guides. If a match needs to be revised or added, the following steps are taken:

1. The Senior Associate Provost contacts the chair of the appropriate department or program to inquire about a possible course that might be an appropriate match.
2. Once the course is identified, the chair selects a faculty member who has taught and has in-depth knowledge of the course.
3. The associate provost provides the faculty member with the appropriate templates and guidelines for creating the needed materials to create a match which is then submitted to ODHE via an electronic system.

To propose a match, each faculty member will need to assemble the following:

• Detailed and current syllabus with week-by-week or day-by-day schedule, student learning outcomes, assessments, and grading distributions from summative assessments included as a minimum;
• Course Details Template which includes course number and title, term when course was first offered, credit hours (including contact hours for lectures, labs, and others), pre- or co-requisites, catalog description, textbook ISBN, outside readings and materials, instructional goals or objectives, description of assessment or evaluation of learning;
• Learning Outcomes Template which includes a list of the statewide learning outcomes for the course within the Career Technical Assurance Guide, a detailed description for students’ learning process (activities/exercises) that clearly articulates how the students in that course will meet each outcome, the assessments used to validate student learning outcomes (formative and/or summative), and a percentage of the course time devoted to each outcome.

The senior associate provost will provide the proposer with a copy of the two templates which need to be completed.

• When submitting a syllabus, be sure that it is current and includes a week-by-week or day-by-day schedule and a list of summative assessments (e.g., projects, exams, quizzes, etc.). If your calendar references textbook chapter numbers, please also include chapter titles. The statewide CTAG Review Panel members might not be familiar with the particular textbook.
• On the Course Details Template is a request to list when the course was first offered. If you do not know the semester or term when it was first offered, you may leave it blank or simply list the current term or semester.
• On the Course Details Template is a request to list credit hours.  Please provide the course credit hours and contact hours per week for lectures, labs, and others (e.g., recitation, practicum, etc.)
• The Learning Outcomes Template is typically the component that is most difficult for faculty to complete. Here are some guidelines for this template:
  • Do not copy and paste the same CTAG language for describing how students meet each outcome. Instead explain explain in general terms how the course meets the outcome. You can also quote from the syllabus language that relates to the outcome.
  • Rather than phrase the assessment descriptions in terms of what the faculty member does, focus on what the student does; and include specific language. For example, rather than writing, “Faculty member assigns a marketing plan,” a possible sentence might be: “As part of their marketing plan project, students must conduct a target market assessment in which they identify two market segments and their specific demographic and geographic characteristics and describe what each market wants, how their money is spent and how each segment can best be reached."
  • When describing students’ learning process, references to the verbiages from the Bloom’s Taxonomy can help articulate the expected rigor when meeting the CTAG learning outcome.
• Do not copy and paste the same CTAG language for describing how students meet each outcome.
• Make sure that in your description for how students meet each outcome, you reference any reading or lecture materials that relate to the outcome. In addition, it is critical to include a brief 1-2 sentence summary of a particular activity or assignment that the student will complete that is directly tied to that outcome. For example, imagine that the outcome you are describing is: “Understanding of marketing functions within the organization and external environments and marketing contributions organizational attainment of goals and objectives". A possible description might be:
  • “Content knowledge is gained throughout the course with assigned text readings (chapters 7 and 8) and instructor presentations. Demonstrated competency is done through graded homework assignments, multiple content exams, and a graded marketing plan. For example, in week 6 of the semester, students must submit a Marketing Plan Assignment in which they focus on identifying a target market (consumer or business) whose needs are not currently being met, not being met satisfactorily, or even recognized. Students must think about competitive offerings, and how their offerings will be communicated and delivered. Emphasis in this assignment is on the solution being actionable and realistic.”

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• For each outcome, estimate the percentage of the course time that is devoted to that outcome. When you add up all of the percentages for the total number of outcomes, the total should be 100%.