BEMAP

Backwards Educational Mapping And Planning

On this page

1. What is this tool?
2. Why does it exist?
3. How do I install it?
4. How do I use it?
5. Terminology

What is this tool?

BEMAP is an AI assistant that guides professors in Flemish higher education (graduaat / bachelor / master) through designing a single OPO end-to-end, using Backward Design. It produces a compliant ECTS-fiche, aligned upward to the programme's existing learning outcomes.

Why does it exist?

BEMAP encodes an opinionated pedagogical workflow rather than being a blank chatbot. This allows professors of the same institutation to form a more coherent curriculum.

How do I install it?

You need Node 20 or newer (.nvmrc pins 20). Then:

npm install    # installs the tooling and sets up the pre-commit hook
npm run check  # lint + typecheck + tests — the same checks CI runs

BEMAP is authored as portable Markdown/YAML knowledge assets ("methodology as code"). The scripts you'll use most:

Script	Does
npm run build:project	Assemble project/project-instructions.md from knowledge/
npm run sync:olr	Fetch a programme's OLRs + OPO index from the Odisee API
npm run sync:oer	Snapshot the OER PDFs (general + campus bijlagen) to Markdown
npm run check	Lint, typecheck, and run the tests
npm run format	Auto-format (Biome for TS/JSON, Prettier for MD/YAML)

Syncing a programme's learning outcomes

The programme OLRs and OPO list come from the public Odisee ECTS API. Sync one programme (by code, name, or id) for an academic year:

npm run sync:olr -- --programme O-SC-HPBGRD          # latest year
npm run sync:olr -- --programme "Graduaat in het programmeren" --year 2026

This writes knowledge/programmes/<year>/<code>/olr.yaml (bilingual OLRs) and programme.yaml (the OPO index, so the coach can find a course by opoCode or name). To remember which courses you teach year-over-year, copy profiles/example.profile.yaml to profiles/<you>.profile.yaml (git-ignored) and add it to your Claude Project.

How do I use it?

The MVP is a chat product. To stand it up:

1. Run npm run build:project to (re)generate project/project-instructions.md.
2. Create a new Claude Project.
3. Paste project/project-instructions.md as the Project's custom instructions.
4. Add the knowledge/ files (template, OER, OLR, references) as Project knowledge.
5. Start a chat — the coach runs one OPO through the pipeline: Intake → Learning Outcomes → Assessment → Study-load → Quality gate → Fiche assembly, drafting at each step and letting you review before moving on.

The Odisee institution assets are real: the ECTS-fiche field-spec (knowledge/templates/ects-fiche.yaml), the evaluation rules (knowledge/rules/oer-evaluation.*) with snapshotted OER PDFs, and synced programme OLRs (knowledge/programmes/). Refresh them with npm run sync:olr / npm run sync:oer, then re-run npm run build:project. (English fiche terminology and the synthetic example-programme placeholder are still to be finalised.)

Terminology

• Backward Design — designing a course backwards from the outcomes students should achieve, then the assessment that evidences them, then the study effort to get there.
• Constructive alignment — outcomes, assessment, and study-load all pointing at the same targets. BEMAP's quality gate enforces it.
• OPO — opleidingsonderdeel; the course unit being designed. One OPO per session.
• OLR — opleidingsleerresultaten; the programme's learning outcomes. Course outcomes must align upward to these.
• ECTS-fiche — the course's official specification sheet; BEMAP's anchor deliverable.
• ECTS — credits expressing study-load (~25–30 study hours per credit).
• OER — onderwijs- en examenreglement; governs permitted evaluation forms, weighting, and resit rules.
• Toetsmatrijs — the LO × assessment coverage matrix that makes alignment visible.