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Module DesignORIC – Open Educational Resources for the

Inclusive Curriculum http://www.oric.brad.ac.uk

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workshop activity 1; constructive alignment; workshop activity 2; aims & learning outcomes; levelness; workshop activity 3; review.

Planning Learning & Teaching: Constructive Alignment

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Sir Ken Robinson on education and creativity:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Some food for thought…

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individually – choose one teaching sequence, or individual session that you have helped to plan & design;

in 2s & 3s – explain to each other & discuss the steps that you went through in the planning/design process (be honest!);

be prepared to feed back.

Activity 1

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theory/approach developed by John Biggs; all components in the learning/teaching

system should support each other – should be aligned;

“When there is alignment between what we want, how we teach and how we assess, teaching is likely to be much more effective than when there is not.” (Biggs, 1999: 26)

Constructive Alignment

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In constructively aligned teaching: Devise & state intended learning outcomes; Learning & teaching methods are chosen to

allow learners to construct meaning in a way which will realise these outcomes;

Assessment tasks address the outcomes.

CA /cont

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“CA makes the students themselves do the real work; the teacher simply arranges things so that it is more likely that they will.”

(Biggs, 1999:27)

CA /cont

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In 2s and 3s, each talk through the following: take one intended learning outcome from a

module that you are involved with; what learning/teaching activities have been

put in place to enable this outcome to be achieved?

how are your students assessed to see if they have achieved this outcome?

Workshop Activity 2

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Aims aspirational – the overall purpose that is

being worked towards; not necessarily directly assessible.

Aims & Learning Outcomes

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Learning Outcomes (LOs) intended and unintended. intended: succinct statements of the

learning requirement that a student should possess, and importantly should have demonstrated, upon completion of a particular learning sequence.

Aims & Learning Outcomes

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LOs normally expressed as verbs (e.g. analyse, synthesise, describe) that learners have to enact in relation to a particular knowledge base or situation;

some suggest LOs should be written in the future tense (e.g., …will be able to…);

others recommend emphasising what learners will have done to achieve the outcome (e.g., …will have…; or …will have demonstrated…).

Writing LOs

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Programme Aim: to instil in participants a reflective and innovative approach to their practice that they will take with them throughout their teaching careers.

Programme LO: participants will be able to describe, interpret, evaluate, and reflect on their own teaching practice in a theoretically coherent manner.

Aims→LOs (PG Cert example)

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Scholarship Module LO: participants will be able to consider the implications of the evidence [of variation in student learning] gathered… in terms of developing a basis for reflective practice and personal actionable theory.

Reflection Module LO: participants will be able to reflect on and document their own professional teaching practice …

Aims→LOs (PG Cert example)

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From the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development:http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/writing_learning_outcomes.html

Learning outcomes: A useful resource

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thinking about LOs in a qualitative rather than a quantitative sense;

can relate to level of study (e.g. QAA & institutional level descriptors);

can relate to level of achievement (e.g. what is a 3rd or a 1st);

two widely used taxonomies in HE: Bloom & SOLO.

Levelness

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Bloom organises educational objectives into three domains:◦ Cognitive;◦ Affective;◦ Psychomotor.

Blooms Taxonomy

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Know: e.g. define, describe, identify, list, state, measure.

Comprehend: express, discuss, clarify, recognise, report, summarise.

Apply: interpret, practice, operate, employ. Analyse: experiment, distinguish, debate,

categorise, infer, relate. Synthesise: integrate, develop, design,

create, organise, formulate. Evaluate: judge, revise, value, rate,

question, defend.

Bloom’s Taxonomy (cognitive domain).

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Prestructural – misses point, doesn’t understand question

Unistructural: can identify one relevant element in response to a question: identify, name.

Multistructural: can identify multiple relevant elements in a response to a question: describe, list, combine, enumerate.

Biggs’ SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) Taxonomy/1

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Relational - integrated response, addresses the question, ties things together: compare, contrast, explain, analyse, relate.

Extended abstract - goes beyond what has been given, applies to new or different domains, reconceptualises: theorise, generalise, hypothesise, reflect.

SOLO Taxonomy/2

20

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In the same 2s & 3s briefly examine your own practice in terms of:◦ constructive alignment;◦ levelness.

Workshop Activity 3

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in planning learning, teaching & assessment we should see how these activities support each other;

constructive alignment is one way of conceptualising this;

being explicit about the relationship between teaching, learning & assessment makes it more visible (& more coherent?) to learners;

but concerns about instrumentality of outcomes-based approach.

Review

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Select module to focus on for assignment, bring the module descriptor and any other relevant learning materials to the next learning set and be prepared to discuss it.

You will be asked to identify factors that contribute to inclusive curriculum design in your own discipline.

For next time…

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Biggs, J (2004) Teaching for Quality Learning at University, 2nd edition, Buckingham: SRHE/ Open University Press.D’Andrea, V (2003) ‘Organizing teaching and learning: outcomes-based planning’, in Fry, H et al. (eds) A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, London: RoutledgeFalmer, pp 26-41.Moon, Jennifer (2002) The Module and Programme Development Handbook, London: Kogan Page.

References/ follow-up