clarity in the curriculum: using constructive alignment to improve your module

Clarity in the curriculum: using Biggs’ Constructive Alignment

to improve your module

Email: [email protected]: @Emma_EdDev

Dr Emma KennedyQueen Mary, University of London

After this workshop, you will be able to

Identify the basic tenets of John Biggs’ ‘Constructive Alignment’ theory

Analyse a module/course on which you teach, assessing the extent to which it is constructively aligned.

Reflect on criticisms and nuances of constructive alignment.

Produce a change, or changes, that will make your module more constructively aligned.

Sections in this workshop

What is constructive alignment?

Alignment in practice: align your module

Issues and complexities of

constructive alignment

Changes you can make in practice

Constructive AlignmentConstructivist Learning Theory (Jean Piaget: Ginsburg & Opper, 1987, Steffe & Gale, 1995)

Students ‘construct’ knowledge for themselves

through what they do.

We cannot simply put information into students’

heads: we present information and they construct their

knowledge from what we have presented.

What the student does is therefore as important as what the teacher does.

Constructive Alignment“The learning activity in the intended outcomes, expressed as a verb, needs to be activated in the teaching if the outcome is to be achieved and in the assessment task to verify that the outcome has in fact been achieved.” (Biggs, 1999, p. 52)

Outcome: Student will be able to translate a simple sentence from German into English.

Teaching: Students practise translating

simple sentences from German into English.

Assessment: Students are tested on whether

they can translate a simple sentence from German into English.

Marton & Saljö (1976): how students learn

How to make sure students are ‘deep’ learning rather than just learning to regurgitate facts?

• Focus on the facts• Able to repeat information but not explain it• Sees individual parts but not big picture

Surface Learning

• Sees the big picture• Aims to contextualise information, not just repeat it• Understanding processes and deeper meanings

Deep Learning

• “Will this be on the exam?”Strategic

Alignment helps defeat strategic learners

‘from a student’s point of view, the assessment always defines the actual curriculum’ (Ramsden, 1992).

Aligned assessmentStrategic learners move themselves closer to the ILOs

Constructive Alignment

Responsibility

Fairness

Deep Learning

Clarity

Constructive Alignment

Module intended learning outcomes

Module teaching & learning activities

Module level assessment

Could a student reasonably be expected to fulfil the ILOs after undertaking the

teaching in the module?

Does the assessment measure the extent to which students

have achieved the module ILOs?

Section 2: Alignment in PracticeIn this section you will align your own module

Think of a module you currently teach on or one you would like to teach (60 seconds)

Write down the module title.

Alignment 1: Intended Learning OutcomesPhrase learning outcomes in terms of what the student will be able to do rather than what the lesson will cover.

For example, instead of “This module will cover the basics of the English Reformation” we might have:

“By the end of the module students will be able to: (1) Identify the key dates in the English Reformation (2) Outline the main causes leading up to the English Reformation(3) Describe the principal changes caused by the English Reformation”

Verbs are key: what will you want students to do with the

knowledge?

Write some Intended Learning Outcomes!Take 5 minutes to write 3 Intended Learning Outcomes for a module that you will teach/have taught

Using the format: ‘By the end of this module students will be able to’

REMEMBER YOUR VERBS!

Bad verbs for ILOs

“understand”

“know”

“have knowledge of”.

A good test of your ILO

Could you see it happening in the

classroom?

Could you assess it?

Example error

“By the end of this lesson, students will understand the process of

photosynthesis”

Signs this is an error

Understanding in and of itself

cannot be seen happening

Understanding in & of itself –

without action, even writing –

cannot be assessed.

We do not assess

understanding but action

Different actions show different

levels of understanding.

Decide what level you want the

student to show by deciding what you want them to do.

How did you get on?

Alignment 2: Teaching & Learning Activities• Teaching and Learning Activities should help students achieve the

outcomes specified in the ILOs. • They can use the same verb as the ILOs but they do not have to.

After this session, students should be able to: 1. Describe the plot, characters and principal themes of Shakespeare’s Macbeth2. Analyse the links between Macbeth and its historical context3. Reflect on the role and validity of historical context in shaping literary-critical views of the

playStudents read Macbeth before class & in class take a quiz that

asks them to identify characters and plot points (1)

Students are asked to get into groups, recap the plot of

Macbeth and major themes, then present to the class (1)

Whole-class discussion in which the class is asked about Macbeth’s links to

historical context (2)

Students give presentations on key scenes & their relation to the

play’s historical context (2)

Class are asked to debate on the validity of historical context: divided into pro- and anti. (3)

60 second ‘minute paper’ in which students reflect on how historical

context affects their view of the play (3)

Teaching & Learning Activities: your turn• Go back to the ILOs that you wrote in the previous section• Take 5 minutes to come up with at least one teaching and learning

activity for each ILO. If you can think of more, that’s great. • Remember the TLA must help the student to achieve the ILO in

question.

Alignment 3: AssessmentAssessment tasks should assess how far the student has achieved the learning outcomes that were set.

• Students will be able to put together an IKEA Billy Bookcase.

Intended Learning Outcome

• In the classroom, students took apart Billy Bookcases and practiced putting them together again.

Teaching & Learning Activity

• Students are assessed on their ability to put together a Billy Bookcase.

• Marks will be awarded for speed, accuracy, quality of construction.

Assessment

Assessment: your turn• Now go back to your Intended Learning Outcomes and Teaching &

Learning Activities. • Design an assessment task that would assess how far a student has

achieved at least one of your ILOs. • What do they have to do? What constitutes success in this

assessment? What criteria will you use? • Take 10 minutes.

Criticisms of constructive alignment theory

Simplistic

Drowns out the student voice

Assumes transferability


Simplistic?

“Not all students may be capable of serendipitously acquiring unintended learning outcomes, and therefore, to include them in assessment is manifestly unfair” (Onsman 2015, 2)


Drowns out the student voice?

“For teaching to be student centred the student voice should be at the heart of both what is learnt and how it is learnt. In addition there should be a shift of power towards the students and away from the tutor. But can this be achieved if the 'authority' pre determines learning outcomes and objectives and the assessment methods?” (Scott, 4)

Ways to include the student voice

Allow them a choice between two (well-aligned) activities

Use previous evaluations to shape

a module

Conduct a mid-module evaluation and follow through

Ask them to use module-level

outcomes to come up with session-level outcomes

Ask them to judge their own work on how well it fulfils the module ILOs


Assumes transferability?

What can you do?

5 minutes

Reflect on the workshop and think of one change you’d like to make

5 minutes

Share with your neighbour

ReferencesBiggs, J. (1999) Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What the Student Does, Buckingham, UK: SRHE & Open University Press.

Ginsburg, H. and Opper, S. (1987) Piaget’s Theory of Intellectual Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Marton, F. and Saljö, R. (1976a) On qualitative differences in learning – I: Outcome and process, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 4-11.

Marton, F. and Saljö, R. (1976b) On qualitative differences in learning – II: Outcome as a function of the learner’s conception of the task, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 115-27.

Onsman, A. (2015) Constructively aligning the curriculum of a “New Generation” Bachelor of Environments degree from a social realism perspective, Cogent Education, 2(1).

Ramsden, P. (1992) Learning to Teach in Higher Education. London: Routledge.

Steffe, L. and Gale, J. (eds) (1995) Constructivism in Education, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Scott, I. (2011), The Learning Outcome in Higher Education: Time to think again?, Worcester Journal of Learning and Teaching, 5, n.p.