Download - 1 Teaching Commons BBL: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES September 17 2012 Celia Popovic, Director Teaching Commons

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Teaching Commons BBL: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMESSeptember 17 2012

Celia Popovic, Director Teaching Commons

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Learning Outcomes for this BBL

By the end of this session participants will be able to:

• Describe the constituent parts of learning outcomes

• Explain why a course director might choose to use them

• Write effective learning outcomes designed to influence student learning

• Link outcomes at course, unit and program level

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Advantages

• Makes learning explicit

• Helps students identify whether the course is right for them

• Helps employers or other education providers understand what a student should have learnt

• Keeps assessment on track

• Helps colleagues plan precursor or successor courses

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Potential disadvantages

• Prescriptive – may narrow the experience

• Where is the love of learning?

• What if students learn other things not listed - is this wrong?

• Standardization takes away from the art of teaching

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Cognitive Domain

• Recall data

• Understand

• Apply (use)

• Analyse (structure elements)

• Synthesize (create/build)

• Evaluate (assess, judge in relational terms)

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Example of Content LO

• By the end of this course, students will be able to categorize macroeconomic policies according to the economic theories from which they emerge.

• By the end of this unit, students will be able to describe the characteristics of the three main types of geologic faults (dip-slip, transform, and oblique) and explain the different types of motion associated with each.

(taken from University of Toronto website - http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/topics/coursedesign/learning-outcomes/examples.htm)

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Affective attitude

• Receive (awareness)

• Respond (react)

• Value (understand and act)

• Organize personal value system

• Internalize value system (adopt behaviour)

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Example of Values LO

• By the end of this course, students will be able to work cooperatively in a small group environment.

• By the end of this course, students will be able to identify their own position on the political spectrum.


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Psychomotor skills

• Imitation (copy)

• Manipulation (follow instructions)

• Develop precision

• Articulation (combine, integrate related skills)

• Naturalization (automate, become expert)

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Example of Skills LO

• By the end of this course, students will be able to ask questions concerning language usage with confidence and seek effective help from reference sources.

• By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and explain how evidence gathered supports or refutes an initial hypothesis.


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Vague LO

By the end of this course, students will have added to their understanding of the complete research process.


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Better LO

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• describe the research process in social interventions

• evaluate critically the quality of research by others

• formulate research questions designed to test, refine, and build theories

• identify and demonstrate facility in research designs and data collection strategies that are most appropriate to a particular research project

• formulate a complete and logical plan for data analysis that will adequately answer the research questions and probe alternative explanations

• interpret research findings and draw appropriate conclusions


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Learning Outcomes Good SLOs are SMART (adapted from Institute for Evidence-Based Change, Presentation from the Ontario Tuning Process Workshop, November 17th, 2011):

• Student centred - focussed on the learner, not the instructor

• Measurable - should express the intended learning in a form that can be assessed (in the US over 200 institutions are voluntarily participating in the Collegiate Learning Assessment or CLA) – i.e., they need to be realistic

• Action oriented - use active language (see Hand-out on Bloom’s taxonomy) – verbs should also reflect level of understanding required

• Results driven - emphasize application and integration now and for the future

• Tailored to a specific degree level – should reflect what the program is about

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Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)Avoid pitfalls (revised from: Institute for Evidence-Based Change, Presentation at the Ontario Tuning Process Workshop, November 17th, 2011]:

• Wordy statements (be concise)

• Stacked outcomes (avoid too many outcomes in a single statement)

• Procedural statements (focus on outcomes, not processes)

• Outcomes that cannot be measured (this does not assume quantitative measures but it does assume specific observable outcomes)

• Vague language - verbs like “understand, demonstrate, or discuss” because they are open to multiple interpretations

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Plan a 3 hour course:

• How to buy a house in Canada

• How to be an affective hotel receptionist

• Motor maintenance 101

• Shoe repair

• Planning a holiday of a lifetime or a wedding

• Getting the most from your digital video recorder

• How to select the best school for your child

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Degree Level Expectations - DLEs

• Depth and breadth of knowledge

• Knowledge of methodologies

• Application of knowledge

• Communication skills

• Awareness of limits of knowledge

• Autonomy and professional capacity

See link http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/postsec/oqf.pdf for Ontario Qualifications Framework (based on degree level expectations)

http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/postsec/oqf.pdf

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Defining CompetenciesCompetencies are:

• The broad statements about what students will know when they complete a program – you can think about competences about the knowledge, skills and/or values that are developed by and that belong to the student (Tuning Educational Structures in Europe. A Guide to Formulating Degree Programme Profiles, Jenneke Lokhoff et al., eds. 2010:21)

• Competences are not necessarily measurable and typically involve a definition

• Illustration: Start with the name of the competence and then add a short definitiono Communication or communication skills? Definition: the ability to

communicate effectively with a range of people from different backgrounds

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Why? Evidence-Based Support for the Value of Curriculum Mapping

• Enhances integrity of academic programs (coherence of program and constructive alignment between the program, the courses and assessment)

• Student-centred approach to learning• Enhances quality of student learning experience • Makes program goals and qualifications more

transparent • Facilitates recognition of credentials across

universities/countries and therefore enhances portability of credentials

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Why? Continued…

• Supports lifelong learning/seamless education including pathways between colleges and universities

• Supports internationalization, joint/dual degrees• Focus on SLOs enhances potential for recognizing

prior learning (i.e., PLAR)• Assessment based on SLOs has been found to

reduce failure rates • Helps students and employers understand

knowledge and skills that can be expected

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Curriculum Mapping – the Program

Competence

Competence 1 Competence 2 Competence 3Courses/StudentLearningOutcomes

Program Student Learning Outcomes

A B C D E F G HCourse 1 X X X

Course 2 X X X X

Course 3 X X

Course 4 X X X

Course 5 X X

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ReferencesBloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill and Krathwhol (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook 1, The cognitive domain, Allan and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Bloom, Krathwhol and Masia (1964) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Volume 2, The affective domain, Allan and Bacon, Boston, MA.

Dave, R.H. (1970) in R.J. Armstrong (Ed)Developing and Writing Behavioural Objectives, Educational Innovators Press, Tucson, AZ.

Institute for Evidence-Based Change, Ontario Tuning Process Workshop, November 17th, 2011

Ontario Qualifications Framework http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/postsec/oqf.pdf

Tuning Educational Structures in Europe. A Guide to Formulating Degree Programme Profiles, Jenneke Lokhoff et al., eds. 2010:21

University of Toronto – http://www.teaching.utoronto.ca/topics/coursedesign/learning-outcomes/examples.htm

http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/postsec/oqf.pdf

Download - 1 Teaching Commons BBL: STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES September 17 2012 Celia Popovic, Director Teaching Commons

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