Introduction: why learning outcomes?

Raimonda Markeviciene

Why institutions resist change?

It is usually easier and less risky to do nothing than to attempt to change.

Universities exist in a culture of competition among institutions, programmes and faculty. Result - cooperation is often rarely rewarded.

Faculty and admin staff will rarely be willing to exchange what they already do, even if they are not happy with it, for the unknown.

Tradition is an extremely powerful force both within and outside of the academy.

Why institutions resist change?

Assessment and accountability are viewed by many as evils to be avoided rather than as tools for improving what they do or the quality of their institution.

Significant change will never occur until the forces for change are greater in combination than the forces preserving the status quo.

Therefore

5 good

reasons for the constant change

• • • • • Rapidly changing technology Growing cooperation with professional world Need for constant modernization of curricula Mass education Growing number of higher education providers

Student-centred learning

Opinion: student-centred learning is a ‘good thing’ it is an essential part of thinking in terms of Learning Outcomes it is an important aspect of modernising our curricula But what exactly is it?

if it is such a good thing, why haven’t we always been using it?

does this mean that what we were doing before was wrong?

Student-centred Learning – one definition. SCL is about:

helping students to discover their own learning styles, to understand their motivation and to acquire effective study skills that will be valuable throughout their lives. teachers need to help students set achievable goals; encourage students to assess themselves and their peers; help them to work co-operatively in groups and ensure that they know how to exploit all the available resources for learning.

Learning is more a form of personal development than a linear progression that the teacher achieves by rewards and sanctions.’

Is it that we are moving from this…

...to this?

Principles •

The learner has full responsibility for her/his learning

•

Involvement and participation are necessary for learning

•

The relationship between learners is more equal, promoting growth, development

•

The teacher becomes a facilitator and resource person

•

The learner experiences confluence in his education

•

The learner sees himself/herself differently as a result of the learning experience.

Student-centred Learning – teaching & learning, knowledge & understanding

• ‘the student is supported in making sense of their ‘journey’ through knowledge construction’ • The teacher has already made an equivalent journey of his or her own • Support is informed by this experience • Learning proceeds through discussion and interaction, but it is not symmetrical The teacher’s conceptual knowledge enriches the student reflection on the student’s performance also leads to adaptation of the teacher’s construction of the world Reflection on the interaction with the teacher leads the student to modify his actions

The unique character of each student and the abundance of information sources in the modern technologic al age

Teaching and learning What is learned?

What is taught?

• The focus is not just on what is taught but on how effective learning should be promoted • Student learning becomes the main preoccupation of the teacher (not the facts to be fed into the students) • The student is supported in making sense of their ‘journey’ through knowledge construction

Student-centred Learning – consequences for Competences and Learning Outcomes

HE learning must prepare students to ‘graduate’ beyond student status and to take on the responsibilities of their professional roles A student-centred approach helps the process of transition because it requires:

increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student a ‘reflexive’ approach to the teaching and learning process on the part of both teacher and learner

Syllabi and curricula are organised not just around the facts the learner is supposed to acquire but around the processes through which learning is to be developed therefore promotes:

the concept of generic competences and a sense of competences as dynamic attributes owned by each student learning outcomes as important thresholds in the development of these dynamic attributes, rather than checklists for factual knowledge

Benjamin Bloom (1913 – 1999)

• • • He looked on learning as a process – we build upon our former learning to develop more complex levels of understanding Carried out research in the development of classification of levels of thinking behaviours in the process of learning. PhD University of Chicago in 1942. Worked on drawing up levels of these thinking behaviours from the simple recall of facts at the lowest level up to evaluation at the highest level. The taxonomy consists of a hierarchy of increasingly complex processes which we want students to acquire.

Provides the structure for writing learning outcomes Bloom’s Taxonomy is frequently used by teachers in writing learning outcomes as it provides a structure and list of verbs.

Bloom (1956) - knowing is composed of six successive levels arranged in a hierarchy.

This area is the

cognitive (“knowing” or “thinking”) domain

Bloom suggested certain characteristic werbs verbs These verbs are the key to writing learning outcomes.

1. Knowledge: ability to recall or remember facts without necessarily understanding them

Evaluat ion Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Active verbs like: Arrange, collect, define, describe, duplicate, enumerate, examine, find, identify, label, list, memorise, name, order, outline, present, quote, recall, recognise, recollect, record, recount, relate, repeat, reproduce, show, state, tabulate, tell.

2. Comprehension - ability to understand and interpret learned information

Evaluat ion Synthesis Analysis Application

Comprehension

Knowledge Active verbs: Associate, change, clarify, classify, construct, contrast, convert, decode, defend, describe, differentiate, discriminate, discuss, distinguish, estimate, explain, express, extend, generalise, identify, illustrate, indicate, infer, interpret, locate, predict, recognise, report, restate, review, select, solve, translate.

3. Application: ability to use learned material in new situations, put ideas and concepts to work in solving problems

E valuat io n Synthesis Analysis

Application

Comprehension Knowledge Active verbs: Apply, assess, calculate, change, choose, complete, compute, construct, demonstrate, develop, discover, dramatise, employ, examine, experiment, find, illustrate, interpret, manipulate, modify, operate, organise, practice, predict, prepare, produce, relate, schedule, select, show, sketch, solve, transfer, use.

4. Analysis: ability to break down information into its components (understanding of organisational structure)

Evaluat ion Synthesis

Analysis

Application Comprehension Knowledge Active verbs: Analyse, appraise, arrange, break down, calculate, categorise, classify, compare, connect, contrast, criticise, debate, deduce, determine, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, divide, examine, experiment, identify, illustrate, infer, inspect, investigate, order, outline, point out, question, relate, separate, sub-divide, test.

5. Synthesis - ability to put parts together

Evaluat ion

Synthesis

Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Active verbs: Argue, arrange, assemble, categorise, collect, combine, compile, compose, construct, create, design, develop, devise, establish, explain, formulate, generalise, generate, integrate, invent, make, manage, modify, organise, originate, plan, prepare, propose, rearrange, reconstruct, relate, reorganise, revise, rewrite, set up, summarise.

6. Evaluation: Ability to judge value of material for a given purpose Evalua tion

Synthesis Analysis Application Comprehension Knowledge Active verbs: Appraise, ascertain, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, conclude, contrast, convince, criticise, decide, defend, discriminate, explain, evaluate, interpret, judge, justify, measure, predict, rate, recommend, relate, resolve, revise, score, summarise, support, validate, value.

2 nd - AFFECTIVE DOMAIN (“Feeling”) concerned with value issues : involves attitudes. Charact erisatio n Organisati on Valuing Responding Integration of beliefs, ideas and attitudes Comparing, relating, synthesising values Commitment to a value Active participation in own learning Active verbs: Appreciate, accept, assist, attempt, challenge, combine, complete, defend, demonstrate (a belief in), discuss, dispute, embrace, follow, hold, integrate, order, organise, join, share, judge, praise, question, relate, share, support, synthesise, value.

Receiving Willingness to receive information

3

rd

- PSYCHOMOTOR (“Doing”) DOMAIN

*Work not completed by Bloom.

*Involves co-ordination of brain and muscular activity. *Active verbs for this domain: bend, grasp, handle, operate, perform, reach, relax, shorten, stretch, differentiate (by touch), perform (skilfully).

Laboratory skills

Operate the range of instrumentation specified in the module safely and efficiently in the chemistry laboratory.

Perform titrations accurately and safely in the laboratory.

Construct simple scientific sketches of geological features in the field.

Clinical Skills

Perform a comprehensive history and physical examination of patients in the outpatient setting and the general medical wards, excluding critical care settings. Perform venipuncture and basic CPR.

Presentation skills

Deliver an effective presentation.

Demonstrate a range of graphic and CAD communication techniques. Perform basic voice and movement tasks (theatre studies).

LEUVEN LONDON BERGEN BOLOGNA PRAGUE BERLIN

Bologna Process and Tuning

Tuning Academy – Deusto-Groningen: the initial structure

Five Units: Unit 1: study, research and innovation Unit 2: experimentation, training of trainers Unit 3: policy & analysis, education- employment Unit 4: implementation, dissemination & projects Unit 5: organisational development

Tuning project/process that created tools:

Implementation of Bologna at subject area level: Tuning action lines

Learning Centeredness, Common language, Flexibility Employability and citizenship

Generic competences Subject specific competences ECTS for accumulation Teaching, learning & Assessment (TLA) Competences and LO Quality assurance

Tuning vs traditional programme design: difference in approaches

Traditional:  Teacher in the centre of the learning activity;  Content based programme;  Individual teacher decides on content and aims of the material;  Passive material presentation methods dominate teaching;  Passive role of the student; Tuning:  Student in the centre opf learning activity;  Study programme oriented to result (learning outcomes) expressed through competences;  “Reverse” (top-down) approach;  Active role of the student.

From Project to Process Tuning model

FIRST CYCLE PROGRAMME 60 ECTS 60 ECTS 60 ECTS COURSE UNIT Top-down Degree programme according to the Tuning methodology:

• Programme based on profile, sets of competences to be obtained, desired learning outcomes to be achieved, ECTS credits to be awarded • Programme design is team work, based on consultation, discussion, cooperation • Learning outcomes / competences to be developed are the basis for credit allocation • Teaching, learning and assessment approaches respect credit allocation: feasibility is key

THE TUNING DYNAMIC QUALITY DEVELOPMENT CIRCLE Definition of academic and professional profiles Identification of resources Programme design: definition of learning outcomes / competences Evaluation and improvement

(on the basis of feed back and feed forward)

Selection of types of assessment construction of curricula: content and structure + balanced ECTS credit allocation Selection of teaching and learning approaches

Indication of the time students need to complete all learning activities Application of ECTS at micro level a study programme perspective Student workload Credit and its application Transparency and Quality assurance Statements of what a learner is expected to know , understand and be able to do after the process of learning Learning outcomes Expressed through competences

EQF for Lifelong Learning (an EC initiative) (27 countries)

EQF for Higher Education 47 countries)

Dublin descriptors

National Qualification Frameworks Sectoral Qualification Frameworks

Types of learning outcomes

NQF and Sectoral QF LO for degree programme Meta frameworks General cycle Programme Module Ba, Ma, PhD descriptors Module/course unit LO

Dublin descriptors as benchmarks for LO

Five aspects:  Knowledge and understanding  Applying knowledge and understanding  Making judgement  Communication skills  Learning skills

Place of the study programme in the context of HE legislation,

European Qualification Framework National Qualification framework

Lithuania

European qualification framework for Higher education Dublin descriptors Lithuanian HE levels Lietuvos aukštojo mokslo pakopos

III cycle III pakopa II cycle I cycle

5 4 3 2 8 7 6 1 5 4 3 2 8 7 6 1

II pakopa I pakopa

Employment area research consultations with employers, visionaries of profession and/or researchers in the area Study programme competences and LO

Module LO Module LO Module LO Module LO

What is a degree profile?

A description of the character of a degree programme or qualification explaining: the main features of the programme which are based on the specific aims of the programme, how it fits into the academic map of disciplines or thematic studies and how it relates to the professional world 2.

Each profile has an own identity based on specific elements developed by the institute: mission, strengths, particular constraints and opportunities derived from the local and regional economy

Profile

A good profile takes into account different users’ perspectives & interests

Guidelines for degree profile description

Sections:

General information A – Purpose B - Characteristics C - Employability and Further Education D - Education Style E - Programme Competences F – Complete list of Learning outcomes

Overall guidelines

 Be readable in 5 minutes  Maximum two pages  Coherent impression of the degree  Succinct and to point, yet detailed and informative

Key elements academic-professional profile IDENTITY IDENTITY

gathers the essence of what is - “should be” - the degree holder.

FUNCTION CONTEXTS EDUCATION

detects the occupations and tasks which can be carried out by the graduate.

focuses on the environment in which the gaduate is able to function successfully.

defines the main expected learning outcomes in terms of competences –generic and specific.

10 steps for designing a programme – Tuning approach

Determine need and potential Define the profile and the key competences Formulate programme

LO

Decide whether to “modularize” or not Identify competences and LO for each module Determine the approaches to teaching, learning and assessment Check whether the key generic and subject specific competences are covered Describe the programme and the course units Implement, monitor, improve Check balance and feasibility