constructive alignment
DESCRIPTION
Constructive Alignment. Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. Alice: I don't much care where. The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go. Think about it. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Constructive Alignment
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Your doctor tells you to lose weight in a month.
He gives you indications of what to do
What do you expect him to tell you?
Think about it
how much you have to lose
Outcomes
how he will tell when you get there
Assessment
how to lose weight
The process
Outcomes
Assessment Processes
Losing weight:
Outcomes
Assessment Processes
Ideal Alignment
‘Constructive Alignment is an example of outcomes based education (OBE)…’
www.johnbiggs.com.au/constructivealignment.htm
Biggs, J.B. (2003). Teaching for quality learning at university. Buckingham: Open University Press/Society for Research into Higher Education. (Second edition)
Spady, W. (1994). Outcome-based education: Critical issues and answers. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
Spady, W. (1998). Paradigm lost: Reclaiming America’s educational future. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
References
THE “EDUCENTRIC ICEBERG”
Information Age challenges
With a BUREAUCRATIC AGE CULTURE
And an INDUSTRIAL AGE DELIVERY SYSTEM
Governed by an AGRARIAN AGE CALENDAR
And a FEUDAL AGE AGENDA
Adapted from Spady (2002) Princ Leader Jan02:57
Here is Edward Bear coming downstairs now Bump, Bump
On the back of his head, Behind Christopher Robin.It is, as far as he knows, The only way of Coming
downstairs, But sometimes he feels,That there is another way, If only he could stop
Bumping For a moment and
Think of it.
(Winnie-the-Pooh by Christopher Milne)
New ideas aren't always readily accepted
What is the first thing that teachers think about when planning their teaching?
PROGRAMME /CONTENT
Teacher Aims Learning activity
Assessment
Alignment?
Teacher Aims Learning activity
Assessment
Student Aims? Learning activity
Assessment
Alignment?
Learned helplessness
Teacher - knows all- is active
Student- passive
Student- passive
Student- passive
1. Starting with clarifying the outcomes that students are to achieve
2. Then organising the curriculum, instruction, and assessment
Designing backwards in curriculum development
1. Do we know where we are going to ? • Learning outcomes-aims and objectives
2. How are we going to get there ?• Teaching and learning activities that facilitate the
attainment of such outcomes
3. How do we know that we are there ?• Assessment of the learning outcomes• Motivation for learning and a measure of learning
effectiveness
What is Outcome-based Learning ?
3. Learning Activities
2. Learning Assessments
Learning Activities: “Connecting Spokes”
1. Learning Objectives
Support
Constructive Alignment (Biggs)
Ensuring learning outcomes
Desired Learning Outcomes
Assessment Methods
Teaching & Learning Activities
1.Clarity of focus/outcomes
2.Designing Backwards
3.Consistent high expectations of success
4. Expanded opportunity
4 basic principles of OBE
Outcome statements are broad statements of key learning
achievement Articulate performance of students in terms of
action verbs sometimes also specify the level of performance
Good ‘Outcome statements’
Learning outcomes encompass:
a) What students should know/understand
b) What students should be able to do
c) What students should be like
Learning outcomes
Implementation Process
1) Think carefully about: overall goal of course
2) Operationalize these goals: and express them as intended learning outcomes
3) Choose carefully the form(s) of examination
4) Choose carefully the form(s) of teaching
alignment
operationalization
Aligning Course Design Components
‘….researchers have found that lack of excellence in [student learning is] caused, not so much by ineffective teaching, but by misalignment between what instructors intend to teach, what they actually teach, and what they test…’
S.A. Cohen, Instructional Alignment: Searching for a Magic Bullet
Content vs. OutcomeFocus on Content
What to eat in the diet
What topics to teach
Focus on outcome
What the dieter will achieve
Appropriate level of
understanding of knowledge
Capacity to perform Affective attributes
Learning is a change in understanding and behavior that result from encountering new experiences
(Spady 2001:18)
Learning is about what the they do, not what the teachers do
(Biggs
Emphasis on Learning
A design for teaching calculated to encourage deep engagement
(Biggs, 2003)
Definition
Deep Learning An intention to understand material by
relating ideas to previous knowledge and experience
Searching for patterns and underlying principles
Seeking evidence and relating it to conclusions
Principles:teaching for quality learning
1. Education is about conceptual change not just the acquisition of knowledge (deep vs. surface approaches to learning)
2. Teaching for conceptual change ( what the teacher teaches vs. what the student learns )
3. Understanding knowledge is key (declarative vs.
functioning) Biggs’ (2003)
Alignment refers to what the teacher does: set up a learning environment …
that supports learning activities …
that are appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes
Constructive alignment
Understanding the curriculum
Constructive alignment The constructive aspect refers to what the
learner does: construct meaning through relevant
learning activities
JOHN BIGGS. Teaching for quality learning at university (2003)
Quality programme design
Outcome-Based Education (Spady)
Constructive Alignment (Biggs)
PRODUCT of
learningPROCESS
of learning
Aligning teaching &
learning
Aligning assessment
Piaget
1 Pre-structural: here students are simply acquiring bits of unconnected information, which have no organisation and make no sense.
2 Unistructural: simple and obvious connections are made, but their significance is not grasped.
Biggs’ SOLO TaxonomyStructure of the Observed Learning Outcome
Have the student do something, and then measure product and/or process
3 Multistructural: a number of connections may be made, but the meta-connections between them are missed, as is their significance for the whole.
4 Relational level: the student is now able to appreciate the significance of the parts in relation to the whole.
Biggs SOLO TaxonomyStructure of the Observed Learning Outcome
Biggs SOLO TaxonomyStructure of the Observed Learning Outcome
5 At the extended abstract level, the student is making connections not only within the given subject area, but also beyond it, able to generalise and transfer the principles and ideas underlying the specific instance.
Puss in Boots
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
William Blake
T. S. Eliot
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Cat’s Eyes
Cat O’Nine Tails
Nine Lives
Le Chat Noir
Cools Cat
Top Cat
Owl and the Pussycat
The SOLO Taxonomy with sample verbs indicating levels of understanding
Competence
Prestructural Unistructural Multistructural Relational Extended Abstract Slide extracted from presentation of Biggs and Tang, 2006
one relevant several relevant integrated into generalized to aspect independent aspects a structure new domain
IdentifyNameFollow simple procedure
CombineDescribeEnumeratePerform serial skillsList
AnalyzeApplyArgueCompare/ contrastCriticizeExplain causesRelateJustify
CreateFormulateGenerateHypothesizeReflectTheorize
Incompetence
FailIncompetentMisses point
. . . .
Education must enable a man to become moreefficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.
Martin L. King Jr 1948, Morehouse College
In conclusion:
Prepared and presented
ByT.B.Harden
Cert. Ed. B.Ed. (Hons.) MA (London)