Outcomes-based Teaching and Learning Pre-workshop 1 Designing Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Outcomes-based Teaching and Learning Pre-workshop 1 Designing Intended Learning Outcomes

2. Intended Outcomes of Pre-workshop Exercises for members of each group 1. Review existing subjectILOs. 2. Identify areas requiring changes. 3. Revise or re-design subject ILOs. 4. Discuss and share your ideas with your group members.

3. Before the workshop Refer to the Pre-workshop reference provided, conduct Pre-workshop Exercises 1 and 2 with your group members to: a. review subject ILOs with respect to content, kind of knowledge and levels of understanding / performance. b. identify areas requiring changes (if any). c. revise (as appropriate) the subject ILOs. d. review the alignment between course and subject ILOs. Discuss with your group members in doing the above exercises. Complete the exercises ready for discussion and sharing in the workshops on 2 December 2006.

4. Assessment: How well the student has met the ILO ILO: What the student has to learn Teaching: Engaging the student in the verb in the ILO Outcomes-based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) using Constructive Alignment

5. Teaching / Learning Activities Designed to elicit desired verbs May be: Large class activities Small class activities Individual activities Teacher-managed Peer-managed Self-managed as best suits context Assessment Tasks Format such that the target verbs are elicited and deployed in context. Criteria clearly allow judgement as to the quality of the student's performance Constructive Alignment Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) expressed as verbs students have to enact A The very best understanding that could be reasonably expected: verbs such as hypothesise, apply to “far” domains, generate, create, theorize etc. B Highly satisfactory understanding: verbs such as explain causes, reflect, justify, solve, analyze, compare and contrast, intepret, apply to known domains etc. C Quite satisfactory learning, with under- standing at a declarative level: verbs such as describe, explain, elaborate, classify, report, cover topics a to n, D Understanding at a level that would warrant a Pass: low level verbs, also inadequate but salvageable higher level attempts.

6. Outcomes-based Teaching and Learning using Constructive Alignment There are four steps in designing such teaching: 1. Describe intended outcomes in the form of standards students are to attain. 2. Create a learning environment likely to bring about the intended outcomes. 3. Use assessment tasks enabling you to judge if and how well students’ performances meet the criteria. 4. Transform these judgments into standard grading criteria.

7. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) . Statements of what students are expected to be able to do as a result of engaging in the learning process (studying a subject/course/programme). . Expressed from the students' perspective. . Expressed in the form of action verbs leading to observable and assessable behaviour. . Related to criteria for assessing student performance.

8. Content areas (breadth) What ? ILOs Levels of understanding / performance (depth) How well ? To effectively define the ILOs, both the content (breadth) and levels of understanding / performance (depth) should be identified.

9. The verbs in the ILOs … . It is useful to express ILOs by using appropriate verbs. . The verbs in the ILOs identify the learning activities for achieving them. . Teaching is specifically aimed at activating those verbs. . Assessment tasks cannot be satisfactorily completed unless the same verbs that are in the ILOs are appropriately enacted (criterion-referenced). . Generic high level verbs include reflect, hypothesise, solve unseen complex problems, generate new alternatives. Such verbs would be used to define an A or B grade in meeting the ILOs. Low level verbs such as describe, identify, memorize would be more frequent in defining C and D.

10. Distinction between Teaching Objectives and Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) Teaching objective (for the teacher) What the teacher intends to do. e.g. To develop students' proficiency in communicative strategies. Intended learning outcomes (for the students) What the students are expected to be able do having developed proficiency in communication. Some generic examples of ILOs could be: e.g. 1. Explain different strategies used in communication. 2. Apply appropriate stategies in different modes of communication. 3. Reflect on and improve own communicative strategies.

11. A Sample Set of Subject ILOs Subject: Communicative strategies Aims: Develop appropriate communicative strategies and improve students' general level of proficiency in English Intended learning outcomes (some examples): 1. Explain different strategies used in communication. 2. Apply appropriate strategies in different modes of communication. 3. Reflect on and improve own communicative strategies.

12. Steps in designing ILOs 1. Decide what kind of knowledge is to be taught - declarative or functioning. 2.Select the content to be taught. 3. Decide the levels of understanding the students are expected to achieve for the different content topics. 4. Have a workable number of ILOs. Higher levels of ILOs may subsume some of the lower level ones. 5. Deside if all the ILOs are of equal importance. 6. Ensure a clear understanding and agreement of the ILOs within the teaching team and other relevant parties. 7. Communicate the ILOs to the students.

13. Distinguish the kind of knowledge you want Declarativeknowledge: . Knowing about things. . Knowledge we can declare to someone in writing or telling. Functioningknowledge: . Knowledge we put to work in solving a physics problem, analysing a case study, designing a building, making an argument, writing an essay.

14. Some vague ILO verbs Appreciate Become aware of Familiarise with Know Learn about Recognize Understand How do these verbs manifest themselves in terms of change of behaviour / performance?

15. Create Formulate Generate Hypothesize Reflect Theorize Analyze Apply Argue Compare/ contrast Criticize Explain causes Relate Justify . . . . Combine Describe Enumerate Perform serial skills List Identify Name Follow simple procedure The SOLO Taxonomy with sample verbs indicating levels of understanding Competence Fail Incompetent Misses point Incompetence one relevant several relevant integrated into generalized to aspect independent aspects a structure new domain Prestructural Unistructural Multistructural Relational Extended Abstract

16. Levels of Understanding / performance Some examples: Unistructural identify, name, state (a principle), select Multistructural combine, collate, describe, extract, give an account of, list, present, report on Relational analyze, apply, argue, compare/contrast, criticize, discuss, explain, justify, organize, relate Extended abstract create, formulate, generate, hypothesize, reflect, theorize * Some of the lower levels could be subsumed into the higher levels. E.g. To apply appropriate communicative strategies in reading and writing to different tasks will subsume the lower level ILOs such as identify, name and select.

17. Levels of ILOs Course/Programme level What are the intended learning outcomes for students enrolled in the course/programme? Subject level What are the intended learning outcomes for students taking a particular subject at a particular stage of the course/programme?

18. Course ILOs These are the intended learning outcomes of students enrolled in a particular course. . What are the content areas which students need to master to become a competent professional upon completion of the course? . What are the levels of understanding / performance students are expected to achieve in those content areas? . Consider what is a realistic number of course ILOs.

19. Subject ILOs These are the intended learning outcomes of students taking a particular subject. . What are the content areas that students need to learn in the subject? . What are the levels of understanding / performance students are expected to achieve in those content areas? . Consider what is a realistic number of subject ILOs (ideally no more than five). . Consider if all the ILOs are of equal importance.

20. Exercise 1 - Writing Subject ILOs Refer to one of the subjects you are teaching and . review the existing objectives in relation to content, kind of knowledge and levels of understanding / perofrmance. . identify any areas requiring revision. . rewrite the subject objectives in ILO format, . consider if the ILOs are of equal importance. Subject ILOs Content Kind of Levels of understanding / knowledge performance

21. Alignment of Course and Subject ILOs After you have designed your subject ILOs, consider if the subject ILOs appropriately address the course ILOs. You may need to consider the different weightings of the subject ILOs.

22. Subject ILOs Course ILOs Exercise 2 - Alignment of Course and Subject ILOs Consider if the ILOs of your subject in Exercise 1 address any of the course ILOs. 1. Are they aligned? 2. Do the subject ILOs appropriately address the course ILOs? 3. Is the weighting appropriate?

23. After you have completed the pre-workshop exercises, 1. select one group member to share your ideas at the workshop, and 2. jot down any issues that you would like to bring up for discussion at the workshop.