designing quality curriculum

DESIGNINGQUALITY CURRICULUM

May_2016

PREFACE: SETTING THE STAGE FOR QUALITY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 7

WHAT IS QUALITY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT? 7

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT & OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION 7

IS THERE A RECIPE FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT? 8

QUALITY CURRICULUM BEGINS WITH A PLAN 9

THE COURSE DESIGN DOCUMENT 10

A WORD ABOUT CURRICULUM DESIGN AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 10

NAIT COURSE DESIGN DOCUMENT TEMPLATE (CDD) 11

REFERENCES 12

MODULE 1: WHO ARE WE DESIGNING FOR? 13

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUDIENCE ANALYSIS 13

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS RESULTS 13

UNDERSTANDING THE ADULT LEARNER 13

UNDERSTANDING THE DIVERSITY OF OUR STUDENTS 14

General Diversity 14

Cultural Diversity 15

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND THE DIVERSE ADULT AUDIENCE 16

REFERENCES 16

MODULE 2: DETERMINING COURSE CONTENT 17

DEVELOPING COURSE CONTENT FOR OBE 19

UNPACKING COURSE OUTCOMES TO DETERMINE COURSE CONTENT 19

Concepts 21

Skills 21

Issues 21

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 21

WHAT ABOUT COURSE OBJECTIVES? 22

Relevance and Rigour 22

Sequencing 23

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND CSI’S 23

LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE AND PROPOSE SOME CSI’S 23

REFERENCES 25

MODULE 3: DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS 27

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT? 27

WHAT IS SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT? 28

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT? 29

MAKING THE CHANGE FROM TRADITIONAL TO AUTHENTIC 29

contents

THE DIFFERENCES ARE SIGNIFICANT 29

ABOUT MIDTERMS AND FINALS 30

PLANNING FOR AND SELECTING AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS 31WHAT CUES DOES THE VERB IN THE LEARNING OUTCOME GIVE ME ABOUT HOW SUCCESS SHOULD BE MEASURED? 31

WHAT REAL-WORLD TASK(S) OR CIRCUMSTANCE(S) IS THIS LEARNING OUTCOME GETTING AT? 32HOW MIGHT AN AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT MEANINGFULLY IMITATE REAL-WORLD TASKS/CIRCUMSTANCES? 32

LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE AND PROPOSE SOME SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES 33

MEASURING PERFORMANCE: AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT RUBRICS 35

What is a rubric? 35

Why use a rubric? 35

When not to use a rubric 36

Creating effective rubrics 36

Types of rubrics 36

Rubric components 36

LET’S LOOK AT TWO SAMPLE RUBRICS AND PROPOSE SOME CRITERIA AND DESCRIPTIONS 37

REFERENCES 40

MODULE 4: SELECTING LEARNING ACTIVITIES 41

WHAT IS LEARNING? 41

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION 41

READYING LEARNERS FOR THE REAL WORLD 41

CLARIFYING INTENTIONS—CURRICULUM THROUGH THE REAL-WORLD LENS 42

SETTING APPROPRIATE STANDARDS—ENCOURAGING BIGGER THINKING 42

BUILDING FOR DIVERSITY WITH VARIETY 43

SELECTING OBE-ALIGNED LEARNING ACTIVITIES 43

INCORPORATING VARIETY 44

LET’S CONTINUE BUILDING OUR CDD AND PROPOSE SOME LEARNING ACTIVITIES 47

REFERENCES 49

MODULE 5: DEVELOPING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS 51

WHAT IS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT? 51

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION 52

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: A SHARED PURPOSE AND ROLE 52

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND MOTIVATION 53

PLANNING FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 54

ALIGNMENT WITH COURSE OUTCOME(S) 54

EXPLAINING ACHIEVEMENT TARGETS 55

ACCOMMODATION OF LEARNING PREFERENCES 55

ACCURATE REFLECTION OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 55

EMPHASIS ON STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEARNING AND PROMOTION OF LEARNER CONFIDENCE 55

ALLOWING RESULTS TO BE USED TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK 55

INCLUDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE FEEDBACK TO REVISE TEACHING OR LEARNING STRATEGIES 55

EXAMPLES OF FORMATIVE FEEDBACK 56

LET’S CONTINUE BUILDING OUR CDD AND PROPOSE SOME FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS 57

REFERENCES 59

MODULE 6: SELECTING COURSE RESOURCES 61

RESOURCES IN OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION 61

SELECTING RESOURCES IN OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION 61

TECHNOLOGY AS A RESOURCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM 62

Integrating Technology 62

REFERENCES 65

MODULE 7: REVIEWING CURRICULUM DESIGN 67

SUSTAINING CURRICULUM 67

IMPLEMENTING NEW CURRICULUM 69

A FEW CLOSING WORDS 69

INDEX 71

settInG tHe stAGe FoR QUALItY cURRIcULUM DeVeLoPMentPReFAce

COURSE OUTCOMEYou will be able to utilize the core principles of curriculum development and outcomes based education (OBE) to develop quality curriculum.

WHAT IS QUALITY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT?

Curriculum development is the creation of new courses and the ongoing improvement of existing ones. Quality curriculum development involves researching, discussing, planning, implementing, assessing, and evaluating every element of a course.

Quality curriculum development integrates the expertise of subject matter experts, faculty, and persons experienced in instructional and curriculum design theory and application. Sometimes

these roles are combined; sometimes they’re separate.

Curriculum developers are advocates for learning, investigating, and promoting optimal learning conditions for learners.

An advocate “pleads the cause of another; defends or maintains a cause or proposal; and supports or promotes the interests of another,” according to Webster online. We’re the ones who take the learner seriously and ensure things are explained clearly, the learning experience is engaging, tests are fair, and so on. Advocating for learners is a purposeful and motivating mission (Malamed, 2012, para. 3).

Most institutions of learning have a process for curriculum development. The implementation of a consistent and appropriately rigorous process to ensure curriculum is meeting the needs of the learners and the workplace is a strong indicator that a learning institution takes its responsibility to provide quality education seriously.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT & OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

As part of its New Academic Plan, NAIT recently joined the growing ranks of schools around the world—pre-elementary to post-secondary—that have moved to using outcomes based education (OBE) to frame curriculum. Sociologist William Spady, a leading OBE scholar and researcher, lists four essential principles of outcomes based education (Centre for Enhanced Learning and Teaching [CELT], 2007-2012):

Designing Down

Clarity of Focus

High Expectations

Expanded Opportunity

Engaging in curriculum development processes helps

foster a program culture that regularly and rigorously

examines its curriculum.

~ Peter Wolf

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DesIGnInG Down: ReADYInG LeARneRs FoR tHe ReAL woRLD

OBE curriculum design begins with clearly defining program outcomes. In defining program outcomes, curriculum designers ask, “what must students be able to do out there that we’re responsible for teaching them in here?” Program outcomes then guide the development of course outcomes. All subsequent course elements—content, learning activities, resources, and assessments—are driven by these course outcomes. The alignment of all course elements with course and program outcomes ensures we’re preparing learners for successful, meaningful engagement with the real world.

cLARItY oF FocUs: ARtIcULAtInG LeARnInG IntentIons

The OBE framework for curriculum design ensures course content is based not on isolated topics or competencies but on alignment between stated learning intentions (what the learner must comprehend and be able to do) and every aspect of the course. It also means these expectations must be understood by both the instructor and the learner.

HIGH exPectAtIons: settInG APPRoPRIAte stAnDARDs

In the OBE model, learning is student-focused rather than teacher-centric. OBE stresses aiming for high standards of performance by encouraging students to engage deeply in their learning experiences. This means ensuring program and course outcomes are complex enough to support high student engagement and that all course elements (content, learning activities, resources, and assessments) encourage high levels of engagement and responsibility.

exPAnDeD oPPoRtUnItY: BUILDInG FoR DIVeRsItY

The principle of expanded opportunity holds that all students are capable of learning and that course design and delivery should promote equitable access to success for all students. OBE curriculum developers integrate a wide range of learning activities and types of assessment to address diversity; they stress the importance of creating opportunities and resources to promote success for all learners.

IS THERE A RECIPE FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT?

A number of procedural frameworks for curriculum development exist (ADDIE, ARCS, ASSURE, Backward Design, Criterion Referenced, Dick and Carey Model, to name only a few). Although unique, each recipe incorporates fundamentally similar elements considered essential to quality curriculum (Kenny, Zuochen, Schwier, & Campbell, 2005). These essential elements are robust, real-world relevant learning outcomes, learning activities that promote student engagement, assessments that support developing and demonstrating performance proficiency, and resources that support diverse ways of learning. These common elements can be constructed through a 9-step process:

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STEP THE QUESTION YOU NEED TO ANSWER

1 Identify what needs exist out there. What does industry want our graduates to be able to do?

2 Construct course learning outcomes. What will students be able to do after successfully completing the course?

3 Perform an audience analysis. Who are our students?

4 Determine course content. What concepts, skills, and issues must be integrated into the lessons to support achieving course outcomes?

5 Develop summative assessment item(s). What summative assessment strategies best support authentic measurement of achievement of course outcomes?

6 Develop formative assessment items. What formative assessment strategies best support assisting learning?

7Determine what learning experiences in here will best prepare graduates for expectations of industry out there.

What instructional strategies best support achieving the course outcomes?

8Select and/or conceptualize resources that support equitable access to learning success.

How do we ensure course resources appeal to a range of learning preferences and abilities?

9 Implement a quality assurance process. How do we sustain curriculum currency, rigour, and sound pedagogy?

At NAIT, we’ve already addressed the first two steps by means of mapping sessions where program and course outcomes were established according to OBE guidelines. As a course developer, your task is to complete the remainder of the elements in alignment with OBE. NAIT has developed a Course Design Document (CDD) that will help you establish that alignment. This manual examines each element, and provides guidance and examples of how to use it to develop quality curriculum.

QUALITY CURRICULUM BEGINS WITH A PLAN

If you’re like many curriculum developers, you’ve taught for a number of years and earned a reputation for teaching excellence. Your subject-matter expertise, your first-hand experience planning and delivering student-centred lessons, and your understanding of the principles that support adult learning will guide your thinking, your conversations, and your decisions about curriculum development.

The work of translating course outcomes into curriculum that aligns with the principles of outcomes based education now begins. Some courses won’t require a great deal of redesign; others will require a range of changes with significant implications for instruction.

A systematic approach to instruction is better and more

effective than unplanned, haphazard, or seat-of-the-pants

approaches.

~William J. Rothwell & H.C. Kazanas

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So how do we determine what needs redesign and what doesn’t? How do we breathe life into NAIT’s commitment to relevant, scholastically robust curriculum and instruction? To inform curriculum conversations and decisions, NAIT has developed a Course Design Document (CDD) to simplify the development process. The CDD will help you analyze course intentions, identify course content, and guide instruction.

THE COURSE DESIGN DOCUMENT

The NAIT course design document (CDD) incorporates the core components of quality curriculum in higher education and the principles of outcomes based education. Each module of this manual is dedicated to a different element of curriculum development. As you move through this manual, you’ll see the template of the CDD being populated with examples of what could be placed in each section, and you’ll have the opportunity to add content to each section. Course developers find their own groove in terms of process, and so will you. What’s important is not what you do in what order but that the resulting course design is aligned with universally recognized quality standards in higher education. Modules 1-7 explore how to integrate the essential elements of quality curriculum into course design and provide you with opportunities to practice using the CDD.

A WORD ABOUT CURRICULUM DESIGN AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Although there are subtle differences between the work of a curriculum designer and the work of a curriculum developer, we use the terms interchangeably. When we speak about curriculum design or curriculum development, we mean the work we’re doing to develop curriculum through needs assessment, overall course and program design and architecture, curriculum day-to-day development,

and curriculum implementation phases (Peyton & Peyton, 1998). As curriculum designers and developers, we are constantly shifting our focus between understanding the broad strokes of the curriculum design and the finer, more specific details of course development. It is a dynamic process, with design and development unfolding simultaneously.

Cultures need outlaws to challenge, and push, and prod them into defining and redefining themselves…C urriculum development is a task for outlaws.

~Alex Molnar

NAIT COURSE DESIGN DOCUMENT TEMPLATE (CDD)

Outcome(s): Related Program Outcome(s) Related summative assessment

Content Activity Formative Assessment Resources

Concept(s) Skill(s) Issue(s) Sample teaching activities to support learning

Sample assessment strategies to guide teaching & learning

Materials to support learning

Established materials

Suggested/to be developed

ALIGNMENT WITH OUTCOME(S) UNDERPINS ALL ELEMENTS OF COURSE DESIGN

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REFERENCES

Centre for Enhanced Learning and Teaching (CELT). (2007-2012). OBE principles and processes. Retrieved September 12, 2012 from Outcome-Based Education. Retrieved from http://celt. ust. hk/teaching-resources/outcome-based-education/institutional-resources/obe-principles-and-process

Kenny, R. F., Zuochen, Z., Schwier, R. A., & Campbell, K. (2005). A review of what curriculum developers do: Questions answered and questions not asked. Canadian Journal of Learning & Technology, 31(1), 9-26.

Malamed, C. (2012). Motivating the curriculum developer. The eLearning coach: Tips and reviews for success with online and mobile learning. Retrieved July 12, 2012, from http://theelearningcoach. com/elearning_design/motivating-the-instructional-designer/

Peyton, J. & Peyton, W. (1998). Teaching and learning in medical practice. Manticore Europe Ltd, Rickmansworth.

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to discuss the implications of student demographics on curriculum development.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUDIENCE ANALYSISIf you’ve ever been called upon to give a presentation, chances are your first response was, To whom am I presenting? It’s a very good question—for example, what thrills a grade three class may not hold much interest for students in a post-secondary class.

The same holds true for quality curriculum development. One of the very first tasks of the curriculum developer is to conduct an audience analysis and arrive at a reasonable understanding of our student demographics. This means researching and considering the characteristics of the prospective audience for the course: What age are they? Where do they come from? What might their motivation be for taking this course? What sort of expectations might they arrive with? Do they have any special requirements? Answering these questions helps curriculum developers gain an understanding of the types of learners the course will attract and informs the construction of learning experiences that will optimize their learning success.

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS RESULTS

At NAIT, we can say, with some authority, that we know the following about our audience:

1. Our learners are mainly adults.

2. Our learners come from widely diverse backgrounds.

Our next step is to consider what decades of research have revealed about adult learners and what that might mean for quality curriculum development in a polytechnical institute.

UNDERSTANDING THE ADULT LEARNER

It is important that the instructor understands the educational needs of the learners. This means thinking about the needs of learners as both individuals and as a group. Adult learners have specific learning needs (Knowles, 1984):

1. They need the learning goals to be clearly stated.

2. They need to know their learning is purposeful and relevant.

3. They need some autonomy in the learning processes.

4. They need to be actively engaged in the learning processes.

5. They need ongoing feedback on process and performance.

6. They need opportunities for reflection.

wHo ARe we DesIGnInG FoR?MoDULe1

Invest as much time as you can in your audience analysis because it pays probably the

biggest returns.

~ Nuray Gedik

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The needs of adult learners should be attended to in curriculum design and delivery and inform the selection of teaching, learning, and assessment activities (McKimm, 2003).

UNDERSTANDING THE DIVERSITY OF OUR STUDENTS

We know with certainty that our classroom demographics are more diverse than they’ve ever been. For example:

• The 21st century student is as likely to be 19 as he/she is to be 40-something.

• Previously well-defined gender roles are blurring.

• Cultural diversity is widespread and growing.

• Access to post-secondary education is no longer dependent on economic prosperity.

• Preparedness for the expectations of higher education varies.

This diversity presents design challenges—both exciting and bewildering—for the curriculum developer working to attend to the principle of expanded opportunity embedded in the OBE framework. A comprehensive overview of diversity in post-secondary Canadian institutions is beyond the scope of this course. So let’s take a broad-strokes look at how two aspects of diversity impact quality curriculum development at NAIT: generational diversity and cultural diversity.

GeneRAtIonAL DIVeRsItY

Each generation has its own set of values, ideas, ethics, and culture, and presents critical teaching and learning considerations for the curriculum developer. Each has a peer personality because individuals share an age location in history that lends itself to a collective mind-set (Johnson & Romanello, 2005, p.212). It’s important for educators to be informed about generational characteristics and to acknowledge biases toward each generation. Generational characteristics and beliefs are different, not right or wrong. When we’re aware of our generational biases and prejudices, we can consciously move beyond them to create learning opportunities across all generations of students in the classroom.

Students are more likely to achieve learning success when teaching methodologies are aligned with their learning preferences. Providing students with support and opportunity to occasionally experience learning through methodologies outside of their comfort level may also contribute to learning success (Johnson & Romanello, 2005). Let’s take a look at learning activity preferences by generation.

Each generation imagines i tself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it.

~ George Orwell

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GENERATIONBABY BOOMERS

(BORN 1943-1960)GENERATION X

(BORN 1961-1981)MILLENNIALS

(BORN 1982-2002)

LEARNER TENDENCIES

• Solid work ethic, seeking to meet expectations

• Intrinsically motivated

• Willing to seek and/or accept help to develop digital proficiencies

• Prefer to learn through lecture and note-taking

• Grade-oriented with a strong need to know what is required to achieve a certain grade

• Attending post-secondary for the first time, often to support a career change

• Sometimes allow leisure activities to take priority over school work

• Want to learn in the easiest, quickest way possible

• Value approaches that they deem straightforward

• Don’t want to spend time learning something they don’t think they’ll use

• Not likely to complete an assignment if no grades are attached

• View education as something to endure, a means to an end

• Positive, assertive, civic, and moral

• Likely experienced a child-centred parenting framework that some argue was coddling

• Typically computer savvy

• Accustomed to 24/7 access to what they want

• Prefer working in teams

• May have difficulty with individual assignments

• Want immediate positive feedback on their work

• Expect effort to count substantially

PREFERRED LEARNING ACTIVITIES

• Lectures

• Detailed handouts

• Note-taking

• Appreciate contact with faculty

• Distance learning courses

• Programmed instruction that is independently paced

• Detailed study guideline and test review

• Simulations with immediate feedback on performance

• Group activities, particularly solving problems or working on a case study

• Creative, innovative exercises/games that integrate technology and experiential activities

(Johnson & Romanello, 2005)

cULtURAL DIVeRsItY

Let’s start with a common understanding of the term culture. The Diversity, Equity and Human Rights subcommittee of the Alberta Teacher’s Association defines culture as the “integrated patterns of human behaviour that are influenced by social groups. These social groups can be differentiated by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ideology, nationality, language, religion, occupation and other factors” (Alberta Teacher’s Association [ATA], 2010, p. V ). Culture is learned and shows up in the way we do things and the way we see the world: it is a lens that impacts our decisions and how we interact with the world. It impacts how we structure the classroom and design learning activities.

You might be saying to yourself that this is not much different from the way it’s always been; after all, a multicultural stance has been embedded in the Canadian psyche for decades. In some ways, you’re correct. However, there is a key difference. Previously marginalized students are not quietly standing in the wings but rather are asking for a place in our classrooms to be, become, and belong as their authentic selves (Grace, 2006). The diversity of our students is now more visible, and students and society are asking for the diversity that students bring to be recognized and accommodated: “inclusion supports the inherent right of each Canadian student to access equitable educational services” (Gordon, 2010, p. 2).

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And finally, there is one more way culture continues to matter in post-secondary education: Canadian research demonstrates that “there are vast differences between ethnic groups and their educational success” (Maldonado, 2010, p. 1). Ethnicity and socio-economic status continue to play significant roles, in our high school dropout rates and participation in post-secondary educational endeavours (Cheung, 2007). To create an even playing field, we must recognize that culture has an impact in our classrooms, and we must adapt our practices to create spaces where everyone can be, become, and belong in our educational system.

Consideration should be given to the diversity of the student population and design principles that support equitable access to learning. Success

should be embedded in all aspects of quality curriculum. The following course design practices are aligned with OBE, support equitable access to learning success, and minimize marginalization:

1. The curriculum development model should allow less-prepared students to engage with the curriculum in a meaningful manner.

2. Curricular content should include representation from all student populations.

3. Universal instructional design principles should be applied.

4. A variety of technologies should be appropriately integrated.

5. A variety of student-centred approaches to learning activities should be embedded.

6. A variety of assessment techniques should be incorporated.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND THE DIVERSE ADULT AUDIENCE

Two key principles of OBE apply to the audience analysis component of curriculum development:

Building for diversity

Readying learners for the real world

To develop meaningful and relevant learning experiences, we need to know who our audience is to be able to best support learner success.

The post-secondary classroom demands a curriculum development approach that appreciates diversity while avoiding the dangers of overgeneralizing. Exceptional curriculum developers understand that these elements influence but don’t define students: therefore, they purposefully incorporate learning activities, assessments, and resources that optimize equitable access to learning success.

Infinite diversity in infinite c ombinations …symbolizing the elements that create truth and beauty.

~ Commander Spock, Star Trek

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams to add, divide, and measure them,

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

~ Walt Whitman

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REFERENCES

Alberta Teachers’ Association. (2010). Here comes everyone: Teaching in the intercultural classroom. Edmonton, AB: ATA.

Cheung, S. (2007). Education decisions of Canadian youth: A synthesis report on access to postsecondary education. Toronto, Canada: High Education Quality Council of Ontario.

Gordon, M. (2010). Student voice key to unlocking inclusive educational practices. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, Special issue.

Grace, A. P. (2006). Writing the queer self: Using autobiography to mediate inclusive teacher education in Canada. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(7), 826-834. doi:10. 1016/j. tate.2006.04.026

Johnson, A., & Romanello, M. (2005). Generational diversity: Teaching and learning approaches. Nurse Educator 30(5), 212-216.

Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in action: Applying modern principles of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Maldonado, V. (2010). Inclusivity in high education: Ethnic differences in post-secondary educational pathways. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, Special issue.

McKimm, J. (2003) Curriculum design and development. Retrieved from: http://www.faculty.londondeanery.ac.uk/e-learning/setting-learning-objectives/Curriculum_design_and_development.pdf

DeteRMInInG coURse contentMoDULe2

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to unpack course outcomes to determine course content suitable for OBE-based curriculum.

DEVELOPING COURSE CONTENT FOR OBE

One of the major challenges of course development is determining the course content—the learning that must occur before the end of the course. Many of us will be familiar with content determined by deciding which topics should be covered or by looking at a list of specific competencies (demonstrable tasks) that must be met (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008).

The outcomes based education (OBE) framework for curriculum development (or redevelopment) begins from the top down (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008).

If you participated in program mapping at NAIT, you’ll recall a meeting of representatives from industry, faculty, and leadership to determine what students must be able to do out there (outside of the educational setting) once they’ve completed a specific program of study. This collaborative effort produced a set of broad exit program outcomes and groups of course outcomes.

Course outcomes declare the intention of a course in broad statements, outlining what the student will be able to do upon successful completion of the course. Because they declare exit intentions, course outcomes guide every aspect of course design, from the selection of course content to the development of assessments, learning activities, and resources. However, the first step of the course curriculum development process is to align course content with an outcomes based framework.

In most NAIT programs, course objectives have driven the development of associated course content. Course objectives begin with an action verb and describe what a student will be expected to be able to do upon completion of the course. Sometimes course objectives have been aligned with real-world imperatives; sometimes they have not. During mapping, course objectives were used to develop course outcomes. During this process, some course objectives were turned into course outcomes, some were tucked under a course outcome to become a step towards achieving it, and some were rejected as non-essential.

In outcomes based education, discussions about the various

components of the curriculum are meaningless unless carried

out in the context of learning outcomes.

~ Ronald Harden

Curriculum should be developed from the outcomes we want

students to demonstrate, rather than writing objectives from the

curriculum we already have.

~ William Spady

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To continue the work of designing quality curriculum in an OBE framework, we have to deconstruct existing courses in order to rebuild them. To comply with an OBE framework, course content must be derived from our newly-created course outcomes.

UNPACKING COURSE OUTCOMES TO DETERMINE COURSE CONTENT

In an OBE framework, all content is decided by determining the knowledge students need to acquire and the skills they need to master to achieve course outcomes. To do this, curriculum developers isolate each course outcome and work backwards to identify the knowledge base the course is responsible for covering (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008).

Course developers have a wide variety of methodologies to choose from to support selecting suitable course content. For example, Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp (2011) outline three analytical approaches for determining course content:

1. Topic Analysis

2. Procedural Analysis

3. Critical Incident Analysis

METHODOLOGIES FOR DETERMINING COURSE CONTENT

TOPIC ANALYSIS PROCEDURAL ANALYSIS CRITICAL INCIDENT ANALYSIS

• Most suited to define cognitive knowledge

• Classifies content into broad categories of knowledge required to cover the topic, and then breaks each into increasing levels of detail

• Similar to an outline tool or multi-level list

• Most suited for psychomotor tasks

• Breaks tasks (observable or cognitive) into sequential steps and then details what the learners need to know and what will inform their choices at each step

• Similar to a flowchart

• Most suited to analyze situational skills

• Compares successful and unsuccessful attempts to complete a process with a large number of variables and then analyzes them to identify knowledge and techniques

• Similar to interviewing

To simplify the process of determining course content and to assure consistency across the Institute, NAIT has adopted Stiehl and Lewchuk’s (2011) model for determining course content, which breaks each course outcome into the specific concepts, skills, and issues required to master that outcome.

Unlike the models described above, Stiehl and Lewchuk’s model can be readily applied to virtually any field of study or series of course outcomes. Because the model is context-driven, it takes into account the way students will use the concepts and skills they need to know in relation to the issues they encounter. This is called ‘constructive alignment’.

OBE stresses aiming for high standards of performance by ensuring program and course outcomes are worded to generate contemplation, discussion, interpretation, examination of assumptions, and context-driven learning. Identifying the course concepts, skills, and issues embedded in a course outcome allows the course designer to make informed design decisions that will optimize equitable access to deep learning and course success.

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Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?

~ Alice Liddell (from Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland)

Course concepts, skills, and issues (CSIs) rarely exist in isolation. For example, a course concept likely informs the acquisition of a particular skill, or it informs an understanding of the issues that arise in the workplace and provides a context for the application of a skill. Let’s look at the interdependent components of this model.

concePts

Course concepts are the major ideas or principles that support a course outcome. These are the theories, ideas, and/or facts learners must comprehend in order to develop the skill sets required to succeed in the workplace.

Examples: Theory of Relativity

Supply and Demand

Anatomical terminology

skILLs

Course skills are the specific skill sets that support a course outcome. They are the physical and/or intellectual competencies that the learner will need to practice and master for success in the workplace.

Examples: Replacing a brake line

Calculating trajectory

IssUes

Course issues are the kinds of real-world circumstances students are likely to encounter and deal with in the workplace.

Examples: Resource scarcity

Conflict

Competing priorities

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

CSIs rarely exist in a vacuum; to comply with OBE principles, all of these components must be attended to in course design to support achieving a course outcome. Typically, at least two content components (for example, concepts and skills, or skills and issues) will be contained in an individual lesson, sometimes all three. Alignment with the course outcome underpins all content selection: if the alignment between a possible piece of content and its associated course outcome isn’t ironclad, it doesn’t belong in the course. For each course outcome, curriculum developers should ask themselves (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2011):

1. What concepts will students need to understand in order to demonstrate this outcome?

2. What skills will students need to master to demonstrate this outcome?

3. What issues will students need to resolve to demonstrate this outcome?

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The process by which course developers unpack the concepts, skills, and issues of a course outcome will vary according to their experience and preferences. Earlier in this module, we referenced a quote from William Spady about developing curriculum based on what could be rather than what is: this means discarding the existing structure of a course to be redeveloped—putting aside, even temporarily, existing objectives, lists of topics, modules, lesson plans, and activities—and looking at each course outcome as if encountering it for the first time.

Stiehl and Lewchuk (2011) recommend a collaborative process that will feel very familiar to those who participated in developing program outcomes. Rather than looking at what graduates of a program will be able to do, content developers unpack each course outcome separately, brainstorming with faculty and subject matter experts to determine what’s essential for learners to know and be able to do to in order to achieve that outcome.

In the brainstorming process, there is no analysis. Brainstorming is simply the creation of a list of ideas. In a group, best practices ensure that everyone has a voice (sticky notes help) and an equal opportunity to participate. Content developers can choose to brainstorm ideas holistically by generating a master list of items and then separating them into concepts, issues, and skills, or specifically by separating concepts, issues, and skills from the outset.

WHAT ABOUT COURSE OBJECTIVES?

Working backwards from new course outcomes doesn’t mean it’s necessary to discard existing course objectives: course objectives provide an excellent review point

for considering course content—provided they align with new course outcomes. If the alignment is strong, the course might not require significant redesign; on the other hand, if the alignment is weak or if significant gaps emerge, the course requires major reform.

Whether you choose to go through the process of examining current course objectives and their alignment with new course outcomes, or you choose to discard existing objectives and start from scratch, content analysis is at the heart of OBE alignment. Determining the fundamental concepts, skills, and issues students need to encounter through carefully chosen learning activities is central to relevant, rigorous course design. ReLeVAnce AnD RIGoUR Once a list of concepts, issues, and skills is compiled, the next step is to assess the rigour and relevancy of the content. Relevancy relates to essentiality, rigour to breadth and depth.

At NAIT, industry is consulted to determine what graduates must be able to do in the real world. The purpose of this is to ensure industry relevancy of program intentions. Once program outcomes have been developed, course outcomes are determined to support successful completion of those program outcomes. Course developers then determine the most effective way to meet these expectations by developing aligned course content that retains the relevant, bridges identified gaps, and discards what is no longer relevant. To align with OBE and a 15/3 delivery

The difficulty lies, not in new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones….

~ John Maynard Keyes

[You] have to decide what to leave out, [what might be nice to know but can be left for later]…and then really focus on…tackling important questions and r eaching deep understanding… understanding takes time, and the greatest enemy of understanding is coverage. If you are determined to cover everything, you guarantee that most will not understand.

~ Howard Gardner

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framework, content focuses only on what the learner needs to know and be able to do and avoids including what is simply nice to know (Morrison, Ross, Kalman & Kemp, 2011). Course developers must therefore also take into consideration any guidelines applying to student study time in and out of class, and retain only those concepts, issues, and skills that will directly impact student ability to achieve each course outcome.

seQUencInG OBE requires that concepts, issues, and skills be directly aligned with course outcomes. It does not, however, require that all instances of a course have identical modules or be sequenced in exactly the same way. Alignment in this case means only that all course instances must address all concepts, skills, and issues identified as critical to achieving each course outcome.

This means that the grouping and sequencing of concepts, skills, and issues into modules or individual lessons can be left to each instructor, to autonomously develop lesson plans that integrate their teaching strengths and the learning needs of a particular group. Alternatively, the grouping and sequencing can be collaboratively completed—for instance, by a group of instructors teaching the same course. When we discuss learning activities later in this manual, the relationship between the concepts, skills, and issues will become more important.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND CSI’S

Readying learners for the real world

Articulating learning intentions

Setting appropriate standards

To develop meaningful, relevant learning experiences that support learner success, we need to declare learning intentions that are clearly aligned with course outcomes and avoid the temptation to overstuff our courses. The lament that there’s too much content and not enough time has been a consistent one in post-secondary education—from both faculty and students. Systematically identifying the concepts, skills, and issues that are integral to achieving course outcomes ensures time is well spent. Exceptional curriculum developers understand that these content elements inform every aspect of curriculum design and delivery: therefore, they only include course content that’s clearly aligned with the real-world outcomes and standards articulated in the course outcomes.

Learning is about more than simply acquiring new knowledge

and insights; it is also crucial to unlearn old knowledge that has

outlived its relevance.

~ Gary Ryan Blair

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LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE AND PROPOSE SOME CSI’S

The following Course Design Document (CDD) provides an example of a single partially deconstructed NAIT course outcome that is one of a set of course outcomes. This particular course outcome exists, albeit in slightly different wording, in dozens of programs at NAIT. Note that the course outcome indicates students will be able to present themselves professionally in both written and verbal workplace situations. Therefore, the course content will have to attend to both verbal and written content that’s consistently grounded in real-world imperatives.

No one process works for all course developers. At this point, it’s not imperative to sort—either by sequence or by linkages—the concepts, skills, and issues.

Review the CSIs in the sample CDD. What concepts, skills, and/or issues might be missing? Add two concepts, two skills, and two issues that align with the course outcome.

Outcome(s):

Present oneself professionally in writing and conversation in the workplace

Related Program Outcome(s)

1. Display professional and ethical behaviour in accordance with occupational obligations and expectations

2. Select effective communication techniques for use with clients, colleagues, and other professionals

Related summative assessment





Codes of conduct

Legal obligations (FOIP, HIA, etc.)

Persuasive model

Plain language

Purposeful Conversation model

WHAT OTHER CONCEPTS CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT THIS COURSE OUTCOME?

Apply appropriate level to professional situations

Apply plain language constructs to a professional communication

Lead workplace activities that support diverse perspectives and ideas

Turn conflict into opportunity

WHAT OTHER SKILLS CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT THIS COURSE OUTCOME?

Audience/workplace diversity

Change; resistance to change

Ethics

Mixed understandings of professional appropriateness

WHAT OTHER ISSUES CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT THIS COURSE OUTCOME?




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REFERENCES

Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011) Designing effective instruction (Sixth Edition). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Stiehl, R., & Lewchuk, L. (2008). The outcomes primer: Reconstructing the college curriculum. Corvallis, OR: The Learning Organization.

Stiehl, R., & Lewchuck, L. (2011). The mapping primer: Tools for reconstructing the college curriculum. Corvallis, OR:The Learning Organization.

DeVeLoPInG AUtHentIc sUMMAtIVe AssessMentsMoDULe3

[Authentic assessment] is not assessment that simply tests

the ability to memorize and regurgitate knowledge that we hope students will a pply to the working world. It is k nowledge

creation, not k nowledge r e production that creates

co mpetitive advantage.

~ Graham Gibbs

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to apply the principles of authentic assessment to develop authentic summative assessments and rubrics

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT?

Assessment is about more than formal testing. Assessing learning is a multidimensional process, one designed to assist, to adjust, and to advance (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008; Leskes & Wright, 2002). Assessment is an ongoing component of learning; it is not a one-time event. Assessment should start when learning begins and continue until the student has the opportunity to summatively demonstrate that he/she has mastered a course outcome(s).

Shephard (2000) maintains that our focus as instructors should be on creating a learning culture rather than a grading culture—one in which students know “why what they are studying is important and how it connects to things that they’ve studied before” (p. 41). Changing the assessment framework from its focus on grading for the sake of grades is not easily achieved: the elusive A+ is embedded in much of our history—as both students and teachers. Here’s where authentic assessment can help us. Because an authentic assessment directly aligns with the course outcome(s) and is indicative of real-world, on-the-job situations students will encounter once they have left NAIT, the focus of assessment can begin the seismic shift from emphasizing passing the test to motivating learning engagement.

Authentic assessments involve giving students opportunities to demonstrate their abilities in a real-world context. Ideally, student performance is assessed not on the ability to memorize or recite terms and definitions but on the ability to use the repertoires of disciplinary tools… to analyze and solve a realistic problem they might face as practitioners in the field (Jafee, 2012, para. 13).

Authentic assessment aligns with three key principles of outcomes based education (OBE):

1. Curriculum must ready students for the real world.

2. The learning intentions of curriculum must be clearly stated and shared with students.

3. Appropriate standards must be set to ensure robust curriculum.

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According to the Conference Board of Canada (2012), today’s hires (whether hired domestically or abroad, and regardless of career path) are required to:

• Demonstrate responsibility, adaptability, self-directed learning and collaboration

• Assess situations and identify problems

• Seek different points of view and evaluate them based on facts

• Recognize the human, interpersonal, technical, scientific, and mathematical dimensions of a problem

• Identify the root cause of a problem

• Be creative and innovative in exploring possible solutions

• Readily use science, technology, and mathematics as ways to think, gain, and share knowledge, solve problems, and make decisions

• Evaluate solutions to make recommendations or decisions

• Implement solutions

• Check to see if a solution works and act on opportunities for improvement

To master these skills, students need multiple opportunities to learn and practice them—authentically. For post-secondary institutions, the global imperative for informed, adaptable, and immediate practice requires an institutional shift in curriculum design and delivery. While traditional paper-based assessments provide an idea of what students can memorize and recognize, they often fail to provide evidence that students can apply their knowledge across real-world scenarios. Our challenge as curriculum developers is to conceptualize assessment strategies/designs that support emergent professional practice.

Two assessment strategies support authentic assessment: they’re called summative and formative assessment, and a range of assessment designs exist under each of these strategies. An OBE assessment protocol requires formative and summative assessment. Stiehl and Lewchuck (2008) describe formative assessment as assessing to assist (assessment for learning) and summative assessment as assessing to advance (assessment of learning). As a curriculum developer, you’ll find it helpful, however, to focus initially on conceptualizing the summative assessment(s) for your course. This process is called backward design:

LEARNING OUTCOME (Desired result with embedded standard)

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT (What evidence is required to demonstrate the desired result has been achieved?)

LEARNING ACTIVITIES (What kind of learning experiences will give the student enough opportunity to be able to achieve the desired result?)

The principle of backward design begins with defining your desired results. When you mapped your program and courses, those intentions—called learning outcomes—were collaboratively developed. The next step is to determine what evidence is required to demonstrate that the learning outcome has been achieved. At this step of the process, you’ll determine the kind of summative assessment best suited to providing that evidence. Why do this first? Because once you’ve determined how an outcome would best be assessed, you can determine—with relative ease—the kinds of learning activities that will support being able to demonstrate the achievement of the desired result.

So let’s begin with an overview of summative assessment and how it fits in with the authentic assessment framework of outcomes based education.

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WHAT IS SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT?

Summative assessment provides information about the learning process after it has happened. It’s a snapshot of what students are able to do with what they have learned. This type of assessment is the final judgment of whether or not an outcome has been met.

A student’s grade for a course is determined by combining the results of all summative assessments.

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT?

Outcomes based education emphasizes the achievement of outcomes—what the student will be able to do upon completion of a course/program. Outcomes are developed by identifying what graduates are expected to do out there (typically in the workplace) that post-secondary institutions are responsible for teaching in here (typically in the classroom, lab, shop, practicum). The emphasis on achievement of outcomes means summative assessments require that students demonstrate the intended outcome. If a course outcome indicated that students will be able to build something—a business plan, a quanta hut, a menu, or a treatment protocol, for example—students would have to be assessed on their capacity to actually build that thing. A summative assessment that asked them to describe the process of building, or that asked them to define key components of the process, or to select the materials required would not demonstrate that they had capacity to actually build anything.

Authentic summative assessments, on the other hand, provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their abilities in a real-world context. Student performance is assessed not on the ability to memorize or recite terms and definitions, but by the ability to put all aspects of their learning together in a task that analyzes and solves a realistic problem the learner might face as a practitioner in the field (Jaffee, 2012).

MAKING THE CHANGE FROM TRADITIONAL TO AUTHENTIC

Traditional test methodologies are typically paper-based tests that measure knowledge acquisition. They include forced-choice assessments like multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer tests. However, 21st century workplace imperatives demand more than simply knowing; they require doing.

[Learners] are seen not as mere recorders of factual information but as creators of their own unique knowledge structures. To know something is not just to have received information but to have interpreted it and related it to other knowledge one already has. In addition, we now recognize the importance of knowing not just how to perform, but also when to perform and how to adapt that performance to new situations. Thus, the presence or absence of discrete bits of information–which is typically the focus of traditional multiple-choice tests–is not of primary importance in the assessment of meaningful learning. Rather, what is important is how and whether students organize, structure, and use that information in context to solve complex problems (Dietel, Herman & Knuth, 1991, para. 12).

In addition to ensuring students are able to transfer and apply their learning to various situations, we also want to ensure students are retaining the information for later use. A growing amount of research literature consistently reports that short-term memorization does not contribute to retention or transfer. As long as we have relatively high-stakes exams determining large parts of the final grade in a course, students will cram for exams, and there will be very little learning (Jaffee, 2012).

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Traditional and authentic assessments have significantly different goals and evaluative depth:

THE DIFFERENCES ARE SIGNIFICANT

TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT

Typically paper-based, forced-choice measures Integrates a variety of measures

Indirect measures of achievement of target skills

Direct measures of achievement of target skills

Encourages memorization of correct answers Encourages divergent thinking in generating possible answers

Goal is to measure acquisition of past knowledge

Goal is to enhance development of meaningful skills

Goal is to measure learning primarily in the comprehension domain

Goal is to measure learning in the application, synthesis, and creation domains

Emphasis on developing a body of knowledgeEmphasis on ensuring proficiency at real-world tasks

Promotes what knowledge Promotes how knowledge

Provides a one-time snapshot of student understanding

Provides an examination of learning over time

Emphasizes competition Emphasizes cooperation

Targets simplistic skills or tasks in a concrete, singular fashion

Prepares students for ambiguities and exceptions found in realistic problem settings

Adapted from Park University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. (2010)

Arguably, it’s unfortunate that the term traditional assessment is used to differentiate paper-based, forced-choice assessment methodologies from authentic assessment: traditional assessments can be authentic provided they align with the learning intentions expressed in the associated course outcome and reflect real-world situations. The challenge for curriculum developers is to avoid defaulting to paper-based summative assessment strategies: strong alignment between the intentions expressed in the learning outcome and the associated summative assessment must drive design. Weak alignment is a strong indicator that the summative assessment you’re considering isn’t authentic.

Asking the question, Will a student do this in the real world? will steer you in the direction of authenticity.

If you go into the work place, they don’t give you a multiple-choice test to see if you’re doing your job. They have some per-formance assessment, as they say in business.

~ Grant Wiggins

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ABOUT MIDTERMS AND FINALS

Midterm and final exam weeks are a long-standing tradition in post-secondary education. This is doubly true for those programs preparing students to sit professional certification exams. The movement to assessing students according to course outcomes can feel like it doesn’t support students being able to pass their certification exams.

Too often, the midterms/finals assessment construct imposes an artificial assessment deadline that may not align with course content and sequencing. The result? Assessment that focuses on knowledge of isolated facts and superficial analysis rather than on the deep synthesis and creative, real-world problem solving required under the OBE construct.

The timing of an authentic assessment is as critical as the assessment design itself. Timeliness provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the outcome(s) at strategic junctures in the learning process. Authentic assessments—both formative and summative—“honor [sic] the complexities of the teaching and learning paradigm” (Montgomery, 2002. p. 37); the how and the when of assessment are purposefully rather than arbitrarily determined.

PLANNING FOR AND SELECTING AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Being a course developer doesn’t mean you have to do it alone, it just means that you’re leading the process. NAIT advises that all faculty who teach a course should collaboratively select the summative assessment that will be linked with each course outcome. While teaching methodologies might differ, course outcomes are common across all offerings of a course; therefore, the summative assessment must be similar in goal, scope, and weighting across all iterations of the same course.

You might find it reassuring to know that even experienced curriculum developers sometimes struggle with selecting an appropriate summative assessment to authentically measure successful completion of learning outcomes. For those of us who have primarily experienced assessment as written exams (both as former students and as teachers), the use of authentic assessment can be an exercise in thinking out of the box. In the OBE construct, the most important consideration is what a particular assessment strategy is capable of doing. Answering the following three questions will help you select an authentic summative assessment approach that measures what you want it to:

1. What cues does the verb in the learning outcome give me about how success should be measured?

2. What real-world task(s) or circumstance(s) is this learning outcome getting at?

3. How might a summative assessment meaningfully imitate real-world tasks/circumstances?

WHAT CUES DOES THE VERB IN THE LEARNING OUTCOME GIVE ME ABOUT HOW SUCCESS SHOULD BE MEASURED?

Each course outcome must be linked to a summative assessment. Planning for assessment begins with the developer having a clear understanding of the outcome to be attained and of what success will look like once it’s achieved.

Ideally, the summative assessment will have the student perform exactly what the outcome is asking him/her to do. The verb contained in the outcome (the action word describing what students will be able to do) points to the summative assessment approach that will best support determining achievement of that outcome. The following table provides a sampling of outcome verbs and corresponding assessment approaches:

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COURSE OUTCOME VERB SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

You will be able to ANALYZE … Provides an opportunity to ANALYZE something, applying appropriate concepts/skills/issues

You will be able to CREATE…Provides an opportunity to CREATE something, applying appropriate concepts/skills/issues

You will be able to DESIGN…Provides an opportunity to DESIGN something, applying appropriate concepts/skills/issues

After you’ve identified the verb, consider the remainder of the outcome for information regarding how best to authentically assess its achievement.

WHAT REAL-WORLD TASK(S) OR CIRCUMSTANCE(S) IS THIS LEARNING OUTCOME GETTING AT?

All course outcomes are developed under the umbrella of program outcomes—faculty and industry’s identification of what program graduates are expected to be able to do out there that we are responsible to teach in here. When course outcomes are developed, they must meet the following criteria:

1. Outcomes must be something that students will be expected to do out there.

2. Outcomes must be assessable.

In developing the assessment task, we look at what the course outcome represents as a real-world task or circumstance and ask, What sorts of things might a graduate of this program encounter in the workplace that parallels this course outcome? This becomes a brainstorming exercise for assessment developers: looking at the course outcome to come up with a list of what learners will be expected to analyze or create or design out there. While brainstorming, remember that authentic assessment according to OBE also stresses the importance of using a variety of tools.

HOW MIGHT AN AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT MEANINGFULLY IMITATE REAL-WORLD TASKS/CIRCUMSTANCES?

The key to this question is looking for meaningful imitation of real-world tasks/circumstances. According to OBE, we accept the responsibility to prepare learners for successful, meaningful engagement with the real world. In some cases, we have the opportunity to directly engage our learners with the real world. In many cases, however, providing learners with a genuinely real-world, live assessment just isn’t an option. In these circumstances, the only option is to generate something that imitates a real-world task or circumstance to a reasonable degree.

This means selecting assessment tasks that are imitable outside a real-world setting and present enough depth to challenge students to the same extent as a real-world setting. Authentic assessment allows students to synthesize the concepts, skills, and issues represented by this outcome to deliver creative, innovative responses.

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LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE AND PROPOSE SOME SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Let’s use an outcome from the Course Design Document:

Present oneself professionally in writing and conversation in the workplace.

What are some assessment approaches that would substantially and authentically demonstrate achievement of the outcome? To help us align our proposed summative assessment strategy with the course outcome, let’s first unpack the course outcome:

COURSE OUTCOME INFORMATION ASSESSMENT STRATEGY DECISIONS

Verb: PresentLearner must have the opportunity to present something

Present oneselfAssessment must be focused on individual performance rather than on group performance

Present oneself in writing and conversation

Will require two discrete assessment tasks or a single two-pronged assessment since it would be difficult to assess writing and conversation simultaneously

Now let’s ask ourselves, What real-world task or circumstance is this learning outcome getting at?

wRItInG Real-world expectations: technical, analytic, and research reports; internal and external emails; letters to clients and shareholders; estimates; proposals

conVeRsAtIon Employee interviews, patient histories, product/process presentations and pitches, training, conducting and participating in meetings, facilitating

Next let’s ask ourselves, How might an assessment meaningfully imitate these real-world tasks/circumstances?

wRItInG Written case assignment, portfolio of written work

conVeRsAtIon Oral case assignment, interview, presentation, mock meeting

Finally, let’s consider some summative assessment strategies:

• “Present oneself professionally by developing a written portfolio consisting of a resume and cover letter, a request for professional development funding, and an email response to a client inquiry.”

• “Present oneself professionally by giving a 10-minute product-demonstration presentation for a workplace team meeting.”

• “Read the following workplace scenario and develop a written document that could be used by your organization to respond to this incident.”

• “Read the case study. From the list of options that follow, select the option that best exemplifies professionalism in the workplace and explain your choice below. ”

Once you’ve collaboratively selected a summative assessment strategy, you’re ready to populate the summative assessment block in the Course Design Document.

DEVELOPING AUTHENTIC SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Outcome(s):






Present yourself professionally by

1. Developing a written portfolio based on workplace scenarios

2. Delivering an oral presentation suitable for a workplace situation





Codes of conduct


Persuasive model

Plain language


...





...



Ethics


...




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MEASURING PERFORMANCE: AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT RUBRICS

To be authentic, summative assessment must not only replicate real-world tasks but also directly and fairly substantiate the extent to which learning goals have been met. Rubrics are an effective means of establishing performance criteria, sharing those criteria with students, and empowering success.

wHAt Is A RUBRIc? The word rubric comes from the Latin word rubrica for the colour red. Medieval monks used red ochre to denote headings in their hand-rendered religious texts. Later, the word evolved to mean classification—particularly in medical circles. Today, a rubric is “at its most basic, a scoring tool that lays out the specific expectations for an assignment” (Stevens & Levi, 2005, p. 3). A rubric classifies the criteria and a variety of performance levels for a particular task.

A rubric can be used to evaluate student performance during the learning process and/or at the end of a learning unit. While a rubric can be a powerful informational tool during the learning process, for the purposes of this module, we’ll focus on using a rubric as a summative assessment tool.

Authentic summative assessments transparently align with course learning outcomes, leaving little room for misunderstanding performance expectations and quality benchmarks. Rubrics distinctly communicate what it is you want to see and articulate the steps that will take the students where they need to go.

wHY Use A RUBRIc? “The greater understanding the students have about what makes up good performance, the greater the likelihood of them achieving high levels of performance” (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008, p. 74). Rubrics support transparency, trust, and high expectations—three hallmarks of a high-functioning learning community. Typically, rubrics are either distributed at the same time the assignment/project is first mentioned or are included in the course syllabus. Adult learners want to know what is expected of them: a rubric tells them in well-defined, simple terms. Reviewing the rubric as a group when the assignment is given before any work is put into the product helps create a collaborative, open learning environment where questions are welcomed and success is accessible for all. The clear expectations expressed in a rubric lay the responsibility squarely at the feet of the learner. “By passing out the rubric in advance and allowing time for the components to be discussed, we make our implicit expectations explicit” (Stevens & Levi, 2005, p. 22).

Stevens and Levi (2005) propose six key reasons for using rubrics:

1. Rubrics provide timely feedback.

2. Rubrics prepare students to use detailed feedback.

3. Rubrics encourage critical thinking.

4. Rubrics facilitate communication with others.

5. Rubrics help us refine our teaching skills.

6. Rubrics level the playing field.

With rubrics, we focus our attention on what we expect in

the best and worst assignments, and we do it the same way – in the same order – for each and

every assignment.

~ Danielle Stevens & Antonia Levi

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Although time-consuming to develop, rubrics pay dividends in the classroom and during marking. Expectations are clearly presented before the assessment begins, feedback for all criteria is ready for quick selection, and the same process is used for every student. Rubrics can also provide more accurate result patterns that can be used to adjust instruction, resources, even the assessments themselves. Stevens and Levi (2005) argue that rubrics showing student development over time can allow us to gain a clearer view of teaching blind spots, omissions, and strengths.

Providing students with the opportunity to discuss performance expectations and grading criteria prior to an assessment typically enhances comprehension and performance. The transparency of the assessment process also acts to reduce student stress and underlines a commitment to objectivity.

wHen not to Use A RUBRIc Sometimes a rubric isn’t the answer. If an assessment task allows for only specific answers, (e.g, Yes or No, True or False, A, B, C, or D, single short answer with only one possibility, matching) something like a checklist or answer key will suffice.

cReAtInG eFFectIVe RUBRIcs Rubrics can be applied to virtually every behaviour that can be observed. Rubrics make seemingly immeasurable things measurable and, therefore, comparable (Banta, 2007). Creating an effective rubric can be time consuming—especially if you’ve never done one before. Often, a collaborative effort between course developers produces the strongest, most effective rubrics. According to Rhodes (2010), rubrics are a series of choices, a balance between generality and specificity, a record of negotiated compromises, and a product of many minds at work to collaboratively create new knowledge.

tYPes oF RUBRIcs There are two types of rubrics: holistic and analytic.

A holistic rubric evaluates performance across multiple criteria. Specific feedback for improvement is not necessarily communicated. Holistic rubrics are useful for a broad, global assessment of student performance, such as a portfolio or response journal.

An analytic rubric breaks down an assessment task into performance criteria with clearly articulated performance levels. Analytic rubrics identify what was done well and where improvement is required. Analytic rubrics are most useful for tasks with multiple criteria, performance levels, and weighting concerns.

At NAIT, analytic rubrics are used more frequently than holistic ones. So, for the purposes of this module, let’s focus on the analytic rubric.

RUBRIc coMPonents Rubrics typically have three components:

1. Criteria/Dimensions

2. Scale

3. Task Descriptions

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1. Criteria/Dimensions The first step in developing a rubric is defining what quality demonstration of the learning outcome means. Examine the authentic assessment task developed for the outcome and articulate what will be necessary to accomplish that task. What exactly are students expected to do? How do you want them to do it? What exactly are you looking for? Consider the synthesis of the concepts, skills, and issues required to master the course outcome. Clearly state the details of the depths of knowledge and skills you want students to demonstrate and all parameters they must work within. Whether this results in a series of objective-like statements or a list of task components is up to you. These statements are the criteria or dimensions of the task.

Weighting of criteria can also be determined at this stage, if applicable. Weighting is the process by which some criteria are allotted more of the total score than others. This gives the rubric developer(s) the ability to place emphasis on certain criteria while still allowing supporting criteria to be reflected in the task expectations.

2. Scale The second step to rubric development is deciding on a scale. The spectrum of the scale will communicate how well or poorly a task was completed. The number of categories in the scale is up to the discretion of the developer(s); however, a scale of 4 or 6 performance levels is typical. Generally speaking, an even number provides more direction for a student as there is no middle ground or average to nestle into. Huba and Freed (2000) have compiled some commonly scales:

• Sophisticated, competent, partly competent, not yet competent

• Exemplary, proficient, marginal, unacceptable

• Advanced, intermediate high, intermediate

• Accomplished, average, developing, beginning

3. Task descriptions The last component of rubric development is landing on the detailed descriptions of each criteria level. Students find assessment of coursework motivating, enabling them to learn during the assessment process. But they need more help to understand the assessment criteria and what is expected to meet these criteria (Harlen, 2005). Criteria descriptions illustrate exactly what is expected at each level of the scale and clearly delineate the differences between each level.

One of the most common areas rubric developers struggle with is the move from quantitative factors to qualitative factors. For example, if spelling and grammar are criteria for assessment, a flawed rubric might reference the number of errors allowed for each level, where a preferred rubric illustrates how the errors do (or do not) impact the meaning of the product or presentation. Numeric values are generally inappropriate for rubrics: they are more appropriate when absolutes are required. For a subjective assessment task requiring the use of a rubric, descriptors must reflect the extent to which students demonstrate the criteria (Bennett & Mulgrew, 2009).

LET’S LOOK AT TWO SAMPLE RUBRICS AND PROPOSE SOME CRITERIA AND DESCRIPTIONS

The following two rubrics provide examples of partially constructed criteria and descriptions. We’ll continue using the professionalism outcome and CSIs from Module 2.

No single process for rubric construction works for all course developers; however, we can say it’s not likely to be a linear process. Be prepared to go back and forth as you carefully consider and select the terminology that will best describe the criteria and descriptions.

…assessment efforts should not be concerned about valuing

what can be measured but, instead, about measuring that

which is valued.

~ Trudy Banta

RUBRIC EXAMPLE #1

Task for assessment: Present yourself professionally by giving a 10-minute oral product demonstration for use in a workplace team meeting

LEVEL / CRITERIA 4 – EXCELLENT 3 – GOOD 2 – ADEQUATE 1 - LIMITED INSUFFICIENT WEIGHTING TOTAL

Organizes content Organizes information in a precise manner to clarify understanding

Organizes information in a logical manner to support understanding

Organizes information in a simplistic manner to partially support understanding

Organization is haphazard and does little to assist understanding

Insufficient evidence based on the requirements of the assignment

3

Applies persuasive communication techniques

Communicates information in a compelling manner to engage the audience

Communicates information in an effective manner to interest the audience

Communicates information in an straightforward manner to generally hold the attention of the audience

Communicates information in an i n-effective manner that does little to sustain the attention of the audience


2

Demonstrates a professional demeanor

...

WHAT DESCRIPTIONS CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT THESE ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AT EACH LEvEL?


3

Responds to audience questions and feedback

... 2

Total score/Total possible score

39

RUBRIC EXAMPLE #2

Summative assessment task: Present yourself professionally by giving a 10 minute oral product demonstration for use in a workplace team meeting

Course outcome: Present oneself professionally in writing and conversation in the workplace

Organization and Coherence

Introduction

Introduction is effectively developed

and prepares the audience for the rest of

the presentation

3

Introduction is somewhat developed and provides a partial

sense of direction for the rest of the

presentation

2

Introduction is undeveloped and

does not orient the audience to what will

follow

1

Insufficient evidence based on the

requirements of the assignment

0

Subject Knowledge and Related Areas

Content is relevant, emphasizing key

points and supported by sufficient evidence

6

Content is appropriate, supported by basic points and partial

evidence

4

Content is undeveloped and unsupported by

evidence

2



0

General Organization

Presentation is effectively planned

and logically sequenced

6

Presentation is generally well planned and sequenced, with some improvement

possible

4

Presentation is disjointed with poor

sequencing and linkages

2



0

Delivery

General Delivery Style

Delivery style is fluid and engages audience

6

Delivery style is developing but not yet polished; delivery style

informs audience

4

Delivery style is ineffective and does

little to sustain audience interest

2



0

Language

Language is ideal for a professional audience

and enhances understanding

3

Language is acceptable for a

professional audience and does not distract from understanding

2

Language is inappropriate for a

professional audience or interferes with

understanding

1



0

…etc



0

Adapted from Stiehl and Lewchuk, 2008. Pp. 102-103

40

REFERENCES

Banta, T. W. (2007). Can assessment for accountability complement assessment for improvement? Association of American Colleges and Universities, 9(2).

Bennett, S., & Mulgrew, A. (2009). Building better rubrics. Edmonton, AB: Alberta assessment consortium.

Dietel, R.J., Herrman, J.L., & Knuth, R.A. (1991). What does the research say about assessment? In North central regional educational laboratory. Retrieved July 18, 2012, http://methodenpool. unikoeln. de/portfolio/What%20Does%20Research%20Say%20About%20Assessment. htm

Harlen, W. (2005). Teachers’ summative practices and assessment for learning: Tensions and synergies. The Curriculum Journal, 16(2), 207-223.

Huba, M.E., & Freed, J.E. (2000). Learner-centered assessment on college campuses: Shifting the focus from teaching to learning. Boston, MA: Ally & Bacon.

Jafee, D. (2012). Stop telling students to study for exams. Chronicle of Higher Education, 58(34).

Leskes, A., & Wright B. (2005). The art and science of assessing general education outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Montgomery, K. (2002). Authentic tasks and rubrics: Going beyond traditional assessments in college teaching. College Teaching, 50(1), 34.

Park University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. (2010). Incorporating authentic assessment. Retrieved July 18, 2012, from http://www. park. edu/cetl/quicktips/authassess. html

Rhodes, T. L. (2010). Assessing outcomes and improving achievement: Tips and tools for using rubrics. Association of American Colleges and Universities, Washington: D. C.

The Conference Board of Canada. (2012). Employability skills 2000+. In The conference board of Canada: Insights you can count on. Retrieved July 18, 2012, from http://www. conferenceboard. ca/topics/education/learning-tools/employability-skills. aspx

Shephard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7).

Stevens, D., Levi, A., & Walvoord, B. (2005). Introduction to rubrics: An assessment tool to save grading time, convey effective feedback, and promote student learning. Virginia: Stylus Publishing.

Stiehl, R., & Lewchuck, L. (2008). The assessment primer: Creating a flow of learning evidence. Corvallis, OR: The Learning Organization.

seLectInG LeARnInG ActIVItIesMoDULe4

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to select a variety of activities and experiences to support student learning.

WHAT IS LEARNING?

Until several decades ago, it was popularly believed that teaching meant filling a student’s head with information. Knowledge was transmitted from the teacher to the learner, generally by lecture (Wirth & Perkins, 2007). Despite decades of research providing irrefutable evidence that learning activities combined with meaningful interaction, practice, and formative feedback lead to learning success, the lecture has persisted as the most common learning activity in post-secondary classrooms. A common lament among faculty (and arguably legitimate at least some of the time) has been that there is too much content to cover to allow faculty to manufacture robust learning activities.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

The driving force behind outcomes based education (OBE) is the shift in focus towards what the student does. The role of the instructor remains critical; however, rather than the traditional role of sage on the stage, the OBE instructor becomes the guide on the side, creating meaningful opportunities for learners to gather information, practice skills, and apply new knowledge to real-world situations.

Because student involvement is vital to the learning process, it follows that OBE principles will strongly affect the selection of learning activities. Let’s examine this in greater detail.

READYING LEARNERS FOR THE REAL WORLD

Planning for OBE curriculum begins with articulating what graduates of the program will have to do out there. Once you know what graduates are expected to do out there, it’s relatively easy to determine program and course outcomes that align with those expectations. The real-world construct of OBE provides some exciting opportunities for curriculum developers: freed from the constraint of predetermined examination periods and the traditional default to paper-based knowledge testing, developers can conceptualize purposeful, engaging learning and assessment experiences.

…active learning requires students to do meaningful

learning activities and think about what they are doing.

~ Michael Prince

Learning is about the ability to face the waves of life. It is not static. Nor are learners meant

to be still ships stranded on silent sands.

~ Ana Cristina Pratas

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Having the skills to function independently is essential in almost every workplace today. Therefore, the focus of education is shifting from teaching to learning (Wirth & Perkins, 2007). Today’s learners need to know how to find information, adapt it to existing or emerging situations, and create new knowledge to inform workplace practices. Out there, the emphasis is on making connections, thinking through issues, and solving problems. So, in here—in our physical and virtual classrooms, labs, shops, and practicums—we’re ethically bound by our profession to strategically design learning experiences that prepare our students to make those connections, think through issues, and solve problems.

If we want learners to use and retain their knowledge, we must build in more time in which learners can practice what they learn. This kind of outcomes based learning is consistent with a variety of methodologies, including experiential learning, role-plays, simulations, and problem-based learning. They all create active learning environments and focus on meaningfully developing skills and understanding (SAIDE, 2010). Providing learners with opportunities to develop and practice real-world skills is a critical component of learning activities.

CLARIFYING INTENTIONS—CURRICULUM THROUGH THE REAL-WORLD LENS

If our focus is on developing and practicing real-world skills, we have to make a fundamental shift. We have to move away from an approach driven by a series of topics to one driven by the real-world concepts, skills, and issues the curriculum is getting at. In other words, all learning activities must transparently align with the concepts, skills, and/or issues to which they are linked.

A learning activity is a purposeful learning experience that supports the process of learning and achieving the desired product. As a curriculum developer, it’s helpful to remember that activity design is most effective when it guides the instructor with sufficient detail to support pre-planning, presenting, and facilitating the learning activity and assessing the extent to which students have learned through the activity (Wasserman, Davis , & Astrab, 2007).

SETTING APPROPRIATE STANDARDS—ENCOURAGING BIGGER THINKING

Thinking, designing, and teaching in an outcomes based mindset requires that we use teaching and learning strategies which promote understanding and a capacity to apply that understanding to novel situations. Rote learning, simply put, just doesn’t cut it in the 21st century workplace.

To prepare students for 21st century imperatives, Wiggins (2005) proposes a multifaceted pedagogy structured to promote six levels of understanding:

1. To explain

• Providing theoretical justification and insightful examples/illustrations

2. To interpret

• Translating to a specific context

3. To apply

• Effectively using and adapting to real-world contexts

4. To exercise perspective

• Critically considering other viewpoints and immediate and future contexts

5. To exercise empathy

• Judiciously finding value where others might not

6. To demonstrate self-knowledge

• Consistently reflecting on how habits of mind and behaviour shape meaning and can inhibit understanding

43

Teaching students how to think rather than what to think is a primary goal of higher education (Daly, 2001; Kronholm, 1996; Myllykangas & Foose; 2007). Resnick (1999, p. 39) suggests that what we want to encourage are empowered, life-long learners:

If students are held to low expectations and have not been taught to think, they accept the judgment that inborn aptitude matters most and that they have not inherited enough of that capacity and their performance remains low. It is also widely known that if students are treated as if they are intelligent, they actually become so. They learn more and learn more quickly. They think of themselves as continuous and powerful learners.

Empowering the learner makes the learner responsible for constructing knowledge and understanding, and moves the teacher from the role of authority to one who guides the learner though assisting and facilitating deep learning (Wirth & Perkins, 2007).

BUILDING FOR DIVERSITY WITH VARIETY

If NAIT is truly preparing students to succeed out there, our course developers need to integrate a spectrum of learning activities that lend themselves to developing capacity for career success in a diverse world. Quality curriculum incorporates diversity in its design and delivery, rejecting the one size fits all approach to instruction by embedding inclusivity in all aspects of the curriculum.

Inclusive curriculum design and delivery practices are often called differentiated instruction. Teachers differentiate instruction by modifying the depth (complexity) of content, the processes by which students learn, the content itself, and the products students are expected to create based on considerations of learning styles, interests, and skills levels (Pilter, Hubbell, & Khun, 2007).

It might be helpful to compare a classroom with a sports team: game preparation sometimes includes team-wide discussion or lecture, large or small group activities, expert and peer coaching, one-on-one assistance, group practice and game simulations, and individual off-field assignments—all with the same objective in mind: success.

SELECTING OBE-ALIGNED LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Selecting learning activities for outcomes based curriculum means considering each of the four principles of OBE and applying those principles to each course outcome. This isn’t to say that every lesson will have to contain numerous learning activities that address different levels of comprehension or learning styles. It merely means these principles should be accommodated over the duration of a course outcome.

The course developer is responsible for creating a list of pedagogically sound sample learning activities from which instructors can choose when they create their individual lesson plans. Wassserman, Davis, and Astrab (2007) developed a list of characteristics of effective learning activities that provide course developers with a checklist for ensuring learning activities attend to the rigour, diversity, and alignment required of OBE curriculum.

44

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1. Align with course outcomesLearning activities directly align with one or more of the concepts, skills, and issues associated with the course outcome(s).

2. Focus on student learningLearning activities empower the learner to gain, practice, and master the applicable knowledge and skills.

3. Have a compelling purposeLearning activities are meaningful and relevant and contribute to achievement of the related course outcome(s).

4. Have clear objectivesThe reason for the learning activity is transparent to the learner and clearly aligns with the lesson objective(s).

5. Support the type of learning desiredLearning activities align with the level of knowledge and skill required to support learning the associated concepts, issues, and/or skills.

6. Balance content and skill developmentLearning activities allow the learner to gain knowledge and practice using the knowledge.

7. Support the needs of diverse learning stylesEach course outcome is supported by more than one type of learning activity.

8. Include assessment of student learning

See Module 5 on Formative Assessment.

9. Include assessment of the activity

Adapted from: Wasserman, J. , Davis, C. , & Astrab, D. P. (2007).

INCORPORATING VARIETY

To achieve equitable access to learning success, curriculum developers should integrate a variety of learning activities over the duration of a course and, where possible, over the span of an outcome. There are a wide variety of learning activities to choose from. Some activities would support in-class learning, some would support out-of-class learning, and some would support both. While you’re reading through the activities, think about how they might/might not work in a course that you’ve taught or are teaching. Depending on what you’re trying to get at (concepts/issues/skills), some activities would be an obvious fit, while others would likely not work at all. Remember, too, that quality curriculum at NAIT incorporates the use of high quality active learning strategies. The quality curriculum developer incorporates variety strategically—seeking always to optimize student engagement and enhance access to learning success. Variety for the sake of variety does not support quality curriculum.

45

IN-CLASS LEARNING ACTIVITIESACTIVITY DEFINITION SOME EXAMPLES

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

ACTIVE LEARNING

Integrates social peer learning into structured learning activities that support positive interdependence, interaction, accountability, and group performance

Think, pair, share; carousel learning activities; jig-saw learning activities; paired reading; short projects (flow chart creation, brainstorming, KWL)

DEMONSTRATION

ACTIVE LEARNING PASSIVE LEARNING

Typically a teacher-led performance of a task showing precisely how the task should be done in the real world; demonstrations can integrate student participation to enhance engagement

How to do “x”; what happens when procedures for “x” are not followed; exemplars of task work or high-level skills can be incorporated

DISCUSSION

ACTIVE LEARNING

An oral exploration of a concept, skill, or issue that occurs between two or more people

Open-ended discussion, guided discussion, talking circles, debate

OUT-OF-CLASS LEARNING ACTIVITIESACTIVITY DEFINITION SOME EXAMPLES

TUTORIALS

ACTIVE LEARNING

Seeks to enhance understanding through one-on-one or group support that typically takes place outside of regularly scheduled class times and is guided by the gaps identified by the student; can be facilitated by an instructor or tutor or can be computer assisted

Self-paced, computer assisted study, drop-in tutorial centres, scheduled review tutorials

SERVICE LEARNING

ACTIVE LEARNING

Incorporates community service to support positive change; an individual or collaborative learning activity

Field experience, research project, product construction

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

ACTIVE LEARNING

Structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks

Research project, product construction

FIELD TRIPS

ACTIVE LEARNING

Takes place outside of the classroom and provides students with the opportunity to explore course concepts, skills, and issues in context

Observational activity in real-world contexts, sustained investigation, projects, onsite field visits

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OUT-OF-CLASS LEARNING ACTIVITIES (continued)

ACTIVITY DEFINITION SOME EXAMPLES

WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING

ACTIVE LEARNING

Full-time workplace learning experience where learning is supervised and specific outcomes are practiced and evaluated

Internship, practicum, work placement, student placement, cooperative education, credit work experience, directed field studies, clinical rotation, clinical education

INDEPENDENT STUDY

ACTIVE LEARNING

An opportunity for students to learn more about an area of study that isn’t covered by regular program curriculum; outcomes and related assessments are identified in advance of the project by both the supervising faculty and the student

Applied research opportunity, independent study project, capstone project

As you consider the type of learning activity that will best reinforce the concepts, issues, and skills that support achieving a course outcome or series of outcomes, you might also find it helpful to think about the level of knowledge the learning activity is getting at. Below are a series of learning activities sorted by the kinds of thinking they typically support:

SAMPLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMYKNOWLEDGE

COMPREHENSION

CREATIVE THINKING

APPLICATION

ANALYSIS

SYNTHESIS

EVALUATION

Question-and-answer sessions Workbooks or worksheets Programmed instruction games and puzzles Information search Reading assignments Drill and practice Finding definitions Memory games or quizzes Matching Debate Dramatization Just Suppose Lecture Recitation Peer teaching Morning Talk (Show/Tell) Small group projects Projects Making predictions or estimates Giving examples Paraphrasing Demonstrations

Brainstorming Problem solving Just Suppose Open-ended questions Paradoxes Story completion or Picture completion Idea checklists Morphological analysis Forced associations or Forced relationships Unusual Titles Using analogy Catalog techniques Seeing possible Causes, Consequences, and Implications Simulation activities Role playing and role reversal Producing newspaper stories, ads, etc. Model building Interviewing Class or group presentation Conducting experiments Making up classifications Simulations Demonstrations Case studies

Generating criteria for evaluation (brainstorming) Morphological Analysis/ Checkerboard techniques Attribute listing Problem identification Outlining written material Making deductions Comparing and contrasting Procuring an original plan Defining the problem, identifying goals and objectives Organizing and conducting an original product Showing how some idea or product might be changed Finding new combinations Making evaluations of peer projects and presentations Evaluating data, given criteria to apply Evaluating one’s own products and ideas Case studies Simulations Demonstrations

Adapted from http://learningandteaching.dal.ca/tips.html Dalhousie University, Centre for Teaching and Learning, 2011

47

LET’S CONTINUE BUILDING OUR CDD AND PROPOSE SOME LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Review the CSIs you created in Module 2 and the decisions you made about the type of summative assessments that would authentically demonstrate achievement of the outcome. What learning activities would best support developing and practicing the skills required to meet that outcome? Add three learning activities to the CDD.

This is perhaps the simplest, yet the most profound, truth of all. The f un damental r eason for teaching is to help someone learn something. Anything you do that

c ontributes to this purpose is sk illful t eaching, no matter how much it may

depart from your traditional ex pe ctations about how teachers are supposed to

b ehave. Anything you do that inhibits learning, no matter how much it exemplifies

traditional expectations, should be diminished or stopped.

~ Stephen Brookfield

Outcome(s):













Codes of conduct


Persuasive model

Plain language


...



Lead workplace activities that support diverse perspectives and ideas; turn conflict into opportunity

...



Ethics


...

Cooperative learning: Jigsaw exercise – could be used for communication model concepts

Lecture/Guest Speaker: Workplace scenario videos & discussion – could be used for professional appropriateness and audience diversity skills and issues

Simulation: Workplace role playing – could be used for almost any combination of these concepts, skills, and issues

WHAT OTHER LEARNINg ACTIvITIES CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT THIS COURSE OUTCOME? WHAT CONCEPTS, ISSUES, AND SKILLS WOULD THEY SUPPORT?




49

REFERENCES

Daly, W. M. (2001). The development of an alternative method in the assessment of critical thinking as an outcome of nursing education. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36(1), 120-130.

Kronholm, M. (1996). The impact of developmental instruction on reflective judgment. Review of Higher Education, 19(2), 199-225.

Myllykangas, S. A , & Foose, A. K. (2007). Building critical thinking one article at a time. Schole: A Journal of Leisure Studies & Recreation Education, 22, 79-84.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Resnick, L. B. (1999). Making America smarter. Education Week.

South African Institute for Distance Education (2010). Using media in teaching: Learning guide. Retrieved from http://www. oerafrica. org/FTPFolder//Website%20Materials/Teacher%20Education/UsingMedia/Using%20Media%20in%20teaching. pdf

Wasserman, J., Davis, C., & Astrab, D. (2007). Activity design handbook: Overview of learning activities. Retrieved September 23 from: http://www. pcrest2. com/program/ADI_proof4sm2. pdf and http://cetl. matcmadison. edu/efgb/2/2_4_13. htm

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wirth, L.R., & Perkins, D. (2007). Learning to learn. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://cgiss. boisestate. edu/~billc/Teaching/Items/learningtolearn. pdf

DeVeLoPInG FoRMAtIVe AssessMentsMoDULe5

… attention to minute-by- minute and day-to-day formative

assessment is likely to have the biggest impact on student

outcomes.

~ Dylan Wiliam

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to select and develop formative assessments that provide feedback on learner progress and instruction.

WHAT IS FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT?

Formative assessment is assessment for learning. It is sometimes thought of as informal assessment although it is no less intentional than summative assessment. Formative assessment supports the process of learning—in other words, assessing what is happening while it is happening on the way to achieving the learning outcome. It’s a way for both instructors and students to determine how well (or if!) they are advancing towards achieving the outcomes of a course. Formative assessment allows students time to adjust and improve. Whereas summative assessment typically focuses on grades, formative assessment focuses on feedback on what is going well, what isn’t going well, how the strengths underlying what’s going well can be leveraged to support learning success, and what can be done to fortify underlying weaknesses.

Formative assessment focuses on the practice of supporting learning—assessing the learner’s knowledge and skills before a recorded (graded) performance so that adjustments for enhanced learning can be made by both the learner and the instructor. This is done by collecting evidence of learning, reviewing the results, sharing them with the learners, and then determining and applying ways to enhance the learning process.

The end goals of a course and all the components embedded in it are always the same: learners must be able to demonstrate the course outcomes according to established criteria. Diverse, purposeful learning activities accord learners extensive opportunity to develop, practice, and demonstrate their understanding and proficiency in a lower-stakes environment. Formative assessment informs students of what they are doing well and of what they are still learning. Mistakes become new learning opportunities rather than predictions of failure. Formative assessment allows instructors to evaluate how students are doing before the summative assessment occurs so that critical, adaptive instructional decisions can be made. “Formative assessment also enables students to take responsibility for their own learning, creating opportunities for self-growth and improvement” (Bohemia, Harma, & McDowell, 2009, p. 125).

52

…there is no such thing as effective teaching in the absence of learning; teaching without learning is just talking

~ T. Angelo & P.K. Cross

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

Formative assessment is not a new concept. Good teachers have always known that constructive feedback over a series of learning activities supports learning success. In the early 1900s, John Dewey wrote extensively about the merits of feedback—and he wasn’t the first to propose the value of coaching, multiple opportunities for practice, and the value of low-stakes learning environments. OBE has simply given us a theoretical framework for these practices. Chances are you’re already (intentionally or unintentionally) using formative assessment techniques in your instruction. However, NAIT’s commitment to OBE means formative assessment is now a required component of course design.

One of the four essential features of OBE is teaching excellence or informed practice. Decades of research consistently show that learning is enhanced when the learner is an active participant in his/her own learning. Curriculum models that relegate students to the role of passive recipients of knowledge no longer suffice. To ensure consistent quality curriculum across NAIT and to support access to learning success for all students, NAIT courses emphasize learning, not memorization. The work place doesn’t want graduates who can regurgitate facts and recall processes; it wants graduates who are creative, innovative, empowered learners, who are able to leverage information and experience to inform professional practice.

NAIT’s commitment to teaching excellence also means that instruction is geared to “increase the likelihood of most students achieving the outcomes” (NAIT OBE Faculty Guide, 2012). This doesn’t mean simplifying the curriculum or lowering the standards for a passing grade. It means that, much like a sports team coach, for instance, we teach, we watch, we learn, and we adapt our instruction to identify and respond appropriately to learner needs. For example, sometimes a team practice will involve all the players doing the same thing. Sometimes the coach will divide the team up to practice in smaller groups, perhaps having players who excel assist their peers. Sometimes the coach will be assisting a player one-on-one. A lesson, like a practice, depends on assessing how things are going and taking constant steps towards improvement.

One of the ways to examine our progress towards alignment with OBE is to consistently incorporate formative assessment as a key element of course construction.

Giving our students the opportunity to express their understanding and to give and receive constructive feedback is “…perhaps the single most important hallmark of excellence in guiding learning experiences” (Stiehl & Lewchuk, 2008, p. 41). Not only does it improve performance, but it also empowers the learner and enriches the learning environment by encouraging collaboration, innovation, and discussion within a safe, low-risk environment (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2005; Black & Wiliams, 1998).

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT: A SHARED PURPOSE AND ROLE

Once in the workplace, NAIT graduates will be expected to have the ability to both give and receive feedback. They give feedback to their peers and to the workplace itself, and they receive feedback from peers and teachers on their performances and adjust accordingly. NAIT students self-assess

regularly and act on that self-assessment. Feedback is a critical element of formative assessment.

Students are most likely to look to their instructor to give them feedback on their performance—after all, the instructor is the expert, the one who guides their learning and who will ultimately provide the ruling on whether or not they advance in or pass the course. Although there is truth to this, formative assessment is very much about both instructor and student involvement.

53

How can we use assessment to help all our students want to

learn? How can we help them feel able to learn?

~ Richard Stiggens

Over the last few decades, perceptions have shifted about the responsibility of the teacher and the student. Today, emphasis is being placed on a shared responsibility in which “the teacher is responsible for designing and implementing an effective learning environment, and the learner is responsible for the learning within that environment” (Black & Wiliam, 2009, p. 7). But how is this shared responsibility put into practice? Quality curriculum design and delivery creates conditions that support learning: making relevant information and processes to find information available to the learner, structuring opportunities for the learner to participate in his/her own learning, and measuring progress at strategic junctures so that adaptations to instruction and learning processes can be made. This means both instructors and students have roles to play in formative assessment.

INSTRUCTOR STUDENT

Designs formative assessment tools in collaboration with subject-matter experts

Consistently and effectively provides formative assessment opportunities

Completes and submits formative assessments

Reviews formative assessment results and makes them available to students

Reviews formative assessment results by self, with peers, with classmates

Uses results to determine what is being learned, and to what depth

Uses results to assess breadth and depth of learning (peer and self-assessment)

Provides constructive feedback to class, groups, and individual students, providing suggestions for improvement

Provides constructive feedback to peers, providing suggestions for improvement

Adjusts instructional methods according to formative assessment results

Refocuses on areas requiring additional attention; obtains additional assistance where required

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT AND MOTIVATION

Consensus has not yet been reached regarding whether assessment can be considered formative if it is graded and recorded towards a final mark. In fact, this issue has been debated for years, with some experts firmly in the no camp and others—just as firmly—in the yes camp. The issue seems to be less about the fundamental merits of grading-or-not-grading student work than it is about whether or not students will be motivated to do something if it’s not graded.

Two influential researchers in the study of assessment, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, conducted extensive studies regarding the impact of formative assessment on student performance. Their conclusion was that grading in and of itself does not improve learning:

Research studies have shown that, if pupils are given only marks or grades, they do not benefit from the feedback…. Feedback has been shown to improve learning when it gives each pupil specific guidance on strengths and weaknesses, preferably without any overall marks. Thus the way in which best results are reported to pupils so that they can identify their own strengths and weaknesses is critical. Pupils must be given the means and opportunities to work with evidence of their difficulties. (Black & Wiliam, 1998, p. 144)

54

Self-assessment is essential for progress as a learner: for understanding of selves as l earners, for an increasingly c omplex understanding of tasks and learning goals, and for s trategic knowledge of how to go about improving.

~ Royce Sadler

Increasingly, students entering post-secondary education are already familiar with formative assessment methodologies and terminology, and bring with them some expectations around formative assessment practices. However, the culture of grading persists: it will take time and quality curriculum and teaching excellence to move into a culture where students will be motivated by the relevance of their learning activities and by the inherent reward of seeing their skills expand and their expertise grow (Brown & Knight, 1994).

The quality curriculum construct asks curriculum developers and instructors to be ever mindful of their allegiance to course outcomes: if we propose grading to motivate, we risk compromising the constructive alignment that is integral to OBE.

PLANNING FOR FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

Unlike summative assessment, which typically occurs at the end of a course outcome, formative assessment happens all the time—from spontaneous feedback to explicit formative tasks. Because formative assessment is about continuous improvement, every individual lesson should include a planned formative assessment component.

Formative assessment is “learner-centered, teacher-directed, mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing, and firmly rooted in good practice” (Angelo & Cross, 1993, p. 4).

Attendance to the following seven principles provides a strong foundation for formative assessment construction.

Formative Assessments:

1) Align with their course outcome

2) Explain achievement targets

3) Accommodate learning preferences

4) Accurately reflect student achievement

5) Emphasize student responsibility for learning and promote building of confidence as a learner

6) Allow results to be used to provide feedback

7) Include the opportunity to use the feedback to revise teaching or learning strategies

(Adapted from Stiggins, 2002, p. 761-762)

You will note that some of these principles are common among all authentic assessment types and some are unique to formative assessment. Assessment becomes formative when elements are introduced that will allow both students and instructor to make adjustments to meet learning goals and needs (Black & Wiliams, 1998).

Let’s look at each of these elements more closely.

55

ALIGNMENT WITH COURSE OUTCOME(S)

Authentic assessment requires that all assessments be aligned with course outcomes. Since numerous formative assessments will take place over the span of one course outcome, each formative assessment must align with the concepts, issues, and skills related to the lesson it occurs in. This alignment must be present as “…assessment tasks that students perceive to be trivial or superficial are less likely to evoke a strong commitment to study” (James, McInnis, & Devlin, 2002, p. 3).

EXPLAINING ACHIEVEMENT TARGETS

Some formative assessments will need to have achievement (performance) criteria explicitly stated; for example, assessments where the instructor can provide students with an idea of what an ideal performance looks like.

Other formative assessments will have no specific achievement targets as the desired end results are not known. Formative assessments like in-class, whole-group discussions can show how students are feeling about their understanding of course concepts, issues, and skills.

ACCOMMODATION OF LEARNING PREFERENCES

We know that classroom demographics today are diverse. To create learning conditions conducive to achieving the greatest success, instructors must utilize a wide variety of formative assessment tools. Formative assessment tools can help instructors make discoveries about learners in order to assess the progress of learning and to improve instruction.

ACCURATE REFLECTION OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

All assessments must accurately measure what they are intended to measure or they won’t be of much help to students or instructors. Formative assessments should provide concrete information to inform learning and/or instruction.

EMPHASIS ON STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEARNING AND PROMOTION OF LEARNER CONFIDENCE

Formative assessment provides the tools, processes, and coaching support for the learner. It is the responsibility of the learner to optimize his/her own success by attending to the information gained from formative assessment. Successful, confident learners know what is expected of them, and they do well in environments that have been structured to allow them to try, fail, adapt, and succeed.

ALLOWING RESULTS TO BE USED TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK

Formative assessment provides opportunity for improvement. Formative assessment must include constructive feedback that identifies specific strengths and weaknesses, provides explanations, and offers useful advice (Angelo & Cross, 1993). This applies to feedback coming from both instructors and students.

In short, the effect of assessment for learning, as it plays out in the classroom, is that students keep

learning and remain confident that they can continue to learn

at productive levels if they keep trying to learn. In other

words, students don’t give up in frustration or hopelessness.

~ Rick Stiggens

INCLUDING THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE FEEDBACK TO REVISE TEACHING OR LEARNING STRATEGIES

The timing of formative assessments is critical; they are strategically employed at junctures in a course when adaptations can still be made. Simply put, if there is no possibility the results and feedback of an assessment could be used to improve learning (for student) and practice (for instructor), there is no sense completing it.

EXAMPLES OF FORMATIVE FEEDBACK

There are many formative assessment strategies and tools available to curriculum developers—from class assessment activities to the pre-submission of assignments for comments and suggestions: what makes them formative is their ability to provide the students and instructor with the opportunity for improvement.

There are literally hundreds of formative feedback strategies and tools that can measure student learning while it is happening. The following table presents an overview of a few strategies and how and when they might be used:

WHEN AND WHERE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT CAN BE USEDBEGINNING OF

CLASSDURING CLASS END OF CLASS AFTER CLASS

WHY FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT CAN BE USED

To determine prior knowledge and/or beliefs, student backgrounds, student expectations

To observe, discuss, practice; to assess real-time learning

To assess effectiveness of teaching, student understanding, analysis, synthesis

To allow for practice, pre-performance, check on progress made on learning in absence of instructor

EXAMPLES OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOLS

Anonymous polls, surveys, quizzes

Active learning strategies: role playing, classroom/small group discussions, simulations, problem solving, individual coaching, polls (clickers), open- and closed- ended Q&A

One Sentence Summary – Who, What, When, Where, Why; 3-Minute Essay of main points; Stop, Maintain, Start; Muddiest Point; Ticket Out the Door

Journals, reflection on additional reading, case studies, problem solving, pre-submission of summative assessment, blog

INSTRUCTOR RESPONSE

(note: this can be provided directly or indirectly – e. g. posted answers can be given to individuals or groups)

Shares correct answers and results with class; makes any necessary adjustments to instruction (e.g. review or fast-forward, clarifying or discussing expectations); provides feedback regarding suggestions for success (e. g. additional or remedial coursework, formation of study groups)

Live coaching and feedback identifying areas of strength and weakness and suggestions for improvement; adjusts instruction according to learner needs

Shares results with class (e.g., best responses, areas of concern); makes any necessary adjustments to instruction (e.g., review, discussion); provides feedback regarding suggestions for increased success

Share results with individual

STUDENT RESPONSE

Self-identifies own level of performance, makes adjustments to study as required




57

LET’S CONTINUE BUILDING OUR CDD AND PROPOSE SOME FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Review the learning activities you created in Module 4. What types of formative assessment would best support assessing the extent to which learning success is happening? Add three formative assessments to the CDD.

Dawdling is dumb. Because compelling evidence now exists that formative

assessment, when appropriately implemented, has a profound positive

impact on students’ learning; to delay in expanding the use of formative feedback

short changes our students educationally and, thereby, demeans our profession.

~ William James Popham

Outcome(s):













Codes of conduct


Persuasive model

Plain language


...





…



Ethics


...


Lecture/Guest Speaker: Workplace scenario videos & discussion – could be used for professional appropriateness and audience diversity skills and issues

Simulation: Workplace role playing – could be used for almost any combination of these concepts, skills, and issues

Classroom Opinion Poll or Background Knowledge Probe (beginning of course)

Everyday Ethical Dilemma (case study) = ethics + professional appropriateness + legal obligations + codes of conduct + appropriate communication models and levels

Categorizing Grid (sorting) = different models of communication + when to apply each level + diversity

WHAT OTHER FORMATIvE ASSESSMENTS CAN YOU THINK OF THAT WOULD SUPPORT INFORMED TEACHINg PRACTICE AND LEARNINg SUCCESS IN THE CONTExT OF THIS COURSE OUTCOME?




59

REFERENCES

Angelo, Thomas A., & Cross, P. K. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-144, 146-148.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5-31.

Bohemia, E., Harman, K. , & McDowell, L. (2009). Intersections: The utility of an ‘assessment for learning’ discourse for design educators. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 8(2), 123-134.

Brown, S. A., & Knight, P. (1994). Assessing learners in higher education. NY: Routledge.

James, R., McInnis, C., & Devlin, M. (2002) Assessing learning in Australian universities: Ideas, strategies and resources for quality in student assessment. Retrieved from: http://www. cshe. unimelb. edu. au/assessinglearning/

NAIT OBE Faculty guide, 2012.

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2005. Formative assessment: Improving learning in secondary classrooms, November 2005. Retrieved from: http://www. oecd. org/edu/ceri/35661078. pdf

Stiehl, R., & Lewchuck, L. (2008). The assessment primer: Creating a flow of learning evidence. Corvallis, OR: The Learning Organization.

Stiggins, R. J. (2002). Assessment crisis: The absence of assessment for learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 758-765.

seLectInG coURse ResoURcesMoDULe6

…[robust] instructional resources allow instructional

designers and educators to develop courses and instruction that appeal to Generation Y and

Z’s needs, interests, learning styles, and their desire for

significant interactivity.

~ Joel Levine

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to select learning resources that support students’ mastery of course outcomes.

RESOURCES IN OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

Outcomes based education suggests that we cut back on content-heavy, teacher-centred methodologies and begin teaching in ways that:

• Actively involve learners

• Link education and training with learners’ lives and experience

• Develop learners’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills

To achieve this, teachers need to use teaching and learning resources and technologies in ways that support learning success. On their own, learning resources and technologies will not create an active learning environment that is focused on thinking and problem-solving. In OBE, we should use a wide variety of resources to activate learners’ interest and to deepen their knowledge of abstract and difficult concepts, keeping in mind that resources become educational with the thoughtful implementation of a teacher (Bertram et al., 2010).

SELECTING RESOURCES IN OUTCOMES BASED EDUCATION

Once the needs of learners have been assessed and appropriate teaching techniques have been selected, it’s vital to choose resources that will support students’ mastery of course outcomes. Many learning and teaching resources are available for teaching faculty at NAIT: some are created in-house; others are commercially sourced. Faculty are encouraged to use resources available through NAIT, as proper use of resources can make teaching and learning more dynamic, interesting, and effective. Faculty are encouraged to begin developing their own teaching and learning materials either by creating their own materials, stockpiling materials from previous teaching experiences, or by requesting materials to be developed in-house.

When selecting resources to use in your class, the following checklist may be helpful to determine if the resource will be relevant, meaningful, and congruent with OBE principles.

OBE-ALIGNED RESOURCE SELECTION CHECKLIST

Before implementing your resource, use this checklist to be sure it meets best practice standards. The more 3’s and 4’s you have in your checklist, the more likely your resource is to support learning.

NAME OF RESOURCE: _______________________________________________________________________

This resource is: ___ a textbook; ___ an article; ___ a video; ___ a presentation (PowerPoint); ___ other (schematic, model, diagram, digital learning object (DLO), etc.)

Use the following guidelines for scoring each item:

0 –No evidence of this criterion in the resource. 1 – Resource consistency with this criterion is minimal 2 – Resource is somewhat consistent with this criterion (more than three minor exceptions) 3 – Resource is mostly consistent with this criterion (fewer than four minor exceptions) 4 – Resource is completely consistent with this criterion.

RESOURCE CRITERIA 0 1 2 3 4 COMMENTS

1. The resource reflects best practice in OBE.

2. The resource is appropriate for the audience with which it will be used.

3. The resource is culturally appropriate for the school(s) where it will be used.

4. The resource is linguistically appropriate for the school(s) where it will be used.

5. The resource includes valid and reliable information.

6. The resource demonstrates accurate, universal definitions and understandings of concepts, skills, and issues.

7. The resource includes or suggests ways of involving students in thinking, doing, and understanding.

8. The resource contains or refers to easily accessible, teacher-friendly materials.

9. The total costs associated with this resource are reasonable.

10. The resource contributes to long-term continuity of the course or program and will be used for several semesters.

11. The resource is legally free of copyright restrictions.

12. The resource is free of FOIP restrictions.

63

…[robust] instructional resources allow instructional

designers and educators to develop courses and instruction

that appeals to Generation Y and Z’s needs, interests,

learning styles, and their desire for significant interactivity.

~ Joel Levine

TECHNOLOGY AS A RESOURCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM

Information and communication technologies have developed rapidly over the past 20 years. The presence of new and emerging technologies continue to have a huge impact on society, our lives, and our classrooms.

Technology supports student learning by providing efficient, individualized access to course information and instructor guidance that may be difficult to achieve via other methods. Nasseh (2000) suggests that:

…institutions of higher education can also benefit from the power and possibilities of computers and communication technologies to develop quality competency-based learning resources and programs. [Technology] can help students learn the subject matter in depth and use new knowledge and skills more effectively in real-life situations (p. 225).

Integrating technology into the classroom tends to move classrooms from teacher-dominated environments to ones that are more student-centred (Russell and Sorge, 1999). In student-centred learning environments, students tend to work cooperatively, have more opportunities to make choices, and play a more active role in their learning. Technology also allows teachers to differentiate instruction more efficiently by providing a wider variety of avenues for learning that reach students of divergent levels, interests, and learning styles.

Teachers who have brought technology into their classrooms are aware of the opportunities to differentiate instruction and change their classrooms into dynamic learning environments. Technology can help instructors enrich students’ learning experiences, encourage project-based instruction, and give students the skills they need to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers (Pitler, Hubbell & Kuhn, 2007). Teachers can integrate technology into their classroom instruction through the following resources:

• Presentation software • Learning management systems

• Tablets • Audience response clickers

• Social media • Digital learning objects

InteGRAtInG tecHnoLoGY

Integrating technology tools into instruction refers to the process in which technology is used as a tool to actively support the task of teaching and learning. It also refers to the various ways technology tools can be used to support learners as they construct their own knowledge through completion of creative activities that enhance meaningful learning (Keengwe & Onchwari, 2011). Meaningful integration of technology into instruction occurs when the application directly:

a) Supports the curriculum outcomes being assessed and connects to student learning

b) Provides opportunities for student collaboration, project/inquiry-based learning, and a variety of learning experiences

c) Adjusts for student ability and prior experience and provides feedback to the student and teacher about the student’s performance

d) Is integrated throughout the lesson and throughout the course

e) Provides opportunity for students to design and implement projects that extend the curriculum content being assessed

(Keengwe & Onchwari, 2011).

LET’S CONTINUE BUILDING OUR CDD AND PROPOSE SOME RESOURCES

What types of resources would best support equitable access to learning success? Add two resources to the CDD.

Outcome(s):













Codes of conduct


Persuasive model

Plain language


...





…



Ethics


...


Lecture/Guest Speaker: Workplace scenario videos & discussion – used for professional appropriateness and audience diversity skills and issues

Simulation: Workplace role playing – used for almost any combination of concepts, skills and issues

Classroom Opinion Poll or Background Knowledge Probe (beginning of course) – anonymous survey about what students feel they will learn/need to learn in this course

Everyday Ethical Dilemma (case study) = ethics + professional appropriateness + legal obligations + codes of conduct + appropriate communication models and levels

Categorizing Grid (sorting) = different models of communication + when to apply each level + diversity

…


Instructor, Joe (2012). Professionalism made easy. NAIT publication


WHAT OTHER RESOURCES WOULD SUPPORT EqUITAbLE ACCESS TO LEARNINg SUCCESS?


65

REFERENCES

Bertram, C., Ranby, R., Adendorff, M., Reed, Y., & Roberts, N. (2010). Using Media in Teaching. Retrieved from: http://www.oerafrica.org/teachered/TeacherEducationHome/EducationStudies/UsingMediainTeaching/tabid/1591/Default.aspx

Levine, J. (June, 2011). Technology: Is it driving instructional design and delivery? Unpublished paper presented at the 6th International Conference on e-Learning, Hong Kong, CN.

Keengwe, J., & Onchwari, G. (2011). Fostering meaningful student learning through constructive pedagogy and technology integration. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 7(4), p. 1-10.

Nasseh, B. (2000). Forces of change: The emergence of a knowledge society and new generations of learners. In L. Petrides (ed), Case Studies on Information Technology in Higher Education. Hershey: Ideas Group Publishing.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, p. 217-254. Retrieved from: http://site. ebrary. com/lib/ucalgary/Doc?id=10191385&ppg=24

Russell, J., & Sorge, D. (1999). Training facilitators to enhance technol¬ogy integration. Journal of Instruction Delivery Systems 13(4).

ReVIewInG cURRIcULUM DesIGnMoDULe7

Curriculum … is a design of events that brings about

conversation … it’s not worth the journey if it does not convert

those who participate in it into something better

~ William Schubert

MODULE OBJECTIVEYou will be able to assess your curriculum design for quality.

SUSTAINING CURRICULUM

Curriculum design and redesign begin and end with questions. The preface of this manual introduced nine questions to facilitate the development of quality curriculum. Each subsequent module helped us answer those questions. This module is dedicated to the remaining question: How do we sustain curriculum currency, rigour, and sound pedagogy?

As a major part of the plan to enhance its status as a relevant, responsive educational provider, NAIT embraced outcomes based education (OBE) as the framework for curriculum development. In addition to specific OBE-aligned curriculum components, this also means dedication to regular and formal curriculum review cycles. For NAIT, this means yearly review by course designers; regular review by program leadership and school curriculum committees; and regular remapping of programs by industry, program leadership, and instructional representatives.

This review process is akin to a formative assessment. which begins when the course is released to the students, and the learning begins. To prepare for this, we need to ensure course quality before we release it to our students.

The first stage of this formative assessment review belongs to the course developer(s). Every time a course is either designed for the first time, redesigned, or subjected to a design review, the course developer should undertake his or her own assessment of the course design to ensure best practices are being followed.

The following rubric can be used by NAIT curriculum developers to assess courses for currency, rigour, and sound pedagogy. You’ll note that although course outcomes are not addressed in this manual, they are included in this rubric. Although course outcomes are established during program mapping, the process of course development is an excellent way to review them for appropriate intent, rigour, and clarity.

This rubric should be used to assess each course outcome rather than the course as a whole.

E= Excellent Meets all requirements to a high standard G = Good Meets all requirements; some minor changes are possible F = Fair Meets minimum requirements but changes are desirable P = Poor Changes required N = Not Applicable Comments required

Ideally, a course developer is able to land on Excellent for all course outcome components.

68

RANKING COMMENTS

COURSE OUTCOME

Aligns with at least one program outcome E G F P N

Uses a (minimum) Application-level verb E G F P N

Reflects what students are expected to do out there

E G F P N

Represents a considerable portion of a course E G F P N

COURSE CONTENT

All major concepts, issues, and skills required to support mastery of the course outcome are indicated

E G F P N

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT(S)

Authentically demonstrates a real-world application of the course outcome

E G F P N

Provides opportunity for learners to demonstrate divergent thinking (i.e., produce a variety of responses)

E G F P N

Presents sufficient depth to challenge students to the same extent as a real-world setting

E G F P N

Allows all learners, despite their backgrounds, the same opportunity to demonstrate success

E G F P N

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Provide learners the ability to develop and practice real-world skills

E G F P N

Align with the concepts/skills/issues of the course outcome

E G F P N

All concepts/issues/skills are addressed E G F P N

Assist and facilitate deep learning and retention, including the opportunity to demonstrate synthesis of concepts, skills, and issues

E G F P N

Incorporate a variety of activities E G F P N

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Provide information to both the learners and instructor(s) about how learning is progressing

E G F P N

Provide opportunity for learners and instructor(s) to use results to adjust before the summative assessment

E G F P N

Align with content and learning activities E G F P N

Incorporate a variety of formative assessments E G F P N

RESOURCES

Are current, meaningful, and support mastery of the course outcome

E G F P N

Reflect real-world resources that learners may expect to encounter

E G F P N

Incorporate a variety of resources E G F P N

Resources do not act as a barrier to learners E G F P N

69

In outcomes based education, discussions about the various

components of the curriculum are meaningless unless carried out in the context of learning outcomes.

~ Ronald Harden

In addition to this rubric, the course design template guideline at the end of this module is a helpful means of evaluating a proposed course design.

IMPLEMENTING NEW CURRICULUM

The implementation of a new (or revised) curriculum can be a challenge. Ideally, the processes of development and implementation would be seamless, involving many of the same people. However, the challenge for curriculum implementation comes at the intersection between course designers/developers and course instructors. Careful communication and monitoring between those responsible for the course (the developers/designers, instructors, etc.) can help ensure a course is unfolding as planned (McKimm, 2003).

A FEW CLOSING WORDS

As we have seen in each of the modules throughout this document, curriculum development and design is a multi-faceted process. As you become more comfortable with your role as a curriculum designer/developer, you’ll become more efficient at creating robust curriculum that will meaningfully support learning success and career readiness for all NAIT students.

Outcome(s):

Matches 1 course outcome in course outline; all course outcomes have a corresponding CD document


1-2 program outcomes that course outcome relates to


Is authentic and aligns with course outcome


Concept(s) Skill(s) Issue(s) Suggested teaching activities to support learning

Suggested assessment strategies to guide teaching & learning

Suggested materials to support learning

“The What”

Theory Idea Fact

Process

“The Do”

Competency

“In Context”

Circumstance(s) one can expect

to encounter out there in the real

world that would impact the learning

outcome

SOME EXAMPLES

Lecturing Discussion

Demonstration Small Group

Coached Practice Independent Practice

Case Study Field/Lab Work

Game

SOME EXAMPLES

Discussion Quiz

Observation Coaching

Conferencing Review

Worksheets Formal Feedback Request

Simulation

SOME TYPES

Print Static Digital

Interactive Digital Simulation

Face-to face Shop/Lab Weblink

1. Strong correlation between content in columns

2. Content is aligned with stated outcome

1. Activity is real-world oriented

2. Activity is aligned with content

1. Formative assessment is aligned with teaching activity

2. Formative assessment is not weighted (does not contribute to final course mark)

1. Resource is aligned with course content and teaching activity

RECOMMENDATION

Every course outcome contains items in concepts, skills, and issues columns

RECOMMENDATION

Minimum 3 types of activities per outcome

RECOMMENDATION

Minimum 3 types of formative assessment per outcome

RECOMMENDATION

Minimum 3 types of resource per outcome


Content (CSIs) is essential for the successful completion of this outcome (“need to know”)

Activities-mix appeals to a range of learning preferences and abilities

Assessment-mix appeals to a range of learning preferences and abilities

Resource-mix appeals to a range of learning preferences and abilities

InDexA adult learners 13, 14, 35 alignment 8, 9, 20, 21, 23, 54 assessment 8, 9, 14, 16, 27, 28-39, 44, 46, 51-57, 68 audience 13, 16, 39, 62 authentic assessment 27-30, 35

C concepts 20, 25, 32, 44, 54, 55, 68 Course Design Document 9, 10, 25, 33 course objectives 19, 22 course outcomes 8, 9, 19, 20, 23, 25, 31, 32

D diversity 8, 14, 15, 16, 43, 63

F formative assessment 9, 28, 51-57, 67, 68

I issues 20-23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 68

L learning 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 23, 27-29, 31, 35, 41-46, 50, 52, 55, 68 learning activity 41, 44, 45, 46

N NAIT 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19, 22, 25, 31, 36, 45, 52, 67

O OBE 7, 8, 14, 19, 20-23, 27, 28, 31, 32, 41, 43, 52, 61, 64, 67 outcomes based education 7, 9, 10, 19, 27-29, 41, 52, 61, 67

P problem-solving 61

Q quality curriculum 7-10, 13, 14, 16, 20, 43, 44, 52, 67 Quality curriculum development 7, 13

R real world 8, 16, 20-23, 27, 30, 32, 41, 45, 70 resources 8, 9, 16, 19, 34, 36, 48, 58, 61, 62, 68 rubric 27, 35-39, 67

S skills 9, 20-23, 25, 30, 32, 42, 47, 48, 53-55, 61-63, 68 summative assessment 9, 28-35, 38, 39, 51, 56, 63, 68, 70

T teach 31, 32, 52 teaching 7, 8, 9, 14, 23, 29, 30, 31, 34-36, 41-44, 46, 52, 55, 58, 61 technology 15, 28, 62

designing quality curriculum

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