Planning for teachingand learning

Focus: Outcomes and domains

“Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail”

Bill McClaren

What am IDoing?

We are going to look at how to:

•Write clear & measurable learning outcomes•Decide which domain your subject belongs to•Consider some issues with the ‘outcome culture’

Designing the CurriculumQualifications and Curriculum Authority

(QCA) has developed the following 3 questions – these could be the starting point for planning

• What are we trying to achieve?

• How do we organise learning?

• How well are we achieving our aims?

Focus of curriculum designShift to a ‘learner centred’ approach“focuses on the learner and their needs, rather than being

centred around the teacher's input…….aims at reliance on active rather than passive learning, an emphasis on deep learning and understanding, an increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student…....” (Bologna Process Initiatives 2009)

How can teachers translate that vision into planning for teaching and learning?

• One view is that central to designing sessions which focus upon the needs of students and what they should be able to achieve in the session is the development of a clear and concise AIM and specific and measurable LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO’s)

What is Planning?“Planning is the bridge between identification

of learners’ needs and the learning activities they undertake……it is the process of making decisions about the directions that learners will take and the activities they will engage in……….”

(Castling 1996)

Starting point for planning a session

You need to be able to describe what you want them to do or what your intention is i.e. have an AIM

“aims are the teachers intentions”(Adam 2004) “general content, direction and intentions”(Moon 2002)

You say objectives, I say outcomes, she says learning targets

What do you say?

What does the documentation you use say?

What’s the difference?

Does it matter?

Learning Outcomes

• You need know what you want them to learn in order to assess whether or not they have learned it

• They need to know what they are expected to do

• The outcomes must focus on the action the learners will take rather than what you will do (i.e. ‘learner centred’) NOT what you will do

Learning outcomes

Specify precisely what learners should be able to do or be SMART

•Specific•Measurable•Achievable (possible)•Relevant (within the timeframe)•Time bound (setting timeframes)

ExamplesBy the end of the session the learners

will be able to

• Assemble a door frame which accurately follows the plan provided

• Name all the Prime Ministers of Britain from 1900 to the present day

• List 3 short-term health benefits of stopping smoking

Are these Learning Outcomes? By the end of the session………..

• I will show them how to use a chisel to safely produce a dove tail joint

• Understand how to use powerpoint

• Will know about why the 2nd World War started

Where does the idea that we need outcomes come from?

• Curriculum model called the Product Model or Outcomes Model

• Attempts to correct the perceived vagueness of education. Politically motivated?

• Also need to specify practical skills more precisely – vocational and craft courses

Setting Goals – Hattie and effect size• Empirical data showing how you can

improve the ‘effect’ of learning.

• Students setting own ’goals’ creates highest ‘effect’- e.g. “ set yourself a goal now- write it on the top of your work”

• Remind learners of goals from time to time in the session “Have you achieved your goal yet – why not? What information do you need?” (Hattie 1999)

Classification of outcomes

B. S. Bloom (1956) first developed his ‘Taxonomy of Educational Objectives’

This classified all learning into three domains (Cognitive, Psychomotor and Affective)

www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/bloomtax.htm

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy

Cognitive

• Cognitive = Intellectual skills, remembering and understanding

(e.g. history and law)

Easiest = remembering

Hardest = evaluation

Psychomotor

• Motor or physical skills, including hand and eye coordination (e.g. sport, joinery and hairdressing)

Easiest = copy

Hardest = naturalisation

• Affective - Attitudes, awareness, opinions

values, behaviour (health studies and counselling – PROBLEM! How can you have precise measurement of learning in this domain?

Easiest = Receiving

Hardest = Internalisation

Issues

• Should education be about the process (i.e. how learners get there and what they learn along the way) rather than just the product?

• Does the language of business have any place in education OR should we have educational language for education?

• Who in your curriculum delivery decides what the outcomes should be? Is it the right people?

• Does writing ‘good’ outcomes automatically make you a better teacher?

• Could it constrain learning, making it less responsive to the needs and interests of the learner AND wider needs

Kelly sums up this approach as the actions of a ‘kind of ‘thought police’ designed to prevent teachers from indulging in acts of ‘sabotage’ by acting on their own professional judgement’ (Kelly p.15)

Avoid jargon or official ‘teacher talk’ when introducing outcomes to your students.

Instead……………………..

……………..• Create interest/curiosity

• Make them into a task

• Use as a diagnostic tool

• Let the learners rank them – prioritise

• Facilitate reflection and self-assessment

• Encourage dialogue and interaction

• Surprise them/make them fun

Useful sites & References

• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/primers/primers/ps0091_writing_learning_outcomes_mar_2005.pdf

• Reece, I. and Walker, S. (2006) Teaching, training and learning. Sunderland: Business Education Publishers.

• Petty, G ( 2009) Evidence-based teaching. 2nd Edition. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes

• Hattie, J.A. (1999) Influences on student learning. [Online]. Available http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/staff/j.hattie/hattie-papers-download/influences. [02 September 2013]

Classroom Activities

Why is it important to use objectives?

2 or 3 minutes to discuss and feedback

Reasons might include:• You know what they have learnt• You can measure/assess their success/or

not• Supporting those not achieving• Stretching those who find it easy• Make sure they meet the course reqs.• Links to assessment tasks