The  Student-­‐Owned  Learning-­‐Engagement  (SOLE)  model  

Learning  Design  Theory  Learning  Design  Prac1ce  

Simon  Atkinson  h7p://solemodel.wordpress.com        

Contexts  

Student  Profile  

Learning  Outcomes  

Media  Choices  

Assessment  Design  

(TLA)  Ac1vity  Design  

Evalua1on  

Contextual  factors,  1mescales,  credit  levels,  prior  learning  condi1ons,  mode  of  delivery,  staff  skills  and  technical,  limita1ons  should  all  be  thoroughly  considered  and  evaluated.  ‘Content’  should  not  become  the  driver  of  the  course  and  subsequent  learning  design  process.  

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Learning  design  occurs  within  the  context  of  thoughQul  course  design  and  has  both  a  theore1cal  and  prac1cal  dimension.  Design  is  best  built  from  the  student  profile  upwards,  iden1fying  student  characteris1cs,  contextual  limita1ons,  and  then  adop1ng  Biggs’  Construc1ve  Alignment  (Biggs  and  Tang  2007)approach.  This  ensures  context  is  given  the  central  role.  

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3  Having  clarified  the  student  and  ins1tu1onal  context,  Intended  Learning  Outcomes  are  developed  using  a  flexible  and  contemporary  representa1on  of  Bloom’s  taxonomy  of  educa1onal  objec1ves.  

4  Taxonomy  wheels  have  been  developed  for  the  cogni1ve  (illustrated),  affec1ve  and  psychomotor  domains  .  These  help  staff  iden1fy  ac1ve  verbs  for  ILOs,  and  teaching  and  learning  ac1vi1es,  as  well  as  sugges1ng  evidence  and  assessment  forms.  

0  The  SOLE  model  (Atkinson  2011),    and  its  associated  Toolkit,  support  teachers  in  developing  a  holis>c  student-­‐owned  learning  design  that  iden1fies  tutor  roles  and  shared  responsibili1es.  The  model  embodies  best  pedagogical  prac1ce  while  the  customizable  toolkit  uses  Microso]  Excel  to  embed  pedagogical  guidance  and  support  staff  in  crea1ng  learning  designs  that  are  shared  with  students.  

5  Beyond  planning  and  ins1tu1onal  processes  comes  the  need  for  a  balanced  development  of  the  course.  The  SOLE  toolkit  places  the  student  at  the  centre.  Staff  are  supported  within  a  familiar  Excel  environment  with  embedded  pedagogical  guidance.  There  are  ‘comments’  with  addi1onal  sugges1ons  and  resources.  All  these  can  be  customized  by  ins1tu1onal  support  teams.  

6  The  nine  elements  of  the  SOLE  model  are  explained  and  supported  with  prompt  ques1ons.  This  embodies  sound  pedagogical  prac1ce  and  encourages  the  teacher  to  create  weekly  (or  unit)  detailed  views  of  learner  engagement  across  all  elements.  Every  ‘week’  need  not  have  entries  for  all  elements  but  their  presence  serves  to  remind  the  students  that  they  own  the  learning  process.    

7  These  weekly  views  iden1fy  staff  input  1me  as  well  as  the  1me  expected  of  the  student  in  learning  engagement  across  all  elements.  Each  weekly  view,  given  to  the  student  as  an  ‘advanced  planner’  shows  the  ILOs,  a  visual  summary  and  details  the  1me  an1cipated  against  each  element  of  the  SOLE  model.  This  is  the  toolkit’s  descrip>ve  func1on.  

2011(1)  Atkinson,  S.  (2011),  Embodied  and  Embedded  Theory  in  Prac1ce:  The  Student-­‐Owned  Learning-­‐Engagement  (SOLE)  Model.  The  Interna+onal  

Review  of  Research  in  Open  and  Distance  Learning,  12  (2),  pp  1-­‐18    Biggs,  J.,  &  Tang,  C.  (2007).  Teaching  for  Quality  Learning  at  University:  What  the  Student  does  (3rd  ed.).  Buckingham.  GB:  Open  University  Press.  

adapted  from  Biggs,  J.  &  Tang,  C.  (2007).    

8  A  course  overview  is  automa1cally  generated  which  allows  the  teacher,  colleagues,  and  students,  to  see  the  balance  in  the  learning  design,  iden1fy  shared  and  individual  learning  responsibili1es.  This  has  a  developmental,  evalua>ve  and  diagnos>c  func1on.  

SOLE  Model  SOLE  Toolkit