This document discusses the concepts of constructive alignment and levelness in curriculum design. It explains that constructive alignment means ensuring that learning outcomes, teaching methods, and assessments all support and complement each other. Levelness refers to designing curriculum that is appropriate for the level of study. The document provides guidance on writing learning outcomes and gives examples using Bloom's and SOLO taxonomies to demonstrate how outcomes can address different cognitive levels. It also encourages reflecting on applying these concepts to one's own teaching practice.

1. ORIC – Open Educational Resources for the
Inclusive Curriculum
http://www.oric.brad.ac.uk
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2.  workshop activity 1;
 constructive alignment;
 workshop activity 2;
 aims & learning outcomes;
 levelness;
 workshop activity 3;
 review.
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3. Sir Ken Robinson on education and creativity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
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4.  individually – choose one teaching sequence,
or individual session that you have helped to
plan & design;
 in 2s & 3s – explain to each other & discuss
the steps that you went through in the
planning/design process (be honest!);
 be prepared to feed back.
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5.  theory/approach developed by John Biggs;
 all components in the learning/teaching
system should support each other – should
be aligned;
 “When there is alignment between what we
want, how we teach and how we assess,
teaching is likely to be much more effective
than when there is not.” (Biggs, 1999: 26)
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6. In constructively aligned teaching:
 Devise & state intended learning outcomes;
 Learning & teaching methods are chosen to
allow learners to construct meaning in a way
which will realise these outcomes;
 Assessment tasks address the outcomes.
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7. “CA makes the students themselves do the real
work; the teacher simply arranges things so that it
is more likely that they will.”
(Biggs, 1999:27)
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8. In 2s and 3s, each talk through the following:
 take one intended learning outcome from a
module that you are involved with;
 what learning/teaching activities have been
put in place to enable this outcome to be
achieved?
 how are your students assessed to see if they
have achieved this outcome?
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9. Aims
 aspirational – the overall purpose that is
being worked towards;
 not necessarily directly assessible.
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10. Learning Outcomes (LOs)
 intended and unintended.
 intended: succinct statements of the learning
requirement that a student should possess,
and importantly should have demonstrated,
upon completion of a particular learning
sequence.
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11.  LOs normally expressed as verbs (e.g.
analyse, synthesise, describe) that learners
have to enact in relation to a particular
knowledge base or situation;
 some suggest LOs should be written in the
future tense (e.g., …will be able to…);
 others recommend emphasising what
learners will have done to achieve the
outcome (e.g., …will have…; or …will have
demonstrated…).
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12. Programme Aim: to instil in participants a
reflective and innovative approach to their
practice that they will take with them
throughout their teaching careers.
Programme LO: participants will be able to
describe, interpret, evaluate, and reflect on
their own teaching practice in a theoretically
coherent manner.
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13. Scholarship Module LO: participants will be
able to consider the implications of the
evidence [of variation in student learning]
gathered… in terms of developing a basis for
reflective practice and personal actionable
theory.
Reflection Module LO: participants will be able
to reflect on and document their own
professional teaching practice …
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14.  From the Oxford Centre for Staff and
Learning Development:
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/res
ources/writing_learning_outcomes.html
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15.  thinking about LOs in a qualitative rather
than a quantitative sense;
 can relate to level of study (e.g. QAA &
institutional level descriptors);
 can relate to level of achievement (e.g. what
is a 3rd or a 1st);
 two widely used taxonomies in HE: Bloom &
SOLO.
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16.  Bloom organises educational objectives into
three domains:
◦ Cognitive;
◦ Affective;
◦ Psychomotor.
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17.  Know: e.g. define, describe, identify, list,
state, measure.
 Comprehend: express, discuss, clarify,
recognise, report, summarise.
 Apply: interpret, practice, operate, employ.
 Analyse: experiment, distinguish, debate,
categorise, infer, relate.
 Synthesise: integrate, develop, design, create,
organise, formulate.
 Evaluate: judge, revise, value, rate, question,
defend.
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18.  Prestructural – misses point, doesn‟t
understand question
 Unistructural: can identify one relevant
element in response to a question: identify,
name.
 Multistructural: can identify multiple relevant
elements in a response to a question:
describe, list, combine, enumerate.
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19.  Relational - integrated response, addresses
the question, ties things together: compare,
contrast, explain, analyse, relate.
 Extended abstract - goes beyond what has
been given, applies to new or different
domains, reconceptualises: theorise,
generalise, hypothesise, reflect.
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20. 20

21.  In the same 2s & 3s briefly examine your own
practice in terms of:
◦ constructive alignment;
◦ levelness.
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22.  in planning learning, teaching & assessment
we should see how these activities support
each other;
 constructive alignment is one way of
conceptualising this;
 being explicit about the relationship between
teaching, learning & assessment makes it
more visible (& more coherent?) to learners;
 but concerns about instrumentality of
outcomes-based approach.
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23.  Select module to focus on for assignment,
bring the module descriptor and any other
relevant learning materials to the next
learning set and be prepared to discuss it.
 You will be asked to identify factors that
contribute to inclusive curriculum design in
your own discipline.
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24. Biggs, J (2004) Teaching for Quality Learning at
University, 2nd edition, Buckingham: SRHE/
Open University Press.
D‟Andrea, V (2003) „Organizing teaching and
learning: outcomes-based planning‟, in Fry, H
et al. (eds) A Handbook for Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education, London:
RoutledgeFalmer, pp 26-41.
Moon, Jennifer (2002) The Module and
Programme Development Handbook, London:
Kogan Page.
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