LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of this module the students will be able to:

1. Learning Outcomes Applied to An Undergraduate Research ModuleDr Aileen Malone, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. (K. Patricia Cross,) “Learning is driven by assessment, making it vital that high-level assessment tasks are set that truly reflect the overall aims of the institution and the particular course objectives.” (Biggs, 1996, p.11) The Child Health Project a Second year Undergraduate ten credit module in a Crossfaculty multidisiplinary degree the BA in Early Childhood Studies • ASSESSMENT Students will present a first draft of their research proposal including the literature review in second year at the end of P1 (25% marks) with an option of furnishing a self assessment (preliminary assessment of outcomes 3-8) enabling remediation. Outcomes 1 and 2 are implicit The final version presented in writing and orally in P2 (75% module marks). • Assessment processes and instruments should accommodate and encourage creativity and originality shown by students the research process is a highly creative and original process. • Assessment forms should allow students to receive feedback on their learning and performance and assessment should be a developmental process, the staged nature of this assessment would encourage this. • Assessment should accommodate individual differences in students and a diverse range of assessment instruments and processes should be employed. the degree uses traditional written exam essay questions format in all disciplines , and a portfolio this would add further diversity. • Assessment amount should be appropriate. disquiet with the large number of assessments particularly essays in year two of the degree, the change substitutes something more constructive. • Assessment criteria need to be understandable, explicit and public, it has always been practice in the department to furnish students with copies of the marking grid and benchmarks for the child health project. • Assessement was not achieving its potential aims but measuring the ability to memorise and verbal and written communication skills (Dearing report).Changing the learning outcomes and hence the assessment moves away from memory and verbal and written communication towards thinking and problem solving. • LEARNING OUTCOMES • At the end of this module the students will be able to: • 1.Define what research is and differentiate between good and poor quality research using appropriate criteria (cognitive) • 2.Recognise the importance of research in health care (cognitive/affective) • 3.Develop an original research question (cognitive) • 4.Integrate materials from different sources to determine what is known about the question by performing a literature review of the chosen research topic (cognitive/psychomotor) • 5.Access information on the university library website (psychomotor) • 6.Understand the strengths and limitations of methods of data collection in order to apply a suitable research method to their research question. (cognitive) • 7.Recognise potential sources of bias. (cognitive) • 8.Express their research proposal with clarity in written and verbal presentation. (cognitive/psychomotor) • 9.Develop confidence in sharing their ideas with their peers.( affective) • 10.Collaborate in preparing research grant application. (affective) “... our understanding of cognition and learning is telling us that we need assessment to map more directly on the processes we wish to develop, including higher order thinking skills’(Gipps,1994) • TEACHING • A small number of large group teaching sessions (lectures). • Computer based tutorials (which were piloted in the academic year 2004/2005) • Focusing on sequential student learning the students progressed at their own pace with input when requested by staff focus on information literacy • Project advice sessions both face to face and by email • Discussion Boards on Blackboard to encourage collaborative learning. Learning outcomes have their value when properly conceived and used in ways that respect their limitations and exploit their virtues. Hussey & Smith 2002: 222). Acknowlegments: My students and colleagues for their enthusiasm and inspiration KEY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ‘Essential skills which people need in order to function effectively as members of a flexible and competitive workforce’ (DfES, 2005). The six key skills which the DfES has identified are:  * communication,* information technology* working with numbers* working with others* problem solving * improving your own learning and performance.  Students will develop some of these skills particularily information technology, working with numbers, problem solving and improving their own learning and performance(by self assessment). Redefining this course in terms of learning outcomes was a worthwhile task which both required and facilitated a review of the teaching strategies and assessment methods of this module. Bibliography Biggs, J. (1996) Assessing learning quality: reconciling institutional, staff and educational demands, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 21 (1): 5 –1 Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Doman. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1956. Brown G, Bull J & Pendleberry M (1997) Assessing Student Learning in Higher Education Routledge, London. DfES (2005), ‘What are key skills?’,http://www.dfes.gov.uk/keyskills/what.shtmllast accessed 5/1/06  (Report of the) National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE) (1997), The Dearing Report last accessed http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ncihe/.  Gipps, C. (1994) Beyond Testing: Towards A Theory of Educational Assessment. Falmer Press. Hussey T and Smith P (2002) The Trouble with Learning Outcomes Active Learning in Higher Education, 3:220–233.