‘COMPANY CONNECTIONS’ BOLOGNA SEMINAR Budapest, Hungary, 25 th January 2006

1. ‘COMPANY CONNECTIONS’ BOLOGNA SEMINARBudapest, Hungary, 25th January 2006 ~How to use learning outcomes ~ Stephen Adam, United Kingdom Bologna promoter, University of Westminster.

2. Focus on: • Introduction • What are learning outcomes? • Learning outcomes and the Bologna Process (Action lines) • The UK 2004 Bologna Seminar on learning outcomes • Learning outcomes & student-centred learning • General benefits of using learning outcomes • The multiple roles of learning outcomes • Learning outcomes and employers • Learning outcomes and qualifications frameworks • Learning outcomes and curriculum design • How to write learning outcomes • Learning outcomes and assessment • Learning outcomes and quality assurance • Concluding thoughts

3. DANGER OF TOPIC OVERLOAD

4. 1. INTRODUCTION: • Problem – ubiquity of references coupled with relatively poor understanding and practical usage (may slow development of the EHEA). • Learning outcomes can be regarded as basic educational building blocks that impact at the local, national and international levels. • Have a major role in curriculum design/development. • Potential to integrate VET and HE (essential for LLL). • Learning outcomes relate to external reference points (qualifications descriptors, levels, level descriptors, subject benchmark statements) that constitute ‘new style’ qualifications frameworks. • Part of a paradigm shift - teaching to learning (student-centred learning). The role of the teacher moves towards being a facilitator/manager of the learning process. • They play a crucial role in the Bologna Process:

5. Bologna to Bergen… London (2007) ‘Degree structure: ‘Ministers encourage the member states to elaborate a framework of comparable and compatible qualifications for their higher education systems, which should seek to describe qualifications in terms of workload, level, learning outcomes, competences and profile. They also undertake to elaborate an overarching framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area.’ ‘Within such frameworks, degrees should have different defined outcomes. First and second cycle degrees should have different orientations and various profiles in order to accommodate a diversity of individual, academic and labour market needs. First cycle degrees should give access, in the sense of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, to second cycle programmes. Second cycle degrees should give access to doctoral studies.’ Berlin Communiqué, 2003.

6. 2. What are learning outcomes? • Multiple definitions exist but all are fairly similar: ‘Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and be able to demonstrate at the end of a learning experience.’ • Embody a common desire for more precision • Focus on achievements (output focus) • Can be written for the module or programme of learning • Employ active verbs (see Bloom’s taxonomy) • Emphasise the teaching, learning,assessment relationship • Learning outcomes are often expressed in terms of understanding/competence/skill, e.g. ‘At the end of this session participants will be able to critically evaluate the role of learning outcomes in the Bologna educational reform process.’

7. 3. Learning outcomes and the Bologna Process (Action lines) • Learning outcomes are a core element in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and are essential if it is to be efficient, effective, transparent and non-invasive (non-regulatory + promoting academic autonomy). • Learning outcomes’ impact at local, national and international levels in terms of what they are, what they represent (philosophy) and what they do… • highlight teaching, learning, assessment linkage • sharpen the focus on learning + promote student-centred learning + improve curriculum design • improve quality + aid quality assurance + standard setting • increase national and international transparency, mobility and recognition (EQF)

8. CONTRIBUTION TO THE 10 BOLOGNA ACTION LINES: • Adoption of easily readable and comparable degrees: • Aids existing recognition tools + makes qualifications more transparent • Makes credential evaluation easier + improves judgements • A system essentially based on two (three) main cycles: • Effective cycle, level and qualification descriptors depend on learning outcomes • Effective NQF + EQF are built on learning outcomes • Establishment of a series of credits: • The evolution of ECTS will depend on credits expressed in terms of LO • Allows the quantification of learning achievement from different contexts • Promotion of mobility: • Curriculum transparency helps student exchange + recognition of studies • Promotes precise judgements about the curriculum

9. Promotion of cooperation in quality assurance: • Building on common methodological approaches (LO) improves QA • Adoption of external reference points helps to develop universal standards and accurate cross-border judgements about qualifications and QA systems • Promotion of European dimension in higher education: • LO facilitates the fit and design of joint degrees + makes study programme components transparent • Lifelong learning • Credits based on LO are the only tool to link VET and HE • Credits linked to levels can create all-encompassing credit and qualifications frameworks for lifelong learning • Higher education and students: • The employability of students is enhanced by highlighting generic skills and competences • Student-centred learning involves active learning + a better learning experience • Attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area: • A modern, effective, efficient, world-leading education zone is facilitated by the adoption of LO

10. 4. The UK 2004 Bologna Seminar on learning outcomes ‘Using Learning Outcomes’ - Bologna Seminar Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. 1-2 July 2004 http://www.bolognabergen2005.no/EN/Bol_sem/Seminars/040701-02Edinburgh/040701-02-Report_for_BFUG.pdf

11. Albania Latvia Andorra Liechtenstein Austria Lithuania Belgium Luxembourg Bosnia and Herzegovina Malta Bulgaria Netherlands Croatia Norway Cyprus Poland Czech Republic Portugal Denmark Romania Estonia Russian Federation Finland Serbia and Montenegro France Slovak Republic Germany Slovenia Greece Spain Holy See Sweden Hungary Switzerland  Iceland "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" Ireland Turkey Italy United Kingdom European experience/usage in 2004:

12. Learning Outcomes in Europe COUNTRY REPORT ANALYSIS/CONCLUSIONS: • Considerable superficial activity across Europe (97%). • Most developed systems: Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, UK and Belgium (Flanders). • Considerable bottom-up activities reported (34%). • Majority of activity top-down (52%). • Several countries linked efforts with the Bologna process (21%). • No countries made any link with student-centred learning (SSL). • In some countries activity focused on the non-university HE. • There is a strong desire to share information and good practice.

13. 5. Learning outcomes & student-centred learning (Paradigm shift…) Teacher-centred: • Teachers serve as the centre of epistemological knowledge, directing the learning process and controlling students' access to information. • Students are viewed as 'empty vessels’ and learning is viewed as an additive process. • Instruction is geared for the 'average' student and everyone is forced to progress at the same rate. Student-centred: • Students are not passive. They come with their own perceptual frameworks (Erikson, 1984). • Students learn in different ways (Briggs-Myers, 1980; Kolb,1984). • Learning is an active dynamic process (Cross,1991). • Students construct their own meaning by talking, listening, writing, reading, and reflecting on content, ideas, issues and concerns (Meyers and Jones, 1993). (Source: University of Bath)

14. However, the dichotomy between teacher- and student-centred is not so crude or stark as this in practice! Be quiet and write down everything I say!

15. We cannot treat students in the same way as Pavlov - with his salivating dogs (+ Watson &Skinner).

16. ALTERNATIVES TO THE USE OF LEARNING OUTCOMES: • Most countries express their curriculum in terms of what the student will cover – the course content. • An input-focused approach is employed. • Programmes are expressed in terms of time taken, access requirements, staffing and resources. • Qualification descriptions are articulated in general terms, often in relation to other qualifications (higher or lower) in undeveloped qualification frameworks. • A strong emphasis is put on student workload (time measures) and this is crude measurement device.

17. 6. General benefits of using learning outcomes POSITIVE (Course design, learner, national, international): • Helps ensure consistent delivery across programmes of learning • Provides more precision to curriculum/course design + stops overlap • Informs student choice • Highlights teaching, learning and assessment relationship • Benefits quality assurance • Potential to link vocational education & training (VET) & higher education (HE) • Increases transparency for stakeholders • Improved national/international recognition and transparency of qualifications

18. NEGATIVE ASPECTS (Philosophical + technical): • Might inhibit/constrict the learning process (yes-if written badly) • May suit training better than open-ended higher education • Can create a target-led culture • Attacks the liberal conception of the university • Technically difficult and expensive to introduce + resented by staff

19. 7. The multiple roles of learning outcomes Levels of application – learning outcomes have profound implications at the: • Institutional/local level: For the curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment. • National: For the nature and expression of national qualifications frameworks (NQF) and quality assurance regimes. • International: For developing EQF + tools used to express it – cycle and level descriptors. For a massive increase in transparency, mobility and recognition.

20. 8. Learning outcomes and employers • Many employers favour learning outcomes as they clarify qualifications and indicate what students can do • The European Commission ‘Tuning project’ has show differences between what students, employers and academics identify as the most important skills and competencies • LO provide transparency to the curriculum and facilitate the involvement of employers in the process of course design (all stakeholders) • Graduates should become more employable and qualifications more relevant to work

21. 9. Learning outcomes and qualifications frameworks Overarching European qualifications frameworks • There is a fundamental link between LO and new style qualifications frameworks (National & overarching European Qualifications framework) • New qualifications frameworks share a common methodology and tools based on learning outcomes (levels, level indicators, qualifications descriptors, subject benchmark statements, etc.) • LO link to the development of the credit-based EQF for lifelong learning as an: ‘Overarching transparent structure providing an articulation mechanism between national frameworks’ (VET and HE).

22. 10. Learning outcomes and curriculum design Write learning outcomes in terms of: • European external reference points: EHEA,EQF, Tuning • National reference points: Qualifications frameworks, benchmark statements, level indicators, generic qualification descriptors, • Generic type and level of the qualification • Aims/purpose of the qualification • Teaching strategy • Resources • Assessment

23. Module developmental process: (SOURCE: Dr Louise Naylor, University of Kent)

24. 11. How to write learning outcomes On successful completion of this unit/module/course students will be able to… (insert ‘active’ verb) • Do not develop too many learning outcomes • All learning outcomes must be measurable/assessable • Do not make them too ambitious (threshold level)

25. Consider Bloom’s taxonomy: KNOWING: define, describe, identify, label, list, name, organise, measure… COMPREHENSION: interpret, translate, estimate, predict, discuss, summarise, find… KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING: apply, solve, compute, predict, relate, assess, verify, operate… ANALYSIS: differentiate, relate, select, compare, elucidate, identify… SYNTHESIS: integrate, combine, compose, compile, devise, design, argue… EVALUATION: contrast, compare, assess, discriminate, evaluate, question…

26. 12. Learning outcomes and assessment • Learning outcomes must be linked to assessment + capable of assessment • Learning outcomes define a threshold standard of learning i.e. PASS/FAIL • The assessment criteria define the actual student achievement – how well they pass (merit or distinction).

27. 13. Learning outcomes & quality assurance • The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) ‘Standards and guidelines’ imply an output-focused learning outcomes-based model for quality assurance. • The adoption of ‘new style’ Qualifications frameworks employ external reference points: levels, level indicators, qualifications descriptors, subject benchmark statements, etc. All are forms of learning outcomes. • Autonomous institutions require these mechanisms in order to take responsibility for their own quality and standards

28. 14. Concluding thoughts: Learning outcomes are the basic building blocks of the Bologna education reforms and they: • Improve curriculum design & progression • Emphasise link between teaching, learning and assessment • Improve the national/international transparency of qualifications • Provide frameworks for quality and standards by relating to external reference points

29. FINAL THOUGHTS BY A SUPPORTER OF LEARNING OUTCOMES… ARISTOTLE: ‘What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.’