Reflecting on Your Teaching – Using Learning outcomes to Critically Inform Your Teaching Content Alan Somerville ASSOCIATE DEAN LEARNING AND TEACHING, STIRLING MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

introduction Learning goals and learning outcomes are at the heart of both the construction and quality assurance process of any programme of study It is essentially how we prove that our programmes “do what they say on the tin…” So just how important is it to ensure that the programme goals and outcomes are the effective assurance of learning we require? How do we (should we?) reflect on the learning experience of our students?

Assumptions By “learning outcomes” we mean a description of what a student should be able to do at the end of the module, or even the course. By “assessment” we mean the way in which we engage the student in the learning and teaching process, to allow them to show that they have attained the learning outcomes set for the module/programme By “teach” we mean the methods in which the aims, objectives, and learning and teaching outcomes are delivered to the student, in order to achieve or outperform the assessment criteria set

SUCCESSFUL LEARNING OUTCOMES... Should link together in a structured manner:- The Institution – what does the University say it wants for its graduates? The Programme – what does the programme say it will give the students? The Students – how easy is it for the students to engage with the programme?

These normally translate into... Graduate Attributes Programme Learning Goals Module Learning Outcomes (which should map to both of the above)

What is a good learning outcome?... Active Attractive Comprehensible Appropriate Attainable Assessable AND ABOVE ALL – VISIBLE TO THE STUDENT…

CHALLENGES FOR YOU AS A TEACHER Mapping to the QAA benchmark statements Mapping to SCQF level descriptors School Accreditation (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB) Professional Bodies’ accreditation Student satisfaction (NSS, PTES) And then mapping to what the programme needs…

What Are Your University QA Processes?... Staff/Student Consultative Committees Module Evaluation Module Review Report Annual Programme Review L&T sign-off/University R&G sign-off QUESTION - Where is the critical reflection?

Answer... In the overall analysis of what you believe your ASSURANCE OF LEARNING PROCESS is What is the assurance of learning? It is the understanding that what you intended to teach, has been taught, and that the assessment you have used is the most effective one available to you, to identify the extent to which your student(s) have achieved the learning outcomes of the course of study

ASSESSING WITH GOOD LEARNING OUTCOMES Think of an assessment you have recently set What learning outcome(s) did this task require students to demonstrate? How was it assessed? Did it achieve its original intentions? How intentional was its design? Can it be made better?

The problem with assessing learning outcomes… The learning outcome is met. What role is the mark you have given in quantifying what you say has happened? “Honours graduates will have developed an understanding of a complex body of knowledge, some of it at the current boundaries of an academic discipline, and developed analytical techniques and problem- solving skills that can be applied in many types of employment in situations requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making in complex and unpredictable circumstances, They will be able to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions, to reach sound judgments, and to communicate them effectively” (QAA 2008).