Active Learning in Higher Education
http://alh.sagepub.com
The Role and Integration of Learning Outcomes into the Educational Process
Paul Watson
Active Learning in Higher Education 2002; 3; 205
DOI: 10.1177/1469787402003003002
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active learning
in higher education
The role and
integration of
learning
outcomes into
the educational
process
PAU L WAT S O N
Copyright © 2002 The Institute
for Learning and Teaching in
Higher Education and
SAGE Publications (London,
Thousand Oaks, CA and
New Delhi)
Vol 3(3): 205–219 [1469-7874
(200211) 3:3;205–219;028180]
ARTICLE
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This article provides a rationale for the adoption of a
learning outcomes approach for delivering a curriculum. Included
is a unit guide framework for establishing the learning outcomes
and the incorporation of an appropriate assessment strategy. This
format has been adopted at Sheffield Hallam University and has
proved to be most successful. In order to provide validity for this
approach, the article contains an example of the use of a learning
outcomes model related to the requirements of professional bodies
involved in the education of construction students within higher
education establishments. Professional bodies have assisted in determining a set of common learning outcomes which all construction
graduates should be capable of performing. However, higher education is charged with designing a strategy for delivering the
common learning outcomes. Therefore, an appropriate methodology for addressing this issue built around the construction example
is provided in the form of an implementation model.
K E Y WO R D S : assessment, lear ning outcomes, professional
A B S T R AC T
development, unit guide
The trigger for the development of a set of ‘common learning outcomes’ was
Sir Michael Latham’s review of construction (1994). Latham specifically advocated greater teamwork and a better awareness of the roles of other construction professionals. This led to the Construction Industry Board
appointing the Construction Industry Council (CIC). CIC was selected as the
implementational agency and this resulted in the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (1997) to address the issues raised by Latham. The result
was a set of ‘common learning outcomes’ which all construction professionals can acquire. The common learning outcomes framework is focused
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upon the enhancement of ‘communication skills’, involvement in ‘group
dynamics’ and the attainment of a ‘professional awareness’. The common
learning outcomes have been designed to empower greater interaction and
teamwork among professionals from different disciplines. Wilson (1997)
opines ‘Effective teamwork is an important ingredient for the success of any
construction project’ (cited by Association of Building Engineers, 1997: 30).
Appreciation of the above quotation is fundamental to the education of
construction professionals. However, the task of higher education establishments is to incorporate the common learning outcomes into their
degree programmes.
This article focuses on the production of a suitable methodology for
incorporating and monitoring the common learning outcomes framework.
Construction industry board common learning
outcomes
Construction industry clientele require construction professionals to be
responsive to their needs. This especially applies to the management of the
construction process. The common learning outcomes framework provides
an agreed approach to the education of construction-related professionals
and hence assists in achieving client satisfaction.
Degree courses in construction and the built environment common
learning outcomes are identified below.
Communication
Candidates are required to:
• prepare and present a written report;
• prepare and make an oral presentation;
• participate in a forum where their own view(s) are subjected to peer
group criticism;
• engage in an activity requiring manipulation of numbers;
• prepare and make a presentation involving graphical description;
• engage in an activity requiring use of information technology.
Group dynamics
Candidates are required to:
•
•
•
•
•
attain set goals whilst working in a group;
perform a set role within a group setting;
achieve set goals whilst chairing a group;
negotiate and progress the resolution of a dispute;
identify and codify the roles of individuals in a group at work.
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Professional awareness
Candidates are required to:
• engage in an activity where ethical standards are central to the problem;
• engage in an activity where issues of protection and/or care of the
natural and the built environment are central to the problem;
• engage in an activity where issues of energy management and energy
conservation are central to the problem;
• perform a task which illustrates the differences in interpretation of the
idea of quality in construction;
• perform a task which illustrates the essential components of the legislative framework within which construction activity takes place;
• perform a task where the concept of value for money is illustrated;
• perform a task where design imperatives are in conflict with the cost of
the solution and resolve the conflict;
• perform a task where health and safety are major issues in the brief and
the solution.
Professional bodies who are participating in the Memorandum of Understanding are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Association of Building Engineers;
British Institute of Architectural Technologists;
Chartered Institute of Building;
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers;
Chartered Society of Designers;
Institute of Building Control;
Institution of Civil Engineers;
Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors;
Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers;
Institute of Maintenance & Building Management;
Landscape Institute;
Royal Institute of British Architects;
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors;
Royal Town Planning Institute.
The rationale for adopting a common learning
outcomes approach
Professional institutions recognize the value of having graduates who have
attained the common learning outcomes. However, higher educational
establishments are charged with the implementational process, but validation of their processes is the domain of the professional bodies.
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Industrial customers are the potential employers of graduates – who are
the product of higher education. They have a direct interest in there being
available a ‘suitable workforce’ with which they can efficiently, effectively
and professionally operate their organizations. As such, graduates are
demanded who can fulfil specific vocational competencies.
Once customer demands are recognized, they are then required, for the
purposes of higher education, to be interpreted into coherent ‘learning outcomes’. For this to be tenable the nature of the term ‘learning outcomes’
must be appreciated.
A ‘learning outcome’ is defined as being something that students can do
now that they could not do previously (Ecclestone, 1995). Thus, learning
outcomes can be regarded as changes within a person as a result of a learning experience. For the purpose of using learning outcomes within higher
education, assessment must be both possible and appropriate. The desired
learning outcomes of higher education courses must therefore not only be
representative of customer demand, they must also be clearly stated and
assessable. In describing learning outcomes, four different approaches to
specification were explored in an investigative project into learning outcomes of higher education. The four approaches were based on:
Objectives – the stated intention of the course.
Subject knowledge – the knowledge content commonly identified in
syllabuses or course documentation.
Discipline – the notion of a discipline as a culture and value system to
which the graduate is admitted.
Competence – what a graduate can do as a result of the degree programme,
including the narrower notion of occupational competence (Otter,
1992).
In recognizing that the desired learning outcomes are the interpretations
of customers’ demand, and that they require to be both clearly stated and
assessable, it can be appreciated that they are the engine that enables the
continual driving forward of higher education towards the common learning outcomes framework.
In acceptance of this, a central aspect of a research project at Sheffield
Hallam University is concerned with the learning outcomes of students.
The learning outcomes methodology is seen to provide the instrument for
placing the customer at the centre of organizational activities and for
enabling an identification of specific customer requirements. This approach
is viewed as empowering the host organization with the means to gauge
its service provision through the monitoring of learning outcomes attainment. The learning outcomes approach provides a focus for both higher
educational provision and customer activity.
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The relationship between approaches and
outcomes
Ramsden (1992) reports that many research studies have shown that the
outcomes of students’ learning are associated with the approaches they use.
In other words, what students learn is closely associated with how they go
about learning it. Biggs (1993) has developed the ‘Structure of the
Observed Learning Outcomes’ (SOLO) taxonomy which has allowed the
link to be made between approaches to learning and learning outcomes,
curriculum design and assessment in many different subject areas. In
answering questions students can adopt one of five levels: first, pre-structural, where there is the use of irrelevant information or there is no
meaningful response; second, unstructural, where the answer focuses on
one relevant factor only; third, multistructural, where the answer focuses
on several relevant features, but they are not co-ordinated; fourth, relational, where several parts are integrated into a coherent whole, details are
linked to conclusions and meaning is understood; and, finally, extended
abstract, where the answer generalizes the structure beyond the information given and higher order principles are used to bring in a new and
broader set of issues. The dividing line is between the third and fourth
levels, above which the students’ answers involve evidence of understanding in the sense of integrating and structuring parts of the material to be
learned.
It is obvious that for professionals to function at a high level of competence they should be operating at the fourth and fifth levels. Therefore,
we must consider how best to incorporate the learning outcomes into a
course profile.
At a meeting of 29 January 1999 chaired by Professor John Bale (chairman of the CIC Education and Professional Development Forum) there was
agreement that most of the learning outcomes were already accounted for
within existing accreditation/validation criteria. However, not all were
incorporated and the Memorandum of Understanding requires them to be
dealt with more explicitly both within accreditation/validation guidelines
and during accreditation processes. The meeting agreed that the onus for
driving the process lay with the professional bodies and that they should
insist that higher education departments meet the criteria as laid down
(Holle, 1999).
Empirical research unit guide methodology
The incorporation of learning outcomes into the delivery of the curriculum requires planning. Brown and Atkins (1996: 35) purport
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The essential skill of effective lecturing is preparation not presentation. Obviously presentation is important but without a clear, coherent lecture structure
a presentation may have a short-lived effect.
The planning activity not only incorporates the material to be taught but
also impacts upon the teaching approach to be adopted by the staff who
will be influenced by the learning outcomes. This issue is corroborated by
Cox (1994: 27) who wrote ‘teaching methods/learning activities should
be matched to the objectives of the course’.
At Sheffield Hallam University the above valid points have been noted
and incorporated within a ‘unit guide learning outcomes framework’.
All curricula are written for units built around learning outcomes (see
Figure 1).
The first phase in the production of unit guides is to determine the
required learning outcomes of the student upon completion of the unit.
This allows further consideration to be given to the methods of teaching
the unit. It also provides for the identification of the most suitable assessment strategies to be employed. Therefore, there is a link between outcomes, delivery and assessment.
The unit guide format
A unit guide format requires the following sections to be addressed.
Rationale
• Provides the educational, commercial and/or industrial need for and
context of a unit.
• Makes clear any relationship with any previous learning and/or associated or subsequent units.
• Includes any information on student target group, including professional, vocational and educational stages and needs.
Summary of aims Aims can include the development of attributes as
interests, desirable attitudes, appreciation, values and commitment as well
as knowledge, understanding and application. They are concise, broad statements against which the success of the unit can be evaluated.
Learning outcomes These are what you expect the student will be
able to demonstrate at the end of the unit. This is because in current educational discussions on assessment the term ‘output’ has been replaced by
the concept of ‘learning outcomes’. The Otter (1992) study, for example,
was based upon the belief that the measurement of learning outcomes
(what a learner can do as a result of learning) rather than the more
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Identification of course
requirements
Course curriculum containing
Common learning outcomes
learning outcomes
(CIB)
Development of course
curriculum incorporating all
learning outcomes
Breakdown of course curriculum into
years of study
Breakdown of course curriculum into
units of delivery per year
Production of Unit Guides for each unit of delivery based
upon a learning outcomes model
Map Unit Guides against Memorandum of
*Agreement Common Learning Outcomes
Are all Common
No
Learning Outcomes
incorporated ?
Yes
Units delivered to students providing
summative and formative feedback
Monitor units based upon learning
outcomes
Are
Unit Learning
No
Outcomes being
achieved ?
*This process enables Professional
Yes
Bodies to accredit degree courses with
confidence.
Feedback and continual monitoring process
Figure 1
Learning outcomes unit guide implementation model
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traditional description of learning input (syllabus or course content) was a
more valid approach to gauge the leaning process.
This educational approach has been strongly supported by many
respected authors on education, for example, Ecclestone (1995).
Teaching and learning strategy and methods
This provides the overall strategy of how the learning outcomes are to be
achieved, and a rationale for the methods to be employed, with their degree
of emphasis within the unit, e.g. reference to lectures, directed reading, use
of learning resources, including IT (can be expressed in percentage terms);
all resource implications should also be established.
The common learning outcomes framework may be said to be directed
at providing a competent reflective practitioner capable of interdisciplinary
working. Therefore, curriculum design provides an opportunity for
students to share common teaching and learning experiences with people
studying other disciplines. This is supported by key skills and study skills
development, delivered across the curriculum supported by open learning
materials (e.g. skills packs, key skills on line, blackboard and web pages) so
that students experience greater control of their learning and hence greater
motivation.
With specific reference to the attainment of being a reflective practitioner, greater emphasis is placed on problem-based learning. This is well
suited to our integrated projects in which students are confronted with
real-world problems, requiring a multidisciplinary solution(s). This
approach is very useful in facilitating a move to independent learning.
Integrative and developmental approaches to teaching, learning and
assessment have resulted in a good quality learning experience. Formal
lectures provide the vehicle for disseminating information with the use of
smaller groups of tutorial and specialist laboratory or computer suite work,
in which students have access to academic staff. This provides a balance
between efficiency of delivery to large groups and more focused support.
However, the need to make the learning process active and participative is
recognized.
Blockweeks are used in the programme as vehicles for obtaining participation and group development. Each course team is responsible for setting
appropriate learning activities which are assessed and contribute to the
learning outcomes of a particular unit. Case studies, projects with ‘real
clients’, and fieldwork add significantly to the learning experience by
broadening the knowledge base and linking theory and practice.
Teaching, learning and assessment strategies and methodologies move
progressively from tightly structured didactic approaches in the earlier
semesters, in which recall and comprehension form the basis of assessed
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performance, to a much more strongly student-centred approach. This
requires greater levels of independent learning. Application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of more complex vocationally related data and processes characterize the final units of study. Learning processes require that
the students understand the objectives of the educational process. Unit
leaders are responsible for ensuring that students are made familiar with
the objectives and assessment criteria of a unit and the role of the unit in
relation to other aspects of the course are clearly understood.
Assessment and feedback strategy
The assessment and feedback strategy should describe the approach and
indicate the following:
•
•
•
•
the balance of formative and summative assessment;
the quantity and timing of assessment;
the timing and type of feedback to students;
where the assessment process is intended to provide a vehicle for learning as well as an assessment of learning.
Assessment criteria The assessment criteria which form the basis of
formal assessment should be listed, showing, where appropriate, which
criteria are to be used for different components of assessment. Criteria
should establish the level of achievement that is required for a student to
pass the unit and should be directly related to the unit learning outcomes.
The above form the basis for a best practice ‘unit guide’. Basing course
delivery upon the unit guide system allows professional bodies to establish
more easily that the common learning outcomes have been incorporated.
Table 1 provides an example of a mapping exercise for a degree course
utilizing the unit guide methodology. As used at Sheffield Hallam University, this process makes it explicit to the professional bodies that the
common learning outcomes have been incorporated.
The school assessment strategy is:
• to ensure that assessment methods are consistent, practicable, timely and
effective in providing evidence of unit/course intended learning outcomes;
• to design formative and summative assessment to drive the students’
learning process;
• to provide consistent, constructive and prompt feedback on both
coursework and exams to students, focusing on how to improve their
work.
Assessment strategies are designed to give the student the opportunity
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Unit mapping example
Contractual
Procedures
Production
Organization &
Resource
Management
Construction
Commercial
Studies
Advanced
Land
Surveying
Facilities
Management
Refurbishment
and
Development
CN301
CN306
CN302
CN306
CN307
CN303
CN303
CN309
(0)
CN310
(0)
CN311
(0)
Operational
Environment
and
Competitive
Advantage
CN327
(0)
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Page 214
Communication
Candidates are required to:
• Prepare and present a
written report
• Prepare and make an oral
presentation
• Participate in a forum where
their own view(s) are
subjected to peer group
criticism
• Engage in an activity requiring
manipulation of numbers
• Prepare and make a
presentation involving
graphical description
• Engage in an activity requiring
use of information technology
Group Dynamics
Candidates are required to:
• Attain set goals whilst working
in a group
• Perform a set role within a
group setting
• Achieve set goals whilst
chairing a group
Dissertation
‘A’ & ‘B’
11:15 am
Construction Industry Board
Common Learning Outcomes
Integrated
Projects ‘A’ &
‘B’
3(3)
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Degree courses in
construction and
the built environment
units
1/10/02
BSc (Hons) Construction Management unit titles
AC T I V E L E A R N I N G I N H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N
214
Table 1
Continued
Contractual
Procedures
Production
Organization &
Resource
Management
Construction
Commercial
Studies
Advanced
Land
Surveying
Facilities
Management
Refurbishment
and
Development
CN301
CN306
CN302
CN306
CN307
CN303
CN303
CN309
(0)
CN310
(0)
CN311
(0)
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✳
Operational
Environment
and
Competitive
Advantage
CN327
(0)
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Page 215
215
• Negotiate and progress the
resolution of a dispute
• Identify and codify the roles
of individuals in a group at
work
Professional Awareness
Candidates are required to:
• Engage in an activity where
ethical standards are central
to the problem
• Engage in an activity where
issues of protection and/or
care of the natural and the
built environment are central
to the problem
• Engage in an activity where
issues of energy management
and energy conservation are
central to the problem
• Perform a task which
illustrates the differences in
interpretation of the idea of
quality in construction
Dissertation
‘A’ & ‘B’
11:15 am
Construction Industry Board
Common Learning Outcomes
Integrated
Projects ‘A’ &
‘B’
1/10/02
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Degree courses in
construction and
the built environment
units
WAT S O N : R O L E A N D I N T E G R AT I O N O F L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S
BSc (Hons) Construction Management unit titles
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Table 1
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Dissertation
‘A’ & ‘B’
Contractual
Procedures
Production
Organization &
Resource
Management
Construction
Commercial
Studies
Advanced
Land
Surveying
Facilities
Management
Refurbishment
and
Development
CN301
CN306
CN302
CN306
CN307
CN303
CN303
CN309
(0)
CN310
(0)
CN311
(0)
Operational
Environment
and
Competitive
Advantage
CN327
(0)
✳
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✳
✓
✓
Construction Industry Board
Common Learning Outcomes
• Perform a task which
illustrates the essential
components of the
legislative framework within
which construction activity
takes place
• Perform a task where the
concept of value for money
is illustrated
• Perform a task where
design imperatives are in
conflict with the cost of the
solution and resolve the conflict
• Perform a task where health
and safety are major issues in
the brief and the solution
✳ Could be covered by this unit.
✓
✓
✓
Page 216
Integrated
Projects ‘A’ &
‘B’
11:15 am
Degree courses in
construction and
the built environment
units
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BSc (Hons) Construction Management unit titles
1/10/02
Continued
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Table 1
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to demonstrate competence in the subjects assessed and to provide an accurate evaluation of the student’s overall proficiency, at each stage of the
course. Assessment also acts as a source of student feedback, which can be
used to help measure the success or otherwise of the learning and teaching process. It is most important that the assessment strategy used creates
an appropriate learning environment and suitably tests the identified learning outcomes.
Where a subject is best assessed by the use of extended exercises and/or
case studies, thereby allowing students to demonstrate their ability to
apply principles in the design of solutions to problems, the unit is normally assessed by continuous assessment. Where the student is required
to demonstrate a knowledge base and direct application of key concepts
and principles, both written examination and continuous assessment
methods are adopted to assess the unit. The assessment strategy formulated should not only test whether the students are making the educational
progress expected of them, but also create an appropriate learning
environment.
Evaluation
Sufficient time has now elapsed for the attainment of feedback on the learning outcome incorporation process from students, staff, employers and professional bodies.
The summation of this feedback is that the process has worked very well,
students and employers agreed that the reflective and interdisciplinary
aspects have been addressed and this is validated by student (employee)
performance. Staff, through appropriate teaching, learning and assessment
strategies, are confident of student attainment. Again this is validated by
being able to show that the QAA benchmarks for Building and Surveying
are addressed.
The ultimate test is provided by the professional bodies and they have
awarded the BSc (Hons) Construction Management course with the use of
the Construction Industry Board (CIB) logo. This is only allowed for courses
that can demonstrate that they have addressed the common learning outcomes framework.
Conclusions
Professional bodies who accredit degree courses in construction and the
built environment agree that the granting of accredited status will be dependent upon evidence of the learning outcomes listed being available during
the accreditation visit, on the understanding that:
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1. The wording of a learning outcome may be modified to make it relevant
to a particular discipline.
2. The outcomes are independent of mode or method of delivery.
3. Providers of courses will only need to provide evidence that the outcomes have been achieved at least once during the programme of
study.
4. The outcomes represent a minimum menu independent of time allocation, academic importance and worth, and frequency of achievement.
5. A professional body may set its own standards of achievement expected
for each learning outcome: for some disciplines a competency may be
required; for others an awareness could suffice.
6. Courses which are accredited by professional bodies and which provide
for these learning outcomes may be designated a ‘CIB Course’ or a ‘CIB
Course in the Built Environment’ as appropriate and may use the CIB
logo.
The onus for driving the process lies with the professional bodies and
they are required to insist that higher education departments/schools meet
the criteria as laid down. Utilizing this methodology as part of the validation process for a degree programme Sheffield Hallam’s School of
Environment and Development has enabled the common learning outcomes to be included within the curriculum. This was achieved as part of
a validation process. The process has been assessed to the satisfaction of professional bodies.
There is no doubt that the CIB is determined to see the attainment of the
common learning outcomes by construction related graduates. The unit
guide model provides the means for incorporating them into a course/programme framework.
References
(1997) Journal of the Association of Building
Engineers November: 30.
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Thomson.
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WAT S O N : R O L E A N D I N T E G R AT I O N O F L E A R N I N G O U T C O M E S
Biographical note
is Principal Lecturer and subject group leader for Construction
Management and Quantity Surveying at Sheffield Hallam University with an interest
in educational quality management.
Address: School of Environment & Development, Sheffield Hallam University, City
Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK. [email: [email protected]]
PAU L WAT S O N
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