Learning objectives/assessment tasks

Suggested teaching & learning activities

Examples

SOLO Level 1 (students learn one relevant aspect of the whole) Learn procedures, algorithms; memorise and name.

Lecturer input (face-to-face or through a study guide, to identify the procedures, names etc. that need to be memorised and to place them in their disciplinary context)

• Learning by association (mnemonics) in groups
• Repetition of key procedures etc. in pairs or groups
• Teaching games & repetitive testing
• Peer testing: e.g. provide a list of ‘objects’ and ask students to test each other as they name them
• Pair and group activities can be adapted to distance education by including individual activities in a study guide with feedback as an appendix to let students self-assess their progress
• Quizzes: short answer, multiple choice, true/false.

In an introductory session, a science lecturer was faced with a large tiered lecture theatre, 100 new students and a one-hour timeslot in which to teach the names of species of freshwater fish. He gave a brief lecture with PowerPoint slides and then provided two handouts, one with illustrations of the fish species and the other with names. Students worked in pairs, one with the illustrations, one with the list of names, to teach each other to be word perfect in matching the information in the two handouts correctly. After allowing time for the activity, the lecturer reviewed the list of species and their names to check that students had learned accurately.

Lecturer input (face-to-face or through a study guide, to build the language of the profession)

• Glossaries (to help students learn definitions and classifications)
• Laboratory exercises
• Paired activity: discuss notes and summaries taken during lectures and discuss accuracy of note-taking
• Paired activity: match lists of definitions to course glossaries or lists of terms or classifications
• Adapt for distance or online education by providing definitions or lists of classifications and ask students to provide the matching terms. Correct answers can be in an appendix.
• Quizzes: short answer, multiple choice, true/false.

In a tutorial session an economics lecturer used a version of the ‘Trivial Pursuit’ game. She made cards with key terms and definitions printed on them. Students played the game in small groups, taking it in turns to draw cards from the set provided and asking each other to provide definitions. In an informal competition individuals won ‘points’ for correct answers.

SOLO Level 3 (students learn to integrate several different aspects into a structure) Demonstrate that they understand main ideas, explain, analyse, compare, contrast, solve, perform critical thinking tasks, argue a case. Demonstrate the achievement of an ethical stance appropriate to your discipline, make moral and ethical judgements.

Case studies

• Concept maps
• Research projects
• Application of theoretical models to students’ own professional field (hypothetical or real-life activities)
• Computer simulations
• Laboratory exercises
• Tutorial exercises
• Journals
• Student debates, seminars, briefings and debriefings
• Field trips that include specific ‘higher order’ thinking tasks or acceptable physical challenges in the field
• Syndicate groups with specific tasks (all groups do the same task, or each group has an individual task). Syndicate groups report their findings to the whole group for discussion.
• Problem-solving groups. Students need sufficient background or access to resources to solve the problem.
• Paired or group activities can be adapted for distance education by asking students to consult relevant people in the community – depending on the topic and disciplinary area – as part of developing understanding, problem solving or other higher order thinking task.
• Problem-based learning and resource-based learning (holistic approaches to student learning). Students need to be independent learners and to be taught the processes of these methods. These methods can be used whatever mode/s of educational delivery.

This stage is getting into the development of what Biggs would call ‘higher order thinking skills’. People learn these skills by being challenged to perform them and getting feedback on their performance. Therefore experiential activities based on models appropriate to your disciplinary area are useful. Make sure that techniques are taught first; e.g. the stages of analysis; what you mean by terms such as ‘critical analysis,’ ‘develop an argument’, ‘critical thinking’ or ‘problem-solving’. At this stage (and the next) students should feel OK about taking risks in order to learn from mistakes. Activities should build confidence in risk-taking activities.

This example is a suggested process to use prior to an experiential activity that requires critical thinking:

• Step through the language and process of critical thinking in your disciplinary area
• Show an examplar of excellent critical thinking (from a past assignment, past activity, professional journal or other professional example)
• Conduct an experiential activity (such as those suggested below) where students apply the techniques they have learned to developing new knowledge.

SOLO Level 4 (students can generalise what they learn into a new area of knowledge) Theorise, reflect, hypothesise, generate new ideas or new knowledge Demonstrate the achievement of an ethical stance appropriate to your discipline, make moral and ethical judgements.

Ensure that students have skills at the earlier stages of learning development because this stage builds on them. This stage can be demonstrated at every educational level (from first-year undergraduate to PhD studies) and includes creativity, holistic thinking and the ability to generalise what students have learnt to a new knowledge domain.

• Individual projects (designing their own learning objectives, evaluating research or professional practice, undertaking small or large research projects and making conclusions and/or recommendations)
• Case studies
• Application of research to practice and development of a theoretical model
• Experiential activities that include reflection on students’ own practice and thinking with reference to theoretical models
• One-to-one teaching and supervision
• Problem-based learning and resource-based learning.

Sociology students were asked by their lecturer to collect government, media and other reports about the origins and outcomes of a particular controversial current event. Students analysed the approaches taken by spokespeople and commentators in the print and electronic media. They debated the issues and reflected on implications for wider society within syndicate groups, and each group was asked to recommend a fresh approach that would represent a strategy to find a way forward for other controversies that might arise within society. Representatives of each group were asked to justify their new approach to the large group. The syndicate groups were organised according to how students were studying. There were face-to-face groups and online groups (either email or through MySCU) and those studying paper-based distance education used ‘snail mail’ or telephone.