Learning Outcomes and their Assessment: Putting Open University Pedagogical Practices under the Microscope Conclusions
المؤلف:
Chris Dillon & Catherine Reuben & Maggie Coats & Linda Hodgkinson
المصدر:
Enhancing Teaching and Learning through Assessment
الجزء والصفحة:
P288-C24
2025-07-23
446
Learning Outcomes and their Assessment: Putting Open University Pedagogical Practices under the Microscope Conclusions
For the Open University - with over 200,000 students, around 10,000 full-time and part-time academic staff, and with embedded central and regional pedagogical practices focused on distance education and supported open learning - the move to an outcomes-based approach continues to be a major challenge. However, in placing the OU's pedagogical strategy under close scrutiny, first to address the requirements of the QAA and then to look closely at the ongoing enhancement of teaching and learning, the LOTA project has been highly influential in motivating and supporting large-scale institutional change.
Perhaps not unexpectedly change at this scale takes time. There is no quick fix. Academic staff no less than students need time to assimilate new ideas, take ownership of them, adapt them so that they become meaningful in new contexts, and try them out to see what works and what doesn't. As the case studies indicate, the shift to an outcomes-based approach implies more than simply identifying learning outcomes and devising new assessment.
The LOTA project work has emphasized the need not just for alignment between learning, teaching and assessment within the curriculum but fundamentally in connecting those changes to staff development. In practice this means that all academic staff need to build and share a common understanding of how learning outcomes and assessment practices are used to enhance student learning.
The outcomes - assessment - teaching triad in Figure 1 in From quality assurance to quality enhancement, emphasizes that assessment is not a separate activity but is intimately connected with the learning process. The principles of transparency, transformation and transferability underlie the triad. Building clear links between teaching, assessment and learning outcomes is key to student development. Feeding forward on assessment activities, by using the outcomes as hooks for guidance on how to improve performance, supports student progression through courses and levels. For the student, understanding how outcomes, assessment, feedback and learning are intimately linked together is part of becoming an independent learner. Explicit outcomes inform self-assessment and support personal development planning. Being able to use an outcomes language to recognize and articulate skills and knowledge, and being able to draw on a portfolio of completed assessment tasks (for example, reports, critiques, designs) as supporting evidence, is an increasingly important aspect of employability.
The LOTA approach has enabled staff to explore the implications of outcomes-based assessment, to discuss, consult and recommend procedures and systems, and to manage the issues involved in the design of assessment strategies in ways that enhance student learning. The results of the project work are now being embedded into practice and disseminated widely across the Open University.
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