What is it about?
This design-based research study grappled with the need to map higher-order skills to the learning activities and assessments that foster them. Through its design intervention, the study developed an outcomes table that supports educators in mapping multiple levels of outcomes (disciplinary standards, program-specific competencies, and higher-order skills) to the curriculum. The benefits of adopting the outcomes mapping protocol are: 1) checking the alignment between learning design and learning outcomes, 2) analyzing any curriculum against multiple sets of standards, 3) identifying gaps and strengths in the curriculum, 4) redesigning the curriculum in more targeted ways, 5) preparing for learning outcomes analytics. The mapping protocol also provides visual evidence that authentic learning experiences are responsible for fostering these sought after skills and dispositions. As such, the outcomes mapping protocol provides a practical way forward to improve teaching practice, the learning experience of students, and consequently learning outcomes.
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Why is it important?
21st century skills, also knows by many other names (t-skills, transferable skills, transversal skills, transdisciplinary skills, higher-order skills / competencies), have been a movement underway for some time. Nearly half of US states have articulated policies towards adopting a competency-based education model. Learner Profiles and Profiles of Graduates that profess to achieve these desired skills abound. What is missing is an evidence-based method by which to analyze a learning design for the disciplinary standards and higher-order skills it fosters. The outcomes mapping protocol delivers that. It also provides visual evidence that authentic learning experiences are responsible for fostering these sought after skills. As such, it can serve as a tool to transform the mental models of educators towards a more learner-centered paradigm.
Perspectives
There is a need for clarity when discussing competencies as these come in different grain sizes (small, medium, large) with some so complex that they require a lifetime to acquire (cultural literacy, for example), whereas others are fairly discreet and measurable. So when discussing competencies, it would be helpful to begin with a clarifying statement about what grain size we are talking about. There is also needed shift in assessment language away from finite words like measurement and towards terms like evidencing, fostering, etc. Most complex higher-order skills defy being measured and we stand the risk of neglecting them and only assess what is easily measurable if we insist on absolute terms like measurement. Recent advances in AI have made clear that focusing on human-centered skills will have enduring value. These skills go beyond the cognitive and are examples of why a shift in pedagogy and assessment are necessary. The outcomes mapping protocol is accurate in identifying where and whether or not these skills are being practiced. It offers an effective way to review where we are at in the direction of travel towards a competency-based model.
Christiane Reilly
reDesignED
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tracking transdisciplinary skills in the design of online courses: A design-based research study, Computers & Education, October 2023, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104867.
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