Aligning Objectives, Teaching and Assesment - Creating a Course Design

ALIGNING OBJECTIVES, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT – CREATING A COURSE DESIGN
(Paper accepted for publication in Analele Universitatii din Oradea)

Alexandra Muţiu
Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai
Facultatea de Ştiinţe Economice şi Gestiunea Afacerilor

Rucsandra Moldovan
Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai
Facultatea de Ştiinţe Economice şi Gestiunea Afacerilor

In this research paper we described the existing relation between the controllable components of the current learning context (CLC) which leads us to Biggs’s aligned system of instruction. We tried to shape the CLC components in order to increase the CLC effectiveness. We succeed to do this through the curriculum we build, which was created based on Bloom’s taxonomy and critical thinking approach of teaching. The importance of the research consists in offering our perspective on the alignment process between objectives, teaching and assessment through the course design we created.

Key words: curriculum, teaching, assessment, Bloom’s taxonomy, critical thinking

JEL Classification: I21

1. Introduction
We started our research with 3Ps model: Presage, Process and Product developed by Briggs in 1995. This model presents the factors that affect the learning outcome of a learner: prior education experiences along with current learning context influence SAL which determines the learning outcome. The 3Ps model offers educators ways to stimulate higher level learning[1].

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Fig. 1. 3Ps’ Biggs’s model

Observing the CLS components, we noticed that they can be divided in two major parts: controllable and uncontrollable by instructors. Teaching, curriculum and assessment are controllable elements by instructor but climate cannot be controllable in all cases, depending on which type of climate is: classroom or institutional. Besides the uncontrollable elements, the controllable ones influence student’s approach to learning and the learning outcome.

In this paper we focused our attention on controllable...