Constructive alignment is a principle used for devising

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...

and

learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and ...

activities, and assessment tasks, that directly address the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) in a way not typically achieved in traditional

lecture A lecture (from ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history, background, theo ...

tutorial In education, a tutorial is a method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete ...

classes and examinations. Constructive alignment was devised by

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

John B. Biggs, and represents a marriage between a constructivist understanding of the nature of learning, and an aligned design for outcomes-based teaching education. Constructive alignment is the underpinning concept behind the current requirements for programme specification, declarations of learning outcomes (LOs) and assessment criteria, and the use of criterion based assessment. There are two basic concepts behind constructive alignment: *Learners construct meaning from what they do to learn. This concept derives from

cognitive psychology Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, whi ...

and constructivist theory, and recognizes the importance of linking new material to concepts and experiences in the learner's

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

, and extrapolation to possible future scenarios via the abstraction of basic principles through reflection. *The teacher makes a deliberate alignment between the planned learning activities and the learning outcomes. This is a conscious effort to provide the learner with a clearly specified goal, a well designed learning activity or activities that are appropriate for the task, and well designed assessment criteria for giving feedback to the learner. A branch of educational evaluation theory has emerged that focuses on constructive alignment as a key element in effective educational design. Known as design-focused evaluation, this approach seeks student feedback on the efficacy of the designed alignment between the intended learning outcomes and the teaching and learning activities students engage in during a course of study.

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Further reading

See also