51,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
This practical guide is one of the first in the field to examine research-based teaching and learning strategies, promote positive and inclusive learning environments, and provide interactive features that allow readers to demonstrate and apply what they learn. Ideal for courses on teaching and pedagogy, and written for both counselor educators and their students, it provides a deep understanding of how learning works in order to improve teaching practices and create strong student learning outcomes.
Skill-building chapters explore how to use dynamic lecturing, integrate collaborative team-based principles into teaching, enrich strategies for online learning, develop transparent assessment activities, document teaching effectiveness, practice effective gatekeeping, and engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Text features include content alignment with the CACREP Standards for teaching, a sample learner-centered syllabus, "pause and learns," reflective activities, and application exercises.
*Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com
*To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website
*Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 372
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Preface
References
Acknowledgments
About the Author
CHAPTER 1: Developing Learning Outcomes and a Learner-Centered Syllabus
Learning Objectives
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Backward Design
What Is the Purpose of a Syllabus?
Getting Students to Read the Syllabus
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 2: How Learning Works
Learning Objectives
What Is Learning? How Is Learning Different From Teaching?
Best Practices
Best Practices in Online Learning Environments
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 3: Dynamic Lecturing and Active Learning
Learning Objectives
Types of Lectures
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Active Learning and Dynamic Lecturing
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 4: Collaborative and Team-Based Learning
Learning Objectives
What Is Collaborative Learning?
What Is TBL?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting TBL
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 5: Online Learning
Learning Objectives
What Is Online Learning?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Online Learning
Strategies for Supplementing Face-to-Face Courses With Online Learning
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 6: Service Learning
Learning Objectives
What Is Service Learning and Community Engagement?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Service Learning in Counselor Education
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 7: Learning Assessment Techniques
Learning Objectives
What Is a LAT?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting LATs
LATs
Best Practices in Face-to-Face Classes
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 8: Transparent Design and Assessment
Learning Objectives
What Is Transparent Design?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Transparent Design
Why Are Rubrics Important in Transparent Design?
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 9: Documenting Teaching Effectiveness
Learning Objectives
What Is Teaching Effectiveness?
Student Ratings as a Form of Measuring Teaching Effectiveness
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 10: Gatekeeping, Remediation, and Mentoring in Teaching
Learning Objectives
What Is Gatekeeping?
What Is Remediation?
What Is Mentoring?
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
CHAPTER 11: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Learning Objectives
What Is SOTL?
Research-Based Evidence Supporting SOTL
Best Practices
Conclusion
Reflective and Application Exercises
Recommended Readings and Resources
References
APPENDIX A: Sample Learner-Centered Syllabus
Introduction to Research Methods
My Beliefs Toward Teaching and Learning
Student Learning Objectives
TExES Competencies
Evaluation and Grading
Calendar of Activities
References
APPENDIX B: Sample PowerPoint Slide
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
References
APPENDIX C: Transparent Assignments
Research Methods
School Counseling
APPENDIX D: Statement of Teaching Philosophy
References
Index
Technical Support
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Pages
i
ii
iii
vii
viii
ix
x
xi
xii
xiii
xv
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
199
200
201
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
Javier Cavazos Vela
Teaching and Learning in Counselor Education
6101 Stevenson Avenue, Suite 600 | Alexandria, VA 22304www.counseling.org
Teaching and Learning in Counselor Education
Copyright © 2020 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
American Counseling Association6101 Stevenson Avenue, Suite 600Alexandria, VA 22304
Associate PublisherCarolyn C. Baker
Digital and Print Development EditorNancy Driver
Senior Production ManagerBonny E. Gaston
Copy EditorBeth Ciha
Cover design by Bonny E. Gaston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNames: Vela, Javier Cavazos, author.Title: Teaching and learning in counselor education / Javier Cavazos Vela.Description: Alexandria : American Counseling Association, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2020005160 | ISBN 9781556203886 (paperback)Subjects: LCSH: Counseling—Study and teaching.Classification: LCC BF636.65.V45 2020 | DDC 158.3071—dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005160
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my daughter, Alyxia. I hope you will remember this book as one way I said thank you for giving me motivation to work hard and complete my goals. I also dedicate this book to my late mother, who lost her battle with cancer. Thank you, Mom, for always encouraging me to chase my dreams and never give up. I know that you are proud of me, and I will always remember you. Finally, I dedicate this book to my late grandfather, Judge Moises V. Vela. Thank you, Pipo, for giving me a lifetime worth of memories. I miss you every day.
Preface
IF YOU ARE A DOCTORAL student in counselor education, you most likely were assigned this book in your pedagogy and teaching course. If you are a counselor educator, you most likely purchased this book to improve your knowledge, skills, and beliefs around teaching and learning in counselor education. Regardless of your level of training and expertise, you know that teaching is a fundamental role and responsibility of current and prospective counselor educators. Quality teaching has the potential to help students increase their performance, learning, sense of belonging, and self-efficacy. Effective teaching also has the potential to help students develop skills that will help them become lifelong learners. Thus, this book was planned and written with the intent of summarizing research-based teaching and learning strategies and providing readers with exercises and activities to apply what they learn. Also, this book is designed to be part of a course on teaching and pedagogy with recommendations for class and learning activities, homework exercises, and retrieval practice activities. All ideas in the book are based on research-based literature from counselor education and postsecondary education.
In this book, I address two primary audiences: doctoral students in counselor education and counselor educators. The main audience for this textbook is doctoral students in counselor education who are enrolled in a teaching and pedagogy course. However, this book is also useful for counselor educators who want a resource to improve their knowledge, skills, and beliefs around teaching and learning. If you are the instructor of a teaching pedagogy course in a doctoral program in counselor education, you will also find this textbook helpful for aligning course content and activities with the 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards (CACREP, 2015) for doctoral students in counselor education. A secondary audience is program administrators and department chairs in clinical mental health counseling programs. If you are a department chair, you can use the strategies in this book to design courses with research-based teaching and learning strategies and design professional development activities to help faculty improve their teaching practices. To help meet the demands and needs of various audiences, I have integrated activities and exercises into each chapter that can be used as part of a pedagogy course for doctoral students in counselor education or by counselor educators who are engaging in self-learning and professional development.
Each chapter has learning objectives, pause and learns, reflective activities, reflection exercises, application and evaluation exercises, and suggestions for best practices. Each chapter begins with a set of learning objectives aligned with Dee Fink’s (2003) taxonomy of learning and 2016 CACREP Standards for teaching. The content of this book will help doctoral students in counselor education meet the following CACREP Standards as they relate to teaching: (a) roles and responsibilities related to educating current and prospective counselors; (b) pedagogical methods relevant to teaching in counselor education; (c) models of adult development and learning; (d) curriculum design and evaluation; (e) effective approaches for online learning, remediation, and gatekeeping functions; (f) assessment of learning; and (g) the role of mentoring (CACREP, 2015). By reading and completing the activities in this book, readers will be able to improve their knowledge and skills in teaching and learning practices, which is a core area in CACREP Standards regarding doctoral professional identity.
The learning objectives will help readers define concepts, compare concepts and ideas, evaluate activities, and apply ideas to teaching. Following the learning objectives, each chapter includes a background knowledge probe, which is based on a learning principle presented in Chapter 7, which asks readers to reflect on what they already know about a topic or idea. There are also numerous pause and learns as well as retrieval practice exercises throughout each chapter (Harrington & Zakrajsek, 2017; Rice, 2018) to give readers time to refresh, think about what they are reading, retrieve information from memory, or make connections. Each pause and learn asks readers to stop reading and begin to think about how they can apply what they are reading, think about how what they are reading connects with what they already know, or make predictions about subsequent content and chapters. In addition, toward the end of each chapter are recommendations for application. All recommendations in these sections are based on research-based practices in the literature presented at the beginning of the chapters. All recommendations for application were intentionally selected for a variety of courses in counselor education. The chapters conclude with learn how to learn, application, and evaluation exercises, which are learning assessment techniques (Barkley & Major, 2016) designed to give readers an opportunity to think about not only what they have learned but also how to apply it. At the end of each chapter, readers will be able to respond to three simple yet meaningful questions: What did you learn in this chapter? How can you apply what you learned? How can you learn more about the topics in this chapter?
All chapters are aligned with Section 6, Doctoral Standards for Counselor Education and Supervision, of the 2016 CACREP Standards. Instructors can use this book to develop activities and exercises to help doctoral students in a pedagogy course meet CACREP Standards in teaching. Chapter 1 focuses on developing learning outcomes and a learner-centered syllabus. Background design, taxonomies of learning, and the learner-centered syllabus are reviewed and contextualized within the literature. This chapter helps doctoral students develop knowledge and skills in curriculum design, delivery, and evaluation (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.d.). After reading and completing the activities in this chapter, readers will be able to describe backward design, identify elements of Dee Fink’s taxonomy of learning, create a learner-centered syllabus, and prepare a plan to learn more about learning outcomes.
Chapter 2 introduces learning principles and research-based practices around how students learn. The following eight learning principles are covered: (a) Students’ previous knowledge can facilitate or hinder learning; (b) students’ ability to organize and integrate information can influence learning and application of learning; (c) students’ development can interact with course climate to help or hinder learning; (d) students learn better when they are actively engaged; (e) students learn better when they engage in retrieval practice; (f) people learn better when they are active; (g) practice and specific feedback are critical for learning; and (h) students need to self-monitor their learning to become self-directed learners (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman, 2010). After reading and practicing the ideas in this chapter, readers will be able to identify important learning principles, compare different learning principles, apply what they have learned to design learning experiences, and create a plan to learn more about how people learn.
Chapter 3 focuses on evidence-based teaching methods of dynamic lecturing and active learning. Different types of lectures and active learning activities, as well as the research supporting their effectiveness, are introduced. This chapter focuses on helping students increase their knowledge and skills in pedagogy and teaching methods in counselor education and supervision (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.b.). After reading and completing the activities in this chapter, readers will be able to identify research-based methods in teaching, compare different active learning strategies, create a plan to use research-based instructional strategies, and develop a plan to learn more about dynamic lecturing and active learning.
Chapter 4 reviews collaborative and team-based learning. Important elements of collaborative and team-based learning are introduced along with research-based recommendations. Like Chapter 3, this chapter focuses on helping students increase their knowledge and skills in pedagogy and teaching methods in counselor education and supervision (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.b.). After reading and completing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to identify elements of team-based learning, reflect on personal experiences with peer learning, and create a plan to integrate collaborative learning principles into teaching.
Chapter 5 focuses on online learning. Research-based recommendations for integrating online learning into courses are introduced. This chapter focuses on helping doctoral students develop knowledge and skills in effective approaches for online instruction (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.e.). After reading and completing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to identify the benefits of integrating online learning into a face-to-face course, contrast online and blended learning environments, apply what they have learned to develop online class sessions, and develop a plan to learn more about online learning.
Chapter 6 focuses on service learning and community engagement. Important distinctions between service learning and community engagement, as well as research-based recommendations, are presented. This chapter focuses on helping readers increase knowledge and skills in pedagogy and teaching methods in counselor education and supervision (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.b.). After reading this chapter, readers will be able to define service learning and community engagement, compare service learning and volunteerism, identify research-based practices in service learning, and apply best practices to create a service-learning project in a course.
Chapter 7 covers learning assessment techniques and formative assessment methods. The rationale and support for learning assessment techniques as well as specific strategies are offered. This chapter focuses on helping doctoral students develop knowledge and skills in assessment of learning (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.g.). After reading and completing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to define learning assessment techniques, identify three steps in the learning assessment process, create a plan to use learning assessment techniques, and identify resources to learn more about formative assessment methods.
Chapter 8 focuses on transparent design and assessment. Three components of transparent design are introduced: purpose, task, and criteria for success. Part of criteria for success is rubrics, which are also covered in this chapter. Like Chapter 7, this chapter focuses on helping doctoral students develop knowledge and skills in assessment of learning and is aligned with CACREP’s teaching standard on assessment of learning (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.g.). After reading and completing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to identify elements of transparent design, create a transparent assignment, and create a plan to learn more about transparent design.
Chapter 9 covers the documentation of teaching effectiveness. Several means of documenting teaching effectiveness are reviewed, including peer observation of teaching, traditional student evaluations, and the collection of student feedback. After reading and completing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to describe teaching effectiveness, identify strategies for evaluating teaching, use critical reflection to identify opportunities for growth, and evaluate teaching effectiveness.
Chapter 10 focuses on mentoring, remediation, and gatekeeping in counselor education. It describes (a) roles and responsibilities related to counselor educators, (b) screening and gatekeeping functions relevant to teaching, and (c) the role of mentoring in counselor education and supervision. Content in this chapter is aligned with CACREP’s teaching standards related to remediation, gatekeeping, and mentoring (CACREP Standards 6.B.3.a., 6.B.3.f., 6.B.3.i.). After reading and performing the exercises in this chapter, readers will be able to define mentoring in teaching, identify elements of gatekeeping and remediation, and create a plan to integrate gatekeeping functions into teaching and learning.
Chapter 11 focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). The steps for designing a SOTL research project and research question are covered. After reading this chapter, readers will be able to describe SOTL, identify the benefits of SOTL, and create a SOTL research question.
This book is a practical resource for current doctoral students and current counselor educators to use to develop knowledge and skills in research-based strategies in teaching and learning. This book is also helpful for program administrators who want to design courses with research-based teaching and learning strategies as well as help faculty improve their knowledge and skills in teaching practices. After reading this textbook, doctoral students in counselor education and counselor educators will be able to use backward design to create learning objectives and meaningful learning experiences, identify how learning works, structure a class for retrieval practice, create an interactive lecture with active learning strategies, create a learner-centered syllabus, design transparent assignments that are aligned with course objectives, engage in SOTL, and develop a statement of teaching philosophy. All content is aligned with 2016 CACREP Standards and can help instructors of doctoral pedagogy courses develop and plan activities that will enable students to develop knowledge and skills to meet standards for teaching.
Overall, this book provides prospective and current counselor educators with a resource for identifying research-based strategies for teaching and learning and aligning teaching practices with CACREP competencies in teaching. Just as counselor educators train counseling students to use evidence-based practices, they themselves need a textbook with research-based strategies for teaching and learning. I hope that after reading and completing the activities in this book, you will be able to reflect on your beliefs about teaching and create teaching and learning activities based on research-based practices.
References
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010).
How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016).
Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. (2015).
2016 CACREP standards.
Alexandria, VA: Author.
Fink, L. D. (2003).
Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Harrington, C., & Zakrajsek, T. (2017).
Dynamic lecturing: Research-based strategies to enhance lecture effectiveness.
Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Rice, G. T. (2018).
Hitting pause: 65 lecture breaks to refresh and reinforce learning.
Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Acknowledgments
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHOM I need to thank. I would like to thank the American Counseling Association, and Nancy Driver and Carolyn Baker, for believing in this book idea. I would also like to thank several family members, including my wife, Dr. Alyssa Cavazos, and grandmother, Mary Jo Vela. From my work family, I must acknowledge Professor Michael B. Johnson, who was my number one mentor, as well as Professors Ala Qubbaj, Patty Alvarez McHatton, and Alma D. Rodriguez from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I would also like to thank Professors Manual Zamarripa, Robert Smith, and Rick Balkin. All of these people believed in my potential to pursue teaching and research leadership opportunities.
About the Author
Javier Cavazos Vela, PhD, is associate dean for research and graduate programs at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a licensed professional counselor in the State of Texas. Javier has published more than 73 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has received external funding from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, Texas Education Agency, and U.S. Department of Education. As the former director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, he is committed to creating resources to help counselor educators think about their teaching and student learning.
CHAPTER 1Developing Learning Outcomes and a Learner-Centered Syllabus
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to
Describe backward design,
Identify elements of Dee Fink’s taxonomy of learning,
Compare different learning taxonomies,
Develop learning objectives across different levels of learning,
Identify elements of a learner-centered syllabus,
Create a learner-centered syllabus,
Reflect and prepare a plan to learn more about learning objectives and a learner-centered syllabus, and
Improve knowledge and skills in assessment of learning (CACREP Standard 6.B.3.g.; 2015).
Background Knowledge Probe
What knowledge, skills, or beliefs do you want students to develop in your course? What are the big ideas that students should retain as the result of completing your course? If you met a student 5 years from now in a coffee shop, what would you want them to say they learned in your course (Fink, 2003; Sibley 2018)?
At a professional conference in Spring 2018, Dr. Jim Sibley posed the following question to the audience during a keynote address: “If you met a former student in a coffee shop 5 years from now, what would you want them to say they learned in your course?” This is what I wrote down: “I want students to identify and use evidence-based research to inform counseling practice.” Yet when I looked at my course syllabus for Introduction to Counseling Research Methods at the time, I realized I did not have an assessment activity that was aligned with helping students develop knowledge and skills in identifying evidence-based practices. As much as I thought my teaching was transparent, I realized that my course assessments were not aligned with course objectives. Perhaps like many instructors, I used a forward teaching design in which I identified learning experiences first. Many teachers begin with their favorite learning activities, topics, or content before looking at learning outcomes and acceptable evidence. However, a more effective approach to teaching and learning is backward design, in which instructors begin with students’ objectives and move backward toward assessment activities and learning experiences (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). When we as instructors identify big ideas for our courses, we make sure that all assessment and learning activities are aligned with those big ideas. We make sure that we create significant learning experiences for our students (Fink, 2003). Once we use backward design to identify what we want our students to learn, we can develop strong and meaningful learning objectives.
Research-Based Evidence Supporting Backward Design
There is evidence to support the benefits of backward design. These benefits include transparent instruction, alignment between course goals and assessment activities, better time management, engagement, and feedback on student comprehension (Reynolds & Kearns, 2017). Instructors who have used backward design have also reported benefits in terms of students’ learning (Wang, Su, Cheung, Wong, & Kwong, 2014) and their academic performance in science courses (Singer, Nielsen, & Schweingruber, 2012).
In addition, researchers have examined the impact of using backward design and aligning course outcomes to Dee Fink’s (2003) levels of learning. Fallahi (2008) described the impact of redesigning her life-span development course using Fink’s taxonomy of learning. After creating learning outcomes across foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn, she developed assessment activities to measure students’ performance across the levels of learning. Compared to her traditional lecture mode of teaching, she found that students’ performance in the redesigned course improved on foundational knowledge, application, integration, and human dimension. In another study, Levine et al. (2008) redesigned the following courses to align with Fink’s levels of learning: Life Span Development, Instructional Planning for Students With Exceptionalities, Concepts in Biology, Psychology of Early Childhood, and Anatomy and Physiology I. Their findings revealed that student learning improved in foundational knowledge, application, human dimension, and learning how to learn. Although Bloom’s taxonomy has been the preferred taxonomy of learning for many years, recent research findings suggest that instructors can design course outcomes and assessment activities to measure learning beyond foundational knowledge and other aspects of significant learning (Fink, 2003).
The process of backward design has three stages: identifying learning outcomes, identifying acceptable evidence, and aligning learning experiences and instruction.
Stage 1: Identifying Learning Outcomes
Wiggins and McTighe (1998) described backward design as an approach that involves creating course goals and outcomes, designing assessment activities to meet course goals, and creating meaningful learning activities. In Stage 1, instructors identify desired results by reflecting on the following questions: What knowledge, skills, or beliefs should students develop? What are the big ideas that students should retain? (Bowen, 2017). Instructors consider national and state accreditation bodies, personal experiences and preferences, and their own expertise and experiences when thinking about big ideas. Wiggins and McTighe also recommended that instructors focus on the important knowledge and skills students should develop as well as the development of an enduring understanding that extends beyond the course. By reflecting and focusing on what students should be familiar with, instructors reduce content and focus on what is most relevant and meaningful. For example, it makes sense that in an introduction to research class, students focus on important elements of quantitative and qualitative research. It makes sense that in a theories course, students focus on important elements of various theoretical orientations. Finally, skilled researchers and practitioners link learning objectives to student learning, academic performance, and sense of belonging (Winkelmes, 2013). Ken Bain (2004) also asserted that the best college professors have clear learning objectives and align course objectives with assessment activities. Thus, researchers and professors (Fink, 2003) recommend that faculty use backward design to first establish learning objectives and then create assessment and class activities to meet those course objectives. Strong learning outcomes should align with a variety of learning dimensions, such as foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn, which are discussed later in this chapter (Fink, 2003).
Differences Among Learning Goals, Learning Objectives, and Learning Outcomes
Barkley and Major (2016) provided a clear description of differences among learning goals, learning objectives, and learning outcomes. Instructors use learning goals to see a target, learning objectives to aim for the target, and learning outcomes to hit the target. Barkley and Major offered a great perspective regarding differences between outcomes and objectives:
While course learning goal statements describe in general terms what we want students to learn, and objectives identify the steps students will take as they move toward those goals, [student learning out-comes] state what achieving that goal would actually look like as on observable, measureable behavior. (p. 20)
Faculty members use learning objectives to identify what they hope students will learn and learning outcome statements to reflect what students actually learned (Barkley & Major, 2016). The focus of this chapter is on developing student learning outcomes.
Student learning outcomes are important for teaching and learning. The benefits of strong and relevant student learning outcomes include increased achievement (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett, & Norman, 2010), better planning and adjustments, and accountability (Menges & Weimer, 1996). With strong learning outcomes, students are able to determine what they learned, and instructors are able to use data from assessment activities to improve instruction and learning experiences (Cuellar, 2018). Another benefit is that using student learning outcome statements shifts the responsibility from what instructors will teach to what students will demonstrate as a result of participating in a class (Barkley & Major, 2016). When students understand how course learning outcomes are related to the course, program, and/or institution, they might increase their motivation and the effort they put toward meaningful learning activities (Barkley & Major, 2016).
Designing Student Learning Outcomes
When instructors design student learning outcomes, they should consider the following characteristics: specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, and timely (Cuellar, 2018; University of Central Florida, 2020). Cuellar (2018) identified four components of strong student learning outcomes: audience, action verb, content/product, and context. Audience refers to the people to whom the outcome pertains. For teachers in counselor education programs, the audience includes students. Although the focus of this book is on student learning outcomes, you can use the same model to develop program-level outcomes. Action verb refers to the learning that will be highlighted. Unclear verbs with vague meanings, such as understand, learn, and think about, should be avoided (Cuellar, 2018). Content/product refers to the subject, topic, or focus of the learning demonstration. Finally, context refers to the conditions and circumstances under which learning will be highlighted. The following examples of student learning outcomes contain the components suggested by Cuellar:
After participating in a course on research methods, counseling graduate students will be able to identify important elements of quantitative and qualitative research as they relate to clinical mental health counseling.
After participating in a course on counseling theories, counseling graduate students will be able to compare counseling theories as they relate to different mental health issues.
After participating in a human growth and development course, students will be able to reflect and develop a plan to maintain wellness and resilience throughout the clinical mental health counseling program and beyond.
After participating in an assessment course, students will be able to reflect and create a plan to learn more about evidence-based counseling practices as they relate to working with clients with different mental health issues.
When drafting student learning outcomes, instructors need to consider Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs accreditation standards, program-level objectives, and university standards. Using audience, action verb, content/product, and context will help develop strong learning outcomes that are specific, student centered, and results oriented (Cuellar, 2018).
Pause and Learn
If you are a current counselor educator, look at one of your course syllabi. Evaluate your student learning outcomes to determine whether you include audience, action verb, content/ product, and context. Do your student learning outcomes focus on students? Do they include a strong action verb? Do they focus on content/product and context? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, create a plan to revise your student learning outcomes.
Aligning Learning Outcomes With Fink’s (2003) Taxonomy of Learning
In teaching and learning, there are two main taxonomies for significant learning: Fink’s (2003) taxonomy and Bloom’s revised taxonomy. Bloom (1956) developed a useful taxonomy of learning that focuses on the following levels of learning: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Barkley & Major, 2016). Although these levels are meaningful, Anderson and Krathwohl (2000) made noteworthy revisions to Bloom’s original taxonomy. The revised taxonomy focuses on remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Remember refers to knowledge; the lowest level of learning, it involves learners recognizing and recalling information (Armstrong, 2017; Barkley & Major, 2016). Understand refers to comprehension and involves learners explaining and summarizing. Apply refers to the application of information and involves executing and implementing. Analyze refers to organizing parts of information and determining how those parts are related to one another (Krathwohl, 2002). Evaluate refers to using standards to make judgments. Finally, create, the highest level of learning, involves learners producing or preparing something. One friendly criticism of this learning taxonomy is that most outcomes involve cognitive processes that focus on ideas or concepts as well as applying or evaluating concepts or ideas. Other outcomes, such as affective, social, ethical, or psychomotor outcomes, are not included (Barkley & Major, 2016), which is why I use a different taxonomy of learning to guide this textbook.
Although Bloom’s taxonomy has been around for a long time and provides meaningful information, Dee Fink’s (2003) taxonomy extends learning dimensions to include human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Unlike Bloom, who interviewed faculty, Fink interviewed students to gather perceptions of significant learning experiences (Barkley & Major, 2016). More important, Fink’s taxonomy of learning extends learning beyond foundational knowledge and application. It includes six levels: foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. But perhaps the most notable difference between Bloom’s taxonomy and Fink’s is that Fink’s is multidirectional instead of hierarchical (Levine et al., 2008). When students learn a skill or develop knowledge in one area, they can use that skill or knowledge to learn in other areas. One limitation of Bloom’s taxonomy is its hierarchical structure, whereby students master a skill or knowledge in one area before moving to other areas of learning (Fink, 2003).
Foundational knowledge in Fink’s taxonomy refers to understanding and remembering important disciplinary factors, principles, and concepts (Barkley & Major, 2016). Important questions to consider for foundational knowledge are the following: What information is important for students to remember in the future? What foundational knowledge do they need to engage in higher order thinking? (Fink, 2003). Researchers and instructors contend that having basic foundational knowledge is important and at times necessary for higher levels of learning (Prince, 2017). As you will see in Chapter 3 on active learning, students need to have foundational knowledge to engage in meaningful learning. Action verbs for this learning dimension include identify, recognize, define, describe, and summarize (Barkley & Major, 2016).
Application refers to applying knowledge through skills, learning how to manage complex projects, and developing the ability to engage in critical or practical thinking (Fink, 2003). Critical thinking involves evaluating an idea or concept, creative thinking involves developing new ideas or perspectives, and practical thinking involves making decisions and solving problems (Fink, 2003). When counselor educators develop course objectives for application, they consider questions such as the following: What skills do students need to develop? What skills do students need to learn? What kinds of thinking are important for students to learn? (Fink, 2003). Action verbs for this learning dimension include apply, evaluate, formulate, plan, prepare, and synthesize (Barkley & Major, 2016). An important element of developing a strong learning outcome for application involves using skills in a meaningful way (Fink, 2003).
Integration refers to integrating, connecting, and relating various concepts and ideas (Fink, 2003). Fink (2003) highlighted how educators can focus on two kinds of connections: interdisciplinary learning and connecting academic work with other areas of life. Interdisciplinary learning involves helping learners make connections among concepts and ideas from different courses. For counselor education, this might mean helping students compare theories or incorporate their research knowledge to create an assessment plan when working with clients or students. Another element of integration is helping learners identify connections between what they are learning in the classroom and other areas of their lives. Helping students make connections between content and other parts of their lives will strengthen their ability to learn and develop knowledge (Barkley & Major, 2016). In addition, when counselor educators create learning objectives for integration, they consider questions such as the following: What connections should students make in this course among various pieces of information, ideas, and perspectives? What connections should students make between previous and current learning experiences? Important action verbs for this learning dimension include incorporate, organize, synthesize, compare, contrast, and combine (Barkley & Major, 2016).
What separates Fink’s (2003) taxonomy from Bloom’s levels of learning are its final three levels of learning: human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Human dimension refers to “important relationships and interactions we all have with ourselves and with others” (Fink, 2013, p. 50) and involves (a) learning about self, (b) learning about others, and (c) the human dimension of learning. Learning about self involves understanding new aspects of the self or the person one wants to become. Learning about others involves gaining new and valuable knowledge of different people. The human dimension of learning involves emotional intelligence, personal competence, and social competence (Goleman, 1998). Important action verbs for this learning dimension include reflect, support, help, and communicate. When creating learning objectives for this dimension, instructors focus on questions such as the following: What should students learn about themselves? What should students learn about interacting with others? (Fink, 2003).
Caring involves students’ attitudes toward specific phenomena, ideas, their own selves, other students, or learning (Fink, 2003). Action verbs include reflect, dispute, and communicate. When creating learning objectives for this dimension, instructors can focus on questions such as the following: What do I want students to value that relates to my course? How can I help students care more about learning? How can I help students learn to value and care for the topics in my course? (Fink, 2003).
Whereas Bloom’s taxonomy focuses mainly on cognitive dimensions of learning, Fink (2003) extended this taxonomy by focusing on other important skills, such as learning how to learn. Learning how to learn refers to students learning about the process of learning or becoming self-directed learners (Fink, 2003). Three elements of learning how to learn are learning how to be a better learner, learning how to construct knowledge, and learning to become a self-directed learner (Fink, 2003). Important action verbs for this learning dimension include reflect, identify, organize, and write. When doctoral-level counselor educators create learning objectives for learning how to learn, they consider questions such as the following: What kinds of activities will help students learn how to learn? How do I encourage students to become self-directed leaners? (Barkley & Major, 2016). Sample learning objectives include “After participating in this course, you will be able to identify a plan to learn more in the future” and “After participating in this course, you will be able to recognize how to become a self-directed learner.” If counselor educators want clinical mental health counseling students to learn how to learn and continue learning into their professional careers, they should consider identifying learning outcomes aligned with this learning dimension. When instructors help students learn how to learn, they create opportunities for students to reflect on their learning processes, identify a learning agenda, create a plan to learn more in the future, and practice strategies for learning (Barkley & Major, 2016). If students are taught how to be better students in one course, they might be better students and learners in subsequent courses and in the counseling profession.
Part of my former role as the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was to review and provide feedback on course syllabi. As I reviewed the syllabi, I realized that almost all instructors had learning goals that focused on foundational knowledge and application. However, not all instructors had learning outcomes aligned with integration, human dimension, caring, or learning how to learn. Some researchers and instructors (Fink, 2003; Ostorga, 2018) might argue that courses should involve a combination of a variety of learning outcomes and learning experiences. That is, instructors can develop at least one learning outcome each aligned with foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Although this strategy might be difficult in some courses, consider the following examples of learning outcomes for an introduction to research methods course:
Students will be able to describe fundamental elements of quantitative and qualitative research as they relate to clinical mental health counseling. (Foundational knowledge)
Students will be able to apply knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methods with implications for school counselors. (Application)
Students will be able to compare fundamental principles of quantitative and qualitative research as they relate to clinical mental health counseling. (Integration)
Students will be able to reflect on their attitudes toward and valuing of research in counseling. (Human dimension)
Students will be able to reflect on their attitudes toward research in counseling. (Caring)
Students will be able to reflect and develop a learning agenda to use research to influence their counseling practices in the future. (Learning how to learn)
Pause and Learn
If you are a current counselor educator, take a moment to look at course outcomes for one of your courses. If you are a doctoral-level counselor student, look at a course syllabus from a course you are currently taking. Take a moment to determine how the learning outcomes align with Fink’s (2003) different levels of learning. Do the learning outcomes match your big course ideas? If not, you might consider developing new learning outcomes based on your dream course and aligned with Fink’s levels of learning. Remember that having learning outcomes across a variety of learning dimensions might lead to significant learning experiences (Fink, 2003).
Stage 2: Identifying Acceptable Evidence
Once instructors identify learning outcomes, they can think about acceptable evidence to use to determine whether students have achieved the de sired learning outcomes. In Stage 2 of backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998), instructors consider how they know whether students have met learning outcomes and what evidence will highlight students’ knowledge, skills, and practices. The important part of this stage is that assessment and evidence align with learning outcomes and goals. If an instructor has the learning outcome “Students will be able to identify key elements of person-centered counseling,” the instructor needs to identify assessment activities to produce evidence of this learning outcome. There are numerous examples of assessment activities: quizzes and tests, academic prompts, performance tasks and projects, case studies, and online reflections (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Different assessment activities serve different purposes. For foundational knowledge and remembering, quizzes and tests are common approaches. However, for higher levels of learning, such as create, evaluate, and learning how to learn, other assessment activities might be important to produce acceptable evidence. Instructors could use quizzes and tests to assess foundational knowledge and understanding and performance tasks to assess creation and synthesis (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).
Journaling is common in field experience courses such as practicums and internships in which students reflect on their experiences with clients. It is less common in core content courses, such as courses on research, career development, and assessment. If learning how to learn were an outcome in one of these courses, learning logs could be added as an assessment activity. Learning logs involve reflecting on the following prompts: What are you learning? How are you learning? What could you be learning? (Fink, 2003). By reflecting on these questions, students are able to identify how to improve their learning processes (Fink, 2003). Using reflection journals or learning logs can be a powerful tool to help students learn about themselves and others as well as the importance of humanity. In sum, learning logs can be used to assess evidence related to student learning outcomes for caring, human dimension, or learning how to learn.
