Workshop 3 – Reflection
By the end of this blog, you will be able to…
The reading for the third workshop in the TPP unit resurfaced some recurring thoughts that I have had around the tensions between creative arts pedagogy and learning design principles. In my team (UAL Online) this is a common area of discussion, and one that we never seem to reach a consensus on.
Learning outcomes are essential for structuring learning activities, particularly in online education. In the online environment, it’s key to articulate what is typically tacit in the residential curriculum, since there is not the luxury of the shared space of the studio or the classroom where expectations can be conveyed more implicitly through physical presence and interaction between tutors and students.
To Bloom, or not to Bloom?
I do think that the verbs proposed by Bloom’s Taxonomy are limiting and don’t particularly lend themselves to creative arts subjects. To this effect, UAL Online has worked to revise the standard verbs to include verbs that reflect more creative actions, such as ‘sketch’, ‘paint’ and ‘critique’ in keeping with Davies’ suggestion to ‘use concepts derived from the discipline rather than appropriate the terms uncritically from Bloom’. Using Bloom as is might result in learning outcomes that are too specific and which therefore hinder creative learning (Davies, 2012).
This is one step in the right direction but I still feel that Bloom’s is not conducive for the art school context, and it’s use might actually mean we fall into Davies’ ‘technocratic trap’ as we ‘deny the complexity of learning/teaching by rejecting its contingent, emergent and unknowable qualities.’ To this end, I’m drawn to Dee Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Whilst Bloom’s Taxonomy is quite hierarchical and emphasises cognitive processes, Fink’s Taxonomy is non-hierarchical and also expands to include affective (caring) and metacognitive aspects. It promotes a more rounded approach to designing learning experiences that aim to have a lasting impact on students’ personal and professional lives, and most importantly for the creative arts context, includes a section dedicated to creative thinking skills verbs which I think are often omitted because they are traditionally deemed immeasurable.
Adopting this approach accommodates for the difference between ‘convergent learning is goal-directed, focused and rational, while divergent learning is explorative, open-ended and intuitive’. (Lindström, 2012).
Examples of learning outcomes at UAL
I’ve taken a learning outcome from a Graphic Design MA that I’m currently working on as an example and rewritten it using Bloom’s Taxonomy and a formula for writing learning outcomes:
| The original outcome | The reworked outcome |
| Fluency and ability to integrate graphic design principles, techniques and methods in creative practice to produce industry standard outcomes. | Apply a range of graphic design principles, techniques and methods in creative practice to produce industry standard outcomes. |
Whilst the reworked outcome is still quite broad, it’s an improvement on the original statement, and hopefully shows how small tweaks to language can help to clarify what is expected of students.
Aligning learning outcomes with creative verbs can potentially help to adapt them to the creative arts context, and hopefully foster a more nuanced and engaging learning experience.
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References
Addison, N. (2014) ‘Doubting Learning Outcomes in Higher Education Contexts: from Performativity towards Emergence and Negotiation’, International Journal of Art & Design Education, 33(3), pp. 313–325. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12063.
Biggs, J.B. and Tang, C.S.-K. (2011) Teaching for Quality Learning at University : What the Student Does. 4th edn. Maidenhead, England ; New York: Mcgraw-Hill, Society For Research Into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Davies, A. (2012) ‘Learning outcomes and assessment criteria in art and design. What’s the recurring problem?’, Networks [Preprint].
Fink, L.D. (2013) Creating significant learning experiences : an integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lindström, L. (2012) ‘Aesthetic Learning About, In, With and Through the Arts: A Curriculum Study’, International Journal of Art & Design Education, 31(2), pp. 166–179. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1476-8070.2012.01737.x.