Teaching for Quality The Society for Research into Higher Education Learning at University Teaching for Quality Learning at University Fourth Edition “Biggs and Tang present a unified view of university teaching that is both grounded in research and theory and replete with guidance for novice and expert instructors. The book will inspire, challenge, unsettle, and in places annoy and even infuriate its readers, but it will succeed in helping them think about how high Teaching for quality teaching can contribute to high quality learning.” John Kirby, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada This best-selling book explains the concept of constructive alignment used in implementing outcomes-based education. Quality Learning Constructive alignment identifies the desired learning outcomes and helps teachers design the teaching and learning activities that will help students to achieve those outcomes, and to assess how well those outcomes have been achieved. Each chapter includes tasks that offer a ‘how-to’ manual to implement constructive at University alignment in your own teaching practices. This new edition draws on the authors’ experience of consulting on the implementation of constructive alignment in Australia, Hong Fourth Edition Kong, Ireland and Malaysia including a wider range of disciplines and teaching contexts. There is also a new section on the evaluation of constructive alignment, which is now used worldwide as a frame- work for good teaching and assessment, as it has been shown to: l Assist university teachers who wish to improve the quality of their own teaching, their students’ learning and their assessment of learning outcomes Fourth Edition l Aid staff developers in providing support for departments in line with institutional policies l Provide a framework for administrators interested in quality assurance and enhancement of teaching across the whole university The authors have also included useful web links to further material. John Biggs and Catherine Tang John Biggs has held Chairs in Education in Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. He has published extensively on student learning and the implications of his research for teaching. Catherine Tang is the former Head of the Educational Development Centre in the Hong Kong Institute of Education and also in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. John Biggs and Catherine Tang www.openup.co.uk Teaching for Quality Learning at University 22831.indb i 6/15/11 2:11 PM SRHE and Open University Press Imprint Current titles include: Catherine Bargh et al.: University Leadership Ronald Barnett: Beyond all Reason Ronald Barnett: Reshaping the University Ronald Barnett and Kelly Coate: Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education Tony Becher and Paul R. Trowler: Academic Tribes and Territories 2/e Richard Blackwell and Paul Blackmore (eds): Towards Strategic Staff Development in Higher Education David Boud and Nicky Solomon (eds): Work-based Learning Tom Bourner et al. (eds): New Directions in Professional Higher Education John Brennan and Tarla Shah: Managing Quality Higher Education Anne Brockbank and Ian McGill: Facilitating Refl ective Learning in Higher Education 2/e Ann Brooks and Alison Mackinnon (eds): Gender and the Restructured University Burton R. Clark: Sustaining Change in Universities James Cornford and Neil Pollock: Putting the University Online John Cowan: On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher 2/e Vaneeta D’Andrea and David Gosling: Improving Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Sara Delamont and Paul Atkinson: Successful Research Careers Sara Delamont, Paul Atkinson and Odette Parry: Supervising the Doctorate 2/e Gerard Delanty: Challenging Knowledge Chris Duke: Managing the Learning University Heather Eggins (ed.): Globalization and Reform in Higher Education Heather Eggins and Ranald Macdonald (eds): The Scholarship of Academic Development Howard Green and Stuart Powell: Doctoral Study in Contemporary Higher Education Merle Jacob and Tomas Hellström (eds): The Future of Knowledge Production in the Academy Peter Knight: Being a Teacher in Higher Education Peter Knight and Paul Trowler: Departmental Leadership in Higher Education Peter Knight and Mantz Yorke: Assessment, Learning and Employability Ray Land: Educational Development Dina Lewis and Barbara Allan: Virtual Learning Communities David McConnell: E-Learning Groups and Communities Ian McNay (ed.): Beyond Mass Higher Education Louise Morley: Quality and Power in Higher Education Lynne Pearce: How to Examine a Thesis Moira Peelo and Terry Wareham (eds): Failing Students in Higher Education Craig Prichard: Making Managers in Universities and Colleges Stephen Rowland: The Enquiring University Teacher Maggi Savin-Baden: Problem-based Learning in Higher Education Maggi Savin-Baden: Facilitating Problem-based Learning Maggi Savin-Baden and Claire Howell Major: Foundations of Problem-based Learning Maggi Savin-Baden and Kay Wilkie: Challenging Research in Problem-based Learning David Scott et al.: Professional Doctorates Michael L. Shattock: Managing Successful Universities Maria Slowey and David Watson: Higher Education and the Lifecourse Colin Symes and John McIntyre (eds): Working Knowledge Richard Taylor, Jean Barr and Tom Steele: For a Radical Higher Education Malcolm Tight: Researching Higher Education Penny Tinkler and Carolyn Jackson: The Doctoral Examination Process Melanie Walker: Higher Education Pedagogies Melanie Walker (ed.): Reconstructing Professionalism in University Teaching Melanie Walker and Jon Nixon (eds): Reclaiming Universities from a Runaway World Diana Woodward and Karen Ross: Managing Equal Opportunities in Higher Education Mantz Yorke and Bernard Longden: Retention and Student Success in Higher Education 22831.indb ii 6/15/11 2:11 PM Teaching for Quality Learning at University What the Student Does 4th edition John Biggs and Catherine Tang 22831.indb iii 6/15/11 2:11 PM Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First edition published 1999 Second edition published 2003 Third edition published 2007 This edition published 2011 Copyright © Biggs and Tang, 2011 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such liceces (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 13: 978-0-33-524275-7 ISBN 10: 0-33-524275-8 eISBN: 978-0-33-524276-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in the UK by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event. 22831_00_FM.indd iv 01/11/11 2:04 PM Learning takes place through the active behavior of the student: it is what he does that he learns, not what the teacher does. Ralph W. Tyler (1949) If students are to learn desired outcomes in a reasonably effective manner, then the teacher’s fundamental task is to get students to engage in learning activities that are likely to result in their achieving those outcomes. It is helpful to remember that what the student does is actually more important in determining what is learned than what the teacher does. Thomas J. Shuell (1986) Constructive Alignment . is one of the most infl uential ideas in higher education. Warren Houghton (2004) 22831.indb v 6/15/11 2:11 PM “Biggs and Tang present a unifi ed view of university teaching that is both grounded in research and theory and replete with guidance for novice and expert instructors. The book will inspire, challenge, unsettle, and in places annoy and even infuriate its readers, but it will succeed in helping them think about how high quality teaching can contribute to high quality learning.” John Kirby, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada “For those teaching in schools and universities this book provides a framework that can be used to guide teaching, from thinking about what a program, topic, lesson or lecture should be about, to the execution of the teaching and refl ection on the outcomes. The guiding framework emerges from a sound conceptual analysis of the how the interaction between teacher and student can be organised to result in learning that enables students to approach the levels of understanding and problem solving that we hope will emerge from our teaching.” Mike Lawson, School of Education, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia “The fact that this is a fourth edition speaks highly of the impact of the previous editions and of the value of the authors’ ideas and suggestions about teaching and learning in higher education. The book has its origins in the extensive empirical research carried out by John Biggs into students’ approaches to learning and studying, but the current edition has been strengthened substantially due to the opportunities both authors