What is Constructive Alignment

Alignment in a course or subject between learning outcomes, teaching process (didactics), and examining (summative assessment).

Constructive alignment refers to a specific approach of designing courses. The goal is to align learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment tasks. In order to do that, the following steps must be taken ( Biggs & Tang, 2011 , p. 100): describe the intended learning outcome in the form of a verb (learning activity), its object (the content) and specify the context and a standard the students are to attain; create a learning environment using teaching/learning activities that address that verb and therefore are likely to bring about the intended outcome; use assessment tasks that also contain that verb, thus enabling you to judge with the help of rubrics if and how well students’ performances meet the criteria; transform these judgements into standard grading criteria.

This is what the learner actually does and how the teacher aligns activities with learning outcomes.

An instructional design technique that ensures learning outcomes, learning activities, readings, resources, and assessments are all connected and support each other.

Is a teaching principle with the idea that learners create meaning out of learning activities and emphasizes the importance of defining and achieving intended student learning outcomes.

“‘ Constructive alignment’ (CA) has two aspects. The ‘constructive’ aspect refers to the idea that students construct meaning through relevant learning activities. That is, meaning is not something imparted or transmitted from teacher to learner, but is something learners have to create for themselves. (...) The ‘alignment’ aspect refers to what the teacher does, which is to set up a learning environment that supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes. The key is that the components in the teaching system, especially the teaching methods used and the assessment tasks, are aligned to the learning activities assumed in the intended outcomes. The learner is in a sense ‘trapped’: it is difficult to escape without learning what is intended should be learned. In setting up an aligned system, we specify the desired outcomes of our teaching, in terms not only of topic content, but in the level of understanding we want students to achieve. We then set up an environment that maximizes the likelihood that students will engage in the activities designed to achieve the intended outcomes. Finally, we choose assessment tasks that will tell us how well individual students have attained these outcomes, in terms of graded levels of acceptability. These levels are the grades we award. ” ( Biggs, 2003 )

Alignment between Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Teaching and Learning activities to ensure learning is achieved and measured.

Orientation of system components used in teaching: the environment and activities (including the method and assessment approach), in the same direction in order to achieve the learning outcomes.

The notion assumes that students learn or construct meaning through appropriate teaching, learning and assessment activities.

Biggs’s (2003) term to refer an effective alignment between curricula, teaching methods, assessment procedures, learning, and institutional climate.

The alignment of content, intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning arrangements with assessment and feedback in order to ensure learning.

An approach to curriculum design linked to the work of Biggs (2002) whereby assessment, learning outcomes, tasks and intended learning objectives are constructed in conjunction with each other to optimise learning.

Constructive Alignment is a teaching principle that combines constructivism, the idea that learners construct or create meaning out of learning activities.