Using the SOLO taxonomy to analyze competence progression of university science curricula

Abstract

During 2007 all Danish university curricula were reformulated to explicitly state course objectives due to the adoption of a new Danish national grading scale which stipulated that grades were to be given based on how well students meet explicit course objectives. The interpreted ''course objectives'' as ''intended learning outcomes'' (ILO) and systematically formulated all such as competencies using the SOLO taxonomy that operates with five numbered progressive levels of competencies. We investigate how the formulation of ILOs using the SOLO taxonomy gives information about competence progression, educational traditions, and the nature of various science subjects. We use all the course curricula (in total 632) from the two faculties to analyze and compare undergraduate and graduate courses within each department, and different departments with each other.

Assessing the Alignment of Pharmacotherapeutics Course Outcomes With Topic Outcomes

“…The course outlines contain the course objectives, while the teaching guides have the subtopic objectives. Although the term 'course/subtopic objectives' are used in the course outlines and teaching guides, the structure of the objectives are in line with that of intended learning outcomes 13 as shown in the example of course objective three below: student discuss pharmacotherapy and non-pharmacological therapy <subject> <verb> <direct object> Therefore, the objectives were interpreted as intended learning outcomes and analysed using SOLO Taxonomy following Biggs and Tang's 6 approach.…”

“…12 One critique 6 of the revised Blooms taxonomy is that the understanding level is not clearly defined, having verbs such as identify, discuss and explain, which overlap one another and represent three of the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) levels. Blooms taxonomies were not developed specifically with university teaching in mind, nor for the purpose of formulating intended learning outcomes, 13 and as such, are not accompanied by criteria for judging the outcomes of the activity levels. 14 Thus, whilst Blooms taxonomies are well recognised, the SOLO taxonomyis more suited to a constructive alignment analysis.…”

An Analysis of Rater Severity and Leniency in Open-ended Mathematic Questions Rated Through Standard Rubrics and Rubrics Based on the SOLO Taxonomy

“…Yapı öncesi düzeyde, öğrenci gerçekleştirmesi beklenen görevi uygun bir biçimde yerine getirememektedir Öğrencinin ileri sürdüğü fikirler problemin çözümü için herhangi bir yarar sağlamamaktadır (Leung, 2000). Öğrencinin verdiği cevabın çözmeye çalıştığı problemle çok fazla ilgisi yoktur (Brabrand ve Dahl, 2009). Tek yönlü yapı düzeyinde, öğrenci konuyu dar ve yüzeysel bir bakış açısı ile ele almakta ve konunun tek bir yönüne odaklanmaktadır.…”

“…Öte yandan, ilişkisel yapı düzeyinde öğrenci konu hakkında öğrendiklerini birbirileri ile ilişkilendirerek tutarlı bir bütüne ulaşabilmekte ve soyutlanmış yapı düzeyinde ilişkisel yapı basamağında oluşturduğu anlamlı bütünü daha farklı bir bağlama/konuya genelleyebilmektedir. Dolayısıyla, ilişkisel ve soyutlanmış yapı basamakları öğrenmedeki niteliksel dönüşümü yansıtmaktadır (Brabrand ve Dahl, 2009). Sıralanan avantajlarından dolayı, birçok farklı derste açık uçlu soruları puanlamak üzere SOLO taksonomine dayalı rubriklerden yararlanılmaktadır.…”

Evidence of Intercultural Communication Competence in Tenth Grader’s Narrative Texts

“…In the educational field, the SOLO taxonomy has been used for different purposes and subjects, such as geography, math, accounting, or sciences (Braband & Dahl, 2009;Hussain, Ajmal & Rahman, 2010;Jurdak & El Mouhayar, 2014;Lucas & Mladenovic, 2009;Munowenyu, 2007;Smith & Colby, 2010). This taxonomy has been used to analyze the students' level of understanding of a topic, measure the progression in a competence, establish course objectives, analyze the quality of academic essays, and grade and improve critical thinking skills (Smith & Colby, 2010).…”