Week 1 Taxonomy of Significant Learning

Week One Welcome: Course Design (2:25 mins)

Welcome to the first week of our class!
This week we will investigate the Taxonomy of Significant Learning and begin work on our own course

A Taxonomy of Significant Learning pie chart describing and giving examples of each learning initiative.

Hello and welcome to our Distance Education Certificate Course! Throughout the next four weeks, we will investigate the theories, federal regulations and best practices necessary to create, facilitate and evaluate a quality distance education course.

This week, we will investigate the Taxonomy of Significant Learning through the theories of Fink and Bloom. We will then take this taxonomy and apply it to make our own course map. You will discover that the unique aspect of this taxonomy is its interactive nature, where each form of learning can trigger other forms of learning. Consequently, the selection of learning objectives for your course becomes significant as each goal can reinforce the others. Incorporating all six types of significant learning may appear daunting, but the more feasible goals you include, the more mutually beneficial they will be, resulting in valuable learning for your students.

We are so happy you are joining us on this journey and look forward to getting together in our synchronous session this week. Please reach out if you have questions or concerns and know that we are always here to support you however we can.

Objectives

By the end of the week the faculty will be able to:

Apply the taxonomy of significant learning to a past, current, or future course
Demonstrate creativity in course design using active learning strategies discussed in Fink (2003)
Evaluate alignment of course materials, learning activities, and assessment methods to course learning objectives

Readings

Designing Significant Learning Experiences

Applying Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Backward Design:

Course Planning with Backward Design

Lectures

What is Active Learning? (4:13 mins)

Using Online Lectures to Support Active Learning (7:52 mins)

About Backward Design (5:16 mins)

Discussion

Taxonomy of Significant Learning Discussion

Due: Response due Thursday by 11:59pm EST - replies due Sunday by 11:59 pm EST
Estimated Time of Completion: 1-2 hours
Grading: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Assignment: Link: W1D: Taxonomy of Significant Learning

Assignments

Course Design Assignment

Due: Sunday by 11:59 pm EST
Estimated Time of Completion: 1-2 hours
Grading: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
Assignment: Link W1: Course Design Assignment

Optional Activities

Want to learn more? Check out our supplemental videos and articles!

Supplemental Video:

Interview With Dr. Dee Fink: Active Learning & Learner-Center Design (1 hour 8 mins)

Supplemental Articles: