Taxonomy Of Significant Learning Research Articles

INTEGRATING AND ASSESSING STUDENT PERCEIVED SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY IN AN INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS COURSE

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether marketing educators’ efforts in integrating sustainability-related issues in an undergraduate Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) course affect students’ perceived sustainability literacy. Using the Taxonomy of Significant Learning, a traditional IMC course was redesigned to include sustainability-focused concepts and assignments related to and integrated with the traditional course concepts. Analyzing student pre- and posttests of self-reported data from two questionnaires, one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester, impact on students’ perceived awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues was demonstrated.

Sustainable Engaged Accountable Learners.

The development of lifelong learners is among the most challenging goals for medical educators. The authors identify two important scholarly works that profoundly altered their understanding and approach to lifelong learning and curriculum design: L. Dee Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning and Cutrer et al.'s Master Adaptive Learner model. By applying these guides to their teaching and related research, three important characteristics of lifelong learning became evident: sustainability, engagement, and accountability. These are abbreviated "SEALs," for sustainable engaged accountable learners. This paper defines these qualities as they relate to emergency medicine training, significant learning, and the development of adaptive expertise. Connections to Fink's and Cutrer's works are offered for each learner characteristic. Educational and psychological theories that support the SEALs model are paired with practical suggestions for educators to promote these desired qualities in their trainees. Relevant features of adult learning are highlighted, including self-regulation, motivation, agency, and autonomy.

Fink's integrated course design and taxonomy: The impact of their use in a "Basics of Dental Anatomy" course.

This study aimed to assess whether the adjustment of Fink's Model of Integrated Course Design (ICD) with his Taxonomy of Significant Learning (hereinafter referred to as "ICD/SL") affected the academic performance of students at Universidad El Bosque in the "Basics of Dental Anatomy" course. For this purpose, 3 academic groups were selected: 2018/1 (55 students), 2018/2 (79 students), and 2019/1 (57 students). The control group, 2018/1, was taught without ICD/SL; the 2 treatment groups, 2018/2 and 2019/1, was taught with ICD/SL, which applied revised learning goals based on Fink's Taxonomy and new teaching and evaluation activities. The assessment of academic performance was based on a Likert scale to position student results in each grade score report. Statistical analysis was performed through the Kruskal-Wallis test and P-value through the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher exact test. The results indicated that the treatment groups evidenced better academic performance in the summative assessment of the partial and final grades. In the treatment groups, 64% to 97% of students were in the High to Excellent segment; in comparison, this percentage in the control group was 44% to 65%. The course's rate of failure dropped from 10.9% in 2018/1 to only 1.7% in 2019/1. All the differences between the treatment and control groups were statistically significant (P<0.0001). The use of ICD/SL improved the academic performance of students.

Evaluating participatory group mentoring in international development projects in the Middle East

ABSTRACT Agents of sustainable international development seek to impact community transformation through developing the capacity of stakeholders. This article analyses six semi-structured interviews with mentors from two international development projects in the Middle East. Programmes sought to advance international development and human rights in a region challenged by political and social barriers. Analysis of the mentorship cases revealed that mentors used approaches that applied transformational leadership concepts in the form of idealised influence, inspirational motivation, individualised consideration and intellectual stimulation. Approaches used by mentors were examples of the Taxonomy of Significant Learning used to facilitate deep and independent learning.

Etiquette Lesson for English Program in Indonesia and in China

Life and career skills are two of many required skills in the 21st century learning. Etiquette lesson becomes essential in preparing college students to cope with the working world. This study aims at comparing the etiquette lesson employed in the English Program of the Vocational College of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Indonesia and in the Business English Program of the Foreign Language School of Chengdu Textile College (CDTC) China. The data were collected through doing interviews with etiquette teachers, doing observation in both colleges, and conducting library research. Afterwards, the data were categorized into three areas; course syllabus, topics and activities, and assessment; they were then analyzed using Business Etiquette Significant Learning Taxonomy and 21st Century Learning Framework. This study reveals that all aspects of Business Etiquette Significant Learning are employed within the lesson in both colleges.

SIGNIFICANT LEARNING OF PEER-MENTORS WITHIN A LEADERSHIP LIVING-LEARNING COMMUNITY: A Basic Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the learning experienced by second-year undergraduate students serving as peer mentors to first-year students within a leadership-themed living-learning community. A basic qualitative approach was used, with data collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with participants at the beginning and end of their year-term as peer mentors. The interview transcripts were coded using Fink’s (2003) taxonomy of significant learning, where lasting change is a consequence of the learning. Five of the six categories of significant learning were evident, suggesting that the experience of being a peer mentor within a leadership-themed living-learning community creates lasting change within the peer mentors. Additionally, this study reinforces Fink’s (2003) claim of the interactive rather than hierarchical nature of learning.

Investigating the assessment practices within an Initial Teacher Education program in an Australian university: Staff perceptions and practices

Effective assessment design and subsequent assessment practices are essential for student success in the higher education sector. A plethora of research on assessment in higher education exists which tends to focus primarily on the student experience. This paper shares results from a 3 phased study that explored staff perceptions related to assessment practices in an undergraduate Initial Teacher Education program within an Australian metropolitan university. First, course learning objectives, activities and assessment items were mapped to identify the presence of constructive alignment. Second, staff were invited to complete a survey and a follow-up interview in relation to understanding of assessment knowledge and skills. Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning (2013) was used to analyse the qualitative data and findings suggest that staff are highly committed to quality assessment practices but often work in silos rather than teams. Additionally, a lack of professional development and learning was available at the school level, particularly for casual staff. Further research about assessment practices in higher education in relation to staff rather than student experience is warranted.

Substance Use Disorders: A Curriculum Response

In the United States, among individuals aged 12 or older, approximately 19.7 million people experienced a substance use disorder (SUD) related to use of alcohol or illicit drugs during 2017. Current curricula in nursing education lacks sufficient content and experiences to support a nursing workforce prepared to meet the needs of individuals experiencing substance use disorders. This article describes the scope of the problem, and offers one possible solution that synthesizes essential competencies developed by an expert panel blended with an integrated approach that includes a taxonomy of significant learning. We discuss the resulting framework created for change in baccalaureate nursing education about substance use disorders.

Students Self-Learning of Real-Life Problems Using Significant Learning Taxonomy

Highlights: 1. Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning can be incorporated through a learning activity. 2. All the six learning goals baring Human dimension and Caring are well understood by the students. 3. The learning activity promotes learning-centered approach compared to the traditional content-centered approach.

Good for Business: Applying the ACRL Framework Threshold Concepts to Teach a Learner-Centered Business Research Course

This article discusses a librarian-designed and facilitated credit-bearing course, which utilizes the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Threshold Concepts and transforms from Bloom’s Taxonomy to a learner-centered course redesign with Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Assessment results reveal a panel of data over the 2015-2016 academic year offering perspectives at the beginning and end of each semester and over the course of the entire academic year’s trajectory of learning. In an effort to imbue more affective learning outcomes, and based on answers received from fall assessments, the author altered the spring assessment to query student confidence levels and the value of the library. This article provides lesson plans that highlight each of the six Information Literacy Threshold Concepts in a business context and offers a trajectory toward significant and lifelong learning.

Promoting Significant Learning: A Case Study in Computational Chemistry

This paper describes various pedagogical efforts implemented to promote significant learning in a computational chemistry course. The taxonomy of significant learning advanced by Fink (2003) is used as a framework to discuss the results. In this taxonomy, Fink identifies six categories of learning: foundational, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Significant learning occurs when all six kinds of learning are promoted. In the computational chemistry course, the learning outcomes are aligned with these kinds of learning, and students are provided with learning activities to get them engaged with the course content. These activities purposefully activate students’ prior knowledge, increase their motivation, develop basic skills, apply and integrate what they learn in realistic situations, develop an appreciation for computational chemistry as an ally in science, and further their ability to work independently and with others, and to continue learning about the subject matter beyond the course.

Think before you flip: Using Fink’s &lt;em&gt;Taxonomy of Significant Learning&lt;/em&gt; to design flipped library instruction

Every summer for the past several years, George Washington University has held a Course Design Institute (CDI) in the library. CDI is a weeklong boot camp dedicated to helping faculty create or recreate courses centered on student learning. At the heart of the design methodology is L. Dee Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Fink defines learning as a change in the learner and his taxonomy identifies six areas where this might happen: foundational learning, application, integration, caring, learning how to learn, and a human dimension.

Aiming Beyond Competent: The Application of the Taxonomy of Significant Learning to Medical Education

Issue: Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) focuses on demonstrable outcomes, as well as upholding medical education’s accountability to society. Despite calls for a robust, multifaceted approach to competency-based assessment (CBA), lingering critiques exist. These critiques include reductionism, reinforcement of an external locus of control within learners, an loss of focus on learner development. Both CBME and CBA may be strengthened if viewed through the lens of a complementary curriculum design framework that broadens the focus on the learner. Evidence: Researchers and physician organizations have articulated the need for medical practitioners trained to provide optimal care in the rapidly changing care environment. In the drive to ensure accountability to patients and society, CBME may overlook the duty of educators to foster the necessary intrinsic development of learners as holistic professionals. The focus of CBA on outcomes may reward memorization and rote performance but may fail to ensure the underlying comprehension or critical thinking necessary to adapt to the variability of real-life patient care. Learners focus on tasks chosen for assessment; thus, areas less easily assessed may be overlooked or deemed unimportant. Reinforcement for learner motivation becomes externalized in CBA, as opposed to being driven by the desire for self-improvement and self-actualization. A recently proposed framework that views learner development as a process-based improvement cycle, the “Master Adaptive Learner,” may help remedy this issue. L. Dee Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning aims to create meaningful learning experiences in higher education. This taxonomy consists of six interwoven domains: (a) Learning How to Learn, (b) Foundational Knowledge, (c) Application, (d) Integration, (e) Human Dimension, and (f) Caring. Each domain encompasses a unique perspective on the learning process, and when collectively applied to curriculum design, significant learning occurs. This taxonomy has not been widely applied to medical education but may offer an important counterbalance to the outcomes-based focus of CBME. Implications: The outcomes-based focus of CBME is well suited for skill-based tasks, such as procedures, that are observable and measurable. However, other essential physician skills—such as critical thinking, reflection, empathy, and self-directed learning—are not easily assessed, and thus may receive little focus in an outcomes-based model. A holistic approach, such as the Taxonomy of Significant Learning, can counter the deficits of CBME and provide a balanced approach to education program design and assessment.

Students Self-Learning of Real-Life Problems Using Significant Learning Taxonomy

Students Self-Learning of Real-Life Problems Using Significant Learning Taxonomy

Applying Learning Theory to Safety and Health Training for Hispanic Immigrant Dairy Workers.

We designed a safety and health curriculum for dairy immigrant workers aiming to increase knowledge, encourage safe behavior, and reduce worker communication inequalities to prevent occupational injury and diseases. The design is largely based on the Taxonomy of Significant Learning and incorporated behavioral and adult learning theories and principles of occupational hazard control. Trainings were implemented with 836 Spanish-speaking workers from 67 farms in Wisconsin. Sixty-seven percent of workers reported never being trained before in dairy safety, 65% of these worked in dairy for 5 or fewers years, and 26% of workers reported being ever injured while working on dairy. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the trainings suggest that our curriculum successfully increased worker knowledge and promoted contemplation of safe practices. The overall knowledge gain of 25% was statistically significant ( p < .01). Workers recalled at least one key concept, expressed confidence of adopting at least one safety behavior, and mentioned their intention to communicate safety concerns to farmers. To our knowledge, this is the first Taxonomy of Significant Learning application to occupational safety and health education. Our curriculum can support dairy farmers' compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration's annual training requirements by providing our basic safety and health training to workers at early job stages.

AdvoCaring: A Cocurricular Program to Provide Advocacy and Caring to Underserved Populations in Baltimore

Objective. To incorporate direct patient care and service components throughout a 4-year pharmacy program to enable students to apply knowledge learned in the classroom and develop the human and caring dimensions of Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Design. Groups of 10-12 students and a faculty advisor partnered with a local agency serving an underserved population of the greater Baltimore area to provide seven hours of service per student each semester. Activities were determined based on students' skills and agency needs. Assessment. Over 10 000 hours of care were provided from fall 2009 through spring 2014 for clients at 12 partner agencies. Student feedback was favorable. Conclusion. Cocurricular learning enables students to use their skills to benefit local communities. Through an ongoing partnership, students are able to build on experiences and sustain meaningful care initiatives.

Fink About It: Development and Evaluation of a Communications Curriculum for Healthcare Professionals

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. BackgroundCommunication skills are of paramount importance in the medical professions. However, it is acknowledged that instruction on this aspect of care is often lacking, or suboptimal in medical curricula. There is often a large focus on content, without the ability to teach and assess practical components related to the ability to communicate.AimThis article proposes the adoption of Fink's taxonomy as a curricular model for communication skills training for healthcare professionals.MethodA literature review of existing curricular models and their potential application was undertaken in order to select the most appropriate choice for a communication module for oncology healthcare professionals. Personal reflection also had a role, as a radiation therapist and medical educator.ResultsFink's taxonomy of significant learning consists of five key steps in curriculum design, to guide medical educators in delivering effective teaching and learning activities. The application of these to a communication module for healthcare professionals is outlined here.ConclusionsVisualisation of the "ideal graduate" is a powerful tool in curriculum design. Many medical educators have an intuitive feel for what this is, however the use of Fink's model provides the evidence base and structure to assist constructive alignment of teaching and learning activities.

Analyzing service-learning reflections through Fink's taxonomy

ABSTRACTReflection is an increasingly essential component of experience-based learning in higher education to encourage students to draw connections between theoretical and practical knowledge and experiences. This qualitative study examines the reflections of undergraduate students in a service-learning course for secondary English teacher candidates. The authors use Fink's taxonomy of significant learning as a lens through which to examine the learning within and critical natures of students’ reflections. Findings from this study suggest that to consider and extend students’ academic content knowledge and to move students toward new and critical understandings of their service work, reflections should direct students toward more explicit considerations of academic course content over a period of time. To help students write critical reflections that achieve both academic and personal growth learning goals, the authors recommend explicitly teaching the reflective mode, introducing students to Fink's taxonomy, and instructing students to include course content in their reflections.

Fostering Students’ Statistical Literacy Through Significant Learning Experience

A major objective of statistics education is to develop students’ statistical literacy that enables them to be educated users of data in context. Teaching statistics in today’s educational settings is not an easy feat because teachers have a huge task in keeping up with the demands of the new generation of learners. The present day students have higher expectations in terms of classroom pedagogy particularly in the use of creative and engaging methods to create a significant learning experience for them. This paper discusses how students’ statistical literacy can be fostered by creating a more integrated statistics course using the Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning.

Clarifying Sustainable Development Concepts Through Role-Play

Purpose. The article aims at assessing the effectiveness of a role-play in addressing two concerns: clarifying the concept of sustainable development and teaching sustainable development issues. Method. The effectiveness of the role-play is gauged by surveying students to reveal how the game matches a set of significant learning criteria defined by Fink. Structure of the article. First, our article provides a short overview of how the concept of sustainable development has emerged and spread over time. Second, in order to assess the learning potential of our role-play, we examine how it addresses the six components of Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning: (a) foundational knowledge, (b) application, (c) integration, (d) human dimensions, (e) caring, and (f) learning how to learn. Results. The assessment shows that our role-play is highly praised by the players as it not only brings them foundational knowledge, but also allows them to enhance many skills. Conclusion. The framework of the role-play contributes to educating about sustainable development as well as educating for sustainable development.