Constructive alignment

Biggs’ model of constructive alignment (Biggs 1999) which sets out the interdependence of learning outcomes, teaching (i.e. learning methods) and assessment with, ideally, all three ‘aligned’ as equal partners in a design triumvirate, in practice one aspect of the model – that is teaching methods – is habitually privileged over the other two.

Source: Price, M., Carroll, J., O'Donovan, B., & Rust, C. (2011).

In order to make these holistic judgments teachers need to know what is poor quality performance, what is good quality and why. Constructive alignment operates on these same assumptions and addresses how they may work in practice.

Source: Biggs, J.B., & Tang, C. (2007).