My teaching philosophy revolves around four modes of learning embedded in applying effort to an explicit task. Without a clear task or goal, outcomes - including learning outcomes - can only be determined by chance. Using the maximum available effort cannot produce the desired result without a task or a precise aim. The four learning modes are incremental and must be rooted in the first mode, purposeful effort (Garbutt, 2021).

Four learning modes.

The four learning modes begin with the recognition of the need for a learning outcome, which may be knowledge, thinking skill or a strategy.

1. Purposeful Effort - Absolutist – Behaviouristic yes/no answers

2. Applied Effort - Transitionist - Still Absolutist but becoming Relativist

3. Thoughtful Effort - Relativist - Recognizes that the world is not binary - shades of colour exist

4. Reflective Effort - Contextist - Quality differs in context (perceptions matter - critical reflection changes the individual)

Once students recognize the need for a learning outcome, they need to expend effort on attaining the learning outcome. At the lowest level, the student applies purposeful effort to find an absolutist answer which may be out of context. Applying effort provides a learning outcome that connects thinking skills and strategies, but lacks the big picture and does not link to an overall understanding. At the third level, some reflection is observed, and students synthesize conceptual connections to a comprehensive understanding. With more in-depth reflection, students go beyond the subject matter and apply their knowledge to other concepts.

SOLO Taxonomy

The four learning modes are related to Biggs’ SOLO Taxonomy. SOLO is an acronym for the structure of the observed learning outcome. Biggs and Collis (1982) define a five-level taxonomy starting with an awareness of the need for a thinking skill or strategy (SOLO Prestructural) and progressing to the use of multiple thinking skills/strategies in different contexts (SOLO Extended Abstract).

• SOLO Prestructural – Learning outcomes are unconnected with no organization - recognition of the need for a learning outcome

• SOLO Unistructural – Learning outcomes show simple connections but no importance - Purposeful Effort

• SOLO Multistructural – Learning outcomes show some connections but lack overall meaning - Applied Effort

• SOLO Relational – Learning outcomes show connections and synthesize to the overall meaning - Thoughtful Effort

• SOLO Extended Abstract – Learning outcomes extend beyond the subject and generalize to other contexts - Reflective Effort

At the extended abstract point, new thinking skills may be needed and new strategies defined. This places the learner back at the prestructural stage, hopefully at a higher or more advanced level. The SOLO Taxonomy figure shows this with the smaller circles on the sphere that extends from the SOLO Extended Abstract image.