Learning Activities

This resource is designed to support you with: (1) identifying and reflecting on your course’s learning outcomes, (2) connecting the learning outcomes to a diverse set of learning activities (formative assessment), and (3) translating traditional face-to-face learning activities to alternative activities that may be delivered online.

The starting point for this process is Bloom’s Taxonomy, which identifies levels of learning goals, moving from basic competencies (remembering content) to more advance competencies (creating knowledge). Bloom’s Taxonomy can help you to reflect on your course learning outcomes and focus on what you would like your students to be able to do by the end of the course.

The next stage is to connect your learning outcomes to diverse learning activities that you can either demonstrate yourself or develop as participatory activities for you students. We identify some activities that instructors commonly use when teaching face-to-face, and how these might be translated for asynchronous online delivery. 

Note: For mobile users, this resource is best viewed on a landscape screen.

Bloom’s Taxonomy  

Learning Outcomes 

(Students will be able to…) 

Face-to-face activity  

(What you did before) 

Online Activity  

(What you might do now) 

REMEMBER  

Recall facts and basic concepts

  • Recall  
  • List  
  • Draw  
  • Show  
  • Select  
  • Define  
  • Tabulate  
  • Select  
  • Identify  
  • Find  
  • Match
  • Quiz  
  • Class questions  
  • Demonstration  
  • Speaking and listening 
  • Games  
  • Lecture (including guest lecture) 
  • Video   
  • Short written exercises  
  • Students take notes  
  • Students present discussion results

UNDERSTAND  

Explain idea or concepts

  • Classify  
  • Describe  
  • Discuss  
  • Explain  
  • Identify  
  • Recognize   
  • Interpret  
  • Infer
  • Class or small group discussion  
  • Class discussion  
  • Vocabulary Study  
  • Lab  
  • Role plays  
  • Mind maps/Concept maps  
  • In-class quiz (formative)
  • Video lecture or voice over PowerPoints 
  • Guest Lecture in Teams  
  • Group forum (small group) 
  • Online class forum (large group) 
  • Moodle Wiki 
  • Replace role play with video activity or a written Script or case study or Online simulation 
  • Draw a mind map or concept map on paper and upload or create a mind map in Word 
  • Moodle Quiz (formative) 
  • Blog or online journal 
  • Podcast  
  • H5P Find the Hotspot  
  • Interactive “lecture” using H5P Course Presentation

APPLY  

Use information in new situations

  • Execute  
  • Implement  
  • Demonstrate  
  • Interpret  
  • Operate  
  • Schedule   
  • Sketch
  • Creating an artefact  
  • Mind map  
  • Presentation   
  • Case study  
  • Whiteboard demonstration  
  • Demonstration   
  • Concept Interview  
  • Lab  
  • Roleplay  
  • Research response  
  • Connect prior course material to current course goals
  • Upload photo of product/model/sketch/painting, use online mind maps 
  • Online presentation 
  • Respond to scenarios in a discussion forum.  
  • Students discuss in BBB breakout group and present to the main group  
  • Online case study  
  • Smartphone video demo 
  • Online concept interview forum  
  • Online lab simulation 
  • Collaborative writing in OneDrive  
  • H5P Branching Scenario

ANALYZE  

Draw connection among ideas

  • Categorize  
  • Deconstruct  
  • Distinguish  
  • Question  
  • Illustrate  
  • Distribute  
  • Estimate  
  • Explain
  • Research/academic paper  
  • Document Analysis  
  • Video Analysis  
  • Image Analysis  
  • Reflective Journal  
  • Peer questions  
  • Case study 
  • Lab  
  • Multimodal illustration of concepts  
  • Problem-based learning 
  • Close reading
  • Research exercise or scavenger hunt  
  • WebQuest 
  • Online library activities 
  • Research papers in Open Journal Systems 
  • Document Analysis (using discussion forums or BBB group discussion)  
  • Video Analysis  
  • Image Analysis  
  • Peer Q&A blog forum  
  • Peer workshopping via email   
  • Online case study 
  • Online problem-based learning using discussion forums 
  • Close reading in small groups or BBB

EVALUATE  

Justify a stand or decision

  • Appraise   
  • Argue  
  • Defend  
  • Judge  
  • Select  
  • Support  
  • Value  
  • Critique
  • Class Debate  
  • Class trial   
  • Peer Evaluation  
  • Lab  
  • Workshop  
  • Roleplay 
  • Portfolios
  • Online debate in OneDrive, discussion forum or BBB 
  • PowerPoint Online Group Document  
  • Online Peer Review using email or Moodle (e.g., forum, Workshop, etc.) 
  • Research poster (take a photo) 
  • Roleplay in BBB  
  • Collaborative script writing in OneDrive  
  • H5P Interactive Video  
  • H5P Course Presentation  
  • Kaltura Media Assignment  
  • Portfolio

CREATE  

Produce new or original work

Devise  

Design  

Write  

Blog  

Tweet  

Adapt  

Animate  

Build  

Negotiate  

Program  

Facilitate

Reflective blog  

Presentation   

Exhibition   

Model  

Visuals (Photographs)  

Creating simulations  

Experiment Demonstrations  

Workshop  

Design artifacts  

Build/construct artifacts  

Case studies 

Collaborative writing

Blog – in a forum, WordPress, or Word document  

Create Podcast  

Webisode/Webinar 

Create a video 

Students create model, take a photo and email/upload to forum  

Online group workshop using BBB  

Website in WordPress  

Poster, Collage, or Postcard (students create and then take photo) 

Collaborative writing in Open Journal Systems