This policy provides clarity around the classification of programmes and modules in UCC and aims to assist academic staff in making decisions around teaching and learning methods.

The policy is relevant to

• All staff involved in creating new programmes or modules and/or updating existing programmes and modules on UCC’s Curriculum Management System (CIM); and
• Anyone accessing information on online platforms where data is taken from CIM.

The Office of Vice President for Learning and Teaching is responsible for ensuring that UCC’s Learning Taxonomy reflects national policy and best practice, as set out by Quality and Qualifications Ireland.

 Academic Services are responsible for ensuring that CIM allows for the accurate capture of the definitions provided by the taxonomy.

 Any staff member charged with keeping CIM information up to date on programme and module information is responsible for ensuring that this information is consistent with the approved taxonomy.

Background rationale 

UCC’s first learning taxonomy was approved in 2018, prior to Covid. Since it was approved, teaching and learning practice globally has shifted to incorporate more online elements. In September 2023, the QQI issued new Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines for Providers.

UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes (Figure 1)

Updated UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes

Figures 2 and 3 show how the Teaching Methods and Learning Methods listed in CIM as of November 2024 are mapped to the modes. It was noted at AB on 18 October 2024 that the current CIM Teaching and Learning Methods options need to be amended to allow academic staff to more accurately reflect practice in light of these Teaching Modes. To ensure alignment of CIM fields with the taxonomy, the Centre for Digital Education will engage with the Academic Development and Standards Committee and the Curriculum Management Operations Group in the Deputy President and Registrar’s Office to update these field options. 

UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes (Figure 2)

Updated UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes with CIM Learning Methods

UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes (Figure 3)

Updated UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes with CIM Learning Methods

Resource Implications

 None

Brief description / summary of the item 

In 2018, Academic Board approved UCC’s first Learning Taxonomy. The purpose of this taxonomy is twofold:

• to assist staff in decision-making around the development of academic course content, and
• to provide prospective students with a clear indication of how a course of study is delivered.

It is anticipated that the definitions proposed in this taxonomy would be adopted and used in CIM Programme descriptors to achieve the above stated purposes. 
In September 2023, Quality and Qualifications Ireland released their Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines for Providers of Blended and Fully Online Programmes. These guidelines followed on from their Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines for Providers of Blended Learning Programmes, released in March 2018.

Learning taxonomies typically describe how people learn. The most well-known example is Bloom’s Taxonomy, which looks at six levels of understanding – at a basic level, remembering information through to the highest level of understanding involved in creating something new. The title of Learning Taxonomy has caused some confusion in this context as it was intended to only refer to the modes of teaching and learning that occur rather than provide a breakdown of how learning happens.

UCC’s Learning Taxonomy is a simple diagram outlining the various ways in which teaching is delivered and learning enabled. This is intended as a guide to academic staff considering how they might design and deliver educational content so they can accurately inform students of the effort involved in taking a course of study.

As Brown (2023, p8) outlines, there are no agreed universal definitions for the various forms of learning now commonly encountered. This results in terms such as ‘online’, ‘blended’, ‘hybrid’, ‘flexible’ and ‘hyflex’ being used to mean slightly different things in different institutional and discipline contexts. 

The current key QQI definitions (Brown, 2023) are outlined below:

• Blended Learning: A type of education where teaching, learning and assessment occur using a mix of online and on-site learning with the online components taking place synchronously, asynchronously, or in combination.
• Fully Online Learning: A type of education where teaching, learning and assessment occur online, either synchronously, asynchronously, or in combination and where no on-site instruction is required.

The QQI have adopted the view that a ‘big bucket’ definition of Blended Learning serves to cover a myriad of other unique and often very contextualized terms. This big bucket of Blended Learning then is a spectrum of practice that is broadly similar in nature and can be contrasted with the two other modalities of fully online and fully on-site. 

In 2018, UCC adopted its first Learning Taxonomy at Academic Board. The world has however changed significantly since this taxonomy was agreed. The Covid pandemic gave rise to a wider use of technology in education and many educators have discovered that much of their teaching and learning now involves online elements. The differentiation of blended courses as for example being ‘synchronous distributed’ or ‘blended online’ is no longer useful as the range of potential scenarios has proliferated and it would be challenging for an academic staff member to place their course of study in one category. 

Since the original taxonomy was introduced, UCC has moved to the deployment of a Curriculum Management System, which limits the range of programme descriptors that can be used under the Delivery Method field. It allows for staff to input additional detail such as details on assessment type, learning activities in the Teaching Methods field, which facilitates much more meaningful and useful descriptions. The CIM Modules system allows for further details to be included around Learning Methods. Because of this, there is a limited need to have a complex set of terms to describe the overall method of delivery for a programme.

The proposal now is to replace the existing Learning Taxonomy with a new and simplified Taxonomy of Teaching Modes as shown in Figure 1. 

Graphic of UCC Taxonomy of Teaching Modes (2MB)

Next Review: November 2027

9 Further Information

Contact Email:VPlearningandteaching@ucc.ie

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