A Quick Guide to

The
SOLO
Taxonomy
Tom Barrett and Chris Harte
The Journey from Surface to Deep,
to Conceptual Understanding

Imagine trying to understand the

importance of a coral reef
ecosystem.

From the surface we can see some rippled

forms and maybe colours of individual corals.

As we dive deeper to look at the reef, we see it

with more clarity and notice it is, in fact, made
up of many individual corals coexisting.

As we explore the reef further, we are able to

observe the interconnections between the
reef, the animals and the environment.

We notice patterns, start to generalise and

make assumptions about the system. We
reach an extended abstract, conceptual
understanding of our learning outcome.
Signals of Learning We know the complexity of cognitive development and
the journey to deeper conceptual understanding is tough
Growth and the to explain, and even harder to classify.

SOLO Taxonomy Teachers understand that every learner is unique, their

experience is unique, and the way they respond to
teaching and learning is unique.

A powerful strategy is to design proxies for learning that

help to generate clear signals of learning growth. But
even once we filter out the noise, we still need a
structure to help us better understand what the signals
mean.

The SOLO Taxonomy is a sorting tool which helps us

make sense of the complex, often noisy, sometimes
muddled, outcomes of learning.
 The SOLO Taxonomy
The SOLO Taxonomy is a framework or mental model for
explaining the process of learning.

Kevin Collis and John Biggs first described it in 1982, in their

paper, Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy.

SOLO is an acronym for the Structure of the Observed Learning

Outcome.

Just like a Taxonomy of Australian Birds* would help you

classify birds you spot, a taxonomy for learning helps you to
accurately classify the learning you observe.

However, the framework holds even more potential in showing

what is next in the process of learning, not merely to classify
and identify.

You might use the SOLO Taxonomy when:

• You are designing learning experiences and you want to ensure that
your intended learning outcomes are clear, accessible and can
demonstrate learning growth.
• You are assessing individual learner’s growth by tuning into the
signals of learning they produce.
• You are in dialogue with learners and providing formative
assessment through feedback and feedforward; it provides you a
common language.
• You notice signals of learning which were not intended in the
learning design but are valuable to capture and explore with the
learner.
*These are definitely not all Australian birds
The SOLO
Taxonomy Links extend to other known
concepts and connected knowledge. Extended
Patterns, rules and observations are
abstracted from the connected concepts.
Abstract
The taxonomy
presents a sequence
of steps to deeper
understanding, and a
clear language of A range of ideas are shared, and the
learning progression. connections, links and relationships
are explained accurately.
Relational
Note that the initial
levels focus on the
quantity of
understanding while
relational and extended Many ideas shared independently
or with little support. Not yet able
Multi
abstract levels focus
more on the quality and to coherently link the ideas. Structural
interconnectedness
of understanding.

One, or very few basic

ideas. Lots of support and Uni Structural A learner moves from a surface, to
deep, to conceptual understanding.
scaffolding needed.
Combine it with some strategies like
SOLO Question Chains and Growth
Ladders to help learners better
understand their learning growth.
Not yet able to share
any relevant ideas. Pre Structural
Your Practical Next Steps
Share SOLO with
Aim High your students

When planning for the teaching and learning of a concept, aim high by starting You may want to use adapted language
near the top and write out a Relational learning outcome from the point of view of and hand signals, but a shared language
a learner: of learning growth is powerful for teachers
making judgements on learner
The outcome: to understand a coral reef as an ecosystem. performance. Even more importantly, it is
a powerful learner tool.
By the end of this learning experience, I will SOLO gives learners the language to have
be able to explain the interconnected parts agency over their learning.
of a coral reef system, including how a reef is part of an
ecosystem. Mindmap the concept
and share
This gives you a target for all learners. You can then think up towards Extended
Abstract (learners may be able to hypothesise the impacts of climate change on a
reef or they be able to compare a reef system to another system, such as a Create a mindmap of the concept you are
rainforest). teaching and share it with learners from
the start of the learning experience. This
You can also then work down; what are the constituent parts of the concept that can help them see the big picture of what
might be identified at a Multistructural level. they are learning and how it connects
together in a conceptual framework.

Think of this as showing learners the

whole gingerbread house, not just the
breadcrumbs in the forest.
 References

“As learning Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for quality learning at university.

progresses it Buckingham: Buckingham Open University Press.

Biggs, J.B., & Collis, K.F. (1982). Evaluating the quality of

becomes more learning: The SOLO taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.

complex”
Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). Teaching for quality learning at
university. What the student does (3rd Ed.). Berkshire:
Society for Research into Higher Education & Open
University Press.
~ John Biggs

Images Used

“Yellow-billed magpie, Stellers jay, Ultramarine jay and

Clark's crow. Artist: Audubon, John James, 1785-1851”
photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash. Originally from
Digital Commonwealth

The coral photo is from the Red Sea by Francesco Ungaro

on Unsplash
A Quick Guide to

The
SOLO
Taxonomy
This introductory resource for the SOLO
Taxonomy was created and designed by Chris
Harte and Tom Barrett.

If you are interested in receiving more professional

learning resources or courses, like this one,
please get in touch.

Tom Barrett Chris Harte

[email protected] [email protected]
@tombarrett @charte