Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
What is a learning outcome?
Learning outcomes (course goals, learning objectives) are behaviors or skill sets the students should be able to perform as a result of experiences they undergo in the course, class period, or curriculum.
For example, by the end of this page you should be able to describe the term learning outcome.
Why do I need to write course outcomes?
The easiest way to explain why we write course outcomes is to compare the traditional and systematic methods of course planning.
In the traditional method:
- Determine the material that the course is supposed to cover.
- Choose a textbook and/or selects the readings for the course.
- Divide the readings into units corresponding to the number of weeks in the semester.
- Decide how many homework assignments and papers you will require.
- Decide how many quizzes and exams you will give.
- Reserve books and other materials.
- Write the syllabus.
- Write the lectures corresponding to each class meeting.
In the systematic method:
- Determine the learning outcomes for the course.
- Select teaching strategies and methods that will enable students to achieve the outcomes.
- Decide how you will measure student achievement of the outcomes.
- Select text and readings based on the outcomes.
- Divide the course into logical units based on the outcomes.
- Develop a syllabus that tells students what they have to do to achieve the outcomes.
Learning outcomes parallel a hypothesis in a scientific experiment or specific aim in a grant. All of these things drive what you do—a good scientist would never enter the lab and start experiments without a goal in mind, and no granting agency would give a grant to a proposal without a specific aim.
Note: When trying to think about your course outcomes, think about what it is you want students to be able to do or know 1 year after the course is over and even 5 years after the course is over.
Are outcomes for me or for the students?
The answer is both. Outcomes guide the instructor in terms of what needs to be accomplished. In the same manner, outcomes guide the students to what they are supposed to be learning. These outcomes can be included in the syllabus, should be presented before each class session, and even included before each examination.
How do I write an outcome?
Writing outcomes can be challenging. Outcomes are expressed in terms of measurable and/or observable behaviors (hint: ask yourself how you would test the outcome).
For example, if the outcome is:
- The student will know about diabetes.
How will this be evaluated? This outcome is not really measurable because it is very broad and vague. Better outcomes would be
- The student will be able to describe the pathophysiology of diabetes and the associated risks with this disease.
- The student will be able to summarize patient factors which would contraindicate the first-line drug therapy for Type II diabetics
- The student will be able to evaluate a patient's clinical laboratory findings and recommend changes in therapy.
These outcomes are measurable. How would you test if a student knew the first-line therapy for the treatment in diabetes and the associated contraindications? Exam questions could be:
- Describe the first-line therapy for a patient with Type II diabetes.
- What patient characteristics would be a contra-indication to the use of Drug X?
Is there anything else I need to write outcomes?
There are many different levels of learning. Outcomes can be written for each level of learning in Bloom's Taxonomy. Avoid phrases such as:
- …have an understanding of…
- …have an appreciation of…
- …be acqueaited with…
- …be aware of…
- …be cognizant…
- …be conscious of…
- …be familiar with…
- …be knowledgeable about…
These phrases are vague. How do you test “awareness of”?
Here is a brief description of taxonomic categories with examples of verbs applicable to each level (in order from low-level order learning to higher-order learning).
Knowledge: Student recalls or recognizes information, ideas, and principles in the approximate form in which they were learned.
- Arrange, cite, define, duplicate, enumerate, identify, label, list, match, name, recall, recognize, repeat, reproduce, select, state.
Comprehension: Student translates, comprehends, or interprets information based on prior learning.
- Classify, cite, convert, describe, discuss, estimate, explain, generalize, give examples, recognize, restate, review, select, paraphrase, summarize, translate.
Application: Student selects, transfers, and uses data and principles to complete a problem or task with a minimum of directions.
- Act, administer, articulate, apply, chart, choose, compute, construct, control, determine, demonstrate, develop, employ, establish, extend, illustrate, implement, inform, instruct, operationalize, participate, predict, prepare, produce, project, provide, relate, report, show, sketch, solve, teach, transfer, use, utilize.
Analysis: Student distinguishes, classifies, and relates the assumption, hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a communication or concept.
- Analyze; break down; correlate; diagram; differentiate; discriminate; distinguish; illustrate; infer; outline; point out; prioritize; recognize; separate; subdivide.
Synthesis: Student originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan, or proposal that is new to him or her.
- Adapt, anticipate, arrange, assemble, categorize, collaborate, collect, combine, communicate, compare, complete, compose, contract, contrast, create, design, devise, express, facilitate, formulate, generate, incorporate, individualize, initiate, integrate, intervene, manage, model, negotiate, organize, plan, prepare, propose, rearrange, reconstruct, reinforce, reorganize, revise, set up, structure, substitute, validate.
Evaluation: Student appraises, assesses, or criticizes something on the basis of specific standards and criteria.
- Appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, conclude, confront, criticize, decide, defend, estimate, interpret, judge, justify, predict, rate, reframe, score, select, support, value, evaluate.