Learning outcomes provide a crucial framework for course design, curriculum alignment, and program evaluation. Learning outcomes help instructors align course goals with students’ overall educational experience by showing them how the knowledge and skills gained in one course can be applied across other classes or even later in life.
Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes of any course, assignment, class, or program refer to the knowledge and abilities students should acquire by the end of their educational experience. Sometimes, this term is used in lieu of more traditional terms like “learning objective.” Objectives refer to actions that can be observed and measured, while outcomes describe what knowledge will be acquired as well as possible abilities possessed by a student.
Effective learning outcomes should be measurable, concise, meaningful, and obtainable, as well as student-centric – this helps instructors design more relevant and engaging instruction and provide students with more engaging lessons. Learning outcomes can be defined at many different levels – from an entire program of study down to individual course activities or goals.
Learning outcomes must include an observable action, an explanation of what the learner can accomplish, and an expected performance level they should reach. They should also contain clear and specific verbs that describe the thinking or behavior required – verbs that describe processes are preferable to ones that represent objects or states facts – for instance, “learners will be able to recognize situations where company policies apply is more useful than “learners will understand how to mediate conflicts.”
Establishing clear learning outcomes helps faculty design courses and assess student performance more accurately. Faculty can use these outcomes statements as guides for assignments, activities, and assessment tools – they could even form the basis of an entire degree or program of study! Involve learners in connecting course content to real-world applications by encouraging them to consider ways they might apply what they have learned beyond academic environments.
Articulating learning outcomes has many advantages, from improving instruction to helping students take control of their education. They’re beneficial for students looking to transfer their skills and knowledge into the workplace; teachers who develop learning outcomes allow teachers to focus on those that most apply to students’ future careers while simultaneously increasing student engagement and providing avenues for interdisciplinary study.
Learning Objectives
Learning objectives are statements that describe the knowledge and skills students should acquire through a course or learning activity. Learning objectives form an essential element of any good lesson plan and help instructors structure their systems effectively. Each learning objective should ideally be specific, measurable, student-centric, clear and concise with easily understandable terminology – for instance using action verbs instead of abstract terms like “understand” or “apply”.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is an effective model for creating learning outcomes. This model divides learning into three domains: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Each of these domains offers various levels of achievement; the cognitive domain measures understanding or application of information, while the creative group considers creation/communicating ideas/creating solutions/sharing knowledge, etc. Additionally, the SMART criteria offer assistance in crafting measurable yet achievable learning outcomes.
To ensure your learning outcomes are measurable, they should include one action verb. Doing so is more effective than using vague verbs like “understand”, “recognize” or “comprehend”. A list of appropriate action verbs for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is available online.
An essential aspect of learning objectives is their level of attainment. For instance, learners should be able to identify how changes in American foreign policy during the 18th and 19th centuries affected relations with neighboring nations and Native Americans or demonstrate the four steps of CPR on a mannequin.
Clear learning objectives can make the assignment and examination processes simpler, allow for improved assessment of learners’ progress and achievements, serve as a guideline for future training, help instructors assess content creation processes and develop follow-up courses if needed, while for learners they provide a framework to understand what skills are necessary for career success or life satisfaction.
Assessment
Assessment of Learning Outcomes is a critical element of the educational process. It allows teachers to evaluate students’ knowledge and understanding as a means of making informed decisions on which teaching methods are successful and providing extra assistance where necessary. Assessing students takes place continuously within classroom settings through marking, questioning, discussion, and observation, as well as through regular tests or end-of-year/unit examinations.
Assessment and evaluation can often be confused; however, their roles differ significantly in nature and purpose. The evaluation focuses on measuring how well students have understood or acquired knowledge or skills, while evaluation evaluates the quality of student-produced work.
Evaluation differs from assessment in that assessment involves collecting evidence while evaluation focuses on its interpretation. Assessment allows educators to identify gaps in learning that they must then address through additional instruction or remediation, while Evaluation examines if an overall program or course meets its goals as well as student satisfaction with it.
Note that Evaluation and Assessment are both empirical activities; both require criteria and measures, yet their purpose can differ considerably. While Assessment typically targets individual student learning in order to guide instructional practice, Evaluation seeks generalizable results that help contribute to theory development.
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy can be an effective tool when creating an assessment plan. It outlines various levels of cognitive achievement, which can be demonstrated using different assessment methods; for instance, recall and description tasks would best be assessed via short answer or multiple choice questions, while those requiring evaluation might require debate or written essays as assessment tools.
Evaluation
Assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes enable instructors to determine how healthy students are engaging with their course material and identify areas for improvement. Assessing learning outcomes focuses on direct measures of student development rather than grade or test scores; different forms of assessments (homework, quizzes, assignments, papers, or projects) may be used for evaluation; one great resource is Southern Education Foundation’s Building Your Assessment Toolkit which offers an in-depth explanation of many common assessments with their strengths and weaknesses.
When setting learning outcomes, it is essential that they can be measured. Measurable indicators could include “understanding” being measured by seeing whether students can explain a topic or concept to another student, while “applying” ing knowledge would likely need indirect measures like essays, presentations, or discussions for evaluation purposes.
Evaluating and assessing learning outcomes allows instructors to gauge students’ skill sets accurately. Bloom’s Taxonomy can be used as a helpful way of determining learning requirements; using it may allow instructors to create outcomes within this hierarchy that meet student needs while being realistic for them. It is essential not to go too high up the order, though, as that might make outcomes unreachable or unrealistic for their students.
At a course level, an outcome could include teaching students to “understand the global landscape of transportation.” This goal can easily be measured by assigning students an essay topic within this field. At higher goals level, these outcomes would require student reflection or interviews with specialists within this subject area in order to measure correctly.
