Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes: course design on a firm footing

START

Director, Center for Faculty Development Clinical Professor, International Studies

David Green, PhD

Colette Hoption, PhD

Associate Director, Center for Faculty Development Associate Dean, Associate Professor, Albers School of Business and Economics

Learning outcomes...

Set at the level of an A letter grade

Ideally, contain only one action word

Do not need to be assessed

What have you heard about learning outcomes?

Need to be assessed

Focus on the progress the student has made

Focus on what the student has produced

Must be reached during the course/pro-gram

Ideally, contain multiple action words

Set at the level of a pass

Hover over the tiles to discover which are TRUE and FALSE.

Focus on the point the student has reached

Must be reached after the course/pro-gram

Focus on what the teacher has delivered

Agenda

The previous page listed common assumptions about learning outcomes. Now, let's refine our knowledge about learning outcomes.

Step 2. Writing Basics for Learning Outcomes

• Attainment level
• Assessment
• Action words
• Snapshot

Step 1. Defining learning outcomes

Step 3. Clarifying Common Misconceptions

Step 4. Questions for Reflection and Final Conclusions

What are learning outcomes?

Specific intentions of a program or course.

Learning outcomes answer the question, "What skills and/or knowledge will students who pass your course or program achieve?"

Writing Basics

recommended sentence stems

"On successful completion of this program, you will be able to..." "On successful completion of this course, you will be able to..."

ADDRESS STUDENTS DIRECTLY

Use the second person ("you") to make learning outcomes more immediate to learners and emphasize a learning-centered approach.

Learning outcomes focus on what the student has produced, not what the faculty member has delivered. Using the second person should help us remember to focus on what students are doing in our courses. So, ask yourself,

What knowlede or skills do I want my students to demonstrate?

Attainment Level

Examples

If a learning outcome is set too high, it is impractical. The point of a learning outcome is to verify that by the end of a course or program, students have obtained the essential knowledge.

Strategies

If the standard for essential knowledge is too high, then many students will not pass the course/program. In response, faculty may massage how they define/measure the high standard so that students can pass. In turn, the high standard loses meaning and the learning outcome is compromised.

Fewer is better

Measurement

• We recommend that 4 - 6 course learning outcomes are sufficient for the quarter system
• It is recommended that programs have no more than five learning outcomes

We recommed using the TILT model for assignment design: explicitly state (1) purpose, (2) task, and (3) grading criteria.

• Ideally, graded student work corresponds to course learning outcomes
• Communicate assignment grading criteria to support students' goal setting -- they define where students should be aiming their efforts

ASSESSMENT

Learning outcomes need to be assessed at both course and program levels. Typically, programs at Seattle University are assessed one-by-one in a five-year cycle.

Action Words

Ideally, learning outcomes contain only one action word.

Bloom's Taxonomy

Snapshot

Learning outcomes are a snapshot. By the end of the course, what skills and knowledge have your students obtained?

Big Questions in a tiny space

Before you take off, let's ground ourselves in some takeaways.

Instructions: Identify a course or program learning outcome of your own and see if you can modify it in some way that reflects the knowledge we've shared with you. When ready, "check-in" to assess your work.

How does your course or program look different from a similar one at another university?

What makes your subject at SU distinctive?

Check-In

References

Hello, my name is Colette Hoption. I am Associate Director for Faculty Professional Development at the Center for Faculty Development and Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the Albers School of Business and Economics. I became familiar with learning outcomes while facilitating assurance of learning for the Department of Management over a number of years. Each year, I gained greater understanding and know-how through trial and error and feedback from others. In these materials, I aim to share key takeaways that I learned, as well as best practices from teaching and learning scholarship. If you have any questions about this content, please reach out. Email is the best way to get a hold of me: hoptionc@seattleu.edu.

Attainment set too high

Attainment set at a level of a pass

VS

On successful completion of this course/program, you will have:

• exhibited eloquent self-expression
• embodied core values essential to nursing practice

On successful completion of this course/program, you will have:

• communicated effectively in writing and orally for a specific audience
• debated the ethical dimensions of a pharmaceutical case study

Hello, my name is David Green and I’m the Director of the Center for Faculty Development and Clinical Professor of International Studies at Seattle University. The topic of learning outcomes has been omnipresent since I first moved into a faculty development role in the UK in 2002. The very first thing I was asked to do, in fact, was to develop my university’s Guide to Learning Outcomes, based on the latest research, as well as UK government requirements at the time. That Guide became the template for our own guide here at Seattle University, and we regularly revise it based on our evolving understanding of both the purpose and limitations of learning outcomes. If you’d like to discuss outcomes with me in more detail for your own courses and programs, you can either email me at greend@seattleu.edu or complete the Consultation Request form on the Center’s website.

Hello, my name is David Green and I’m the Director of the Center for Faculty Development and Clinical Professor of International Studies at Seattle University. The topic of learning outcomes has been omnipresent since I first moved into a faculty development role in the UK in 2002. The very first thing I was asked to do, in fact, was to develop my university’s Guide to Learning Outcomes, based on the latest research, as well as UK government requirements at the time. That Guide became the template for our own guide here at Seattle University, and we regularly revise it based on our evolving understanding of both the purpose and limitations of learning outcomes. If you’d like to discuss outcomes with me in more detail for your own courses and programs, you can either email me at greend@seattleu.edu or complete the Consultation Request form on the Center’s website.

Hello, my name is Colette Hoption. I am Associate Director for Faculty Professional Development at the Center for Faculty Development and Associate Dean and Associate Professor at the Albers School of Business and Economics. I became familiar with learning outcomes while facilitating assurance of learning for the Department of Management over a number of years. Each year, I gained greater understanding and know-how through trial and error and feedback from others. In these materials, I aim to share key takeaways that I learned, as well as best practices from teaching and learning scholarship. If you have any questions about this content, please reach out. Email is the best way to get a hold of me: hoptionc@seattleu.edu.

What about progress?

• While we hope that students leave our classes and programs transformed, learning outcomes do not concern how far students have come but rather, what point they have reached on completing the course/program.
• Tracking progress involves activities outside of traditional assessment, like benchmarking student performance. These activities are separate from learning outcomes.

Assess whether your revised learning outcome:

• Is focused on what the student has produced
• Set at the level of a pass
• Can be assessed
• Contains one action word, ideally
• Attainable by the end of the course/program

Which action word to choose?

The more intellectually challenging the action word is, the more attractive it is. This is for a couple reasons:

• Efficiency: Lower levels of complexity are built into intellectually challenging action words. For example, you can't "design" an experiment without being able to "explain" the research question you are testing. Therefore, you would not have to state that students will explain a research question and design an experiment.
• Engagement: Intellectually challenging action words require greater engagement from students and faculty. Students are being asked to show more skills in their work, and faculty will have more information to discern the quality of student work and grade accordingly.
• Students at all levels can operate across the full taxonomy; the problems they'll work on in introductory courses will be more contained and less messy than problems in more advanced courses.

On successful completion of this course/program (i.e., on passing the course/program), you will have coached group members in using the foundational conflict-resolution strategies needed for them to become a self-managed team.

What to do instead:

On successful completion of this course/program (i.e., on passing the course/program), you will have improved skills for organizing and directing small groups, and inspiring those group members to use foundational conflict-resolution strategies so that they become self-managed teams.

What not to do:

VS

Watch this video to learn more about how program and course learning outcomes are connected.

How to discern the appropriate attainment level?

Could know

Should know

Must know (i.e., learning outcomes)

Refine the typical phrasing to explain "success": On successful completion of this course/program (i.e., passing the course/program), you will have...

• What is the passing letter grade for your course or program? What are the abilities of the students who achieve that grade?
• The passing threshold = the essential learning students have acquired

Action Words to Avoid

• Because learning outcomes are a snapshot of student performance at the conclusion of a course or program, avoid using "develop", "improve", and "progress" in your learning outcomes because they empahsize the journey.

Further Reading

• Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.) (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Abridged ed. Longman.​
• Biggs, J., Tang, C., & Kennedy, G. (2022). Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does (5th ed.). SRHE & Open University Press.​
• Gosling, D., & Moon, J. (2009). How to use learning outcomes and assessment criteria (Revised ed.). SEEC.
• Green, D. A. (2023). “Guide to learning outcomes.” Seattle University. Seattle, WA. Downloadable from https://www.seattleu.edu/faculty-development/faculty-resources/#d.en.8038916