Learning Outcomes: The Fundamentals

Session outcomes

By the end of this session participants will be expected to be able to:

… describe the components of learning outcomes

… discuss the benefits of learning outcomes

… write a learning outcome for a specific lesson

Learning outcomes: why bother?

… it’s in our best interests to be clear about where we are going!

Each team to set a goal based on the total number of successful shots (max 3 each) it anticipates achieving

To allow participants to set and achieve goals

Bounce tennis ball in front of chair so that it clears the chair and drops into the container

Activity

Objective:

Process:

Group:

Discussion

How well did you do in accomplishing your goal?

How did you determine the goal?4

Group questions

What is a Learning Outcome?

Why are Learning Outcomes important?

Write a Learning Outcome for the tennis ball game.

Learning outcome defined

… the specification of what a student should learn as the result of a period of specified study

… is concerned with the achievements of the learner rather than the intentions of the teacher

(Adam, 2004)

• Shifts the focus to the potential learning of the student as opposed to the behaviours of the lecturer

• Provide a systematic framework for focusing and structuring teaching and assessment

• Provide a statement of course goals that can be shared by lecturer and students

• Provide a basis for developing assessment tasks and criteria

(Adapted from Spiller, 2011)

Benefits of learning outcomes

COMPONENTS OF A LO

• On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to: 1. Knowledge 2. Skills 3. Attitudes

(Adapted from Spiller, 2011)

Writing a learning outcome

• A verb to indicate as precisely as possible the nature of the learning that is expected

• A word to indicate the topic or skill level required

• Words to indicate the context or standard of performance that is expected

(Adapted from Spiller, 2011)

For example…

• On successful completion of this course, a student will be able to: demonstrate the use of a gas welding torch to weld a joint to industry standard

Cautions• Much learning is unpredictable and unplanned for

and cannot be controlled by outcomes • Should not be too rigid so that teachers can still be

critically responsive to the dynamics of the classroom and the needs of students

• Can be difficult to capture all forms of learning in precise language

• Outcomes indicate desired learning, but there are no guarantees that it will take place

(Adapted from Spiller, 2011)

Activity

• In small groups write a learning outcome for an area/subject/unit/lesson that you are familiar with – be prepared to feed back to the whole group

‘Levels’ of learning outcomes

• Taxonomies

– Blooms (revised) taxonomy

– Dave’s Psychomotor Domain

Dave’s action verbs per stage (level)

1. Copy, follow, replicate, repeat, adhere, observe, identify, mimic, try, re-enact, and imitate

2. Re-create, build, perform, execute, and implement3. Demonstrate, complete, show, perfect, calibrate,

control, and practice4. Construct, solve, combine, coordinate, integrate, adapt,

develop, formulate, modify, master, improve, and teach5. Design, specify, manage, invent, and project-manage

Source: http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_the_Psychomotor_Behaviors

Additional resources

• http://www.waikato.ac.nz/tdu/pdf/booklets/2_CourseDesign.pdf

Session outcomes revisited

By the end of this session participants will be expected to be able to:

… describe the components of learning outcomes

… discuss the benefits of learning outcomes

… write a learning outcome for a specific lesson

Questions?

Thank you