2B: Moving from Goals to Outcomes

"A learning outcome is a statement of exactly what your students should be able to do after completing your course or at specified points during the course.”
- Linda Nilson, Teaching at Its Best

Now we are ready to start turning your learning goals into specific course learning outcome statements (CLOs)*. As the quote above indicates, a key aspect of good CLOs is that they combine CONTENT with what students should be able to DO with that content (very few instructors want students who have just memorized a bunch of facts!). We all have learning outcomes in mind when we put together our classes; that is, we all have some idea of what we want our students to learn. Effective learning outcomes make that explicit.
* You might be more familiar with the more generic term 'student learning outcomes' (SLOs). Course learning outcomes are simply the student learning outcomes for a course and the term CLO is used interchangeably here with SLO.

What Makes a Good CLO Statement?

Effective learning outcomes have several characteristics:

Measurable/observable/assessable
Use action verbs. Focusing on concrete actions and behaviors makes learning explicit and communicates to students the kind of intellectual effort we expect of them
Break down the task and focus on specific, achievable cognitive processes (appropriate for unit)
Student-centered and relevant to the learners

The first and second items here really go together: one of the most straightforward ways to ensure that your CLOs are measurable, observable and ultimately assessable is to start them with action verbs such as those suggested in these handouts:

Drafting Learning Outcome Statements

Consider the knowledge, skills, attitudes you listed previously. What should students eventually be able to DO as a result of such knowledge, skills and attitudes? What does that actually look like? Try to complete the sentence: “If students have actually learned what I want them to learn, they will be able to (do X)…”

For example, it is not uncommon for instructors to say that they want students to "understand" something. But what does that mean? If a history teacher wants students to "understand the Cold War and its significance", that might mean they want students to "identify the origins of the Cold War and trace the chronology of major events from 1917-1991". The difference is that the latter statement makes it much clearer to students what will be expected of them; it is also straightforward to measure.

Note: “Measurable” doesn’t have to mean “quantitative”! If you want your students to “appreciate classic films,” maybe you want to have them “identify elements of classic films relevant to their lives” through writing exercises. Again, try to think about what that might look like, what you would want to see to know that the outcome was achieved.