1. Writing Great Learning Outcomes

2. Learning Outcomes of This Presentation
At the conclusion of this presentation,
participants will be able to:
Define student learning outcomes (SLOs)
Differentiate among learning goals, objectives and outcomes
Explain the pedagogical importance of having clear, measurable, learner-centered outcomes
Write clear, measurable, learner-centered outcomes

3. Philosophical Shift Teacher-centered learner-centered
Instructional objective student learning outcome
Resulting in:
Change in vocabulary and focus
Change in instructional design process

4. Compare:
Course objective To teach pre-service teachers the essential characteristics of effective teachers Learning outcome At the end of the course, students will be able to: Identify essential characteristics of effective teachers

5. Why Write Student Learning Outcomes?
Important communication tool between faculty and students.
Communicate expected competencies in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
Provide a learning framework that:
enhances instructional activities
enables assessment of student learning
facilitates consistency in course offerings
It is advisable to share SLOs explicitly with your students

6. What is a Student Learning Outcome?
A precise statement that answers the questions:
How can learners demonstrate mastery of the knowledge, skills, or attitudes specified in the instruction?
What will students be able to do at the completion of this course? CA

7. How Do You Write an SLO? Two essential parts:
Action verb describing student learning required
Following action verb, reference to course content (to be mastered)

8. Bloom’s Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom, e.a. – University of Chicago, in the 1950s
A classification scheme that assists with thinking about learning outcomes
Three domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor

9. Bloom’s Cognitive Domains
Six levels:
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation

10. Course Goal
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.  Now put a foundation under them. ~Thoreau
Outcomes
EVALUATION
SYNTHESIS
ANALYSIS
appraise
assess
choose
criticize
conclude
decide
estimate
evaluate
judge
justify
measure
rank
rate
APPLICATION
assemble
compose
construct
create
design
formulate
integrate
manage
plan
write
prescribe
propose
COMPREHENSION
analyze
categorize
compare
contrast
diagram
differentiate
discriminate
examine
discuss
explain
summarize
paraphrase
translate
KNOWLEDGE
apply
calculate
use
demonstrate
show
solve
describe
define
list
identify
name
recall

11. Learning Outcomes of This Presentation
At the conclusion of this presentation,
participants will be able to:
Define student learning outcomes (SLOs)
Differentiate between learning goals, objectives and outcomes
Explain the pedagogical importance of having clear, measurable, learner-centered outcomes
Write clear, measurable, learner-centered outcomes

12. Possible Pitfalls: Omission of higher level thinking levels
Listing of activities
Listing of objectives of instructor
Use of vague terms like “know” and “understand”
Confusion with learning goals

13. Goals versus SLOs Goal:
A broad statement of the overall intent of the course
SLOs should flow from the course goals
Often imbedded in a course description
Often not attainable through one course

14. Goals versus SLOs What might the course goal be in this case?
Course objective
To teach pre-service teachers the essential characteristics of effective teachers
Learning outcome
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Identify essential characteristics of effective teachers

15. Assessment: Closing the Loop
SLOs provide a learning framework that:
enhances instructional activities
enables assessment of student learning
facilitates consistency in course offerings
How will you measure if outcomes are met?
What types of classroom assessment techniques can be used that fit the cognitive domain level?
How might you adjust the outcomes and/or the instruction based on assessment results?

16. Small Group Activity
In pairs or triads, critique given student learning outcomes:
Find the problem(s)
Discuss outcomes

17. Small Group Activity
Students will write an 8-10 page researched argument about a contemporary issue in health care Objective or Outcome? Objective – focuses on what students will do in class, not what they will be able to do when finished with course

18. Small Group Activity
Students will be able to differentiate among different schools of philosophical thinking Objective or Outcome? Outcome – clearly states what students are able to do with the content information at the end of the course