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RESEARCH GUIDES

Information Literacy Toolkit: Resource for Teaching Faculty

This guide is intended to support University of Maryland faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants in incorporating information literacy into their courses.

Writing Learning Outcomes

Structure of a Learning Outcome Statement:

  1. An action word that identifies the performance to be demonstrated
  2. A learning statement that specifies what learning will be demonstrated in the performance
  3. A broad statement of the criterion or standard for acceptable performance 

Characteristics of Good Learning Outcomes:

  • Specify the level, criterion, or standard for the knowledge, skill, ability, or disposition that the learner must demonstrate
  • Include conditions under which they should be able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, abilities, or dispositions
  • Contain active verbs using Bloom's taxonomy
  • Be measurable / assessable 
  • Written in a way that does not join elements in an outcome statement that cannot be assessed by a single method 
    • Example of a poorly written outcome: At the end of the session, students will create a search strategy using Boolean operators and write a correctly formatted MLA citation for a scholarly article. 

"Learning objectives" and "learning outcomes" are often used interchangeably in the literature. In general, "objectives" are intended results or consequences of instruction, curricula, programs, or activities, while "outcomes" are achieved results or consequences of what was learned, i.e. evidence that learning took place. Objectives are often focused on teaching intentions and typically indicate the subject content that the teacher intends to cover. Learning outcomes, on the other hand, are more student-centered and describe the actions the learner should be able to take as a result of a learning experience. 

Learning Objective: This workshop will cover background and method for writing learning objectives.

Learning Outcome: At the end of this session, participants will be able to construct a learning outcome for an undergraduate course

University of Connecticut (2013). Assessment primer: Goals, objectives, and outcomes. 

Specific

  • Are the outcomes specific and stated with simple language?

Measurable

  • Are the outcomes written using action verbs to specify definite, observable behavior? OR Do they use vague or unclear language, such as "understand" or "comprehend"?
  • Is it possible to collect accurate and measurable data for each outcome?
  • Is it possible to use a single method to measure each outcome? 

Achievable/Actionable 

  • Do the outcomes clearly describe and define the expected abilities, knowledge, and values of learners?
  • Are the outcomes aligned with the mission, vision, values, and goals of the institution? program? course?
  • Can the outcome be used to identify areas for improvement?

Realistic

  • Are learners at the center of the outcome, or does it focus on the teacher's behaviors?
  • Is the language used to describe an outcome, not a process?

Timely/Timebound

  • Can the outcome be assessed within the duration of the learning experience (course session, assignment, course, degree program, etc.)?

3 Methods for Writing Learning Outcomes

Bloom's Taxonomy forms the base of any learning outcome statement. The action verbs used in the taxonomy are measurable and discrete. Aim for learning outcomes that include skills that span across the pyramid. Although it is easy to focus on the foundations of "remember" and "understand," try to include at least one outcome that strives for "evaluation" or "creation." 

Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching (2015). Bloom's Taxonomy.

Learning Outcome Statements can be written using the ABCD (audience, behavior, condition, and degree) method. While the method is often directed at learning objectives, it can also be used to write learning outcomes. 

  • A(udience) Who is the target audience? (e.g., "ENGL397 students will be able to...")
  • B(ehavior) What is the work to be accomplished by the learner? (e.g., "distinguish")
    • Should be both observable and measurable behaviors
    • Should refer to action verbs that describe behaviors 
  • C(ondition) What are the conditions/constraints in which the learners will be expected to perform these tasks? (e.g., "At the end of the session")
  • D(egree) How will the behavior need to be performed (e.g., "between primary and secondary sources")

Learning Outcome: "At the end of the session, ENGL397 students will be able to distinguish between primary and secondary sources"

Backwards Design is a method of instructional design which asks users to begin with the "end" - desired results, goals, or standards - and then build a curriculum from the "evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform" (Wiggins and McTighe). In short, it calls on teachers to identify learning outcomes as a first step and then build a lesson plan that works in service toward those goals. This process has three stages:

  1. Identify desired results: establish curricular priorities by separating desired outcomes into three categories: (1)"Enduring Understanding," things you want learners to remember after they have forgotten everything else about the course, or concepts that have to be grasped before other knowledge can be gained (2) "Important to Know and Do," skills, methods, principles, and concepts without which learning would be incomplete (3) "Worth Being Familiar With," things that can be covered if there is time, or may be covered adequately through supplementary material, such as tutorials or readings.
  2. Determine acceptable evidence: think about the evidence needed to document and validate that the desired learning outcomes have been achieved. Evidence should be collected over time and does not have to be entirely focused on an end of workshop activity. For example, if one of your goals is for students to learn how to problem-solve, give them an assessment that requires a demonstration of problem-solving skills (Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching). 
  3. Plan learning experience and instruction: once you have identified outcomes and assessment measures, decide how you will teach the concepts. Focus instruction around the "enduring understanding" concepts and "important to know and do." Only include the "worth being introduced to" when the other two categories are completely satisfied.

Program & Institutional Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes should build on one another. The learning outcomes you set for a particular session should contribute to the development of the course or unit outcomes, which build toward macro-level program and university-wide learning outcomes. Each of these learning outcomes should work in concert with one another, building towards the same set of goals, although individual outcomes will vary in specificity. 

Not every lesson, course, or unit outcome will address every program or institutional outcome. However, to build consensus among student learning, it is important that members of these large educational communities agree on learning outcomes.