Learning outcomes or objectives are specific measurable skills and are more specific than instructional goals. For example, if a goal is to be able to speak conversational English, a learning outcome could be to conjugate the verb “to be”. Learning outcomes communicate to learners, instructors, and other interested people, what the learners should be able to do, compared to their current skill level. Success occurs when learners achieve the planned outcomes. Learning outcomes help learners organize their studying, avoid becoming lost, make appropriate decisions such as whether to study a section or not, and maintain their motivation. If you inform your learners of the learning outcomes, they will, on average, attain slightly but significantly higher results. Even though some learners do not read learning outcomes, include them for those who do want and need them.
It is critical for you to define specific learning outcomes since they form the basis of the subsequent instructional development process. Accurate, well-written learning outcomes can save development time and money by helping to keep the process on track. Without specific learning outcomes, it is easy to start branching off on interesting tangents, which could make it impossible to finish a project within the constraints given. Whenever you have doubt about whether some material should be included, you can refer to the stated learning outcomes.
Many projects have failed because of poorly written or non-existent learning outcomes. Check all learning outcomes for flaws. If a learning outcome is not specific and measurable, do not proceed with further design and development. Even when you define the learning outcomes, there is no guarantee that you will successfully teach them. In order to ensure that learning takes place, you still need to follow the subsequent instructional design steps.
Note
Well-written learning outcomes help keep the subsequent instructional development process on track.
Steps to Writing Learning Outcomes
There are five steps to writing learning outcomes. For each step, think about why each example is good or poor.
Once you have decided on a content area, use action verbs to identify specific behaviours. The verb should be an observable behaviour that produces measurable results. The verb should also be at the highest skill level that the learner would be required to perform. We’ll discuss the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, which will give you details about the different skill levels, in the next section. Note that learners often need a knowledge base of lower-level skills in order to succeed at higher-level skills. Based on your previous entry skills decisions, you might have to teach the lower-level skills.
Good: calculate, compute
Poor: understand, know.
Specify the content area after the verb.
Good: Calculate averages and compute variances.
Poor: Calculate statistical information and compute values needed in economics.
Specify applicable conditions. Identify any tools to be used, information to be supplied, or other constraints …
Good: Given a calculator, calculate the average of a list of numbers. Given a spreadsheet package, compute variances from a list of numbers.
Poor: Given an available tool, calculate the average of a list of numbers.
Specify applicable criteria. Identify any desired levels of speed, accuracy, quality, quantity …
Good: Given a calculator, calculate averages from a list of numbers correctly 100 percent of the time. Given a spreadsheet package, compute variances from a list of numbers rounded to the second decimal point.
Poor: Given a calculator, calculate averages from a list of numbers correctly most of the time.
Review each learning outcome to be sure it is complete, clear, and concise. Get content experts and learners to review them, and get approval before continuing.
Perhaps the worst example of a learning outcome ever written is:
The learner will understand and appreciate the learning outcomes of the course.
Revised Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom et al. (1956) classified learning outcomes into six taxonomies:
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
This has been an invaluable resource that has helped numerous educators design instructional materials to the appropriate skill and thinking levels needed. Relatively recently, Anderson & Krathwohl (2001) revised Bloom’s taxonomy into these hierarchical categories:
Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
Your subsequent instructional strategies, questions, other interactions, and tests should relate to the appropriate skill and thinking levels, which directly correspond to the stated learning outcomes. Remember that each of these six categories can contain verbal information, intellectual skills, and attitudes.
Remembering skills entails recalling information as it was presented.
Sample verbs: State, describe, label, list, name
Example: List the different types of media that online courses can include.
Understand
Understanding skills can include restating knowledge learned earlier in one’s own terms, translating ideas and concepts, and recognizing inferences and assumptions. Understanding skills can be tested by repeating questions and problems in a different form.
Example: Explain why online courses should not necessarily include all types of media.
Apply
When applying skills, learners apply knowledge to new situations. Learners must decide how to solve the problem. For application skills, you can use fictional situations, material learners have not seen, or modify old problems.
Sample verbs: Relate, compute, change, apply, use
Example: Using Bloom’s taxonomy, write complete learning outcomes at the appropriate level.
Analysis
Analysis breaks down existing knowledge into meaningful parts. Analysis can require learners to detect relationships and draw conclusions. You can use experiments or supply data to test analysis skills.
Example: Evaluate the effectiveness of an online course.
Create
To create is to produce something new, or to modify a thing that already exists. Creating can also take the form of a speech, proposal, project, or theory.
