Course-level Learning Outcomes

Information about designing course-level learning outcomes including constructive alignment and Bloom's taxonomy (action verbs).

Course-level learning outcomes (often called 'intended learning outcomes' or ILOs) should set out what students will be able to do by the end of the course. Students will be assessed on whether they can demonstrate the learning outcomes and therefore they must be stated specifically and clearly.

EUCLID asks for 3-5 learning outcomes when submitting paperwork for a new course. They should address one or more of the five characteristics of learning outlined in the principles of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) at the appropriate SCQF Level:

Knowledge and Understanding

Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

Generic Cognitive Skills

Communication, ICT and Numeracy Skills

Autonomy, Accountability and Working with others

The University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy includes a commitment to the embedding, surfacing and articulation of the Skills for Success Framework. There are ten skills, and it is expected that students will have opportunities to develop these within their degree programme. Therefore, the following ten skills need to be woven into the course learning outcomes:

· Problem Solving

· Curiosity

· Critical Thinking

· Communication

· Collaboration

· Reflection

· Adaptivity

· Inclusion

· Data and digital literacy

· Individuality

Learning should be achievable but require increased levels of knowledge, practice, skills, communication and autonomy as the students’ level of study increases.

Writing course-level learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are expressed using a stem (that gives a time limitation) followed by a statement that begins with an active verb (outlining what students will be able to demonstrate) + object (what is to be learned) + a qualifying phrase (that provides the context and degree of mastery expected). They should be written using language the students can understand.

.Things to consider when writing course-level learning outcomes

What knowledge, skills, values and attributes will your students bring to the course, and what do you want them to develop?

What will students need to do to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning outcomes?

It is important to ensure that course ILOs are consistent with, and contribute towards, programme learning outcomes (which are usually not directly assessed). You may wish to consider using programme level assessment to assess some course and programme ILOs, reduce over-assessment and to encouragefor continuity and coherence between courses on the programme.

Try to avoid using verbs such as 'understand', 'appreciate', 'be familiar with', and 'know' as these verbs do not clearly indicate what level of understanding or knowledge a student must demonstrate in an assessment. See Blooms taxonomy below to illustrate different levels of knowledge and understanding.

It is fine to use the same active verb more than once in the learning outcomes for a course if it is expressing what you want students to be able to achieve.

Learning outcomes will be used by both staff and students, and should help to ensure clarity about the purposes and intended outcomes of courses.

The EUCLID system, where you submit a new course or a redesigned course, will prompt you for 1-5 ILOs based on the 5 SCQF characteristics of learning.

One curriculum design approach for designing effective learning outcomes is called constructive alignment.

Coined by John Biggs in 1999, constructive alignment is an approach to curriculum design which characterises knowledge acquisition as best supported through learner activities. The focus is on closely aligning teaching and assessment to intended learning outcomes.

That is, learning outcomes should be made explicit from the start; then, any teaching to follow seeks to engage students towards those outcomes, and assessments are designed to measure their attainment. Biggs writes: 'The learning activity in the intended outcomes, expressed as a verb, needs to be activated in the teaching if the outcome is to be achieved and in the assessment task to verify that the outcome has in fact been achieved.' (Please see below diagram).

A key element in 'constructive alignment' is the prominence of the constructivist approach to learning theory. Here, teachers do not pour knowledge into the heads of the students as if they were empty vessels, but students bring their own experiences and ways of knowing to the classroom with which to make meaning of the learning experience. Therefore, in this understanding of the educational process, what the student does is just as important as what the teacher does.

Below are some short readings to elaborate upon this approach of constructive alignment: