Learning Outcomes

Writing Learning
Outcomes
Best Practices
What are learning outcomes?
Formal statements that

articulate:
– What students are able to
do after instruction?
– Why students need to do

this?
Why assess?
It builds evidence for accountability,
accreditation and improvement.
– Shows evidence of how well our

students learn.
– Uses evidence for continuous

improvement.
Simply put
Know what you are doing
Know why you are doing it
Know what students are learning as

a result
Make changes in the curriculum

based on that information
Shifting focus from
Teaching to learning
Teaching effectiveness to
learning results
Some benefits of learning
outcomes
select content
develop instructional strategy
develop and select instructional

materials
construct tests and other

instruments for assessing and
evaluating
improve the overall program

1. What do you want the
student to be able to do?
This question asks you to develop
the outcome.
For Example:
Students will evaluate reference books
appropriate to the topic in order to
locate the best background
information and statistics.
ACRL’s IIL Immersion Summer 2005
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Bloom’s – Lower Levels
Knowledge
– Recalling previously learned information
such as facts, terminology, rules, etc.
– Answers may be memorized or closely

paraphrased from assigned material.
– Define, list, name, recall

Comprehension
– Ability to comprehend the meaning of
material.
– Answers must be in the student’s own

words while still using terminology
appropriate to the course material.
– Explain, summarize, distinguish

between, restate
Demonstrate rote or surface learning
Declarative or Procedural Knowledge
Answers found in the assigned materials
80% of HS teachers test at these levels

Bloom’s – Higher Levels
Application
– Requires recognizing, identifying, or applying
a concept or principle in a new situation or
solving a new problem.
– May require identifying or generating

examples not found in assigned materials.
– Demonstrate, arrange, relate, adapt

Analysis
– Ability to break material down into its component
parts and to understand its underlying structure
– May require students to compare and contrast or

explain how an example illustrates a given concept
or principle.
– Require students to identify logical errors or to

differentiate among facts, opinions, assumptions,
hypotheses and conclusions
– Expected to draw relationships between ideas
– Differentiate, estimate, infer, diagram

Synthesis
– Opposite of Analysis
– Ability to combine parts to form a new whole; to

synthesize a variety of elements into an original
and significant whole.
– Produce something unique or original
– Solve some unfamiliar problem in a unique way
– Combine, create, formulate, construct

Evaluation
– Ability to evaluate a total situation, to judge
the value of material for a certain purpose,
combining elements of all the other categories
and also value judgments based on defined,
fixed criteria.
– The most important part of the answer is the

justification and rationale for the conclusion
– Judge, critique, justify, discriminate

Meaningful or deep learning
Go beyond textual material in that they must be

inferred or extrapolated from the material in the
assigned material.
Students’ creativity, originality and critical

thinking is required at higher levels
More authentic than lower levels

– Thinking at this level is more likely to represent
types of performances required in the real world
Activity
You will each be assigned a
level of Bloom’s taxonomy.
1. Develop an appropriate
learning outcome for each
level of learning to teach
students to cite works in a
term paper using the
appropriate format (APA,
etc.)
2. Share with the group
Characteristics of Good
Learning Outcomes
Measurable/Assessable
Clear to the student & instructor
Integrated, developmental, transferable
Use discipline-specific
competencies/standards
“In order to” gets to the uniqueness and
real world application of the learning
Use a variety of Bloom’s Taxonomy
levels
ACRL’s IIL Immersion Summer 2005
Example 1
Bad Outcome
– Students will name the three types of
rock in order to differentiate among the
three.
Example 1
Good Learning Outcome
– Students will compare and contrast the
characteristics of the three types of
rocks in order to differentiate among the
three.
Example 3
Bad Outcome
– Use Illiad and Texshare in order to
access materials not available at the
UNK Library.
Example 3
Good Outcome
– Utilize retrieval services in order to
obtain materials not owned by the UNK
Library.
Last Example
Bad Outcome
– Students will construct bibliographies
and in-text references using discipline
appropriate styles in order to contribute
to academic discourse in their discipline.
Last Example
Good Outcome
– Construct bibliographies and in-text
references using discipline appropriate
styles in order to correctly attribute
others' work and ideas.
Let’s Write a Learning Outcome
Choose specific information or a skill that
you teach in a class
What does the student need to know?

Why do they need to know this?
What is the appropriate learning level?
Write an appropriate learning outcome

Learning Outcomes as the Basis for
Designing Courses
5 Questions for Instructional Design
1. What do you want the student to be able

to do? (Outcome)
2. What does the student need to know in
order to do this well? (Curriculum)
3. What activity will facilitate the learning?
(Pedagogy)
4. How will the student demonstrate the
learning? (Assessment)
5. How will I know the student has done this
well? (Criteria)
Revising Your Learning Outcomes
1. Review all of your department’s
current learning outcomes using the
checklist provided
2. Identify problem areas
3. Revise the learning outcomes to
reflect what you’ve learned about
writing “good” outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

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Writing Learning

Formal statements that

– Why students need to do

– Shows evidence of how well our

– Uses evidence for continuous

Know what you are doing

Know why you are doing it

Know what students are learning as

Make changes in the curriculum

develop instructional strategy

develop and select instructional

construct tests and other

improve the overall program

– Answers may be memorized or closely

– Define, list, name, recall

– Answers must be in the student’s own

– Explain, summarize, distinguish

Declarative or Procedural Knowledge

Answers found in the assigned materials

80% of HS teachers test at these levels

– May require identifying or generating

– Demonstrate, arrange, relate, adapt

– May require students to compare and contrast or

– Require students to identify logical errors or to

– Expected to draw relationships between ideas

– Differentiate, estimate, infer, diagram

– Ability to combine parts to form a new whole; to

– Produce something unique or original

– Solve some unfamiliar problem in a unique way

– Combine, create, formulate, construct

– The most important part of the answer is the

– Judge, critique, justify, discriminate

Go beyond textual material in that they must be

Students’ creativity, originality and critical

More authentic than lower levels

What does the student need to know?

Write an appropriate learning outcome

1. What do you want the student to be able

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