Writing Learning Outcomes

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Writing Learning Outcomes

• Best Practices

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Workshops Learning Outcomes

• Attendees will
• Summarize the role of learning outcomes in
  instruction, in order to illustrate an
  understanding of assessments importance.
• Why we are writing learning outcomes
• The role of learning outcomes in assessment
• Why it is important to assess student learning

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Workshops Learning Outcomes

• Attendees will
• Recognize the levels of Blooms Taxonomy, in
  order to select verbs that map to instruction
  objectives.
• Levels of behavioral outcomes
• Cognitive domain
• Levels of Blooms Taxonomy
• Blooms group activity

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Workshops Learning Outcomes

• Attendees will
• Construct learning outcomes from learning
  objectives, in order to develop assessable
  learning outcomes for QEP proposals.
• Learning outcomes formula
• Characteristics of good learning outcomes
• Example learning outcomes

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What are learning outcomes?

• Formal statements that articulate
• What students are able to do after instruction
• Why students need to do this
• Objectives vs. Outcomes
• Process/Fluid

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Why assess?

• It builds evidence for accountability,
  accreditation and improvement.
• Show evidence of how well our students learn.
• Use evidence for continuous improvement.

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Simply put

• Know what you are doing
• Know why you are doing it
• Know what students are learning as a result
• Changing because of that information

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Shifting from

• Teaching to learning
• Teaching effectiveness to learning results
• Private affair to community property

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Some benefits of learning outcomes

• select content
• develop of instructional strategy
• develop and select instructional materials
• construct tests and other instruments for
  assessing and evaluating
• improve you as a teacher, and our overall program

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Writing Learning Outcomes

• Learning Outcomes Formula
• Blooms Taxonomy
• Characteristics of Good Learning Outcomes
• Learning Outcomes Exercise
• Write Your Learning Outcomes

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Theory Into Practice

• 5 Questions for Instructional Design
• What do you want the student to be able to do?
  (Outcome)
• What does the student need to know in order to do
  this well? (Curriculum)
• What activity will facilitate the learning?
  (Pedagogy)
• How will the student demonstrate the learning?
  (Assessment)
• How will I know the student has done this well?
  (Criteria)

ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
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1. What do you want the student to be able to do?

• This question asks you to develop the outcome.
• For Example
• Student identifies, consults and evaluates
  reference books appropriate to the topic in order
  to locate background information and statistics.

ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
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Learning Outcomes Formula
Verb Or Action Phrase
Great Learning Outcomes

Why?

In Order To
OR
What students need to know? Student identifies,
consults and evaluates reference books
appropriate to the topic
Why do they need to know this? locate background
information and statistics.
In Order To
ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
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Importance of Verbs

• Behavioral Outcomes
• Affective Domain
• Psychomotor Domain
• Cognitive Domain
• Blooms Taxonomy

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Cognitive Domain

• Involves knowledge and the development of
  intellectual skills
• Blooms Taxonomy
• Hierarchy of objectives according to cognitive
  complexity
• Higher-level objectives include, and are
  dependant on lower level cognitive skills

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Blooms Taxonomy

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Blooms 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

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Blooms Lower Levels

• Comprehension
• Ability to comprehend the meaning of material.
• Answers must be in the students own words while
  still using terminology appropriate to the course
  material.
• Explain, summarize, distinguish between, restate

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Blooms Lower Levels

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

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Blooms 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

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Blooms Higher Levels

• 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

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Blooms Higher Levels

• 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

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Blooms Higher Levels

• 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

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Blooms Higher Levels

• 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

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Activity

• Break into groups. You will each be assigned a
  level of Blooms taxonomy.
• Develop an activity to teach the rest of us the
  topic on the next slide using techniques common
  to your assigned level in Blooms.
• You have 5-7 minutes to prepare your
  lesson/activity, and then you will present it to
  the rest of us.

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The Pledge of Allegiance
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Theory Into Practice

• 5 Questions for Instructional Design
• What do you want the student to be able to do?
  (Outcome)
• What does the student need to know in order to do
  this well? (Curriculum)
• What activity will facilitate the learning?
  (Pedagogy)
• How will the student demonstrate the learning?
  (Assessment)
• How will I know the student has done this well?
  (Criteria)

ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
28
1. What do you want the student to be able to do?

• This question asks you to develop the outcome.
• For Example
• Student identifies, consults and evaluates
  reference books appropriate to the topic in order
  to locate background information and statistics.

ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
29
Learning Outcomes Formula
Verb Or Action Phrase
Great Learning Outcomes

Why?

In Order To
OR
What students need to know? Student identifies,
consults and evaluates reference books
appropriate to the topic
Why do they need to know this? locate background
information and statistics.
In Order To
ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
30
Characteristics of Good Learning Outcomes

• Measurable/Assessable
• Clear to the student instructor
• Integrated, developmental, transferable
• Use discipline-specific competencies/standards as
  a basis not an end
• Similar scope and scale
• In order to gets to the uniqueness and real
  world application of the learning
• Use a variety of Blooms Taxonomy levels

ACRLs IIL Immersion Summer 2005
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Example 1

• Bad Outcome
• Students will name the three types of rock in
  order to differentiate among the three.

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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.

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Example 2

• Bad Learning Outcome
• Discover that UT Arlington offers a welcoming and
  helpful environment which can fulfill their
  educational, cultural and social needs in order
  to recognize the universitys role in lifelong
  learning.

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Example 3

• Bad Outcome
• Use Illiad and Texshare in order to access
  materials not available at UT Arlington Library.

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Example 3

• Good Outcome
• Utilize retrieval services in order to obtain
  materials not owned by UT Arlington Library.

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Last ExampleI Promise

• Bad Outcome
• Students will construct bibliographies and
  in-text references using discipline appropriate
  styles in order to contribute to academic
  discourse in their discipline.

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Last ExampleI Promise

• Good Outcome
• Construct bibliographies and in-text references
  using discipline appropriate styles in order to
  correctly attribute others' work and ideas.

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Lets Write a Learning Outcome

• Were taking a friend camping for the first time
  (not roughing it too much).
• What do they need to know?

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Lets Write a Learning Outcome

• Well concentrate on how to build a fire
• Why do we want our friend to be able to properly
  build a fire?

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Lets Write a Learning Outcome

• Now lets write the learning outcome
• What is our verb (use Blooms)?
• Why?

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Lets Write an Assignment-Specific Learning
Outcome

• Pick a major theme or issue from The Kite Runner
  as the topic for your essay, discuss that topic
  using specific passages from the book, and relate
  that topic to at least one other context. For
  instance, you may relate the topic to one or more
  essays, to personal experience, and/or to a
  real-life situation. Explore the topic in depth
  by looking for conflicts, relationships between
  ideas, and differing points of view.
• Your submission must be 3-5 pages in length,
  double-spaced, using Times New Roman font and 1
  inch margins. Use proper MLA style for
  documentation of your sources, including
  parenthetical in-text citations and a Works Cited
  page if you used outside sources.

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Lets Write an Assignment-Specific Learning
Outcome

• What does the student need to know?
• Why do they need to know this?

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Now the FUN Begins

• Youll need the information sheet you completed
  prior to the workshop
• Group together similar items from your list of
  objectives
• Use Blooms taxonomy and the learning outcomes
  formula to create learning outcomes that address
  your grouped objectives

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A Look Into the Future

• 5 Questions for Instructional Design
• What do you want the student to be able to do?
  (Outcome)
• What does the student need to know in order to do
  this well? (Curriculum)
• What activity will facilitate the learning?
  (Pedagogy)
• How will the student demonstrate the learning?
  (Assessment)
• How will I know the student has done this well?
  (Criteria)