how many learning outcomes should be assessed in a course

by Dr. Marcellus Rippin I 10 min read

You should include between three to five learning outcomes in your assessment plan. Fewer than three will not give you adequate information to make improvements, more than five may be too complicated to assess. It is important to note that not all programs will assess all learning outcomes in all classes.

Full Answer

How should learning outcomes be written?

In contrast, learning outcomes should always be written with a focus on the learner and how the learner will demonstrate achievement, which makes it easier to assess students' learning. Why Write Learning Outcomes?

What are learning outcomes (Clos)?

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) are central to your course’s curriculum. They articulate to students, faculty, and other stakeholders what students will achieve in each course and how their learning will be measured.

What is likely to lead to students achieving the learning outcomes?

likely to lead to students achieving the specified learning outcomes for a particular teaching session, course, or program practical and appropriate to use within your current context and with available resources. Select activities that will elicit actions related to the verbs in the learning outcomes.

How do instructors develop Course-Level Outcomes?

While designing a course, instructors are most likely to develop course-level outcomes, which is to say the level of analysis is the course as opposed to the program of study (at a higher level) or module/week (at a lower level) Formula for Writing Learning Outcomes

How many learning outcomes should a course have?

At both the course and program level, student learning outcomes should be clear, observable and measurable, and reflect what will be included in the course or program requirements (assignments, exams, projects, etc.). Typically there are 3-7 course learning outcomes and 3-7 program learning outcomes.

How many learning outcomes are there in a module?

4.1 Learning outcomes are written for modules. There would usually be between three and eight statements for a module (though sometimes these are combined under one stem, see below). If there are more than eight learning outcomes, they are dealing with small detail and usually have become more like assessment criteria.

How many levels of learning outcomes are there?

The Cognitive Domain of Bloom's taxonomy consists of six hierarchical levels of learning.

What are the 3 learning outcomes?

Technically, there are the following two major levels of learning outcomes that a learner needs to outgrow for attaining the highest level.Level 1: Course Outcomes (COs) ... Level 2: Program Outcomes (POs) and Program Specific Outcomes (PSOs) ... Level 3: Life-Long Learning. ... #1. ... #2: Cognitive Skills Development.More items...

How are learning outcomes set?

Decide if the course is a good fit for their academic trajectory. Identify what they need to do to be successful in the course. Take ownership of their progress. Be mindful of what they are learning.

How do you select the learning outcomes to be tested?

General Rules and Advices About Learning OutcomesBegin with an action verb and describe something (knowledge, skill or attitude) that is observable or measurable.Use one action verb for each learning outcome.Focus on what you expect students to be able to demonstrate upon completion of the module.More items...•

What are course learning outcomes?

Learning outcomes are measurable statements that concretely formally state what students are expected to learn in a course. While goals or objectives can be written more broadly, learning outcomes describe specifically how learners will achieve the goals.

What are the four levels of learning outcomes?

The four levels are:Reaction.Learning.Behavior.Results.

What are the five learning outcomes?

5 types of learning outcomesIntellectual skills. With this type of learning outcome, the learner will understand concepts, rules or procedures. ... Cognitive strategy. In this type of learning outcome, the learner uses personal strategies to think, organize, learn and behave.Verbal information. ... Motor skills. ... Attitude.

What are the six learning outcomes?

Examples: knowledge/remembering (lowest level), comprehension/ translation, application, analysis, synthesis/creating, evaluation (last four higher level). X indicates this method can help students achieve this learning outcome if the method is properly implemented to serve this outcome.

What are the 4 learning objectives?

Types of Learning ObjectivesCognitive: having to do with knowledge and mental skills.Psychomotor: having to do with physical motor skills.Affective: having to do with feelings and attitudes.Interpersonal/Social: having to do with interactions with others and social skills.More items...

Where are learning outcomes used?

Outcomes are used on many scales, from developing curriculum for a program of study to creating lessons for a single class activity. At the highest level, learning outcomes can be established at the university level. You can review the learning outcomes for DePaul graduates at the institutional level or program level.

How to write learning outcomes?

Why Write Learning Outcomes? 1 describe to students what is expected of them 2 plan appropriate teaching strategies, materials and assessments 3 learn from and make changes to curriculum to improve student learning 4 assess how the outcomes of a single course align with larger outcomes for an entire program

What happens to learning outcomes as the level of analysis becomes smaller?

As a general rule, as the level of analysis becomes smaller, from course to module to assignment, the learning outcomes tend to be more specific and easily quantifiable.

How do learning outcomes help instructors?

describe to students what is expected of them. plan appropriate teaching strategies, materials and assessments. learn from and make changes to curriculum to improve student learning. assess how the outcomes of a single course align with larger outcomes for an entire program.

What is the meaning of outcome in learning?

Effective learning outcomes are student-centered, measurable, concise, meaningful, achievable and outcome-based (rather than task-based).

What is learning objective?

Learning Objectives. Learning objectives are statements of what you intend to teach or cover in a learning experience. They tend to be. More specific than learning goals. Not necessarily observable nor measurable. Instructor-centered rather than student-centered. Useful in helping you formulate more specific learning outcomes.

What is a learning goal?

Learning goals are broad statements written from an instructor's or institution's perspective that give the general content and direction of a learning experience. They generally describe what an instructor or program aims to do; i.e., “The curriculum will introduce students to the major research methods of the discipline.”

What are the different types of learning outcomes?

5 types of learning outcomes. 1. Intellectual skills. With this type of learning outcome, the learner will understand concepts, rules or procedures. Put simply, this is understanding how to do something. 2. Cognitive strategy.

What is learning outcome?

Learning outcomes are descriptions of the specific knowledge, skills, or expertise that the learner will get from a learning activity, such as a training session, seminar, course, or program.

Why is learning outcomes important?

Creating clear, actionable learning outcomes is an important part of the creation of training programs in organizations. When developing these programs, both management and instructors need to be clear about what learners should understand after completing their learning path. Learning outcomes also play a key role in assessment and evaluation, ...

Can learners use company guidelines?

learners can properly use company guidelines to create case studies. learners will be able to properly operate and clean the autoclaves. The following examples are poorly written learning outcomes: learners will understand conflict management. learners will know how to use the company’s LMS.

Can learners verbalize the knowledge they have gained and synthesize solutions for their workflow?

Learners can verbalize the knowledge they have gained and synthesize solutions for their workflow. You can see that , although learning objectives and learning outcomes are related, they are different, and address different aspects of the learning process.

What is the strategy used to do the assessment?

In general the strategies used to do the assessment are largely addressed in how to conduct the assessment and are one key component in the planning process. Overall the strategies are classified as direct (where actual student behavior is measured or assessed) or indirect.

What are some examples of direct assessment?

Examples of Direct Assessment include but are not limited to the following: Written work, Projects, Performances or Presentations. According to Suskie (2009), these kinds of assignments typically have students demonstrate skills and are considered alternatives to objective exams or essays.

Is it good to have multiple measures of the same goal?

It is also acceptable and often good to have multiple measures for the same goal. For example, as a result of an assessment of critical thinking, focus group discussion could be used to learn more about how the students viewed the assignment, etc.

Can indirect measures be used in assessment?

While indirect measures can be useful, assessment of learning must include mostly direct measures.

What is learning outcome?

Second, learning outcomes are measurable, which means that you can observe the student performing the skill or task and determine the degree to which they have done so.

What are the three components of course learning outcomes?

Let’s parse this statement into its three component parts: student-centered, measurable, and course-level. Student-Centered.

What is aligned learning?

Alignment, where all components work together to bolster specific student learning outcomes, occurs at multiple levels. At the course level, assignments or activities within the course are aligned with the daily or unit-level learning outcomes, which in turn are aligned with the course-level objectives.

What is the difference between assessment and grading?

Differentiating Grading from Assessment. “Assessment” is sometimes used colloquially to mean “grading,” but there are distinctions between the two. Grading is a process of evaluating individual student learning for the purposes of characterizing that student’s level of success at a particular task (or the entire course).

What is course level assessment?

Course-level assessment is a process of systematically examining and refining the fit between the course activities and what students should know at the end of the course. Conducting a course-level assessment involves considering whether all aspects of the course align with each other and whether they guide students to achieve ...

When educators refer to learning outcomes during the course before introducing new concepts or assignments, what is the message?

When educators refer to learning outcomes during the course before introducing new concepts or assignments, learners receive the message that the outcomes are important and are more likely to see the connections between the outcomes and course activities. Formative Assessment.

What is student centered learning?

Student-Centered. First , learning outcomes should focus on what students will be able to do, not what the course will do. For example: “Introduces the fundamental ideas of computing and the principles of programming” says what a course is intended to accomplish. This is perfectly appropriate for a course description but is not a learning outcome.

What is a learning outcome?

A Learning Outcome (LO) is a measurable, observable, and specific statement that clearly indicates what a student should know and be able to do as a result of learning. Well-written learning outcomes involve the following parts: Action verb. Subject content. Level of achievement.

What is the level of achievement?

A level of achievement identifies how proficient students need to be in a task. For example, in a Composition course, you might say “Write a literature critique with no grammatical errors”. This tells students the level of achievement that’s expected of them.

Do you need a level of achievement for every CLO?

Importantly, you don’t need a level of achievement for every CLO. You don’t need to say “effectively”, “accurately”, or “correctly” on a CLO, for example: these are all implied. We expect students to achieve all outcomes in all courses correctly and accurately. Levels of achievement are for specific cases.

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Curriculum

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Learning outcomes describe the learning that will take place across the curriculum through concise statements, made in specific and measurable terms, of what students will know and/or be able to do as the result of having successfully completed a course. 
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Goals

  • These terms are often used interchangeably and they are all related to the teaching and learning that is expected to take place in the classroom. However, the difference between goals or objectives and outcomes lies in the emphasis on who will be performing the activities. Learning goals and objectives generally describe what an instructor or program aims to do; i.e., This cour…
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Introduction

  • Writing learning outcomes should be a reflective process. Many departments find the following steps to be helpful as they begin the process of creating learning outcomes for their courses.
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Characteristics

  • If your department already has learning goals that it would like to develop into outcomes or is examining its current learning outcomes there are several characteristics to look for:
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Availability

  • The Center for Teaching & Learning is available to consult with departments and individual faculty members on developing learning outcomes.
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Assessment

  • As mentioned, identifying the most important things students should learn within your course is the first step in deciding what should be assessed, but learning outcomes have other uses as well; they:
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