Writing Learning Outcomes

All courses have a syllabus in which the general objectives of the course are described. Learning Outcomes, however, go further in that they explicitly state what the instructor wants students to know and be able to do upon completion of the course (or upon completion of a unit within that course). To be meaningful, a Learning Outcome needs to be built around a verb that is sufficiently precise that it can result in a measurable deliverable, such as to following from an introductry Chemistry course in Chemistry:

Students will be able to devise an experiment using the scientific method.
Students will be able to distinguish among carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids with respect to chemical structure.

In contrast, a poorly articulated Learning Outcome is built around a rather vague verb, such as this one from an advanced English course in Shakespeare:

Students will be able to appreciate the complexity of Shakespeare’s plays.

The problem with “appreciate” is that it’s too intangible. How does one measure a student’s “appreciation”?

Verbs that are commonly found in well-articulated Learning Outcomes include the following:

name, identify, recognize, describe, compare, contrast, demonstrate, distinguish, interpret, classify, analyze, deduce, infer, extrapolate, devise, critique, and plan.

Incidentally, these verbs (as well as many others) have been classified within a system known as Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, based upon whether a given verb tends to be associated with lower levels of thinking (such as mere memorization) or higher levels of thinking (such as evaluation or synthesis).

Examples of learning outcomes for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy, in a variety of different disciplines, can be found below.

Remembering

Recognizing (locating knowledge in memory that is consistent with presented material)

Match the following elements to the following atomic weights.
Of the three prime ministers named below, select the one who is most associated with promoting deficit financing.
Of the theories listed below, identify the one that were influenced by poststructuralism?
Choose which of the following three answers is correct.
Identify the location of the PI controller in the following block diagram.

Recalling (retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory)

Define the following terms in a paragraph.
Locate the following acidified lakes on this map.
Describe what happens in Act 2 Scene 1.
Put the following events in chronological order.
What molecule in the stratosphere protects against ultraviolet radiation?
List the composition, structure, fusion process, and features of the following stars.
Describe the hydrologic cycle.
Outline the various stages of the Engineering design cycle.

Understanding

Interpreting (changing from one form of representation to another)

Plot the following meteorological data onto a bar graph.
In plain language, what is the meaning of the idiom “A stitch in time saves nine”?
Render Shakespeare’s Sonnet 44 into contemporary English.
Examine the following snippet of C++ code and describe the function that both the loop and if/then statements are satisfying in this program.

Exemplifying (Finding a specific example or illustration of a concept or principle)

Give three examples of effective political alliances.
Give an example of cognate words.
Using Frye’s taxonomy of fictional modes, provide literary examples of each of the following: myth, romance, high mimesis, low mimesis, and irony.
Present a cellular process that relies on cell signaling.

Classifying (Determining that something belongs to a category)

Classify the following words into their appropriate part of speech.
Which of the following elements are metals and which are non-metals?
According to Showalter’s taxonomy of female authorship, which of the following novels belong to the Feminine era?
Examine the following circuit diagrams and select the ones that utilize a “series” design

Summarizing (Rendering into a briefer form)

Summarize Hamlet in less than 200 words.
Write an abstract of the following journal article.
In 800 words or less, describe how geologic, climatic, and floral events shaped the evolution of animals for the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras.
Provide a 4-6 sentence description of “ecological interface design.”

Inferring (Abstracting a general theme or major point)

What would happen if the support beams in this structure were aluminum rather than steel?
What does Othello mean when he says that he loved “not wisely, but too well?”
Judging from the results of this survey, are people satisfied with the current leadership?
Examine the data collected from the task analysis and determine the major patterns that emerge from the information.

Comparing (Detecting correspondences between two or more ideas, objects, etc.)

Which country retains more of its colonial heritage, Canada or Australia? Provide evidence for your answer.
What are the key differences between the Mississippi river and the Amazon river?
Which is more appropriate for observing the moon, a reflector telescope or a refractor telescope?
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Compare the performance of Company A and Company B given the financial statements provided.
Compare and contrast the signaling of data changes using in-band techniques vs. the signaling of data changes using out-of-band techniques.
Compare self-enhancement and self-verification theories.
Explain how social psychology and folk wisdom differ.

Explaining (Constructing a cause-and-effect model of a system or situation)

Why did the U.S. not enter World War Two until after Pearl Harbor had been attacked?
Why is tungsten used as the filament in light bulbs?
Explain how these different local winds originate: land-sea breezes, mountain-valley breezes, katabatic winds, and regional monsoons.
Explain the stages of the Core-Periphery model of development in an urban system
How does a paracentric inversion affect the products of meiosis?”
Explain what an action potential is and how it is created.

Applying

Executing (Applying knowledge – often procedural – to a routine task)

Prepare a 1 M solution of hydrochloric acid.
Propose a way of correcting the following comma splice.
Wrap the patient’s ankle to prevent further injury.
Given the average snow/liquid ratio, what is the yearly precipitation in your town if received 24" of rain and 35.2" of snow?
Identify possible promoter areas in the DNA sequence presented below.
A system is composed of gasoline liquid and vapor, and air. According to Gibbs phase rule how many independent properties are required for phase equilibrium?
Determine the subject’s systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest and during exercise.

Implementing (Applying knowledge – often procedural – to a non-routine task)

Audit the attached financial records.
Edit the following paragraph for errors of grammar or punctuation.
Identify and implement the appropriate treatment to remedy this patient’s lower back problem.
Calculate your CO2 emissions from your regular travel over the course of a year

Analyzing

Differentiating (Identifying defining characteristics)

Which steps are most essential in the following procedure?
Do the following stars belong to the same class?
Is a platypus a mammal, reptile, amphibian, or bird?
Is the Merchant of Venice a comedy or tragedy? Explain why.

Organizing (Determining how elements fit or function within a structure)

Create a concept map that demonstrates how the people in this corporation report to one another.
Draw a Venn diagram to show how these groups overlap.
Devise a system of categories to logically organize the following forms of criminal behavior.
Draw a cladogram to depict the evolutionary relationship between modern birds and archaeosaurs.
In order to explore a trend within the periodic table, plot the bond length of the group ПA metals (Be to Ba) as function of atomic number.

Attributing (Determining the underlying point of view, bias, values, or intent)

From what political perspective is the following article written?
Is the tone of this column serious or ironic?
Is To Kill a Mockingbird told from the perspective of a child or adult?
What do Professor Smythe’s comments about string theory imply about his views on where funding for physics should be directed?
Does the following case study advance the scholarly work within Chemical Engineering? What assumptions are being made that are identified and not identified within this case?

Evaluating

Checking (Detecting inconsistencies or fallacies within a process or product)

In what ways does the following sonnet not correspond to the conventional sonnet form?
Observe a classmate as he or she examines a patient’s eyes, and identify any errors or omissions in the procedure.
Verify that this bibliography corresponds to APA format.

Critiquing (Detecting the appropriateness of a procedure for a given task or situation)

Is this author correct in proposing that the high levels of violence experienced by Aboriginal women are best understood as a product of misogyny rather than racism?
Does the evidence presented in this article support the conclusions reached by the author?
Identify any weaknesses in this experiment’s methodology.
Assess how increasing urban land at the expense of forests and grasslands will impact the a) atmosphere, b) biosphere, c) hydrosphere, and d) lithosphere.
Examine the three proposed Architectural designs for an indoor ecological park and critique the works based on the categories of: aesthetics, structure, function, and suitability.

Creating

Generating (Coming up with alternatives or hypotheses)

Propose an alternative theoretical framework for understanding the high levels of violence that Aboriginal women experience.
With the data you gathered from your field observations, devise a hypothesis that accounts for the geographic distribution of raccoons in Kitchener-Waterloo.
Devise a theory to explain the origin and persistence of the tag “eh” that many Canadians affix to the end of sentences.
Do you agree that PDAs were mistakenly marketed to the masses? Outline an alternative strategy.

Planning (Devising a procedure for accomplishing a task)

Propose a protocol that will improve the accuracy of patient DNA identification.
Devise a procedure for tracking sightings of raccoons that are reported by the public.
Create a Gant chart outlining the workflow structure, tasks, and deadlines for your Learning Object project.
Devise a protocol for determining when evacuation of a city located at the foot of a large composite volcano should begin. Consider safety versus economic issues in your answer.
Prepare a weighted list of five criteria that can be used to assess the feasibility of potential sites for a new marina.
What is a logical sequence of procedures that you could carry out to identify which genes are expressed in skin cells during exposure to UV radiation.
Design the experimental plan to conduct observational user testing on a piece of software.
Create a plan to prevent and manage stress in your life.

Producing (Inventing a product)

Write a software program that will accept form-based reports of raccoon sightings, and then render them on an interactive map.
Develop an environmental strategy for a company or organization of your choice.
Create an electronic edition of a little-known sixteenth-century treatise, complete with critical apparatus such as introduction, footnotes, glossary, and so on.
Develop a business plan for the product described in the case study provided.
Create a Learning Object that is designed to help undergraduates understand the process by which a black hole is formed.
Establish the circuit design for the solar energy collector of a large-scale outdoor lighting system.
Clone a wombat.

A PDF version of the foregoing examples is available here.