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Creating Learning Outcomes

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A learning outcome is a concise description of what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. Having clearly articulated learning outcomes can make designing a course, assessing student learning progress, and facilitating learning activities easier and more effective. Learning outcomes can also help students regulate their learning and develop effective study strategies.

Defining the terms

Educational research uses a number of terms for this concept, including learning goals, student learning objectives, session outcomes, and more. 

In alignment with other Stanford resources, we will use learning outcomes as a general term for what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. This includes both goals and objectives. We will use learning goals to describe general outcomes for an entire course or program. We will use learning objectives when discussing more focused outcomes for specific lessons or activities.

For example, a learning goal might be “By the end of the course, students will be able to develop coherent literary arguments.” 

Whereas a learning objective might be, “By the end of Week 5, students will be able to write a coherent thesis statement supported by at least two pieces of evidence.”

Learning outcomes benefit instructors

Learning outcomes can help instructors in a number of ways by:

• Providing a framework and rationale for making course design decisions about the sequence of topics and instruction, content selection, and so on.
• Communicating to students what they must do to make progress in learning in your course.
• Clarifying your intentions to the teaching team, course guests, and other colleagues.
• Providing a framework for transparent and equitable assessment of student learning. 
• Making outcomes concerning values and beliefs, such as dedication to discipline-specific values, more concrete and assessable.
• Making inclusion and belonging explicit and integral to the course design.

Learning outcomes benefit students 

Clearly, articulated learning outcomes can also help guide and support students in their own learning by:

• Clearly communicating the range of learning students will be expected to acquire and demonstrate.
• Helping learners concentrate on the areas that they need to develop to progress in the course.
• Helping learners monitor their own progress, reflect on the efficacy of their study strategies, and seek out support or better strategies. (See Promoting Student Metacognition for more on this topic.)

Choosing learning outcomes

When writing learning outcomes to represent the aims and practices of a course or even a discipline, consider:

• What is the big idea that you hope students will still retain from the course even years later?
• What are the most important concepts, ideas, methods, theories, approaches, and perspectives of your field that students should learn?
• What are the most important skills that students should develop and be able to apply in and after your course?
• What would students need to have mastered earlier in the course or program in order to make progress later or in subsequent courses?
• What skills and knowledge would students need if they were to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• What values, attitudes, and habits of mind and affect would students need if they are to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• How can the learning outcomes span a wide range of skills that serve students with differing levels of preparation?
• How can learning outcomes offer a range of assessment types to serve a diverse student population?

Use learning taxonomies to inform learning outcomes

Learning taxonomies describe how a learner’s understanding develops from simple to complex when learning different subjects or tasks. They are useful here for identifying any foundational skills or knowledge needed for more complex learning, and for matching observable behaviors to different types of learning.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model and includes three domains of learning: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. In this model, learning occurs hierarchically, as each skill builds on previous skills towards increasingly sophisticated learning. For example, in the cognitive domain, learning begins with remembering, then understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and lastly creating. 

Taxonomy of Significant Learning

The Taxonomy of Significant Learning is a non-hierarchical and integral model of learning. It describes learning as a meaningful, holistic, and integral network. This model has six intersecting domains: knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. 

See our resource on Learning Taxonomies and Verbs for a summary of these two learning taxonomies.

How to write learning outcomes

Writing learning outcomes can be made easier by using the ABCD approach. This strategy identifies four key elements of an effective learning outcome:

Consider the following example: Students (audience) , will be able to label and describe (behavior) , given a diagram of the eye at the end of this lesson (condition) , all seven extraocular muscles, and at least two of their actions (degree) .

Audience 

Define who will achieve the outcome. Outcomes commonly include phrases such as “After completing this course, students will be able to...” or “After completing this activity, workshop participants will be able to...”

Keeping your audience in mind as you develop your learning outcomes helps ensure that they are relevant and centered on what learners must achieve. Make sure the learning outcome is focused on the student’s behavior, not the instructor’s. If the outcome describes an instructional activity or topic, then it is too focused on the instructor’s intentions and not the students.

Try to understand your audience so that you can better align your learning goals or objectives to meet their needs. While every group of students is different, certain generalizations about their prior knowledge, goals, motivation, and so on might be made based on course prerequisites, their year-level, or majors. 

Use action verbs to describe observable behavior that demonstrates mastery of the goal or objective. Depending on the skill, knowledge, or domain of the behavior, you might select a different action verb. Particularly for learning objectives which are more specific, avoid verbs that are vague or difficult to assess, such as “understand”, “appreciate”, or “know”.

The behavior usually completes the audience phrase “students will be able to…” with a specific action verb that learners can interpret without ambiguity. We recommend beginning learning goals with a phrase that makes it clear that students are expected to actively contribute to progressing towards a learning goal. For example, “through active engagement and completion of course activities, students will be able to…”

Example action verbs

Consider the following examples of verbs from different learning domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy . Generally speaking, items listed at the top under each domain are more suitable for advanced students, and items listed at the bottom are more suitable for novice or beginning students. Using verbs and associated skills from all three domains, regardless of your discipline area, can benefit students by diversifying the learning experience. 

For the cognitive domain:

• Create, investigate, design
• Evaluate, argue, support
• Analyze, compare, examine
• Solve, operate, demonstrate
• Describe, locate, translate
• Remember, define, duplicate, list

For the psychomotor domain:

• Invent, create, manage
• Articulate, construct, solve
• Complete, calibrate, control
• Build, perform, execute
• Copy, repeat, follow

For the affective domain:

• Internalize, propose, conclude
• Organize, systematize, integrate
• Justify, share, persuade
• Respond, contribute, cooperate
• Capture, pursue, consume

Often we develop broad goals first, then break them down into specific objectives. For example, if a goal is for learners to be able to compose an essay, break it down into several objectives, such as forming a clear thesis statement, coherently ordering points, following a salient argument, gathering and quoting evidence effectively, and so on.

State the conditions, if any, under which the behavior is to be performed. Consider the following conditions:

• Equipment or tools, such as using a laboratory device or a specified software application.
• Situation or environment, such as in a clinical setting, or during a performance.
• Materials or format, such as written text, a slide presentation, or using specified materials.

The level of specificity for conditions within an objective may vary and should be appropriate to the broader goals. If the conditions are implicit or understood as part of the classroom or assessment situation, it may not be necessary to state them. 

When articulating the conditions in learning outcomes, ensure that they are sensorily and financially accessible to all students.

Degree 

Degree states the standard or criterion for acceptable performance. The degree should be related to real-world expectations: what standard should the learner meet to be judged proficient? For example:

• With 90% accuracy
• Within 10 minutes
• Suitable for submission to an edited journal
• Obtain a valid solution
• In a 100-word paragraph

The specificity of the degree will vary. You might take into consideration professional standards, what a student would need to succeed in subsequent courses in a series, or what is required by you as the instructor to accurately assess learning when determining the degree. Where the degree is easy to measure (such as pass or fail) or accuracy is not required, it may be omitted.

Characteristics of effective learning outcomes

The acronym SMART is useful for remembering the characteristics of an effective learning outcome.

• Specific : clear and distinct from others.
• Measurable : identifies observable student action.
• Attainable : suitably challenging for students in the course.
• Related : connected to other objectives and student interests.
• Time-bound : likely to be achieved and keep students on task within the given time frame.

Examples of effective learning outcomes

These examples generally follow the ABCD and SMART guidelines. 

Arts and Humanities

Learning goals.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to apply critical terms and methodology in completing a written literary analysis of a selected literary work.

At the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate oral competence with the French language in pronunciation, vocabulary, and language fluency in a 10 minute in-person interview with a member of the teaching team.

Learning objectives

After completing lessons 1 through 5, given images of specific works of art, students will be able to identify the artist, artistic period, and describe their historical, social, and philosophical contexts in a two-page written essay.

By the end of this course, students will be able to describe the steps in planning a research study, including identifying and formulating relevant theories, generating alternative solutions and strategies, and application to a hypothetical case in a written research proposal.

At the end of this lesson, given a diagram of the eye, students will be able to label all of the extraocular muscles and describe at least two of their actions.

Using chemical datasets gathered at the end of the first lab unit, students will be able to create plots and trend lines of that data in Excel and make quantitative predictions about future experiments.

• How to Write Learning Goals , Evaluation and Research, Student Affairs (2021).
• SMART Guidelines , Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• Learning Taxonomies and Verbs , Center for Teaching and Learning (2021).

Writing Student Learning Outcomes

Student learning outcomes state what students are expected to know or be able to do upon completion of a course or program. Course learning outcomes may contribute, or map to, program learning outcomes, and are required in group instruction course syllabi .

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.

When submitting learning outcomes for course or program approvals, or assessment planning and reporting, please:

• Begin with a verb (exclude any introductory text and the phrase “Students will…”, as this is assumed)
• Limit the length of each learning outcome to 400 characters
• Exclude special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.)
• Exclude special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

Writing Course Learning Outcomes Video

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Steps for Writing Outcomes

The following are recommended steps for writing clear, observable and measurable student learning outcomes. In general, use student-focused language, begin with action verbs and ensure that the learning outcomes demonstrate actionable attributes.

1. Begin with an Action Verb

Begin with an action verb that denotes the level of learning expected. Terms such as know , understand , learn , appreciate are generally not specific enough to be measurable. Levels of learning and associated verbs may include the following:

• Remembering and understanding: recall, identify, label, illustrate, summarize.
• Applying and analyzing: use, differentiate, organize, integrate, apply, solve, analyze.
• Evaluating and creating: Monitor, test, judge, produce, revise, compose.

Consult Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy (below) for more details. For additional sample action verbs, consult this list from The Centre for Learning, Innovation & Simulation at The Michener Institute of Education at UNH.

2. Follow with a Statement

• Identify and summarize the important feature of major periods in the history of western culture
• Apply important chemical concepts and principles to draw conclusions about chemical reactions
• Demonstrate knowledge about the significance of current research in the field of psychology by writing a research paper
• Length – Should be no more than 400 characters.

*Note: Any special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) and formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.) will need to be removed when submitting learning outcomes through HelioCampus Assessment and Credentialing (formerly AEFIS) and other digital campus systems.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning: The “Cognitive” Domain

To the right: find a sampling of verbs that represent learning at each level. Find additional action verbs .

*Text adapted from: Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 1, Cognitive Domain. New York.

Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Complete edition). New York: Longman.

Examples of Learning Outcomes

Academic program learning outcomes.

The following examples of academic program student learning outcomes come from a variety of academic programs across campus, and are organized in four broad areas: 1) contextualization of knowledge; 2) praxis and technique; 3) critical thinking; and, 4) research and communication.

Student learning outcomes for each UW-Madison undergraduate and graduate academic program can be found in Guide . Click on the program of your choosing to find its designated learning outcomes.

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Contextualization of Knowledge

Students will…

• identify, formulate and solve problems using appropriate information and approaches.
• demonstrate their understanding of major theories, approaches, concepts, and current and classical research findings in the area of concentration.
• apply knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, physics, and materials science and engineering principles to materials and materials systems.
• demonstrate an understanding of the basic biology of microorganisms.

Praxis and Technique

• utilize the techniques, skills and modern tools necessary for practice.
• demonstrate professional and ethical responsibility.
• appropriately apply laws, codes, regulations, architectural and interiors standards that protect the health and safety of the public.

Critical Thinking

• recognize, describe, predict, and analyze systems behavior.
• evaluate evidence to determine and implement best practice.
• examine technical literature, resolve ambiguity and develop conclusions.
• synthesize knowledge and use insight and creativity to better understand and improve systems.

Research and Communication

• retrieve, analyze, and interpret the professional and lay literature providing information to both professionals and the public.
• propose original research: outlining a plan, assembling the necessary protocol, and performing the original research.
• design and conduct experiments, and analyze and interpret data.
• write clear and concise technical reports and research articles.
• communicate effectively through written reports, oral presentations and discussion.
• guide, mentor and support peers to achieve excellence in practice of the discipline.
• work in multi-disciplinary teams and provide leadership on materials-related problems that arise in multi-disciplinary work.

Course Learning Outcomes

• identify, formulate and solve integrative chemistry problems. (Chemistry)
• build probability models to quantify risks of an insurance system, and use data and technology to make appropriate statistical inferences. (Actuarial Science)
• use basic vector, raster, 3D design, video and web technologies in the creation of works of art. (Art)
• apply differential calculus to model rates of change in time of physical and biological phenomena. (Math)
• identify characteristics of certain structures of the body and explain how structure governs function. (Human Anatomy lab)
• calculate the magnitude and direction of magnetic fields created by moving electric charges. (Physics)

Additional Resources

• Bloom’s Taxonomy
• The Six Facets of Understanding – Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). ASCD
• Taxonomy of Significant Learning – Fink, L.D. (2003). A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning. Jossey-Bass
• College of Agricultural & Life Sciences Undergraduate Learning Outcomes
• College of Letters & Science Undergraduate Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes 101: A Comprehensive Guide

For those trying to figure out what are learning outcomes, its types, steps, and assessments, this article is for you. Read on to find out more about this guide in developing your teaching strategies.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

In today’s education landscape, learning outcomes play a pivotal role in shaping the educator’s teaching strategies and heralding the academic progress of students. Defining the road map of a learning session, the learning outcomes focus on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that learners should grasp upon the completion of a course or program.

In the broader sense, understanding these integral aspects of our education system would be incomplete without delving into the types of learning outcomes, elucidating the steps involved in formulating them, exploring their assessment, and shedding light on their impacts and challenges.

Defining Learning Outcomes

What are learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes are statements that describe the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students should have after completing a learning activity or program.

Learning outcomes also equip students with transferrable skills and knowledge. They provide a clear description of what the learner can apply in real-world contexts or in their further studies. This makes learning outcomes not only crucial in the academic setting but also in preparing learners for the workforce.

Differentiating Learning Outcomes from Learning Objectives

Learning objectives, learning outcomes.

For instance, a learning objective may state, “The teacher will explain the process of photosynthesis.” The associated learning outcome could be, “Students will be able to describe the process of photosynthesis and explain its importance to plant life.”

Examples of Learning Outcomes

These specific learning outcomes are instrumental in steering the progress of students throughout their educational journey. They provide key alignment within the education system, ensuring that instructions, learning activities, assessments, and feedback are all constructed around accomplishing these predefined objectives.

3 Types of Learning Outcomes

1. knowledge outcomes.

To illustrate, a history student may be tested on their ability to remember specific dates or events, whereas a science student may be required to understand and demonstrate the process of photosynthesis.

2. Skill Outcomes

Skill outcomes are commonly split into two categories: generic skills and specific skills . Generic skills are transferable skills that can be used across various fields , such as communication or teamwork skills. Specific skills pertain to specific fields or jobs, such as the ability to use laboratory equipment correctly or the ability to compile code in a specific programming language.

3. Attitudinal Outcomes

While these outcomes may be more challenging to assess than knowledge or skill-based outcomes, they are imperative for nurturing lifelong learners dedicated to ongoing personal and professional development .

Steps in Formulating Learning Outcomes

1. determine the knowledge, essential skills, and attitude expected, 2. draft the learning objectives.

Once the necessary skills and knowledge have been identified, the next step entails crafting preliminary learning objectives.

3. Develop the Learning Outcomes

A related outcome to the previous example would be: “Students will demonstrate their understanding of the causes and effects of the First World War through a detailed written content analysis .”

4. Write Clear and Achievable Outcomes

5. understand and refine learning outcomes, assessment of learning outcomes, regularly refine and revise the learning outcomes.

For instance, an English course’s prior outcome might be modified following a review to something like: “Upon completing the course, students will demonstrate their capability to write a well-structured persuasive essay with hardly any grammatical errors.”

Methods to Assess Learning Outcomes

Importance of consistent and fair assessments.

If the assessment is perceived to be unfair or inconsistent, students may lose motivation, resulting in decreased performance and engagement with the subject matter. They may also develop negative attitudes toward learning and education in general, which can have detrimental effects on their future learning experiences.

Different Ways to Evaluate Learning Outcomes

Moreover, rubrics are often used in assessing more complex learning outcomes. This tool articulates expectations about an assignment by listing the criteria or what counts, and describing levels of quality from excellent to poor.

Feedback as a Key Component in Evaluating Learning Outcomes

Impacts and challenges of learning outcomes, learning outcomes: proven catalysts in students’ upward progression.

Learning outcomes also fuel learners’ confidence and desire to learn. They provide incremental milestones towards the ultimate goal, enabling learners to revel in frequent success and thus perpetuate a positive feedback loop. This heightened morale becomes a natural motivator that drives persistent learning endeavors.

Challenges in Implementing Learning Outcomes

Overcoming challenges.

Overcoming these challenges requires a holistic approach. Organizational culture plays a crucial role in this regard. Encouraging a culture of change and innovation can mitigate resistance from faculty.

However, it’s essential to consider the challenges that might be encountered in this process. Notwithstanding these challenges, the potential benefits of learning outcomes to students’ educational progress present them as a crucial factor in the quest for enhanced education quality.

Related Posts

A research on in-service training activities, teaching efficacy, job satisfaction and attitude, creative curriculum: concepts and examples, five examples of critical thinking skills, about the author, patrick regoniel.

Dr. Regoniel, a faculty member of the graduate school, served as consultant to various environmental research and development projects covering issues and concerns on climate change, coral reef resources and management, economic valuation of environmental and natural resources, mining, and waste management and pollution. He has extensive experience on applied statistics, systems modelling and analysis, an avid practitioner of LaTeX, and a multidisciplinary web developer. He leverages pioneering AI-powered content creation tools to produce unique and comprehensive articles in this website.

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Writing and Assessing Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of a program of study, what do you want students to be able to do? How can your students demonstrate the knowledge the program intended them to learn? Student learning outcomes are statements developed by faculty that answer these questions. Typically, Student learning outcomes (SLOs) describe the knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors or values students should be able to demonstrate at the end of a program of study. A combination of methods may be used to assess student attainment of learning outcomes.

Characteristics of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

• Describe what students should be able to demonstrate, represent or produce upon completion of a program of study (Maki, 2010)

Student learning outcomes also:

• Should align with the institution’s curriculum and co-curriculum outcomes (Maki, 2010)
• Should be collaboratively authored and collectively accepted (Maki, 2010)
• Should incorporate or adapt professional organizations outcome statements when they exist (Maki, 2010)
• Can be quantitatively and/or qualitatively assessed during a student’s studies (Maki, 2010)

Examples of Student Learning Outcomes

The following examples of student learning outcomes are too general and would be very hard to measure : (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)

• will appreciate the benefits of exercise science.
• will understand the scientific method.
• will become familiar with correct grammar and literary devices.
• will develop problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.

The following examples, while better are still general and again would be hard to measure. (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)

• will appreciate exercise as a stress reduction tool.
• will apply the scientific method in problem solving.
• will demonstrate the use of correct grammar and various literary devices.
• will demonstrate critical thinking skills, such as problem solving as it relates to social issues.

The following examples are specific examples and would be fairly easy to measure when using the correct assessment measure: (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)

• will explain how the science of exercise affects stress.
• will design a grounded research study using the scientific method.
• will demonstrate the use of correct grammar and various literary devices in creating an essay.
• will analyze and respond to arguments about racial discrimination.

Importance of Action Verbs and Examples from Bloom’s Taxonomy

• Action verbs result in overt behavior that can be observed and measured (see list below).
• Verbs that are unclear, and verbs that relate to unobservable or unmeasurable behaviors, should be avoided (e.g., appreciate, understand, know, learn, become aware of, become familiar with). View Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs

Assessing SLOs

Instructors may measure student learning outcomes directly, assessing student-produced artifacts and performances; instructors may also measure student learning indirectly, relying on students own perceptions of learning.

Direct Measures of Assessment

Direct measures of student learning require students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. They provide tangible, visible and self-explanatory evidence of what students have and have not learned as a result of a course, program, or activity (Suskie, 2004; Palomba & Banta, 1999). Examples of direct measures include:

• Objective tests
• Presentations
• Classroom assignments

This example of a Student Learning Outcome (SLO) from psychology could be assessed by an essay, case study, or presentation: Students will analyze current research findings in the areas of physiological psychology, perception, learning, abnormal and social psychology.

Indirect Measures of Assessment

Indirect measures of student learning capture students’ perceptions of their knowledge and skills; they supplement direct measures of learning by providing information about how and why learning is occurring. Examples of indirect measures include:

• Self assessment
• Peer feedback
• End of course evaluations
• Questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Exit interviews

Using the SLO example from above, an instructor could add questions to an end-of-course evaluation asking students to self-assess their ability to analyze current research findings in the areas of physiological psychology, perception, learning, abnormal and social psychology. Doing so would provide an indirect measure of the same SLO.

• Balances the limitations inherent when using only one method (Maki, 2004).
• Provides students the opportunity to demonstrate learning in an alternative way (Maki, 2004).
• Contributes to an overall interpretation of student learning at both institutional and programmatic levels.
• Values the many ways student learn (Maki, 2004).

Bloom, B. (1956) A taxonomy of educational objectives, The classification of educational goals-handbook I: Cognitive domain . New York: McKay .

Maki, P.L. (2004). Assessing for learning: Building a sustainable commitment across the institution . Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Maki, P.L. (2010 ). Assessing for learning: Building a sustainable commitment across the institution (2nd ed.) . Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Palomba, C.A., & Banta, T.W. (1999). Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Suskie, L. (2004). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Revised by Doug Jerolimov (April, 2016)

Helpful Links

• Revise Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs
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Teaching Commons > Teaching Guides > Course Design > Course Objectives & Learning Outcomes

​​​​​​What are Learning Outcomes?

Learning outcomes are specific statements of what students will be able to do when they successfully complete a learning experience (whether it's a project, course or program). They are always written in a student-centered, measurable fashion that is concise, meaningful, and achievable.

Learning Outcomes at the University or Program Level

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. 

Learning Outcomes at the Module, Unit, or Week Level

Just as learning outcomes can be designed at the program level or university-wide level, they can also operate at a more granular scale within an individual course. Typically instructors divide their courses into smaller units such as modules or weeks, and many instructors establish learning outcomes for these smaller units that map onto the larger course-level outcomes. 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 are Learning Outcomes Different from Learning Goals or Learning Objectives?

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, program, or institution aims to do,  whereas, a learning outcome describes in observable and measurable terms what a student is able to do as a result of completing a learning experience (e.g., course, project, or unit).

Learning Goals

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.” 

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
• We will cover historical perspectives and debates about the role of mass communication in the 20th century.
• Students will understand the impacts and effects of new media on identity formation.

Learning objectives can introduce unintended complexity because sometimes they are written in terms of what you intend to teach (the first example above) and sometimes they are written in terms of what you expect students will learn (the latter example). 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?

Identifying the desired results of a learning experience is the first step of backward design.Learning outcomes are used for this purpose.  Learning outcomes are also valuable in these ways:

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

Learning outcomes help students…

• anticipate what they will gain from an educational experience
• track their progress and know where they stand
• know in advance how they'll be assessed

Elements of Effective Learning Outcomes

Clearly written course-level and module-level outcomes are the foundation upon which effective courses are designed. Outcomes inform both the way students are evaluated in a course and the way a course will be organized. Effective learning outcomes are student-centered, measurable, concise, meaningful, achievable and outcome-based (rather than task-based).

Student-Centered

Outcomes are phrased from the perspective of the student and are written in language that can be easily understood by them.

Outcomes are specific, observable, and can be assessed. They use a concrete action verb.

Outcomes are written in short, succinct sentences.

Outcomes emphasize higher-order thinking and are consistent with university, college, department, and program learning outcomes.

The total number of outcomes is reasonable for this population of students and is achievable within the time available.

Outcome-Based

Outcomes should specify the skills and knowledge students must demonstrate to prove mastery instead of focusing on the assignment format, such as a quiz or essay. Well-worded outcomes should remain flexible enough to accommodate a variety of formats for a corresponding assessment.

Writing Learning 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)

If the educational unit is implied, based on the context in which the learning outcomes are shared, you might leave off the first portion of the learning outcome statement.

Course Learning Outcome Examples

Example course learning outcomes using this formula:

• As a result of participating in Quantitative Reasoning and Technological Literacy I, students will be able to evaluate statistical claims in the popular press.
• As a result of completing Ethics and Research I, student will be able to describe the potential impact of specific ethical conflicts on research findings.
• As a result of completing Money and Banking, students will be able determine the cost benefits and shortcomings of various cash management strategies.

Module- or Unit-level Learning Outcome Examples

Example module- or unit-level learning outcome using this formula:

• By the end of unit 4, students will be able to explain the relationship between significance levels and the null hypothesis.
• By the end of module 3, students will be able to render a video clip with a compression level appropriate for web-based viewing.
• By the end of week 2, students will be able to calculate standard deviation from the mean.
• By the end of unit 8, students will be able to recommend an appropriate treatment based on patients' symptoms.
• By the end of week 6, students will be able to build a case for or against charter schools based on interpretation of recent research

Examples of Common Learning Outcome Problems and Solutions

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

Concrete Action Verbs

The following list includes concrete action verbs that correspond with each level of Bloom's taxonomy for the cognitive domain. To ensure outcomes are measurable, you might find it helpful to start each one with a verb from this list.

compose, construct, create, design, develop, integrate, invent, make, manage, modify, prepare, propose, synthesize

assess, choose, convince, critique, decide, determine, defend, estimate, judge, justify, measure, predict, prioritize, prove, rate, recommend, select

analyze, categorize, compare, contrast, deconstruct, differentiate, examine, infer, organize, select, test

apply, carry out, choose, demonstrate, recreate, show, solve, use

Understanding

describe, distinguish, clarify, classify, compare, convert, contrast, estimate, explain, identify, locate, predict, relate, report, restate, translate, summarize

Remembering

define, describe, identify, label, list, match, name, order, recall, recognize

What about Hard-to-Measure Outcomes?

Some faculty find it stifling to only include measurable outcomes in their course-planning process. You might have learning goals in mind that are valuable but more difficult to measure in a quarter, such as

• appreciate the intangible benefits of art in society.
• question one's own beliefs and recognize personal bias.
• understand the value of ethics in business leadership.

These are all excellent examples of worthwhile goals that you might integrate into many of your learning materials and activities. It's fine to include hard-to-measure goals like these alongside your course outcomes, but it's best to keep them under a separate heading—such as "Learning Goals"—than to include them with your measurable outcomes. This separation will clarify that these goals are an important part of your course, but won't necessarily be tied to student grading and evaluation in the same way that the student learning outcomes will be. 

Further Reading​

• Iowa State University's Center for Excellence in Learning and teaching has a model of learning objectives , an excellent visualization incorporating action verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy.  
• For more information on what makes for clear, measurable learning objectives, you can also use Arizona State University's  Objectives Builder  tool.

References 

Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, E. J., & Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. New York, NY: Longmans, Green and Co.

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Applications in Context Topics

•   Overview of Applications in Context
•   Rubrics
•   Discussions
•   Lecturing
•   Outcomes and Objectives
•   Creating Exams
•   Creating Inclusive Grading Structures

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Outcomes and Objectives

Home  »  Applications in Context  » Outcomes and Objectives

Learning outcomes and objectives are the fundamental elements of most well-designed courses. Well-conceived outcomes and objectives serve as guideposts to help instructors work through the design of a course such that students receive the guidance and structure to achieve meaningful outcomes, as well as guide how those outcomes can be assessed accurately and appropriately.

The Basics of Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Defining terms.

While the terms “learning outcomes” and “learning objectives” are used with varied meanings in varied contexts across higher education, at Purdue we try to use them in a more precise manner. By  Learning Outcomes  we mean a set of three to five goals that reflect what students will be able to achieve or skills or attitudes they will develop during the class. We use  Learning Objective  to refer to the steps that lead  into  a particular outcome. By approaching teaching and learning goals in this way, we can help students understand the path toward successful completion of the class. Some people also use the term  Learning Goals , and this can be useful especially in discussions with students about what outcomes and objectives mean, particularly if you co-construct one or more outcomes with students; so, while we do not use the term officially, learning goals may be useful in discussions with students.

Represent the result rather than the means

Outcomes define the end results of a student’s successful engagement in a class. It is important to remember that the  ends  are different than the  means . An outcome is not the process with which students engage to reach that goal, but the end result of achieving that goal. In some cases, the end result will be learning a process, but integrating a process into one’s cognitive and skill repertoire is different than going through a process (e.g., the act of learning how to write a research paper is different than the process of writing a research paper).

A note about Foundational and Embedded learning outcomes

At Purdue, many courses are designated as fulfilling foundational and/or embedded learning outcomes. These outcomes are defined at the university level and assessed regularly. They help to define what it means for a student to complete an undergraduate degree from Purdue, and they set Purdue apart for its high standards of student achievement across a range of core topics. Each of the outcome types is approached and handled differently. Check with your department about if/how your class is designated as fulfilling these outcomes, and email  [email protected]  if you would like assistance incorporating them into your class.

Writing Meaningful Outcomes

There are numerous strategies for writing effective learning outcomes, and they all have various advantages and disadvantages including more or less structure. One of the most common approaches is to think of outcomes as finishing the following sentence: “Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to…” This framing emphasizes outcomes as the forward-looking result rather than the means. It also supports transparency by prompting a discussion about what success in the course looks like.

The basics: a verb and an object

If you are just beginning to write outcomes and objectives, try aiming for three components. The following are two similar models that may be useful for thinking through this in your class:

Approach 1:

• The  verb  generally refers to [actions associated with] the intended  cognitive process .
• The  object  generally describes the  knowledge  students are expected to acquire or construct.
• A statement regarding the  criterion for successful performance .

Approach 2  (from Tobin and Behling’s book,  Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone  see page 181 in Chapter 7 for examples) :

• Desired  behavior , with as much specificity as possible.
• Measurement  that explains how you will gauge a student’s mastery.
• Level of  proficiency  a student should exhibit to have mastered the objective.

The implications of language

We begin with the verb because research into cognitive processes reveals that the verb has profound implications for the type and complexity of cognitive processes. In fact, there are countless lists of verbs, often associated with Benjamin Bloom, a highly influential educational theorist who defined learning around mastery and in doing so began to categorize different types of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor processes based on their difficulty in hierarchical order. In the early 2000s, this work was revised and expanded by a large team of scholars, including adding an additional dimension to the cognitive hierarchy. These verb lists can be misleading, as you may often see the same verb associated with multiple cognitive tasks. We encourage you to use the descriptors in your outcome to identify what students will actually be able to do and ensure that your use of the verb appropriately aligns.

When we ask ourselves questions about the implications of our verb choices, we are often forced to reckon with overused generic terms. The most common example is “understand.” For many, this is the first verb that comes to mind when thinking about what students should be able to do at the end of a course. Consider the popular YouTube series by  Wired  in which an expert  explains a topic at five levels of complexity : a child, a teen, an undergraduate, a graduate student, and a peer expert. At the end of these explanations all have developed or demonstrated an understanding of the concept, but their understanding is vastly different.  One mode of working out outcomes and objectives is to start with “understand” and then add a second verb that clarifies the level (what a student at this level will be able to do). Often this use of “understand” lacks clarity unless we add a second verb, in which case it often become clearer and more precise to remove the generic “understand.”

Be transparent: avoid secrets and highlight challenges

Valuing and caring are legitimate outcomes.

Instructors often use what might be termed “secret” learning outcomes or objectives, which are often affective rather than cognitive in nature. For example, in some classes an instructor may want students to appreciate the importance of the subject matter. Often, this involves teaching material that students perceive as tangential to their degree program, but instructors and departments believe is essential. Some common examples involve writing and communication skills, ethics, or legal knowledge in fields where practitioners make use of these competencies every day, but students are often more focused on what they perceive as more quantifiable skills. In the affective learning domain, you may consider outcomes focused on valuing or caring about something (see the alternate outcomes below).

Reveal bottlenecks

Another type of secret or hidden outcome or objective involves something instructors have identified as bottlenecks in their course or discipline. These bottlenecks often reflect ideas, concepts, or skills that may seem small, but when not mastered can pose long-lasting challenges for many students. Sometimes these may seem tangential, like those values described above, other times a bottleneck may be part of a process that students tend to skip (varying modes of checking for errors, for example), or sometimes they require that a student take a different perspective when engaging with a source or problem. Students may often experience these bottlenecks by relying on learning methods that worked with low-complexity topics but cannot handle the complex elements of your course. Some topics are counterintuitive to how we experience the world, and to avoid bottlenecks, students need to overcome their preconceptions and experiences. By highlighting these bottlenecks as explicit outcomes or objectives, making them transparent, pointing to the challenges they pose, and highlighting why it is vital to overcome them, we support students’ long-term success as they move beyond our class as well.

Consider different types of outcomes and objectives

The vast majority of learning outcomes and advice related to outcomes focuses on discrete cognitive skills that are measurable through simple means. For example, a common approach to an outcome may read something like: “Apply the first law of thermodynamics in a closed system.” These discrete and easily measurable skills are vital in many disciplines, but you may also think about learning outcomes that focus on other aspects of one’s life and development. L. Dee Fink, the author of the book  Creating Significant Learning Experiences , describes six different outcome categories. The first three deal with these cognitive skills and the second three with affective, interpersonal, and intrapersonal development. By including this second set of goals in our course design and development, we introduce opportunities to support students’ ability to engage in more meaningful ways with each other and, by extension, their feeling of belongingness, connection, and individuality in the class.

• Foundational knowledge : understanding and remembering information and ideas
• Application : skills, critical thinking, creative thinking, practical thinking, and managing projects (e.g., the thermodynamics example above)
• Integration : connecting information, ideas, perspectives, people, or realms of life
• Human dimension : learning about oneself and others
• Caring : developing new feelings, interests, and values
• Learning how to learn : becoming a better student, inquiring about a subject, becoming a self-directed learner

Try treating students as partners around outcomes

Co-construction.

While the broad shape of an outcome will almost always be carefully crafted ahead of time, one approach to help students feel connected to the class is to enlist them in co-constructing parts of an outcome. Most frequently, this co-construction revolves around what success will look like, and it is particularly useful when it is an outcome that in which different students can succeed in different ways. For example, in a discussion-oriented class, one of the outcomes may focus on students developing their communication skills through class participation. But personality and other differences may mean that students have vastly different needs in terms of developing these skills. At a basic level, some students may have greater challenges with speaking up and sharing their thoughts in front of their peers and instructor. Other students may need to better develop their skills in listening to peers and responding productively. By approaching this outcome through co-construction, each student can set and be measured by appropriate goals that will pose a challenge to that student and help them develop important skills.

When outcomes are fixed, focus on communicating and responding to students

In most classes, outcomes and objectives are pre-determined and sometimes must adhere to standards beyond an instructor’s control, whether fitting university requirements or those of national accreditors. Especially in cases where outcomes are fixed, it is too easy to assume that students’ goals are also fixed. Even when classes are required as part of a sequence for a major, students often have widely varying goals for their lives and careers, and sometimes even thoughts regarding how this particular class may fit into achieving their goals. When we start the semester, we can ask students about their goals and what they hope to get out of a class and use existing outcomes and objectives to highlight connections and possibilities. Remember that, because students have not yet engaged with this material, they are much less prepared to make the connections. What may seem obvious to an expert instructor may seem opaque to a learner.

Ask students about the achievements related to outcomes

One common model for understanding student achievement involves asking students about their success specifically related to the course outcomes. This can be done to gauge their perception of success: As a result of your work in this class, what gains did you make in [course outcome]” or to gauge the effectiveness of specific teaching practices: “How much did the following aspects of the course help you in your learning? (Examples might include class and lab activities, assessments, particular learning methods, and resources).” Both of these questions come from the  SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains)  survey/tool (note: the website is rather dated).  Studies  demonstrate that, while students tend to overestimate their competence relative to instructors, their input broadly is informative, and when these disparities emerge, they can be useful for instructors to interrogate teaching and assessment practices.

Share and reference outcomes and objectives early and often

Discuss outcomes and objectives in every class session.

One of the most common instructor complaints is that students do not pay attention to the outcomes and objectives of a class. This is often a case of mutual neglect. In addition to including class outcomes in your syllabus, highlight outcomes and their connections to objectives in each class session and in instructions for assignments. During class sessions, find opportunities to remind students of these connections. By creating a culture of outcomes and objectives integrated throughout elements of the class, students are better able to follow their progression and understand how different class components and learning integrates and synthesizes with each other.

Build outcomes into the design of assignments

When sharing instructions or guidelines for an assessment, make sure to share and discuss how the assignment fits into the structure of learning outcomes and objectives for the class. See the  Creating Inclusive Grading Structures  page for more detail and structures.​​​​​​​

Write outcomes that reflect your students’ experiences and abilities

Prepare for different academic experiences.

One challenge in planning a class is that it is easy to imagine an idealized student who will enroll in your class. They will have completed certain other classes, possibly had certain experiences, may have certain goals. This ideal student assumption leads many instructors to complain that students were not properly prepared for their class. When writing outcomes, it is valuable to write them for the reality of students present. In reality, students will take a variety of paths, and prerequisite classes may have been completed at other institutions or with a variety of instructors who may have emphasized different elements. Even in situations where every student took the exact same class with the exact same instructor the exact semester prior, students’ strengths and weaknesses with particular topics and skills covered will vary. This does not mean you must re-teach prerequisite courses but building in objectives that highlight particular elements of previous classes will help strengthen and clarify previous learning in addition to helping students identify existing gaps to fill.

Outcomes can reflect a multitude of expressive processes

As outcomes — particularly their language — are intimately intertwined with assessment processes, think carefully about how wording choices may limit students’ ability to express their learning. If the outcome specifies writing, is learning to write in the appropriate format and for the appropriate audience central or is writing one common way (e.g., written language) enough for students to express the more central component of an outcome? What if “write” were turned into “express,” “share,” or “present,” all of which open up greater flexibility in modality of conveying a student’s understanding of content or mastery of skills that are not specific to the written form?

Use the  Learning Outcomes Worksheet  to practice writing at least one outcome and identifying what category you would place it in. You will find a variety of actual examples from Purdue instructors on the second page of the worksheet.

Learning Outcomes

After you have developed one or more outcomes, view the Creating Inclusive Grading Structures and/or Lecturing pages to consider ways of putting your new outcome(s) into practice in your class.

Hanstedt, P. (2018).  Creating wicked students: Designing courses for a complex world . Stylus Publishing.

In this book, Hanstedt argues for creating courses to prepare students to deal with complex problems that do not have simple answers and often draw on a variety of different disciplinary skills and techniques.  Chapter 2 , in particular, focuses on writing goals (his term for outcomes), with numerous examples.

Fink, L. D. (2013)  Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college course . John Wiley & Sons.

As noted above, Fink's approach focuses on creating outcomes (also using the term goals) that fit six distinct categories. Like Handstedt, Fink provides guidance and numerous examples of how to construct such goals.

Anderson L. W. & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001).  A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives . Longman.

This update/revision to Bloom's cognitive domain includes numerous resources and examples as well as adds a cognitive process dimension, recognizing that any of the six cognitive categories can also be broken down into four processes: factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge.

Note: Purdue Libraries only has a print version of this book.  You can find  online resources  developed by Iowa State University, including detailed information about the knowledge dimension.

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Developing Learning Outcomes

Table of contents, what are learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes are statements that describe the knowledge or skills students should acquire by the end of a particular assignment, class, course, or program. They help students:

• understand why that knowledge and those skills will be useful to them
• focus on the context and potential applications of knowledge and skills
• connect learning in various contexts
• help guide assessment and evaluation

Good learning outcomes emphasize the application and integration of knowledge. Instead of focusing on coverage of material, learning outcomes articulate how students will be able to employ the material, both in the context of the class and more broadly.

Consider using approximately five to ten learning outcomes per assignment; this number allows the learning outcomes to cover a variety of knowledge and skills while retaining a focus on essential elements of the course.

Learn how you can add learning outcomes to your Quercus course .

Examples of Learning Outcomes

For reference, Bloom’s Taxonomy of relevant active verbs.

• identify and describe the political, religious, economic, and social uses of art in Italy during the Renaissance
• identify a range of works of art and artists analyze the role of art and of the artist in Italy at this time
• analyze the art of the period according to objective methods
• link different materials and types of art to the attitudes and values of the period
• evaluate and defend their response to a range of art historical issues
• provide accurate diagrams of cells and be able to classify cells from microscopic images
• identify and develop data collection instruments and measures for planning and conducting sociological research
• identify and classify their spending habits and prepare a personal budget
• predict the appearance and motion of visible celestial objects
• formulate scientific questions about the motion of visible celestial objects
• plan ways to model and/or simulate an answer to the questions chosen
• select and integrate information from various sources, including electronic and print resources, community resources, and personally collected data, to answer the questions chosen communicate scientific ideas, procedures, results, and conclusions using appropriate SI units, language, and formats
• describe, evaluate, and communicate the impact of research and other accomplishments in space technology on our understanding of scientific theories and principles and on other fields of endeavour
• By the end of this course, students will be able to categorize macroeconomic policies according to the economic theories from which they emerge.
• By the end of this unit, students will be able to describe the characteristics of the three main types of geologic faults (dip-slip, transform, and oblique) and explain the different types of motion associated with each.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to ask questions concerning language usage with confidence and seek effective help from reference sources.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and explain how evidence gathered supports or refutes an initial hypothesis.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to work cooperatively in a small group environment.
• By the end of this course, students will be able to identify their own position on the political spectrum.

Specific Language

Learning outcomes should use specific language , and should clearly indicate expectations for student performance.

Vague Outcome : By the end of this course, students will have added to their understanding of the complete research process.

More Precise Outcome : By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• describe the research process in social interventions
• evaluate critically the quality of research by others
• formulate research questions designed to test, refine, and build theories
• identify and demonstrate facility in research designs and data collection strategies that are most appropriate to a particular research project
• formulate a complete and logical plan for data analysis that will adequately answer the research questions and probe alternative explanations
• interpret research findings and draw appropriate conclusions

Vague Outcome : By the end of this course, students will have a deeper appreciation of literature and literary movements in general.

• identify and describe the major literary movements of the 20th century
• perform close readings of literary texts
• evaluate a literary work based on selected and articulated standards

For All Levels

Learning outcomes are useful for all levels of instruction, and in a variety of contexts.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• identify the most frequently encountered endings for nouns, adjectives and verbs, as well as some of the more complicated points of grammar, such as aspect of the verb
• translate short unseen texts from Czech
• read basic material relating to current affairs using appropriate reference works, where necessary
• make themselves understood in basic everyday communicative situations

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• identify key measurement problems involved in the design and evaluation of social interventions and suggest appropriate solutions
• assess the strengths and weaknesses of alternative strategies for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data from needs analyses and evaluations in direct practice, program and policy interventions
• identify specific strategies for collaborating with practitioners in developmental projects, formulation of research questions, and selection of designs and measurement tools so as to produce findings usable by practitioners at all levels
• analyze qualitative data systematically by selecting appropriate interpretive or quantified content analysis strategies
• evaluate critically current research in social work
• articulate implications of research findings for explanatory and practice theory development and for practice/program implementation
• instruct classmates and others in an advanced statistical or qualitative data analysis procedure

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• identify several learning style models and know how to use these models in your teaching
• construct and use learning objectives
• design a course and a syllabus
• implement the principles of Universal Instructional Design in the design of a course
• use strategies and instructional methods for effective teaching of small classes and large classes
• identify the advantages and disadvantages of different assessment methods
• construct a teaching portfolio

Why Develop Learning Outcomes?

For students:.

• By focusing on the application of knowledge and skills learned in a course and on the integration of knowledge and skills with other areas of their lives, students are more connected to their learning and to the material of the course.
• The emphasis on integration and generalizable skills helps students draw connections between courses and other kinds of knowledge, enhancing student engagement.
• Students understand the conditions and goals of their assessment.

For instructors:

• Developing learning outcomes allows for reflection on the course content and its potential applications, focusing on the knowledge and skills that will be most valuable to the student now and in the future.
• Learning outcomes point to useful methods of assessment.
• Learning outcomes allow instructors to set the standards by which the success of the course will be evaluated.

For institutions and administrators:

• When an instructor considers the particular course or unit in the context of future coursework and the curriculum as a whole, it  contributes to the development of a coherent curriculum within a decentralized institution and helps to ensure that students are prepared for future work and learning.
• The application and integration of learning emphasized by learning outcomes reflect and support the contemporary nature and priorities of the university, enhancing student engagement, uncovering opportunities for interdisciplinary, and providing guidance and support for students with many different kinds of previous academic preparation.
• Learning outcomes provide structures from which courses and programs can be evaluated and can assist in program and curricular design, identify gaps or overlap in program offerings, and clarify instructional, programmatic, and institutional priorities.

Context of Learning

In developing learning outcomes, first consider the context of the learning taking place in the course might include:

• If the course is part of the major or specialization, what knowledge or skills should students have coming into the course? What knowledge or skills must they have by its conclusion in order to proceed through their program?
• How can this course contribute to the student’s broad learning and the student’s understanding of other subjects or disciplines?
• What are the priorities of the department or Faculty? How does the particular focus of the course contribute to those broader goals?
• Does the course play a particular role within the student’s program (introductory, elective, summative)? How is the course shaped by this role?
• What knowledge or skills gained in this course will serve students throughout their lives? How will the class shape the student’s general understanding of the world?
• Which careers commonly stem from education in this field? What are the skills or knowledge essential to these careers?
• What kinds of work are produced in those careers?
• How can this course enrich a student’s personal or professional life?
• Where will the student encounter the subject matter of the course elsewhere in his or her life? In what situations might the knowledge or skills gained in the course be useful to the student?

Tools for Developing Learning Outcomes

The process of developing learning outcomes offers an opportunity for reflection on what is most necessary to help learners gain this knowledge and these skills. Considering the following elements as you prepare your learning outcomes.

To begin the process of developing learning outcomes, it may be useful to brainstorm some key words central to the disciplinary content and skills taught in the course. You may wish to consider the following questions as you develop this list of key words:

• What are the essential things students must know to be able to succeed in the course?
• What are the essential things students must be able to do to succeed in the course?
• What knowledge or skills do students bring to the course that the course will build on?
• What knowledge or skills will be new to students in the course?
• What other areas of knowledge are connected to the work of the course?

Scholars working in pedagogy and epistemology offer us taxonomies of learning that can help make learning outcomes more precise. These levels of learning can also help develop assessment and evaluation methods appropriate to the learning outcomes for the course.

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Taxonomy

These three areas can be used to identify and describe different aspects of learning that might take place in a course.

Content can be used to describe the disciplinary information covered in the course. This content might be vital to future work or learning in the area. A learning outcome focused on content might read:

By the end of this course, students will be able recall the 5 major events leading up to the Riel Rebellion and describe their role in initiating the Rebellion.

Skills can refer to the disciplinary or generalizable skills that students should be able to employ by the conclusion of the class. A learning outcome focused on skills might read:

By the end of this course, students will be able to define the characteristics and limitations of historical research.

Values can describe some desired learning outcomes, the attitudes or beliefs imparted or investigated in a particular field or discipline. In particular, value-oriented learning outcomes might focus on ways that knowledge or skills gained in the course will enrich students’ experiences throughout their lives. A learning outcome focused on values might read:

By the end of this course, students will be able to articulate their personal responses to a literary work they have selected independently.

Characteristics of Good Learning Outcomes

Good learning outcomes are very specific , and use active language – and verbs in particular – that make expectations clear and ensure that student and instructor goals in the course are aligned.

Where possible, avoid terms, like understand or demonstrate, that can be interpreted in many ways.

See the Bloom’s Taxonomy resource for a list of useful verbs.

Vague Outcome : By the end of the course, I expect students to increase their organization, writing, and presentation skills.

More precise outcome : By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• produce professional quality writing
• effectively communicate the results of their research findings and analyses to fellow classmates in an oral presentation

Vague Outcome : By the end of this course, students will be able to use secondary critical material effectively and to think independently.

More precise outcome : By the end of this course, students will be able to evaluate the theoretical and methodological foundations of secondary critical material and employ this evaluation to defend their position on the topic.

Keep in mind, learning outcomes:

• should be flexible : while individual outcomes should be specific, instructors should feel comfortable adding, removing, or adjusting learning outcomes over the length of a course if initial outcomes prove to be inadequate
• are focused on the learner: rather than explaining what the instructor will do in the course, good learning outcomes describe knowledge or skills that the student will employ, and help the learner understand why that knowledge and those skills are useful and valuable to their personal, professional, and academic future
• are realistic , not aspirational: all passing students should be able to demonstrate the knowledge or skill described by the learning outcome at the conclusion of the course. In this way, learning outcomes establish standards for the course
• focus on the application and integration of acquired knowledge and skills: good learning outcomes reflect and indicate the ways in which the described knowledge and skills may be used by the learner now and in the future
• indicate useful modes of assessment and the specific elements that will be assessed: good learning outcomes prepare students for assessment and help them feel engaged in and empowered by the assessment and evaluation process
• offer a timeline for completion of the desired learning

Each assignment, activity, or course might usefully employ between approximately five and ten learning outcomes; this number allows the learning outcomes to cover a variety of knowledge and skills while retaining a focus on essential elements of the course.

• Speak to the learner : learning outcomes should address what the learner will know or be able to do at the completion of the course
• Measurable : learning outcomes must indicate how learning will be assessed
• Applicable : learning outcomes should emphasize ways in which the learner is likely to use the knowledge or skills gained
• Realistic : all learners who complete the activity or course satisfactorily should be able to demonstrate the knowledge or skills addressed in the outcome
• Time-bound : the learning outcome should set a deadline by which the knowledge or skills should be acquired;
• Transparent : should be easily understood by the learner; and
• Transferable : should address knowledge and skills that will be used by the learner in a wide variety of contexts

The SMART(TT) method of goal setting is adapted from Blanchard, K., & Johnson, S. (1981). The one minute manager. New York: Harper Collins

Assessment: Following Through on Learning Outcomes

Through assessment, learning outcomes can become fully integrated in course design and delivery. Assignments and exams should match the knowledge and skills described in the course’s learning outcomes. A good learning outcome can readily be translated into an assignment or exam question; if it cannot, the learning outcome may need to be refined.

One way to match outcomes with appropriate modes of assessment is to return to Bloom’s Taxonomy . The verbs associated with each level of learning indicate the complexity of the knowledge or skills that students should be asked to demonstrate in an assignment or exam question.

For example, an outcome that asks students to recall key moments leading up to an historical event might be assessed through multiple choice or short answer questions. By contrast, an outcome that asks students to evaluate several different policy models might be assessed through a debate or written essay.

Learning outcomes may also point to more unconventional modes of assessment. Because learning outcomes can connect student learning with its application both within and outside of an academic context, learning outcomes may point to modes of assessment that parallel the type of work that students may produce with the learned knowledge and skills in their career or later in life.

Unit of Instruction (e.g. lecture, activity, exam, course, workshop) and Assessment Examples

Objective : What content or skills will be covered in this instruction?

• Identification and evaluation of severe weather patterns, use of weather maps

Outcome : What should students know or be able to do as a result of this unit of instruction?

• By completing this assignment, students will be able to accurately predict severe weather using a standard weather map.

How do you know? : How will you be able to tell that students have achieved this outcome?

• Student predictions will be compared with historical weather records.

Assessment : What kind of work can students produce to demonstrate this?

• Based on this standard weather map, please indicate where you would expect to see severe weather in the next 24-hour period. Your results will be compared with historical weather records.
• Stylistic characteristics and common themes of Modernist literature
• By the end of this unit, students will be able to identify the stylistic and thematic elements of Modernism.
• Students will be able to identify a passage from a Modernist novel they have not read.
• Read this passage. Identify which literary movement it represents and which qualities drew you to that conclusion.

Course, Program, Institution: Connecting Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes can also be implemented at the program or institutional level to assess student learning over multiple courses, and to monitor whether students have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills at one stage to be able to move onto the next.

Courses that require prerequisites may benefit from identifying a list of outcomes necessary for advancement from one level to another. When this knowledge and these skills are identified as outcomes as opposed to topics, assessment in the first level can directly measure preparation for the next level.

Many major and specialist programs identify a list of discipline-specific and multi-purpose skills, values, and areas of knowledge graduating students in the program will have. By articulating these as things that students will know or be able to do, the benefits of a program of study can be clearly communicated to prospective students, to employers, and to others in the institution.

Athabasca University developed learning outcomes for all its undergraduate major programs. Please see their Anthropology BA learning outcomes as an example.

Academic plans increasingly include a list of learning outcomes that apply across programs of study and even across degree levels. These outcomes provide an academic vision for the institution, serve as guidelines for new programs and programs undergoing review, and communicate to members of the university and the public at large the academic values and goals of the university. As previously discussed, the best learning outcomes address course-specific learning within the context of a student’s broader educational experience. One way to contribute to a coherent learning experience is to align course outcomes, when appropriate, with institutional priorities.

The University of Toronto’s academic plan, Stepping Up: A framework for academic planning at the University of Toronto, 2004-2010, outlines institutional goals in relation to the learning experience of our undergraduate and graduate students. These priorities are further articulated in “Companion Paper 1: Enabling Teaching and Learning and the Student Experience”. The skills outcomes meant to apply to all undergraduate programs follow.

• knowing what one doesn’t know and how to seek information
• able to think: that is, to reason inductively and deductively, to analyze and to synthesize, to think through moral and ethical issues, to construct a logical argument with appropriate evidence
• able to communicate clearly, substantively, and persuasively both orally and in writing
• able not only to answer questions through research and analysis but to exercise judgment about which questions are worth asking knowledgeable about and committed to standards of intellectual honesty and use of information
• knowing how to authenticate information, whether it comes from print sources or through new technologies
• able to collaborate with others from different disciplines in the recognition that multidisciplinary approaches are necessary to address the major issues facing society
• understanding the methods of scientific inquiry; that is, scientifically literate

Curriculum Mapping: Translating between local and global learning outcomes

At the global program or institutional level, learning outcomes are often necessarily vague to allow for flexibility in their implementation and assessment. Consequently, in order to be effectively applied at the local level of a course or class, they must be reformulated for the particular setting. Similarly, learning outcomes from individual courses may be extrapolated and generalized in order to create program or institution-wide learning outcomes.

Both of these processes are most frequently accomplished through a technique called “curriculum mapping” . When moving from programmatic or institutional to course or class outcomes, curriculum mapping involves identifying which courses, portions of courses, or series of courses fulfill each programmatic or institutional learning outcome.

The global learning outcomes can then be matched with course-specific outcomes that directly address the content and skills required for that particular subject material. Identifying and locating all the learning outcomes encountered by a student over the course of their program can help present learning as a coherent whole to students and others, and can help students make the connection between their learning in one course and that in another. Maki (2004) notes that understanding where particular pieces of learning take place can help students take charge of their own education:

A map reveals the multiple opportunities that students have to make progress on collectively agreed-on learning goals, beginning with their first day on campus. Accompanied by a list of learning outcomes, maps can encourage students to take responsibility for their education as a process of integration and application, not as a checklist of courses and educational opportunities. Maps can also position students to make choices about courses and educational experiences that will contribute to their learning and improve areas of weakness.

For more information about and examples of curriculum mapping, please see Maki, P. (2004). Maps and inventories: Anchoring efforts to track student learning. About Campus 9(4), 2-9.

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Designing Assignments for Learning

The rapid shift to remote teaching and learning meant that many instructors reimagined their assessment practices. Whether adapting existing assignments or creatively designing new opportunities for their students to learn, instructors focused on helping students make meaning and demonstrate their learning outside of the traditional, face-to-face classroom setting. This resource distills the elements of assignment design that are important to carry forward as we continue to seek better ways of assessing learning and build on our innovative assignment designs.

On this page:

Rethinking traditional tests, quizzes, and exams.

• Examples from the Columbia University Classroom
• Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

Reflect On Your Assignment Design

Connect with the ctl.

• Resources and References

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Designing Assignments for Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/teaching-with-technology/teaching-online/designing-assignments/

Traditional assessments tend to reveal whether students can recognize, recall, or replicate what was learned out of context, and tend to focus on students providing correct responses (Wiggins, 1990). In contrast, authentic assignments, which are course assessments, engage students in higher order thinking, as they grapple with real or simulated challenges that help them prepare for their professional lives, and draw on the course knowledge learned and the skills acquired to create justifiable answers, performances or products (Wiggins, 1990). An authentic assessment provides opportunities for students to practice, consult resources, learn from feedback, and refine their performances and products accordingly (Wiggins 1990, 1998, 2014). 

Authentic assignments ask students to “do” the subject with an audience in mind and apply their learning in a new situation. Examples of authentic assignments include asking students to: 

• Write for a real audience (e.g., a memo, a policy brief, letter to the editor, a grant proposal, reports, building a website) and/or publication;
• Solve problem sets that have real world application; 
• Design projects that address a real world problem; 
• Engage in a community-partnered research project;
• Create an exhibit, performance, or conference presentation ;
• Compile and reflect on their work through a portfolio/e-portfolio.

Noteworthy elements of authentic designs are that instructors scaffold the assignment, and play an active role in preparing students for the tasks assigned, while students are intentionally asked to reflect on the process and product of their work thus building their metacognitive skills (Herrington and Oliver, 2000; Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2013; Frey, Schmitt, and Allen, 2012). 

It’s worth noting here that authentic assessments can initially be time consuming to design, implement, and grade. They are critiqued for being challenging to use across course contexts and for grading reliability issues (Maclellan, 2004). Despite these challenges, authentic assessments are recognized as beneficial to student learning (Svinicki, 2004) as they are learner-centered (Weimer, 2013), promote academic integrity (McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, 2021; Sotiriadou et al., 2019; Schroeder, 2021) and motivate students to learn (Ambrose et al., 2010). The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning is always available to consult with faculty who are considering authentic assessment designs and to discuss challenges and affordances.   

Examples from the Columbia University Classroom 

Columbia instructors have experimented with alternative ways of assessing student learning from oral exams to technology-enhanced assignments. Below are a few examples of authentic assignments in various teaching contexts across Columbia University. 

• E-portfolios: Statia Cook shares her experiences with an ePorfolio assignment in her co-taught Frontiers of Science course (a submission to the Voices of Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning initiative); CUIMC use of ePortfolios ;
• Case studies: Columbia instructors have engaged their students in authentic ways through case studies drawing on the Case Consortium at Columbia University. Read and watch a faculty spotlight to learn how Professor Mary Ann Price uses the case method to place pre-med students in real-life scenarios;
• Simulations: students at CUIMC engage in simulations to develop their professional skills in The Mary & Michael Jaharis Simulation Center in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center in the Columbia School of Nursing; 
• Experiential learning: instructors have drawn on New York City as a learning laboratory such as Barnard’s NYC as Lab webpage which highlights courses that engage students in NYC;
• Design projects that address real world problems: Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy on the Engineering design projects completed using lab kits during remote learning. Watch Dr. Yesilevskiy talk about his teaching and read the Columbia News article . 
• Writing assignments: Lia Marshall and her teaching associate Aparna Balasundaram reflect on their “non-disposable or renewable assignments” to prepare social work students for their professional lives as they write for a real audience; and Hannah Weaver spoke about a sandbox assignment used in her Core Literature Humanities course at the 2021 Celebration of Teaching and Learning Symposium . Watch Dr. Weaver share her experiences.  

​Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

While designing an effective authentic assignment may seem like a daunting task, the following tips can be used as a starting point. See the Resources section for frameworks and tools that may be useful in this effort.  

Align the assignment with your course learning objectives 

Identify the kind of thinking that is important in your course, the knowledge students will apply, and the skills they will practice using through the assignment. What kind of thinking will students be asked to do for the assignment? What will students learn by completing this assignment? How will the assignment help students achieve the desired course learning outcomes? For more information on course learning objectives, see the CTL’s Course Design Essentials self-paced course and watch the video on Articulating Learning Objectives .  

Identify an authentic meaning-making task

For meaning-making to occur, students need to understand the relevance of the assignment to the course and beyond (Ambrose et al., 2010). To Bean (2011) a “meaning-making” or “meaning-constructing” task has two dimensions: 1) it presents students with an authentic disciplinary problem or asks students to formulate their own problems, both of which engage them in active critical thinking, and 2) the problem is placed in “a context that gives students a role or purpose, a targeted audience, and a genre.” (Bean, 2011: 97-98). 

An authentic task gives students a realistic challenge to grapple with, a role to take on that allows them to “rehearse for the complex ambiguities” of life, provides resources and supports to draw on, and requires students to justify their work and the process they used to inform their solution (Wiggins, 1990). Note that if students find an assignment interesting or relevant, they will see value in completing it. 

Consider the kind of activities in the real world that use the knowledge and skills that are the focus of your course. How is this knowledge and these skills applied to answer real-world questions to solve real-world problems? (Herrington et al., 2010: 22). What do professionals or academics in your discipline do on a regular basis? What does it mean to think like a biologist, statistician, historian, social scientist? How might your assignment ask students to draw on current events, issues, or problems that relate to the course and are of interest to them? How might your assignment tap into student motivation and engage them in the kinds of thinking they can apply to better understand the world around them? (Ambrose et al., 2010). 

Determine the evaluation criteria and create a rubric

To ensure equitable and consistent grading of assignments across students, make transparent the criteria you will use to evaluate student work. The criteria should focus on the knowledge and skills that are central to the assignment. Build on the criteria identified, create a rubric that makes explicit the expectations of deliverables and share this rubric with your students so they can use it as they work on the assignment. For more information on rubrics, see the CTL’s resource Incorporating Rubrics into Your Grading and Feedback Practices , and explore the Association of American Colleges & Universities VALUE Rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). 

Build in metacognition

Ask students to reflect on what and how they learned from the assignment. Help students uncover personal relevance of the assignment, find intrinsic value in their work, and deepen their motivation by asking them to reflect on their process and their assignment deliverable. Sample prompts might include: what did you learn from this assignment? How might you draw on the knowledge and skills you used on this assignment in the future? See Ambrose et al., 2010 for more strategies that support motivation and the CTL’s resource on Metacognition ). 

Provide students with opportunities to practice

Design your assignment to be a learning experience and prepare students for success on the assignment. If students can reasonably expect to be successful on an assignment when they put in the required effort ,with the support and guidance of the instructor, they are more likely to engage in the behaviors necessary for learning (Ambrose et al., 2010). Ensure student success by actively teaching the knowledge and skills of the course (e.g., how to problem solve, how to write for a particular audience), modeling the desired thinking, and creating learning activities that build up to a graded assignment. Provide opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills they will need for the assignment, whether through low-stakes in-class activities or homework activities that include opportunities to receive and incorporate formative feedback. For more information on providing feedback, see the CTL resource Feedback for Learning . 

Communicate about the assignment 

Share the purpose, task, audience, expectations, and criteria for the assignment. Students may have expectations about assessments and how they will be graded that is informed by their prior experiences completing high-stakes assessments, so be transparent. Tell your students why you are asking them to do this assignment, what skills they will be using, how it aligns with the course learning outcomes, and why it is relevant to their learning and their professional lives (i.e., how practitioners / professionals use the knowledge and skills in your course in real world contexts and for what purposes). Finally, verify that students understand what they need to do to complete the assignment. This can be done by asking students to respond to poll questions about different parts of the assignment, a “scavenger hunt” of the assignment instructions–giving students questions to answer about the assignment and having them work in small groups to answer the questions, or by having students share back what they think is expected of them.

Plan to iterate and to keep the focus on learning 

Draw on multiple sources of data to help make decisions about what changes are needed to the assignment, the assignment instructions, and/or rubric to ensure that it contributes to student learning. Explore assignment performance data. As Deandra Little reminds us: “a really good assignment, which is a really good assessment, also teaches you something or tells the instructor something. As much as it tells you what students are learning, it’s also telling you what they aren’t learning.” ( Teaching in Higher Ed podcast episode 337 ). Assignment bottlenecks–where students get stuck or struggle–can be good indicators that students need further support or opportunities to practice prior to completing an assignment. This awareness can inform teaching decisions. 

Triangulate the performance data by collecting student feedback, and noting your own reflections about what worked well and what did not. Revise the assignment instructions, rubric, and teaching practices accordingly. Consider how you might better align your assignment with your course objectives and/or provide more opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills that they will rely on for the assignment. Additionally, keep in mind societal, disciplinary, and technological changes as you tweak your assignments for future use. 

Now is a great time to reflect on your practices and experiences with assignment design and think critically about your approach. Take a closer look at an existing assignment. Questions to consider include: What is this assignment meant to do? What purpose does it serve? Why do you ask students to do this assignment? How are they prepared to complete the assignment? Does the assignment assess the kind of learning that you really want? What would help students learn from this assignment? 

Using the tips in the previous section: How can the assignment be tweaked to be more authentic and meaningful to students? 

As you plan forward for post-pandemic teaching and reflect on your practices and reimagine your course design, you may find the following CTL resources helpful: Reflecting On Your Experiences with Remote Teaching , Transition to In-Person Teaching , and Course Design Support .

The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is here to help!

For assistance with assignment design, rubric design, or any other teaching and learning need, please request a consultation by emailing [email protected] . 

Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework for assignments. The TILT Examples and Resources page ( https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources ) includes example assignments from across disciplines, as well as a transparent assignment template and a checklist for designing transparent assignments . Each emphasizes the importance of articulating to students the purpose of the assignment or activity, the what and how of the task, and specifying the criteria that will be used to assess students. 

Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) offers VALUE ADD (Assignment Design and Diagnostic) tools ( https://www.aacu.org/value-add-tools ) to help with the creation of clear and effective assignments that align with the desired learning outcomes and associated VALUE rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). VALUE ADD encourages instructors to explicitly state assignment information such as the purpose of the assignment, what skills students will be using, how it aligns with course learning outcomes, the assignment type, the audience and context for the assignment, clear evaluation criteria, desired formatting, and expectations for completion whether individual or in a group.

Villarroel et al. (2017) propose a blueprint for building authentic assessments which includes four steps: 1) consider the workplace context, 2) design the authentic assessment; 3) learn and apply standards for judgement; and 4) give feedback. 

References 

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., & DiPietro, M. (2010). Chapter 3: What Factors Motivate Students to Learn? In How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching . Jossey-Bass. 

Ashford-Rowe, K., Herrington, J., and Brown, C. (2013). Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 39(2), 205-222, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2013.819566 .  

Bean, J.C. (2011). Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom . Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Frey, B. B, Schmitt, V. L., and Allen, J. P. (2012). Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. 17(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/sxbs-0829  

Herrington, J., Reeves, T. C., and Oliver, R. (2010). A Guide to Authentic e-Learning . Routledge. 

Herrington, J. and Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 23-48. 

Litchfield, B. C. and Dempsey, J. V. (2015). Authentic Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 142 (Summer 2015), 65-80. 

Maclellan, E. (2004). How convincing is alternative assessment for use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 29(3), June 2004. DOI: 10.1080/0260293042000188267

McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, J. (2021). Assessments in a Virtual Environment: You Won’t Need that Lockdown Browser! Faculty Focus. June 2, 2021. 

Mueller, J. (2005). The Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Enhancing Student Learning through Online Faculty Development . MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. 1(1). July 2005. Mueller’s Authentic Assessment Toolbox is available online. 

Schroeder, R. (2021). Vaccinate Against Cheating With Authentic Assessment . Inside Higher Ed. (February 26, 2021).  

Sotiriadou, P., Logan, D., Daly, A., and Guest, R. (2019). The role of authentic assessment to preserve academic integrity and promote skills development and employability. Studies in Higher Education. 45(111), 2132-2148. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1582015    

Stachowiak, B. (Host). (November 25, 2020). Authentic Assignments with Deandra Little. (Episode 337). In Teaching in Higher Ed . https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/authentic-assignments/  

Svinicki, M. D. (2004). Authentic Assessment: Testing in Reality. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 100 (Winter 2004): 23-29. 

Villarroel, V., Bloxham, S, Bruna, D., Bruna, C., and Herrera-Seda, C. (2017). Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 43(5), 840-854. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1412396    

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice . Second Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Wiggins, G. (2014). Authenticity in assessment, (re-)defined and explained. Retrieved from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/authenticity-in-assessment-re-defined-and-explained/

Wiggins, G. (1998). Teaching to the (Authentic) Test. Educational Leadership . April 1989. 41-47. 

Wiggins, Grant (1990). The Case for Authentic Assessment . Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation , 2(2). 

Wondering how AI tools might play a role in your course assignments?

See the CTL’s resource “Considerations for AI Tools in the Classroom.”

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Learning outcomes are  user-friendly statements  that tell students what they will be able to do at the end of a period of time. They are  measurable  and quite often observable. Learning outcomes are usually discussed within the context of program-wide assessment, but they can be valuable components of any class because of the way they sharpen the focus on student learning. Learning outcomes:

• state in clear terms what it is that your students should be able to do at the end of a course that they could not do at the beginning.
• focus on student products, artifacts, or performances, rather than on instructional techniques or course content.
• are student-centered rather than instructor-centered.
• explicitly communicate course expectations to your students.

Writing Effective Learning Outcomes

The key to writing effective learning outcomes is the selection of active, measurable verbs—the tasks you want students to  do  at the end of your class.  Words like  know ,  understand , or  appreciate  are difficult to measure, and they rarely get at the higher order thinking tasks most of us really want to see in our students.  Consider, instead, more specific words like these, which progress toward more complex intellectual tasks:  By the end of the class, students should be able to ….

• Differentiate

Next, consider how you will be able to measure whether students have met those outcomes. What types of activities or assignments will let students provide evidence they can meet these outcomes?  Is this something they can demonstrate through a specific essay assignment? Via a poster or other presentation?  As part of a course project?  Through well-crafted exam questions?

Sample Learning Outcomes

Below are several sample learning outcomes, with each pair showing a version that is difficult to measure, followed by a revision that is easier to measure.  Notice the selection of verbs and how students would be more likely to provide clear evidence that they met the objectives.

Hard to Measure:

Students will  be exposed to  the major folklore genres of Indiana.

Measurable:

By the end of this course, students will be able to  analyze  an example of Indiana folklore that is unfamiliar to them, using appropriate research and writing techniques.

Hard to Measure :

I want students to  realize and gain knowledge of  institutional racist policies that impact minority families.

Students will be able to  recognize and verbally explain  U.S. policies that have an impact on minority families.

SPEA—Public Affairs

I want students to see how urban problems are important in their own lives.

Students will be able to invent and defend a solution to an urban problem that is relevant to their own city, town, or campus.

Business—Finance

Students will know how to complete a finance-related project efficiently when presented with a set of financial reports from their boss.

Given a financial dilemma and a sundry assortment of financial documents, students will be able to solve the dilemma and recommend the soundest financial decision to their boss.

Using Learning Outcomes within Your Class

Because well-written learning outcomes clearly define where you want students to be at the end of a semester, they are useful for guiding students throughout the course.  Consider giving the outcomes prominent placement in your syllabus, and talk frequently about them with your students, clarifying how certain activities in class are specifically aimed at helping them reach particular outcomes.  Look for opportunities to refocus students on the outcomes throughout the semester, asking them at regular intervals to reflect on their progress toward these goals.  So while you may be introduced to learning outcomes as part of an assessment plan, these tools are most effective within your class when  actively used  as a way of guiding student learning.

Since learning outcomes can provide such a useful structure for your class, consider ways of designing your course around them.  As suggested above, use these learning outcomes as the starting point for designing the rest of our course, aligning outcomes to tests and assignments, then to class activities that prepare students with the skills needed to accomplish these tasks.  For more information about how to design your course around learning outcomes, see our resource on  Backward Course Design  or  contact a CITL consultant .

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Mayer, R. W., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M. C. (2001).  A taxonomy for learning teaching and assessing.  (Complete ed.). New York: Longman.

http://thesecondprinciple.com/teaching-essentials/beyond-bloom-cognitive-taxonomy-revised/ http://www.nyoraps.vic.edu.au/anderson.htm

IUB General Education Requirements  (see the learning outcomes listed for various course clusters)

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Learning Outcomes

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist, Valamis

July 26, 2022 · updated May 3, 2024

10 minute read

After reading this guide, you will understand the best way to set clear, actionable learning outcomes, and how to write them to improve instruction and training within your organization.

What are learning outcomes?

5 types of learning outcomes.

• Learning outcomes vs learning objectives

Examples of learning objectives and learning outcomes

Learning outcomes examples, how to write learning outcomes, learning outcomes verbs.

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.

Learning outcomes are measurable achievements that the learner will be able to understand after the learning is complete , which helps learners understand the importance of the information and what they will gain from their engagement with the learning activity.

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, making clear what knowledge learners should have upon completion of the learning activity.

A well-written learning outcome will focus on how the learner will be able to apply their new knowledge in a real-world context, rather than on a learner being able to recite information.

The most useful learning outcomes include a verb that describes an observable action, a description of what the learner will be able to do and under which conditions they will be able to do it, and the performance level they should be able to reach.

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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

In this type of learning outcome, the learner uses personal strategies to think, organize, learn and behave.

3. Verbal information

This type of learning outcome is when the learner is able to definitively state what they have learned from an organized body of knowledge.

4. Motor skills

This category is concerned with the physical ability to perform actions, achieving fluidity, smoothness or proper timing through practice.

5. Attitude

This is the internal state that reflects in the learner’s behavior. It is complex to quantify but can be shown in the learner’s response to people or situations.

Learning outcomes vs learning objectives: what is the difference?

You will often see learning outcomes and learning objectives used interchangeably, but they are different. The following concepts and examples will show how learning objectives and learning outcomes for the same activity are different, although connected to each other.

Perspective of the teacher vs. student

• Learning objective : Why the teacher is creating a learning activity.

Example : This training session will discuss the new policy for reporting travel expenses.

• Learning outcome : What the learner will gain from the learning activity.

Example : The learner understands how to properly report travel expenses.

Purpose vs. outcome

• Learning objective : States the purpose of the learning activity and the desired outcomes.

Example : This class will explain new departmental HR policies.

• Learning outcome : States what the learner will be able to do upon completing the learning activity.

Example : The learner is able to give examples of when to apply new HR policies.

Future vs. past

• Learning objective : What the teacher hopes that the learning activity will accomplish. It looks to the future, what will happen.

Example : This seminar will outline new health and safety protocols.

• Learning outcome : This looks at what has been accomplished, what has happened for the learner as a result of their participation in the activity.

Example : Seminar participants can correctly identify new protocols and explain why they have been established.

Intended outcome vs. observed outcome

• Learning objectives : What the creators of the learning activity hope to achieve.

Example : This training activity will illustrate the five styles of effective communication in the workplace.

• Learning objectives : What can be demonstrably shown to have been achieved by the activity.

Example : Learners can list and define the styles of communication.

Specific units of knowledge vs. broad outcome

• Learning objective : Describes discrete concepts, skills, or units of knowledge.

Example : This lecture will list ten ways to de-escalate a confrontation in the workplace.

• Learning outcome : Describes a wider range of behavior, knowledge and skill that makes up the basis of learning.

Example : Learners can reliably demonstrate how to use de-escalation techniques to neutralize conflicts.

• Activity : An onboarding class for new hires

Learning objective : After taking this class, new hires will understand company policies and know in which situations to apply them.

Learning outcome : Learners are able to identify situations in which company policies apply and describe the proper actions to take in response to them.

This type of learning outcome deals with knowledge or intellectual skills. The learner understands the new concept that they are being taught.

• Activity : A seminar designed to help HR officers improve mediation

Learning objective : This seminar will teach learners how to effectively mediate disputes using basic conflict dynamics and negotiation.

Learning outcome : Learners understand and be able to apply basic conflict resolution practices in the workplace.

This type of learning outcome measures performance, learners are able to use what they learned in a real-world situation.

• Activity : An online training session for new product management software

Learning objective : Session will cover the three main areas of the software.

Learning outcome : Learners are able to operate software and explain the functions that they are using.

This type of learning outcome deals with competence or skill. The learner can demonstrate their understanding of the new concept.

• Activity : A virtual reality training session on how to replace machine components

Learning objective : Session will demonstrate the steps to remove and replace components.

Learning outcome : Learners can correctly remove and replace components of each machine, explaining what they are doing and why.

This learning outcome deals with motor skills. Learners can physically demonstrate the outcome of their learning.

• Activity : A lecture on organization strategies

Learning objective : Lecture will illustrate how proper organization can help managers optimize workflow within their teams.

Learning outcome : Learners can demonstrate how they will use organization strategies with actionable steps.

This outcome deals with verbal information. 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.

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As mentioned above, well-written learning outcomes focus on what the learner can concretely demonstrate after they complete the learning activity. A learning outcome is only useful if it is measurable. So, it should include the learning behaviors of the learner, the appropriate assessment method, and the specific criteria that demonstrates success.

The following examples are well-written learning outcomes:

• learners will be able to identify which scenarios to apply each of the five types of conflict management.
• learners will be able to use the company’s LMS to effectively engage with and complete all training materials.
• learners will understand how to interpret marketing data and use it to create graphs.
• learners will understand how to employ company-prescribed SEO practices while writing copy.
• 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.
• learners will appreciate how to use marketing data.
• learners will know about the company’s SEO practices.
• learners will understand what goes into a case study.
• learners will learn about autoclaves.

Defining learning outcomes is also a key stage of instructional design models such as the ADDIE model and SAM . The first step of the more in-depth ADDIE model is “analyze.” During this stage is to set the goals for the new training program. This goal should be broken down into a list of clearly explained learning outcomes. While SAM takes a more rapid approach to instructional design, the primary purpose of the first preparation stage is to identify the desired learning outcomes of the program.

When writing learning outcomes, there are a few rules that you should follow.

1. Learning outcomes always use an action verb .

What action verbs can be used when writing learning outcomes?

Depending on the type of outcome, different verbs are appropriate.

Intellectual skills

• Demonstrate

Cognitive strategy

• Differentiate
• Distinguish

Verbal information

• Give examples

Motor skills

2. Learning outcomes must be written clearly, and should be easy to understand.

3. Learning outcomes should clearly indicate what learners should learn from within the discipline they are studying.

4. Learning outcomes must show what the expected level of learning or understanding should be, and it should be reasonable to the level of the learners.

5. Learning outcomes help with assessment, and thus should clearly indicate what success looks like for the learner.

6. There should not be too few or too many learning outcomes. Four to six is the ideal number.

Here are some additional tips (with example) for writing learning outcomes.

Example: a course on accounting software.

You must first start with the main learning goal of the learning activity.

The learning goal would be that the learners will become adept at the software. But that is too vague to be a learning outcome. It doesn’t tell learners what they are expected to learn, nor is it useful for assessments. Instead, that goal should be broken down into smaller parts.

The learning outcomes for this accounting course might be:

• Learners are able to generate invoices.
• Learners understand how to process income tax payments.
• Learners can demonstrate how to properly set up payroll.
• Learners can explain how to use reports to track company expenses.

All of these outcomes are clear, action-oriented and can be assessed by the instructor.

Using a simple formula of action verb plus content to be learned plus the context in which it will be used, you can create a well-written learning outcome. These learning outcomes will improve the results of learners, as they will be clear about what they are expected to learn and will be able to focus on the most pertinent information throughout the course.

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Course Learning Outcomes

What are 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.
• Rather than listing all of the detailed categories of learning that is expected, learning outcomes focus on the overarching takeaways from the course (5-10 learning outcomes are generally recommended for a course; McCourt, 2007).

Why are Learning Outcomes Important?

Learning outcomes identify the specific knowledge and skills that one should be able to do at the end of the course.  Articulating outcomes – and communicating them clearly and understandably to learners – has benefits to both learners and educators.

• Identify what they should be able to do to be successful in the course
• Decide if the course is the right fit for them and their goals (Setting Learning Outcomes, 2012)
• Take ownership of their learning
• Self-regulate their learning (Bembenutty, 2011)
• Facilitate selection of course content, and design of assessments and activities
• Transparency with learners on course expectations and end goal
• Align level of mastery expected for the course with program and university goals

How to Write a Good Course Learning Outcome

Below are some tips for developing and writing your course outcome statements.

• At the end of the course, learners should be able to….
• Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to…
• Learners should be able to…
• Learners should be able to  compare and contrast  US political ideologies regarding social and environmental issues.
• Learners should be able to  develop solutions  for networking problems, balancing business concerns, privacy and technical issues.
• Remembering :  Learners should be able to  recall  nutritional guidelines for planning meals.
• Understanding :  Learners should be able to  explain  the importance and impact of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and food service policies and regulations specific to food safety.
• Applying:  Learners should be able to  apply  safety principles related to food, consumers and personnel in quality management situations.
• Analyzing:  Students should be able to  analyze  data and differentiate nutrient deficiencies and toxicities.
• Evaluating:  Learners should be able to  recommend  a meal plan based on background information to someone wishing to maintain or lose weight and  defend  why one meal plan is better than others.
• Creating:  Learners should be able to  integrate  knowledge of metabolism, nutrition, and chronic disease to formulate nutritional therapy for patients with chronic disease.

Depending on the expectations of a learning outcome, a single action verb could require varying levels of complexity.  For that reason, you may notice a verb is listed in multiple columns below.

REVISED Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs

Adapted from Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001).  A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing , Abridged Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Good Practices

Transparency

Learning outcomes should be shared with learners for the purposes of transparency and expectation setting (Cuevas & Mativeev, 2010).  Doing so makes the benchmarks for learning explicit and helps learners make connections across different elements within the course.  Consider including course learning outcomes in your syllabus, so that learners know what is expected of them by the end of a course, and can refer to the outcomes throughout the course.  It is also good practice for educators to refer to learning outcomes at particular points during the course; for example, before introducing new concepts or asking learners to complete course activities and assignments.

Alignment within the Course

Since learning outcomes are statements about the key learning takeaways, they can be used to focus the assignments, activities, and materials within the course (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).  Providing feedback to students regarding their achievement of the learning outcome is important for both the learner (to understand and apply the feedback in the future) and to the educator (to see how learners are progressing in the course).

For example: If a learning outcome is  learners should be able to collaborate effectively on a team to create a marketing campaign for a product;  then the course should: (1) intentionally teach learners effective ways to collaborate on a team and how to create a marketing campaign; (2) include activities that allow learners to practice and actively learn how to collaborate and create marketing campaigns; and (3) have assessments to provide feedback to the learners on the extent that they are meeting the course outcomes.

Alignment with Program

While course alignment within a program is usually strategically integrated at the programmatic level, it is good practice when developing your course learning outcomes to think about how the course contributes to your program’s mission/goals.  Explicitly sharing this alignment with learners may help motivate learners and provide more context, significance, and/or impact for the learning (Cuevas, Matveevm & Miller, 2010).

For example, familiarizing yourself with the possible program sequences helps you understand the knowledge and skills learners are bringing into your course and the level and type of mastery they may need for future courses and experiences.  Another example can be to ensure that a course with NUpath attributes addresses the associated outcomes .   Doing so ensures that learners are achieving the breadth of learning expected for the bachelor’s degree at NU.

Revisit Learning Outcomes

Assessment is an iterative process and it is good practice to revisit your learning outcome statements regularly – particularly as you change the way the course is being taught and/or the content of your course (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

Consider Involving Your Learners

Depending on your course and the flexibility of your course structure and/or progression, some educators will spend the first day of the course working with learners to craft or edit learning outcomes together.  This practice of giving learners an informed voice often leads to increased motivation and ownership of the learning.

To support you and your teaching, consider giving learners the chance to provide you with feedback on whether and how the outcomes have been achieved.  Doing so can inform how you teach the rest of the course or future iterations of the course.

Example Course Learning Outcomes

Arts, Media, and Design

• Discriminate  among different Western music styles.
• Discuss  how the historical and cultural events contextualize the creation of an artwork.
• Compare  and  contrast  different types of business ownership.
• Evaluate  and  classify  various marketing strategies.

Computer and Information Sciences

• Describe  the scientific method and provide an example of its application.
• Develop  solutions for security, balancing technical and privacy issues as well as business concerns.

Engineering

• Prepare  engineering documents that coherently present information for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Compile  and  summarize  current bioengineering research to discuss the social, environmental, and legal impacts.

Health Sciences

• Describe  how nutrition and life style choices impact the life cycle.
• Assess  gross muscle strength of upper and lower extremities when assisting a patient in ambulation.
• Distinguish  between healthy and unhealthy physical, mental, and emotional patterns.
• Calculate  germination rates of various seeds.
• Describe  and  apply  research methods to study child psychology.
• Select  appropriate mathematical routines to solve problems.
• Create  and  interpret  molecular models and/or chemical computations.

Social Sciences and Humanities

• Outline  the structure of the Constitution of the United States.
• Formulate  a stance on a political issue and  support  the position.
• Describe  contributions made by individuals from diverse groups to the local Boston community.
• Identify and describe how one’s own perspectives, experiences, and background  influences the interactions with others when working on a team.
• Identify  systematic barriers to inclusivity in a given situation, and  describe  the impact power and privilege may have on individuals in the context of the situation.
• Formulate  a question about pollution that could be investigated through research or design.
• Describe  the moral and ethical elements of body cameras on police officers.

*Some learning outcome examples are from McCourt, 2007.

Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001).  A Taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives . New York: Longman.

Bembenutty, H. (2011).  Self-regulation of learning in postsecondary education . New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 126, 3-8.

Cuevas, N. M., Matveev, A. G., & Miller, K. O. (2010).  Mapping general education outcomes in the major: Intentionality and transparency . Peer Review, 12 (1), 10-15.

Setting Learning Outcomes .  Center for Teaching Excellence at Cornell University (2012).

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002).  A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview .  Theory into practice ,  41 (4), 212-218.

McCourt, Millis, B. J., (2007).  Writing and Assessing Course-Level Student Learning Outcomes . Office of Planning and Assessment at the Texas Tech University.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005).  Understanding by Design  (Expanded). Alexandria, US: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Interested in exploring further? Check out all of our CATLR Teaching Tips or upcoming events . Then meet with a CATLR consultant to discuss your questions and ideas! To schedule a consultation, email [email protected] or call +1.617.373.3157.

Course-Level Learning Goals/Outcomes

As subject matter experts in their field, faculty know almost intuitively what the most important things are that students must master. In order to develop learning goals, faculty should answer the question, “What do I want my students to know or be able to do by the end of this course?”

Developing a set of learning goals/outcomes for a course takes what faculty know but don’t always state and puts it into a short list of real concepts that can guide students and add clarity to teaching and learning. The overall goal for teaching should be learning. When students know what they should be able to do by the end of a course it will be less of a challenge for them to meet that goal.

How can learning goals/outcomes add value to teaching and learning?

Clearly defined learning goals/outcomes contribute to a structure that surrounds a course and can aid in selecting appropriate graded and ungraded assessments, selecting relevant content for the course, and enhancing the assessment or grading practices.

• Remember that learning goals/outcomes do not place limits on what you can teach in a course. Instead, goals provide a map or signposts that tell students where the course is going.
• Learning goals/outcomes can add to student’s sense of ownership in the learning process helping them feel like they are on the inside logic of the course instead of the outside.
• Learning goals/outcomes can be a useful communication tool. Faculty can describe their course to colleagues and students by beginning with their goals.
• Departments can gain a sense of curricular cohesiveness if multiple courses have learning goals.

How do I begin developing learning goals/outcomes for my course?

You are the expert in this process. Begin by relying on what you know about the subject, what you know you can realistically teach in the course, and what your students can realistically learn. As you begin developing learning goals think of concepts, topics, important skills, and vital areas of learning connected to your course. Make a list and don’t worry about developing full goal statements. That will come later. The list you develop is perhaps the most important step in this exercise; it will form the basis for goals, assessments, and the overall teaching and learning process. Share your list with colleagues. Let them help you critique it. Keep returning to “what can you realistically teach and what can your students learn” as a way of editing the list to something that is manageable. Your list should help you answer the question, “What do I want my students to know or be able to do by the end of this course?”

Consider the following points as you develop learning goals/outcomes:

• Don’t get trapped into thinking that you will only be able to teach to the goals. Your learning goals/outcomes point out the high points and learners always need to know all of the supporting content, theory, data, different points of view, and relevant facts that support the high points.
• Keep the number of learning goals/outcomes - manageable and realistic. The first time you go through this exercise opt for a shorter list knowing that you can edit it as needed. Five or six goals might be a good starting point.
• Write goal/outcome statements that begin with action verbs. By using verbs that specify action, the outcome is more likely to be measurable. Actions help identify what needs to be assessed (did this student develop a plan, facilitate a process, establish a relationship, present a solution?) (See list of action verbs on the next page).
• Use language that is discipline-specific and appropriate to your field.
• Think about goals that are valuable to you and your students. Consider how discipline specific goals map to broader skills attainment (e.g., critical thinking, analytical resasoning and written/oral communication.
• Think about your teaching experience. What evidence tells you that students have met your expectations? How would you know that they are getting it? In other words, learning goals/outcomes should be measurable; you will need evidence that the goal was or was not achieved.

Several examples of learning goals/outcomes taken from UC Berkeley undergraduate courses

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Identify major figures and ideas in peace movements from around the world.
• Formulate a well-organized argument supported by evidence.
• Communicate effectively in the language of the target country and read appropriate vernacular materials in our field.
• Practice ethical behavior while engaging in service learning.
• Demonstrate the ability to read, evaluate and interpret general economic information.
• Apply the necessary mathematical tools to solving complex design problems.
• Apply scientific principles to analyze mechanical systems of importance to society.
• Analyze media images and narratives.
• Apply research methods in psychology, including design, data analysis, and interpretation to a research project.
• Communicate effectively in an oral presentation.

List of Action Verbs 

Linking Learning Goals/Outcomes to Course Assignments

Once you have developed a set of course learning goals, it’s time to begin thinking about linking them to the rest of your course and to assignments, in particular.

• Begin by answering the question: “What evidence do I need to know that my students have met the goals for this course?”
• The primary source of evidence of learning will come from the course assignments that students produce.
• The work each student produces is the direct evidence of learning. This is likely the best way to evaluate learning in most courses.
• Indirect evidence of learning is seen in things like course evaluations in which students might comment that they “learned a lot.”
• The “evidence” you will be looking for will be familiar (papers, exams, presentations) but now you want to connect the course goals to these assignments
• When selecting assessments consider the constraints of your course (class size, expertise of the students, workload for faculty, students, GSI’s).
• Can your students successfully meet a goal through one assessment?
• Can multiple goals be included in a single, more complex assessment?

Designing Assignments Linked to Goals/Outcomes

As you begin the process of designing course assignments, answer these questions:

• What goal/outcome or goals/outcomes are associated with the assignment?
• What are the components of the goal?

If you have a course goal that states that students should be able to “Formulate a well organized argument supported by evidence” the components of that goal might be that students need to:

• Demonstrate depth and breadth of understanding
• Present information in a clear and organized way
• Incorporate a variety of sources of evidence
• Use accurate grammar and mechanics

This is a vital step in the process of linking goals/outcomes with assessments. By identifying the components of a learning goal/outcome, you begin to make the teaching and learning process more transparent. Knowing what the components of a goal are will help in writing the assignment description and will be very valuable in the grading process.

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Learning outcomes, or objectives, are concise statements that describe what students will know, and be able to do with that knowledge, at the completion of an activity, assignment, or course.

Consider the following when drafting learning outcomes:

• Learning outcomes describe learning that is observable in the form of behavior or expression of thoughts. Determine what evidence or indicators will show you that learning has occurred. In other words, how will you know? 
• Use specific action verbs to describe the desired behaviors, knowledge, skills, and values the learning experience is intended to impart. Refer to Bloom's Taxonomy and Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning on page 9 of the Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses .
• Describe behaviors that are measurable. Avoid using verbs that are vague and difficult to measure (e.g. “understand” and “know”).
• Use language that is clear and free of jargon so that both novice and expert students will understand what is expected. 
• Set learning outcomes that are appropriate for your audience in terms of identity, prior knowledge, and course level.
• Link course learning outcomes directly to the activities and assessments of the course. 
• Share learning outcomes in a prominent and easily identifiable location such as your syllabus or Canvas home page.

The following are examples of learning outcomes from a variety of disciplines and courses. Think of these statements as completing the sentence, “At the end of this learning experience, students will be able to…”

Apply sociological theories and concepts to the analysis of real-world issues.

Debate the effectiveness of New Deal programs using evidence from primary sources.

Critically evaluate the scientific evidence regarding human-caused climate change.

Identify morphological units of the Spanish language.

Describe the distinctive character of Catholicism among other religious traditions and its similarities to them.

Each of the examples above includes a specific action verb (apply, debate, evaluate, identify, describe) to describe the cognitive behavior that students are expected to exhibit. Each of these behaviors could be observable in a variety of ways, including through class discussion, interactive activities, or written work, in which students could demonstrate their learning. The behaviors described are also measurable . It is possible to imagine the criteria to describe how well a student performed each of these behaviors and measure student success against those criteria.

Additional Resources

• Tips on constructing learning outcomes and examples from specific disciplines from Northwestern University
• Ideas for action verbs and guidance for placing learning outcomes within the broader course design process from Carnegie Mellon University
• An interactive tool to guide faculty through the process of creating learning outcomes from Arizona State University
• A short article on The Educational Value of Course-Level Learning Objectives/Outcomes from Carnegie Mellon's Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence

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Designing Assessments of Student Learning

Image Hollie Nyseth Brehm, ​​​​​Associate Professor, Department of Sociology  Professor Hollie Nyseth Brehm was a graduate student the first time she taught a class, “I didn’t have any training on how to teach, so I assigned a final paper and gave them instructions: ‘Turn it in at the end of course.’ That was sort of it.” Brehm didn’t have a rubric or a process to check in with students along the way. Needless to say, the assignment didn’t lead to any major breakthroughs for her students. But it was a learning experience for Brehm. As she grew her teaching skills, she began to carefully craft assignments to align to course goals, make tasks realistic and meaningful, and break down large assignments into manageable steps. "Now I always have rubrics. … I always scaffold the assignment such that they’ll start by giving me their paper topic and a couple of sources and then turn in a smaller portion of it, and we write it in pieces. And that leads to a much better learning experience for them—and also for me, frankly, when I turn to grade it .”

Reflect  

Have you ever planned a big assignment that didn’t turn out as you’d hoped? What did you learn, and how would you design that assignment differently now? 

What are students learning in your class? Are they meeting your learning outcomes? You simply cannot answer these questions without assessment of some kind.

As educators, we measure student learning through many means, including assignments, quizzes, and tests. These assessments can be formal or informal, graded or ungraded. But assessment is not simply about awarding points and assigning grades. Learning is a process, not a product, and that process takes place during activities such as recall and practice. Assessing skills in varied ways helps you adjust your teaching throughout your course to support student learning

Research tells us that our methods of assessment don’t only measure how much students have learned. They also play an important role in the learning process. A phenomenon known as the “testing effect” suggests students learn more from repeated testing than from repeated exposure to the material they are trying to learn (Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). While exposure to material, such as during lecture or study, helps students store new information, it’s crucial that students actively practice retrieving that information and putting it to use. Frequent assessment throughout a course provides students with the practice opportunities that are essential to learning.

In addition we can’t assume students can transfer what they have practiced in one context to a different context. Successful transfer of learning requires understanding of deep, structural features and patterns that novices to a subject are still developing (Barnett & Ceci, 2002; Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). If we want students to be able to apply their learning in a wide variety of contexts, they must practice what they’re learning in a wide variety of contexts .

Providing a variety of assessment types gives students multiple opportunities to practice and demonstrate learning. One way to categorize the range of assessment options is as formative or summative.

Formative and Summative Assessment

Opportunities not simply to practice, but to receive feedback on that practice, are crucial to learning (Ambrose et al., 2010). Formative assessment facilitates student learning by providing frequent low-stakes practice coupled with immediate and focused feedback. Whether graded or ungraded, formative assessment helps you monitor student progress and guide students to understand which outcomes they’ve mastered, which they need to focus on, and what strategies can support their learning. Formative assessment also informs how you modify your teaching to better meet student needs throughout your course.

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Design quizzes in CarmenCanvas to provide immediate and useful feedback to students based on their answers. Learn more about setting up quizzes in Carmen. 

Summative assessment measures student learning by comparing it to a standard. Usually these types of assessments evaluate a range of skills or overall performance at the end of a unit, module, or course. Unlike formative assessment, they tend to focus more on product than process. These high-stakes experiences are typically graded and should be less frequent (Ambrose et al., 2010).

Using Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a common framework for thinking about how students can demonstrate their learning on assessments, as well as for articulating course and lesson learning outcomes .

Benjamin Bloom (alongside collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl) published Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in 1956.   The taxonomy provided a system for categorizing educational goals with the intent of aiding educators with assessment. Commonly known as Bloom’s Taxonomy, the framework has been widely used to guide and define instruction in both K-12 and university settings. The original taxonomy from 1956 included a cognitive domain made up of six categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as “skills and abilities,” with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice. 

A revised Bloom's Taxonomy from 2001 updated these six categories to reflect how learners interact with knowledge. In the revised version, students can:  Remember content, Understand ideas, Apply information to new situations, Analyze relationships between ideas, Evaluate information to justify perspectives or decisions, and Create new ideas or original work. In the graphic pictured here, the categories from the revised taxonomy are imagined as the layers of a cake.

Assessing students on a variety of Bloom's categories will give you a better sense of how well they understand your course content. The taxonomy can be a helpful guide to predicting which tasks will be most difficult for students so you can provide extra support where it is needed. It can also be used to craft more transparent assignments and test questions by honing in on the specific skills you want to assess and finding the right language to communicate exactly what you want students to do.  See the Sample Bloom's Verbs in the Examples section below.

Diving deeper into Bloom's Taxonomy

Like most aspects of our lives, activities and assessments in today’s classroom are inextricably linked with technology. In 2008, Andrew Churches extended Bloom’s Taxonomy to address the emerging changes in learning behaviors and opportunities as “technology advances and becomes more ubiquitous.” Consult Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy for ideas on using digital tools to facilitate and assess learning across the six categories of learning.

Did you know that the cognitive domain (commonly referred to simply as Bloom's Taxonomy) was only one of three domains in the original Bloom's Taxonomy (1956)? While it is certainly the most well-known and widely used, the other two domains— psychomotor and affective —may be of interest to some educators. The psychomotor domain relates to physical movement, coordination, and motor skills—it might apply to the performing arts or other courses that involve movement, manipulation of objects, and non-discursive communication like body language. The affective domain pertains to feelings, values, motivations, and attitudes and is used more often in disciplines like medicine, social work, and education, where emotions and values are integral aspects of learning. Explore the full taxonomy in  Three Domains of Learning: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (Hoque, 2017).

In Practice

Consider the following to make your assessments of student learning effective and meaningful.

Align assignments, quizzes, and tests closely to learning outcomes.

It goes without saying that you want students to achieve the learning outcomes for your course. The testing effect implies, then, that your assessments must help them retrieve the knowledge and practice the skills that are relevant to those outcomes.

Plan assessments that measure specific outcomes for your course. Instead of choosing quizzes and tests that are easy to grade or assignment types common to your discipline, carefully consider what assessments will best help students practice important skills. When assignments and feedback are aligned to learning outcomes, and you share this alignment with students, they have a greater appreciation for your course and develop more effective strategies for study and practice targeted at achieving those outcomes (Wang, et al., 2013).

Provide authentic learning experiences.

Consider how far removed from “the real world” traditional assessments like academic essays, standard textbook problems, and multiple-choice exams feel to students. In contrast, assignments that are authentic resemble real-world tasks. They feel relevant and purposeful, which can increase student motivation and engagement (Fink, 2013). Authentic assignments also help you assess whether students will be able to transfer what they learn into realistic contexts beyond your course.

Integrate assessment opportunities that prepare students to be effective and successful once they graduate, whether as professionals, as global citizens, or in their personal lives.

To design authentic assignments:

• Choose real-world content . If you want students to be able to apply disciplinary methods, frameworks, and terminology to solve real-world problems after your course, you must have them engage with real-world examples, procedures, and tools during your course. Include actual case studies, documents, data sets, and problems from your field in your assessments.
• Target a real-world audience . Ask students to direct their work to a tangible reader, listener or viewer, rather than to you. For example, they could write a blog for their peers or create a presentation for a future employer.
• Use real-world formats . Have students develop content in formats used in professional or real-life discourse. For example, instead of a conventional paper, students could write an email to a colleague or a letter to a government official, develop a project proposal or product pitch for a community-based company, post a how-to video on YouTube, or create an infographic to share on social media.

Simulations, role plays, case studies, portfolios, project-based learning, and service learning are all great avenues to bring authentic assessment into your course.

Make sure assignments are achievable.

Your students juggle coursework from several classes, so it’s important to be conscious of workload. Assign tasks they can realistically handle at a given point in the term. If it takes you three hours to do something, it will likely take your students six hours or more. Choose assignments that assess multiple learning outcomes from your course to keep your grading manageable and your feedback useful (Rayner et al., 2016).

Scaffold assignments so students can develop knowledge and skills over time.

For large assignments, use scaffolding to integrate multiple opportunities for feedback, reflection, and improvement. Scaffolding means breaking a complex assignment down into component parts or smaller progressive tasks over time. Practicing these smaller tasks individually before attempting to integrate them into a completed assignment supports student learning by reducing the amount of information they need to process at a given time (Salden et al., 2006).

Scaffolding ensures students will start earlier and spend more time on big assignments. And it provides you more opportunities to give feedback and guidance to support their ultimate success. Additionally, scaffolding can draw students’ attention to important steps in a process that are often overlooked, such as planning and revision, leading them to be more independent and thoughtful about future work.

A familiar example of scaffolding is a research paper. You might ask students to submit a topic or thesis in Week 3 of the semester, an annotated bibliography of sources in Week 6, a detailed outline in Week 9, a first draft on which they can get peer feedback in Week 11, and the final draft in the last week of the semester.

Your course journey is decided in part by how you sequence assignments. Consider where students are in their learning and place assignments at strategic points throughout the term. Scaffold across the course journey by explaining how each assignment builds upon the learning achieved in previous ones (Walvoord & Anderson, 2011). 

Be transparent about assignment instructions and expectations. 

Communicate clearly to students about the purpose of each assignment, the process for completing the task, and the criteria you will use to evaluate it before they begin the work. Studies have shown that transparent assignments support students to meet learning goals and result in especially large increases in success and confidence for underserved students (Winkelmes et al., 2016).

To increase assignment transparency:

• Explain how the assignment links to one or more course learning outcomes . Understanding why the assignment matters and how it supports their learning can increase student motivation and investment in the work.
• Outline steps of the task in the assignment prompt . Clear directions help students structure their time and effort. This is also a chance to call out disciplinary standards with which students are not yet familiar or guide them to focus on steps of the process they often neglect, such as initial research.
• Provide a rubric with straightforward evaluation criteria . Rubrics make transparent which parts of an assignment you care most about. Sharing clear criteria sets students up for success by giving them the tools to self-evaluate and revise their work before submitting it. Be sure to explain your rubric, and particularly to unpack new or vague terms; for example, language like "argue," “close reading,” "list significant findings," and "document" can mean different things in different disciplines. It is helpful to show exemplars and non-exemplars along with your rubric to highlight differences in unacceptable, acceptable, and exceptional work.

Engage students in reflection or discussion to increase assignment transparency. Have them consider how the assessed outcomes connect to their personal lives or future careers. In-class activities that ask them to grade sample assignments and discuss the criteria they used, compare exemplars and non-exemplars, engage in self- or peer-evaluation, or complete steps of the assignment when you are present to give feedback can all support student success.

Technology Tip   

Enter all  assignments and due dates  in your Carmen course to increase transparency. When assignments are entered in Carmen, they also populate to Calendar, Syllabus, and Grades areas so students can easily track their upcoming work. Carmen also allows you to  develop rubrics  for every assignment in your course. 

Sample Bloom’s Verbs

Building a question bank, using the transparent assignment template, sample assignment: ai-generated lesson plan.

Include frequent low-stakes assignments and assessments throughout your course to provide the opportunities for practice and feedback that are essential to learning. Consider a variety of formative and summative assessment types so students can demonstrate learning in multiple ways. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to determine—and communicate—the specific skills you want to assess.

Remember that effective assessments of student learning are:

• Aligned to course learning outcomes
• Authentic, or resembling real-world tasks
• Achievable and realistic
• Scaffolded so students can develop knowledge and skills over time
• Transparent in purpose, tasks, and criteria for evaluation
• Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (book)
• Cheating Lessons (book)
• Minds online: Teaching effectively with technology (book)
• Assessment: The Silent Killer of Learning (video)
• TILT Higher Ed Examples and Resource (website)
• Writing to Learn: Critical Thinking Activities for Any Classroom (guide)

Ambrose, S.A., Bridges, M.W., Lovett, M.C., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M.K. (2010).  How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching . John Wiley & Sons. 

Barnett, S.M., & Ceci, S.J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer.  Psychological Bulletin , 128 (4). 612–637.  doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.612  

Bransford, J.D, & Schwartz, D.L. (1999). Rethinking transfer: A simple proposal with multiple implications.  Review of Research in Education , 24 . 61–100.  doi.org/10.3102/0091732X024001061  

Fink, L. D. (2013).  Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses . John Wiley & Sons. 

Karpicke, J.D., & Roediger, H.L., III. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning.  Science ,  319 . 966–968.  doi.org/10.1126/science.1152408  

Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So much to read, so little time: How do we read, and can speed reading help?.  Psychological Science in the Public Interest ,  17 (1), 4-34.  doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267     

Salden, R.J.C.M., Paas, F., van Merriënboer, J.J.G. (2006). A comparison of approaches to learning task selection in the training of complex cognitive skills.  Computers in Human Behavior , 22 (3). 321–333.  doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2004.06.003  

Walvoord, B. E., & Anderson, V. J. (2010).  Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment in college . John Wiley & Sons. 

Wang, X., Su, Y., Cheung, S., Wong, E., & Kwong, T. (2013). An exploration of Biggs’ constructive alignment in course design and its impact on students’ learning approaches.  Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education , 38 (4). 477–491.  doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2004.06.003  

Winkelmes, M., Bernacki, M., Butler, J., Zochowski, M., Golanics, J., & Weavil, K.H. (2016). A teaching intervention that increases underserved college students’ success.  Peer Review , 18 (1/2). 31–36. Retrieved from  https://www.aacu.org/peerreview/2016/winter-spring/Winkelmes

Related Teaching Topics

A positive approach to academic integrity, creating and adapting assignments for online courses, ai teaching strategies: transparent assignment design, designing research or inquiry-based assignments, using backward design to plan your course, universal design for learning: planning with all students in mind, search for resources.

Writing Course Goals/Learning Outcomes and Learning Objectives

The goal is where we want to be. The objectives are the steps needed to get there. As seen in this flow chart, the outcome and the learning objectives connect you with (and among) your students, the course content, assignments, and your teaching approach.

Example Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the unit on plant growth and development students will be able to:

• List the five most common plant growth hormones
• Describe the relationship between carbon dioxide level and photosynthesis
• Illustrate the transpiration stream in a corn plant

It is easy to measure each of the objectives.

Either the student has or has not accomplished each one. These measurable objectives can then be used as the basis for your grading or another type of student assessment. For example, based on the first learning objective above, if a student is able to list all 5 plant hormones they earn 100% for the assignment if they can only list 4 plant hormones they earn 90%, and so on.

Bloom’s Taxonomy as a Framework for Writing Learning Objectives

Developing a basic understanding of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956) is a good place to start as you begin writing learning objectives.

Bloom’s Taxonomy in a nutshell: In the late 1940s a group of educators began classifying educational goals and objectives. The intent was to develop a classification system for three domains: the cognitive (mental skills or knowledge), the affective (feelings and emotional skills or attitude), and the psychomotor (manual or physical skills). The work that resulted in the cognitive domain was completed in 1956 and is commonly referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain ( Bloom et al., 1956).

The major concept of the taxonomy is that educational objectives can be arranged in a hierarchy that moves from less to more complex levels of knowledge. The levels are successive; one level must be mastered before the next level can be reached.

The original levels published by Bloom et al. (1956) were ordered as follows:  Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

In 2001 Anderson and Krathwohl published a  revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy  that reflected what has been learned in the forty or so years since it was first published. In summary, the changes reflect more outcome-focused modern education objectives and include switching the names of the levels from nouns to active verbs. The two highest levels have also been changed with the pinnacle level now being ‘create’.  The revised levels are: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate and Create. View CELT’s Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy page.

Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to Learning Objectives

Effective learning objectives need to be observable and/or measurable, and using action verbs is a way to achieve this. Verbs such as “identify”, “argue,” or “construct” are more measurable than vague or passive verbs such as “understand” or  “be aware of”. As you design your course focus on creating clear learning objectives and then use these objectives to guide class assignments, exams, and overall course assessment questions.

Action Verbs

Below are examples of action verbs associated with each level of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. These are useful in writing learning objectives, assignment objectives, and exam questions.

Choose Describe Define Label List Locate Match Memorize Name Omit Recite Select State Count Draw Outline Point Quote Recall Recognize Repeat Reproduce

Classify Defend Demonstrate Distinguish Explain Express Extend Give Examples Illustrate Indicate Interrelate Interpret Infer Match Paraphrase Represent Restate Rewrite Select Show Summarize Tell Translate Associate Compute Convert Discuss Estimate Extrapolate Generalize Predict

Choose Dramatize Explain Generalize Judge Organize Paint Prepare Produce Select Show Sketch Solve Use Add Calculate Change Classify Complete Compute Discover Divide Examine Graph Interpolate Manipulate Modify Operate Subtract

Categorize Classify Compare Differentiate Distinguish Identify Infer Point out Select Subdivide Survey Arrange Breakdown Combine Detect Diagram Discriminate Illustrate Outline Point out Separate

Appraise Judge Criticize Defend Compare Assess Conclude Contrast Critique Determine Grade Justify Measure Rank Rate Support Test

Combine Compose Construct Design Develop Formulate Hypothesize Invent Make Originate Organize Plan Produce Role Play Drive Devise Generate Integrate Prescribe Propose Reconstruct Revise Rewrite Transform

View the  interactive model of learning objectives  which shows the relationship between the knowledge dimension and the cognitive process dimension .

Download and review Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy on this website

Content on sample learning objectives adapted from: Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, Washington State University (2013).

Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl (Eds.). (2001).  A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives . Longman.

Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956).  Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain . Longmans, Green.

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Research Assignment Design: Student Learning Outcomes

• Student Learning Outcomes
• Evaluating Student Work
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Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

These example SLOs addressing the research process are based on the  Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education . You'll work with your librarian to decide which outcomes best fit your goals and assignment.

Students evaluate information with an understanding of context.

• Identify different kinds of authority and when authority might be challenged
• Recognize indicators of authority within the discipline
• Evaluate how personal bias may impact source evaluation

Students understand how and why information is produced.

• Identify various types of disciplinary information, how they are produced, and why they are valued
• Match information needs to appropriate types of information
• Recognize differing genre conventions when applying critical reading skills

Students recognize that information has value and use information ethically.

• Give credit to others’ work through proper citation
• Recognize issues regarding access to information
• Identify concepts related to copyright and fair use

Students approach research with open-minded inquiry.

• Formulate questions for research based on information gaps
• Break down complex questions to researchable components
• Identify different perspectives as possible avenues for research

Students understand that knowledge is developed through sustained discourse and competing perspectives.

• Compare, evaluate, and synthesize authoritative sources with competing perspectives
• Track the evolution of understanding on a topic
• Analyze how sources combine to substantiate claims

Students apply critical thinking, perseverance, and knowledge of information systems to search.

• Match information needs to appropriate search tools
• Develop and refine search strategies and terminology appropriate to the tool
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