This is one of the topics that we are amazed by. For decades, it has been advocated that every course should have clear learning outcomes and be designed with these in mind. This is known to be the best practice. It is not open for debate!

The learning outcomes should follow from the degree program outcomes. The students should know what the learning outcomes are and how they will be assessed. Unfortunately, we still find this topic being discussed with too many instructors failing to understand the importance of having learning outcomes explicitly considered, designed in, and communicated.



In theory, the learning outcomes are aligned to Bloom’s taxonomy covering one or more of the topics; knowledge, comprehending, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and evaluating. The first Bloom topic is fairly straightforward and many of the courses in the first and second year of university are foundational and focused on this one level. What knowledge do you need to 'comprehend' the material at the desired level of mastery. The remaining levels are the cognitive skills and all use the knowledge dimension with varying degrees of success; what knowledge is needed to apply, needed to analyse, and so forth. There are skills at each level to develop and it is not just the knowledge.

The learning outcomes should be clear as to the level of mastery in each case, because almost any task we ask a student to do will have some degree of knowledge, comprehension, applying their knowledge, thinking about what they are doing, combining ideas, and thinking about how good their answer is. Even the naïve level of skill and expertise has these elements as the individual guesses, flails, and provides an answer. While it is doubtful that a student will actually achieve any real level of expertise during their undergraduate degree, they should progress from naïve, to novice, to junior in one or more areas of speciality, and be at different levels of cognitive skill expertise by the time they graduate.

Often an instructor might want to enhance a course by adding extra material and content. We encourage this in fact. Every course should have room for the instructor to provide their own insights and ideas. However, the actual course assessments and majority of course content should be driven by the calendar descriptions and the program requirements.

Our observations...

• In some cases, an instructor with the best of intentions will have learning outcomes documented in the course syllabus which do not make sense and cause confusion.

• There is no correct, single way to describe learning outcomes; there is no one-size-fits-all recipe.
• Learning outcomes should be expressed in a way that the students can understand them, and recognize them as the supporting knowledge and skills are being taught during the term.
• The learning outcomes can be about the abilities achieved by the average student doing the average work by the end of term. They can be described with action verbs, possibly aligning to the terminology used in the Bloom taxonomy, or not. The important point is that the students know and understand what the endgame is for the course.
• The learning outcomes can be phrased so that the students understand the value of the learning outcome with in their program and upon graduation. Students are more likely to engage and be motivated if they can see a personal value or benefit in a course and its content. Either in the short term, for work opportunities, perhaps a subsequent course, or upon graduation.
• The learning outcomes should be used during the course design; the content, the labs, the tutorials, and the assessments. If something is going to be taught or assessed, there should be a direct link to a learning outcome; else it has no place in the course.
• The learning outcomes should be regularly discussed in class. What has been learned to date. How everything comes together for the term goals. What is going to happen next in the course.
• It should not be assumed that the students will actually read the course outline or the boilerplate components of the course outline. It is important in the first class to lay out the learning outcomes for the students.

• Learning outcomes from previous courses can also be referred to so that the students understand what you are assuming about their previous education. This implies that the instructor knows what the learning outcomes are for the preceding courses.
• If possible, it is important to actually discuss the learning outcomes with the class. Not simply tell them what the learning outcomes are. If you can get the class to relate to the learning outcomes this will help with the class behavior and dynamics.
• Best practice would be that for any new major topic or course component, the learning objectives be reviewed explicitly for this context. We should not assume that the students will remember what was said in the first lecture.

Further reading

• Writing Intended Learning Outcomes. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/planning-courses/course-design/writing-learning-outcomes