The document discusses the importance of defining clear learning outcomes in education, emphasizing their role in guiding both instructors and students. It outlines strategies for developing course-level and topic-level outcomes, utilizing Bloom's taxonomy to create effective assessments. Additionally, it encourages sharing these outcomes with students to enhance their understanding and engagement in the learning process.

1. Summer Graduate Teaching Scholars
May 15 and 17, 2013
Practical 3: Learning Outcomes

2. Scholarly approach to teaching:
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Carl Wieman
Science Education Initiative
cwsei.ubc.ca
What should
students
learn?
What are
students
learning?
What instructional
approaches
help students
learn?
learning
outcomes
(goals, objectives)
assessment

3. Learning outcomes, recall,…
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 are statements that complete the sentence, “By this
end of this lesson/unit/course, you will be able to…”
 begins with an action verb, typically chosen by the
cognitive Bloom’s Level of the outcome (remember,
comprehend, apply, analyze, evaluate, create)
 clarify to the students and to the instructors the
what it means to “understand” the concept
 guide instructor’s choice of materials, activities,
assessment, etc.: Does it support the LO? Yes: use it.
No: find something else.

4. Topic-level and Course-level LOs
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You likely have some “big picture” goals for your course
that can’t be assessed by a single exam question
“gain a quantitative perspective on the scale, age and
diversity of our Solar System”
“develop evidence-based arguments to defend a position”

5. A complete set of LOs might have
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 3 – 5 course-level LOs
There should be some but not too many: how can
sufficiently support 10 course-level outcomes?
 50 – 100 topic level LOs
The number changes by discipline (more in intro STEM courses,
for example) Typically, lots of lower Bloom’s level goals, with
fewer and fewer LOs at higher Bloom’s levels.
When you have a list of topic-level LOs, sync them with
your course-level goals (see ASTR 310 Learning Goals)

6. 1. “Back-engineer” LOs from exams
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Use last year’s (or several years’) final exam. For each
good question, ask yourself
 What is this question assessing? What is the learning
outcome I want students to demonstrate to properly
answer this question?
 Is that the outcome I want, or is it too low (or high)?
When you have a list of LOs,
 Does it cover everything I want for this course?
 Have I over- or under-represented any concepts?

7. 2. Draft LOs from course outline
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Work your way through the list of topics. For each topic,
decide
 What do I want students to be able to do, to
demonstrate they “get” this topic?
 Don’t worry about drafting many low-level LOs.
When you revise, you’ll start grouping them into
higher-level LOs.
(see ASTR 310 Learning Goals)

8. Deciding on the level of a LO
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Writing learning outcomes is hard because you have to
 recognize
 declare
 (admit)
what you want your students to be capable of doing.
A good start is picking the verb describing the action
the students will perform to demonstrate their mastery
of the concept.

9. Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
think critically about and defend a position
transform or combine ideas to create
something new
break down concepts into parts
apply comprehension to unfamiliar situations
demonstrate understanding of ideas and
concepts
remember and recall factual information

10. Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
higher order thinking
lower order thinking

11. Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
develop, create, propose, formulate,
design, invent
judge, appraise, recommend, justify,
defend, criticize, evaluate
compare, contrast, categorize, distinguish,
identify, infer
apply, demonstrate, use, compute, solve,
predict, construct, modify
describe, explain, summarize, interpret,
illustrate
define, list, state, label, name, describe

12. Let’s try it: Find a partner and write a
few learning outcomes for your class:
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Pick a question
from your exam/hw
write the LO
being assessed
Does LO contain
“understand”?
yes
Great!
Do another
one!
How does an
expert show
understanding?
no

13. Share your LOs with your students
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 After you’ve gone to the trouble of creating learning
outcomes, share them with your students
 (good) publish them as a document along side your
syllabus
 (better) include relevant learning goals in your lecture
slides at the beginning of each day/topic
 Rather than always reading them aloud, take the time to
remind students what they are and how to use them. The
LOs will be there when they study.
 Don’t worry about “spoon-feeding” them – so what if
students do exactly what you feel demonstrates
understanding?

14. Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain
(Levels of Learning) [Wieman, 2007]
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6. Synthesis: transform and combine ideas to create something new
develop, create, propose, formulate, design, invent
5. Evaluation: think critically about and defend a position
judge, appraise, recommend, justify, defend, criticize, evaluate
4. Analysis: break down concepts into parts
compare, contrast, categorize, distinguish, identify, infer
3. Application: apply comprehension to unfamiliar situations
apply, demonstrate, use, compute, solve, predict, construct, modify
2. Comprehension: demonstrate understanding of ideas, concepts
describe, explain, summarize, interpret, illustrate
1. Factual Knowledge: remember and recall factual knowledge
define, list, state, label, name, describe
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