Student learning outcomes are goals that describe how a student will be different because of a learning experience. More specifically, learning outcomes are the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits of mind that students take with them from a learning experience (Suskie, 2009).
They help instructors by:
They help students by:
In order to have any of the benefits described above, student learning outcomes must:
Keep in mind the following: if your course is part of a degree program, make sure your outcomes align with appropriate program learning outcomes. The curriculum map will guide you on the role of your course in contributing to learning in the major.
If you have already been teaching the course, you already have an idea of what you want students to know and do; this process is just articulating your outcomes more explicitly. Therefore, the best place to start is by looking at what you require from students in your course content, assignments and exams.
If you are designing a new course, time to brainstorm. Think about what you want students to be able to know and do and how they will demonstrate that they have achieved that learning. To get inspiration, think about how you learned the material, talk to other faculty, or review similar course syllabi online.
Either way, think about the actions you're asking student to do to demonstrate their learning. What level of thinking are you requiring? Then choose a verb that matches that level of thinking. Check out a revised version of Bloom's taxonomy, "Spit, Synthesize, and Speculate", to help with this matching process.
"Spit": Students must remember or recall concepts you have taught them.
"Synthesize": Students must not only remember concepts, but place them within a larger context.
"Speculate": Students must generate new knowledge based on the individual concepts and larger context.
| "Spit" Verbs | "Synthesize" Verbs | "Speculate" Verbs |
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