Developing measurable

student learning outcomes

Harper College
Outcomes Assessment
Today’s Workshop
 Background: Why do we assess, and how do
student learning outcomes help us assess?
 How do we begin to develop student learning
outcomes?
 What are the characteristics of well-written
outcomes?
 Group critique and improvement of current
course-level student learning outcomes
Workshop Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this workshop,
participants will be able to:
 Describe the role of student learning outcomes in the
assessment process
 Identify the components of concise and measureable
student learning outcomes
 Critique course-level student learning outcomes
 Create measurable course-level student learning
outcomes
You CAN write outcomes for your course,
your discipline, your program…
 Why assess?

Tiger by Bud Blake, 1998 issue of Curriculum Support for Primary Teachers, Copyright King Features
What are learning outcomes?
 Learning outcomes help us articulate what we want
our students to have learned at a variety of points in
their educational careers.
 Learning outcomes are the knowledge, skills and
attitudes that students gain from a learning
experience. They answer the questions:
 What do you want students to know? (knowledge)
 What do you want students to be able to do? (skills)
 What do you want students to think or care about? (attitudes)
How do learning outcomes help us
become better educators?
 Improve courses and programs
 Identify best practices
 Increase student awareness
 Develop common language across the College
 Give context for planning and revision of courses
 Communicate instructors’ intent and expectations

Adapted from the University of Central Florida, Program Assessment Handbook:

Guidelines for Planning and Implementing Quality Enhancing Efforts of Program and
Student Learning Outcomes, 2008 [Link]
How do we develop learning outcomes?
Ask yourself some questions…
 If you ran into a student who had taken your class the
previous semester, what would you hope the student would
say about what she took away from your course?
 What are the specific student behaviors, skills, or abilities
that you want your students to have at the end of the
course? What would they need to be successful in the next
course in the sequence?
 Ideally and briefly, what would a skeptic need (what evidence
needs to be present, what specific behavior needs to be
visible) in order to see that your students are gaining
appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes in your course?
Adapted from UMASS Amherst OAPA Handbook for COURSE-Based Review and Assessment,
Fall 2001 [Link]
Let’s do this right now.
Think of a single course…
Ask yourself some questions…
 If you ran into a student who had taken your class the
previous semester, what would you hope the student would
say about what she took away from your course?
 What are the specific student behaviors, skills, or abilities
that you want your students to have at the end of the
course? What would they need to be successful in the next
course in the sequence?
 Ideally and briefly, what would a skeptic need (what evidence
needs to be present, what specific behavior needs to be
visible) in order to see that your students are gaining
appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes in your course?
Adapted from UMASS Amherst OAPA Handbook for COURSE-Based Review and Assessment,
Fall 2001 [Link]
Now let’s turn those ideas into actual
student learning outcomes…
Characteristics of well-written outcomes
 Stated in measurable terms – use “action” verbs that
focus on student behavior and the products the
student will produce.
 Specific – broad outcomes are difficult to measure.
 Developed in the student as a result of the learning
experience.
 Refers to achievement that is meaningful and
essential for someone who has passed the course.
Measurable
 We won’t discuss actual measurement in this workshop,
but we need to ensure our outcomes will be
measureable when we put them in our assessment
plans.
 Choose an action verb for each learning outcome.
Action verbs result in overt behavior that can be
measured. Several other verbs are unclear and are
subject to varied interpretation.
 Use action verbs…
… to focus on student behavior and the products the
student will produce.
 Biology: Demonstrate use of the scientific method for
scientific research
 Education: Apply philosophy and theory of education to their
own development as an educator
 Management: Distinguish effective, well-managed programs
from ineffective programs
 English: Create work with a sense of purpose and awareness
of audience
 Mathematics: Use each step in the problem-solving process
Adapted from UMASS Amherst OAPA Handbook for COURSE-Based Review and Assessment,
Fall 2001 [Link]
Verbs to avoid
Verbs to avoid: know, become aware of, understand,
appreciate and become familiar with.

Examples:
 Needs work: The student will be able to understand
(not measurable) the decision–making process.
 Good: The student will be able to list (measurable) the
steps of the decision–making process.
 Good: The student will be able to demonstrate use of
(measurable) the steps in the decision-making process.
Course-level examples needing improvement
What makes these learning outcomes problematic? How
can they be improved?
 Economics: Choose one topic relevant to current economic
events and explain its relevance in terms of economic
principle and theory
 Physics: Be able to state and apply physical concepts in their
own words and to discuss what they don’t know
 History: Learn to work as a “knowledgeable practitioner” in
the discipline.
 Political Science: Pass the PSC 101 final exam with a C or
better.
Look at your list, and apply action verbs to your
outcomes. Use Bloom to help you as well.
Bloom: Level and related Cognitive Behaviors
 1. Knowledge: to demonstrate knowledge of specific facts, terms, concepts,
principles, or theories

 2. Comprehension: to interpret, compare and contrast, explain

 3. Application: to apply knowledge to new situations, to solve problems

 4. Analysis: to identify the organizational structure of something; to identify

parts, relationships, and organizing principles.

 5. Synthesis: to create something, to integrate ideas into a solution, to

propose an action plan, to formulate a new classification scheme

 6. Evaluation: to judge the quality of something based on its adequacy,

value, logic or use
Be specific
 At the end of the course, should your
students…
 Demonstrate knowledge of specific facts,
items, concepts, or theories?
 exhibit specific behaviors or attitudes?

 demonstrate the ability to perform specific

skills or tasks?
Be specific
 Look back at your list. Are there any items do
not refer to specific things you want your
students to have learned by the end of the
course?
 Be careful not to be too specific or you will have
dozens of outcomes. Think in broad categories
or the end-of-course objectives.
Include only results of student learning experience

 You may want your students to be good at oral

communication, but if your course does not have an oral
component, do not include that as one of your course-
level outcomes.
 Similarly, you may want students to have cross-cultural
awareness, but it cannot be a learning outcome of the
course if it is not addressed during the course.
Include only results of student learning experience

 Look through your list and determine if there are any

items on it that are not the result of learning
experiences within the course. You have two basic
options:
 Remove those outcome(s) from your list
 Begin discussions about whether that is something students
should be learning in the course and whether course outlines or
assignments might be modified to take this into account.
Refer to meaningful knowledge,
abilities, or achievements

 Is it meaningful for a student to be able to know

what is included in Article I, Section 6 of the U.S.
Constitution at the end of an introductory political
science class?

 Probably not. I may (or may not) include a test question

about this at some point, but I would not expect most
students to remember these types of facts after they have
left my class.
Refer to meaningful knowledge,
abilities, or achievements

 What is meaningful? Possibly…

 Demonstrate the knowledge required to participate in
political society
 Critically evaluate political events

These are some things that might be included in student learning

outcomes. I would not include “identify all sections of the U.S.
Constitution.”
Refer to meaningful knowledge,
abilities, or achievements

 Look through your list and determine if there are any

items on it that are not meaningful for students to
know or be able to do as they exit the course.

 Are there broad categories of items that are useful

but may not be important or meaningful at the level
you have written?
Let’s continue to work on the learning outcomes
you’ve been creating

 Compare your new work with the list on your

General Course Outline.
 What are the similarities & differences?
 Do you think the outcomes on the general course
outline should be revised? Should some be kept
and others be removed?
 Would you like to use some of the outcomes you
wrote, or possibly merge some of the outcomes on
the two lists?
Characteristics of well-written outcomes
(review)
 Stated in objective and measurable terms – use
“action” verbs that focus on student behavior and the
products the student will produce.
 Specific – broad outcomes are difficult to measure.
 Developed in the student as a result of the learning
experience.
 Refers to achievement that is meaningful and
essential for someone who has passed the course.
Workshop Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this workshop,
participants will be able to:
 Describe the role of student learning outcomes in the
assessment process
 Identify the components of concise and measureable
student learning outcomes
 Critique course-level student learning outcomes
 Create measurable course-level student learning
outcomes
Thank you!
Please direct all questions & comments to
Faon Grandinetti
Manager, Outcomes Assessment
(847) 925-6356
fgrandin@[Link]

Adjuncts can also email completed assignments to the address above.