LEARNING OUTCOMES:

SOURCES AND
CHARACTERISTICS
"Teach to the individual, not to the curriculum."
 Learning Outcomes
• explain the meaning of learning outcomes;
• state the sources of learning outcomes;
• explain why learning outcomes must consider needs of industry;
• explain the characteristics of good learning outcomes and
• determine whether a given learning outcome is good or not and improve
on learning outcomes that do not meet standards.
 Introduction
• In OBE, the focus is on learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are naturally
associated with learners thus the phrase student learning outcomes. Don't get
confused. We are still referring to the same learning outcomes focused on the
student or the learner.
• Students who are well informed about what behaviors are expected of them in a
course/subject or learning activity have a definite guide during the learning
activity and are therefore perceived to attain success. Correlatively, teachers
who know very well what they wish their students to demonstrate or perform
will be in the best position to align their instructional activities to the desired
learning outcomes.
Meaning of Learning Outcomes
Outcomes come in different levels:
• The intended institutional outcomes, the broadest of all outcomes, are derived from the institution's vision and
mission attributes (which are also termed student outcomes).
• Below the institutional outcomes are program outcomes. For the teacher education program, the program outcomes
are laid down in the Memorandum Orders from the Commission on Higher Education. CMO No. 74 to 80, s. 2017.
Higher educational institutions which have their own institutional outcomes that are derived from their VMG (vision,
mission, goals) may add program outcomes to these program outcomes issued by CHED.
• More specific than the program outcomes are the course outcomes, the outcomes for each subject in the curriculum.
• Most specific are the learning outcomes which others call intended learning outcomes or student learning outcomes to
emphasize that these are the knowledge, skills and values that students are expected to demonstrate at the end of the
lesson. These are the ones assessed in the process of teaching learning and are expected to be demonstrated at the end
of the lesson.
• Teaching objectives are not the same as learning outcomes. Teaching objectives are formulated from the point of
the teacher while learning outcomes are formulated from the point of view of the learner. Teaching objectives state
what the teacher does while learning outcomes state specifically what knowledge, skill or value must be demonstrated
by the learner after instruction. There should be no disconnect between teaching objective and learning outcome. In the
words of OBE, they must be aligned.
 Sources of Learning Outcomes
1. The institutions vision and mission statement are relevant source
of student learning expectations. Public schools refer to the public
school system vision and mission statements as source of learning
outcomes. Private schools are either sectarian or non-sectarian and
their vision and mission statements may be sourced from their
respective religious goals, in the case of sectarian schools, or their
founders philosophy in the case of non-sectarian schools.
• If school teachers observe constructive alignment, then we
expect that their teaching-learning activities and assessment
tasks are aligned with their learning outcomes what they call
learning objectives) which are in turn aligned with the DepEd
vision-mission statements. Teacher education institutions must
teach the future teachers to align their lessons learning
outcomes, teaching-learning activities and assessment tasks)
with the DepEd vision and mission statements.
 Sources of Learning Outcomes
2. Policies and competencies and standards issued by government
education agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd), Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) are prescribed sources of learning outcomes. The
DepEd issued the K to 12 Curriculum Guide that contains the competencies
expected to be taught by teachers in the basic education level. It likewise issued
the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST). TESDA likewise
has a list of competencies per course and CHED has program outcomes and
course outcomes for all programs.
 Sources of Learning Outcomes
3. To bridge the gap between academe and industry, expected
competencies identified by the different professions, business and industry
should be adopted to ensure that graduates are able to perform as expected in
their respective work places and/or professions. In the Philippines, the various
Professional Regulatory Boards of the Professional Regulation Commission
have come up with lists of competencies expected of professionals. The Board
for Professional Teachers, for example, has a list of these competencies in its
Table of Specifications (TOS).
 Sources of Learning Outcomes
4. For schools to be relevant, they should consider the thrusts and development goals of national
government in the formulation of learning outcomes. Schools are there for society and society is
also there for the schools.
In a global world and for global citizenship, the determination of learning outcomes must
likewise consider international trends and development. This makes graduates globally
competitive. Amidst talk on glocal citizenship, it is no longer adequate to work for the
realization of learning outcomes that are attuned only to local needs. Global needs must be given
equal attention to make graduates glocal who are ready to respond to the needs to both local and
global communities.
Examples of these international developments are the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework and the Philippine
Qualifications Framework.
 Program Outcomes for
Teacher Education Based on
the CMOS
Based on CMOs 74-80 s, 2017, The Policies, Standards and Guidelines
for the teacher education program, graduates of all programs in all
types of schools (professional institution, college or university) have
the ability to:
 1. Common to all programs in all types of
schools graduates have the ability to:
a. articulate and discuss the latest developments in the specific field of
practice. (PQF level 6 descriptor)
b. effectively communicate in English and Filipino, both orally and in writing
c. work effectively and collaboratively with a substantial degree of
independence in multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams. (PQF level 6
discriptor)
d. act in recognition of professional, social and ethical responsibility.
e. preserve and promote "Filipino historical and cultural heritage" (based on
RA 7722)
 2. Common to the discipline
(Teacher Education)
a. Articulated the rootedness of education in philosophical,
cultural, historical, psychological, and political contexts.
b. Demonstrate mastery of subject matter discipline
c. Facilitate learning using a wide range of teaching
methodologies and delivery modes appropriate to specific
learners and their environments.
 2. Common to the discipline
(Teacher Education)
a. Articulated the rootedness of education in philosophical,
cultural, historical, psychological, and political contexts.
b. Demonstrate mastery of subject matter discipline
c. Facilitate learning using a wide range of teaching
methodologies and delivery modes appropriate to specific
learners and their environments.
d. Develop innovate curricula, instructional plans, teaching
approaches, and resources for diverse learners.
 3. Common to graduates of a horizontal type
of institution as defined in CMO 46, 2012
a. Graduates of professional institutions demonstrate service
orientation in their respective professions.
b. Graduates of colleges are qualified for various types of
employment and participate in development activities and
public discourses, particularly in response to the needs of the
communities they serve.
c. Graduates of universities contribute to the generation of new
knowledge by participating in various research and
development projects.
 The Philippine Professional
Standards for Teachers
Based on CMOs 74-80 s, 2017, The Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the
teacher education program, graduates of all programs in all types of schools
(professional institution, college or university) have the ability to:
https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DO_s2017_042-1.pdf
• In summary, when teacher formulates his/her
learning outcomes, he/she takes into consideration
the institutional outcomes, the program outcomes
from the CHED, the Philippine Professional
Standards for Teachers and the DepEd vision and
mission statements since DepEd is the main
employer of teacher education graduates.
Characteristics of Good
Learning Outcomes
 1. Good learning outcomes are centered on
the student/ learner.
• This is the reason why learning outcomes are referred to as
student learning outcomes. Good learning outcomes are learner-
centered. They describe what the learner is able to do as a result
of teaching. Here is an example, "The learner is able to write a
paragraph that observes unity, coherence, variety... "To teach the
students how to write a good paragraph is not learner-centered. It
is teacher-centered instead. It is a teaching objective not a
learning outcome. Teaching objectives belong to the teacher
while learning outcomes belong to the learner.
 2. Good learning outcomes are based on and
aligned with the institutional, program and
course outcomes.
• It is in aligning learning outcomes with institutional outcomes
that educational institutions realize their intended institutional
outcomes. It is in aligning learning outcomes with intended
program outcomes issued by the regulating body in the case of
the Philippines, the Commission on Higher Education) that the
program outcomes are also realized. It is in aligning the
learning outcomes to the course outcomes that each
course/subject in the teacher education curriculum attains its
course outcomes.
 3. Good learning outcomes are based on and
aligned with local, national and international
trends and issues.
• From the social reconstructionist point of view, schools are not
ivory towers. They are expected to help address social
problems and so for relevance, it is necessary that learning
outcomes are based on and aligned with current issues.
Aligning learning outcomes with local, national and
international issues ensures teaching-learning that is relevant
and attuned to the local and global world of learners.
 4. Good learning outcomes are known and are
very well understood by both students and
faculty.
• The learning outcomes are no secret for the teacher only. In
fact, in OBE and OBTL the teacher starts the lesson with a
clarification of the learning outcome/s to ensure that each
student knows what is/ are expected of him/her. Some
teachers have the commendable practice of writing the
learning outcome on the board.
5. Good learning outcomes include a spectrum of thinking skills from
simple remembering to creating or from the lowest and simplest
cognitive, unistructural process to cognitive in Bloom's and
Anderson's revised taxonomy of objectives.
 4 KEY TYPES OF EDUCATIONAL GOALS

1. Knowledge goals specify the knowledge that

students should know while
2. Basic skills state what students should be able to
do.
3. Understanding goals refer to students' grasp of big
ideas. Learner’s long term understanding is
demonstrated when they can:
5. Good learning outcomes include a spectrum of thinking skills from
simple remembering to creating or from the lowest and simplest
cognitive, unistructural process to cognitive in Bloom's and
Anderson's revised taxonomy of objectives.
 4 KEY TYPES OF EDUCATIONAL GOALS

4. Long-term transfer goals refer to students' capacity

to apply what they have learned to new situation or
different context. Long-term transfer goals are often
transdisciplinary in nature. They encompass complex
skills like critical thinking, collaboration,
developmental habits of mind such as persistence and
self regulation.
 The Structure of the Observed
Learning Outcome (SOLO)
The Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) is a means of classifying learning
outcomes in terms of their complexity. Learning becomes more complex as it progresses. Teaching-
learning begins with one or few aspects of the task (unistructural), then tackling several aspects of the
task unrelated and so tasks that are independent of each other (multistructural), then integrating the
multiple aspects into a whole (relational), and finally generalizing into something abstract (extended
abstract). See the behavioral terms that apply per level.
In summary, all the taxonomies of objectives or outcomes discussed in the foregoing paragraphs
begin with the cognitive process at the lowest level becoming more complex and higher in level as one
goes higher in the taxonomy of objectives. Good learning outcomes are concerned not only with the
cognitive process in the lower level like remembering but also with more complex outcomes in the
higher cognitive level such as applying, evaluating and creating.
 5. Good learning outcomes are SMART
• Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Result - oriented and Time-
bound. "To discuss everything that you learned from this
course" is not a good learning outcome. It is not specific. But
"to illustrate with a concrete example at least 5 principles of
learning" is a good learning outcome. Good learning outcomes
are stated using behavioral terms.
 6. Good learning outcomes are useful and
relevant to the learners.
• The learning outcomes are for the learners to attain at the end
of the lesson. It is easier for the learners to realize the learning
outcomes if they are of use and of relevance to them. If the
learning outcomes are relevant, the learners see the
importance or significance of realizing the learning outcomes
in their life. It is quite difficult for learners to learn something
which has no relevance to their life.