Intended learning outcomes
Intended learning outcomes describe what students should know, be able to do or value, as a result of a learning experience. They make expectations visible to students and help instructors align learning activities, assessments and feedback with the learning the course is intended to support. This resource will help you understand when and how to use ILOs, identify their key elements and explore effective examples.
Levels of ILOs
Intended learning outcomes exist at different levels: from the institutional level to a single class lesson. As the focus narrows, outcomes get more specific and easier to observe directly in student work.
- Institutional outcomes describe broad knowledge, skills, values and attributes students may develop across their university education.
- Program outcomes describe what graduates of a program should know, do or value.
- Course outcomes describe the most important learning students should achieve by the end of a course.
- Lesson outcomes describe the specific learning students will work toward during one part of a course.
What kind of learning matters
Before choosing an action verb, think about what type of learning you want students to take away:
- Knowledge — understanding concepts, facts, or theories
- Skills — being able to do something, such as applying a method or solving a problem
- Values — developing attitudes, judgment, or professional dispositions
Use Bloom’s taxonomy to consider cognitive complexity
Bloom’s revised taxonomy can help identify the kind of cognitive work students will undertake, from remembering and understanding through to analyzing, evaluating and creating.
Bloom’s taxonomy is a planning tool rather than a requirement that every course progress through all six categories. Select the level of thinking that best represents the learning students need to demonstrate. For example, the difference between asking students to describe a theory, apply it to a case, or use it to develop a new response.
Use Fink’s taxonomy to consider multiple dimensions of learning
Not all important learning is captured by cognitive complexity alone. Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning invites instructors to consider six interconnected forms of learning, including how ideas connect across contexts, what learning means for students personally and professionally, and how students become more independent learners.
Bloom and Fink can be used together. Bloom clarifies the cognitive action students will perform, while Fink helps instructors consider the wider significance of that learning.
Write a clear outcome
With a sense of the level, type, and complexity of learning for students, the next step is to put that outcome into words.
A clear intended learning outcome usually includes the following core elements:
- An observable action: What will students do to demonstrate their learning?
- The learning content: What knowledge, skill, practice or disposition will they demonstrate?
Where useful an outcome may also identify:
- The context or conditions: Under what circumstances, with what information or using which tools will students perform?
- The expected standard: What qualities or criteria will characterize successful performance?
A useful starting structure is:
“By the end of this course or learning experience, students will be able to [action] [content] [in a relevant context or according to stated criteria].”
Choose verbs that describe something students can demonstrate, such as explain, apply, compare, analyze, design, justify, perform or reflect. Avoid verbs such as know, understand, learn or appreciate unless the outcome also states how that learning will be demonstrated.
Not every outcome needs to include all four elements. Include context and criteria only when they add meaningful information rather than making the statement longer.
Examples
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- analyze how audience, purpose and medium influence communication choices;
- select and justify a research method that is appropriate for a defined inquiry question;
- integrate evidence from multiple disciplinary perspectives when developing a response to a complex problem;
- evaluate competing interpretations using explicit disciplinary criteria;
- reflect on how their assumptions and experiences influence their approach to professional practice; and
- develop and explain a strategy for continuing to learn in a changing professional context.
By the end of the lesson or module, students will be able to:
- describe the six cognitive processes in Bloom’s revised taxonomy;
- compare two interpretations of a text using evidence from assigned readings;
- apply a disciplinary concept to an unfamiliar case;
- construct and support an argument in response to a question raised during discussion; and
- identify one area of uncertainty and formulate a question for further investigation.
Outcome checklist
Before finalizing an intended learning outcome, ask:
- Is it written from the student’s perspective?
- Does it describe learning rather than a teaching activity or course topic?
- Can students demonstrate the outcome?
- Is the expected learning appropriate for the course level and available time?
- Do students have opportunities to practise before they are assessed?
- Do the assessments gather evidence of the learning described?
- Will students understand what successful performance involves?
References
- Allan, J. (1996). Learning outcomes in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 21(1), 93-108. DOI: 10.1080/03075079612331381487
- Kennedy, D. (2007). Writing and using learning outcomes: A practical guide. Quality Promotion Unit,
- University College Cork. https://cora.ucc.ie/bitstream/handle/10468/1613/A%20Learning%20Outcomes%20Book%20D%20Kennedy.pdf?sequence=1