This is one post in a collection of six, detailing different steps in course planning. See the main Course planning post for links to each of the stages.
In learning design we begin the planning process by looking at where we want to end up.
It may feel counter intuitive, but by starting with the end, we begin with a clear understanding of where you're trying to get to. Designing the “end” first helps to focus on the outcome (learning) rather than the process (teaching).
By thinking about the end, we’re also better placed to understand where learners are now and what steps would help them move in the right direction – towards the outcome.
So, instead of asking: What topics should we cover?
Ask:
Learning outcomes should describe what learners will be able to do, by the end of the course. So, they need a doing word, a verb.
At their most basic, learning outcomes look a little something like this.
At the end of this course, learners will be able to do a thing.
And generally, that thing is related to some kind of concept or skill. For example:
At the end of this course, learners will be able to describe (verb) the carbon cycle (concept/skill).
Or
At the end of this course, learners will be able to use (verb) active listening (concept/skill).
Sometimes there might be a greater level of specificity of performance e.g. the context, or conditions.
At the end of this course, learners will be able to do a thing within this context.
For example:
At the end of this course, learners will be able to describe the carbon cycle between land, oceans, living things and human activities (context).
Or
At the end of this course, learners will be able to use active listening within a workplace mentoring relationship (context).
So there you have it.
Verb + concept/skill + context.
A lot of the time we end up with outcomes or outcomes like:
At the end of this course, learners will… Understand what a balanced diet is.
The difficulty arises in that “understanding” is somewhat difficult to quantify, observe, or measure. So, we need to be more specific.
To get more specific, ask:
In learning design, it’s better to define the specific skills or outputs that make up “understanding”. Let’s take a look at two examples.
Know about nutrition and how it contributes to health.
Could be…
Describe how nutrition can affect health
Identify the links between nutrition and health
Explain the link between nutrition and health
And
Understand what a balanced diet is.
Could be…
Describe a balanced diet.
Explain the benefits of a balanced diet.
Create a balanced diet plan for a week.
Note: In most instances, we are not defining the output of these more specific skills. For instance, we are not saying that a learner should create a presentation explaining the benefits of a balanced diet. Defining the output (or a range of acceptable outputs) is what we do when we create assessments. Outcomes should describe the level of skill required, but they don’t necessarily describe exactly how that skill could be shown.
Let’s now take a look at how we compare the level of different outcomes.
Looking through our outcomes above, we can see that outcomes are not necessarily all created “equal”. For instance, we would suggest that explaining the links between nutrition and health is “harder” or “more complex” than just identifying the links.
So, when you're coming up with your outcomes, make sure to check that it's at the right difficulty level for your learners.
Bloom's taxonomy is commonly used for cognitive levels. Bloom suggests that the "easiest" level is to be able to remember something. Then, you can build on memorisation to understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create.
If we add our outcomes into this taxonomy we can see the levels.
Create a balanced diet plan for a week
Nil
Explain the benefits of a balanced diet
Explain the link between nutrition and health
Describe a balanced diet
Describe how nutrition can affect health
Identify the links between nutrition and health
Taking the time to think about the different levels highlights where your course outcomes sit overall. We can see now that we don't have any outcomes under apply, analyse or evaluate. You don’t need outcomes at each level. But… you'll want to make sure you have tasks to scaffold learners to the higher levels (when you get to the next stage of planning assessments, tasks, and content).
If you’re interested in practising setting and refining course outcomes a bit more, we have a free iQualify Skills course: Creating and using learning outcomes in course design. In this course you’ll have a chance to practise with automarked tasks and refine your own example outcome along the way. We also go into a bit more detail about levels and domains of outcomes.
In this article, we touched on Bloom’s taxonomy. But it’s not the only one out there! If you're interested in reading more about some other common learning taxonomies, check out the links below.
Remember once you've got your outcome, check it against what you've identified for your target audience:
If you haven't already, a great next step is to use backwards design to plan assessment, then practice tasks, then content. If you have done that step, now's a perfect time to check that your outcomes align with your content, practice activities and assessment.
