HOLY SPIRIT UNIVERSITY OF KASLIK
Office of the Provost
Guides
How to Write Effective Course Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes (LOs) articulate the knowledge, skills, or responsibilities that an instructor wants
his/her students to have, as a result of taking the course. The LOs will serve as the driver for the
instructor’s choice of learning and assessment activities, assignments, and other graded events.
In creating LOs, the instructor is encouraged to consider what learning will endure and how
students will think, act, or feel differently months or years after the course is over.
Effective course LOs:
1. Describe What Students Will Learn and Be Able to Do
Because the focus is on student learning, LOs are written in terms of what students will have
learned and be able to do at the end of the course.
• Poor example: “This course will introduce students to fundamental theories in social
psychology.” This statement describes what the course will do but says nothing about what
students will learn as a result of taking the course.
• Poor example: “Students will learn the basic theories of social psychology.” – While this
statement focuses on learning, it doesn’t say anything about what students will know or be able
to do at the end of the course.
• Better Example: “Students will be able to apply fundamental theories in social psychology to
real-world situations.”
Tip: Focus on the quality of student learning by asking “How will students be different few months
from now as a result of taking this course? What will they know and be able to do in few months
that they don’t right now?”
2. Are Actionable, Visible, & Measurable
Outcomes state what students do to demonstrate their learning. Each outcome statement should
include an action verb. The outcome uses an action verb that signals the instructors’ expectations
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HOLY SPIRIT UNIVERSITY OF KASLIK
Office of the Provost
Guides
and describes what the learner will be doing when demonstrating the achievement of the outcome.
• Poor Example: “Students will be able to discuss whether an anatomical structure is an organ.” In
this example, the meaning of “discuss” is not clear. It might either mean that the student will
“memorize a list of criteria” or will “use a list of criteria to determine”.
• Better Example: “Students will be able to use a list of criteria to determine whether an
anatomical structure is an organ.”
Tip: Avoid using verbs that are vague and unfocused. Examples include “to know,” “to understand,”
and “to discuss.” These verbs may be good starting points, but they don’t provide sufficient
direction for the instructors or for the students. The instructor has to think about what he/she really
wants students to do in order to demonstrate their learning. This will form the basis of the
assessments in the course.
3. Are Clear & Understandable to Students and to Instructors
Outcomes should be phrased in simple terms so that they are clear to both students and instructors.
Clear outcomes make it easier for students to monitor their own accomplishment of the outcomes
as they progress through the course.
• Poor Example: “Students will develop a deeper, more integrated understanding of biological
concepts, with a focus on the human system that will enable them to connect life experiences
and activities to their underlying structures and genetic and/or physiological mechanisms.”
• Better Example: “Students will apply biological concepts to human real-life scenarios.”
Tip: Share course outcomes with colleagues, both inside and outside the department. Statements
that make perfect sense to an instructor may not be as crystal clear to people who lack background
knowledge and experience.
4. Have an Appropriate Level of Generality
One of the most difficult tasks in writing a course outcome is selecting the appropriate level of
generality which is indicated by the verb that starts the statement.
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HOLY SPIRIT UNIVERSITY OF KASLIK
Office of the Provost
Guides
• Too General: “Students will be able to communicate effectively in Portuguese”. This statement is
too general for a course outcome because “communication” involves speaking, listening,
writing, and reading.
• Too Specific: “Students will punctuate sentences properly”. This statement is too specific for a
course outcome and is better suited for a topic or lesson outcome.
• A More Appropriate Level: “Students will write clear, effective Portuguese.”
Tip: Write outcomes to be specific enough to provide direction for instruction and assessment
without listing all of the component behaviors.
5. Require High Levels of Thinking and Learning
Some of the course outcomes should be at the higher levels of learning. This does not mean that
fundamental knowledge or skills are unimportant.
• Low-Level Outcome Example: “Students will list the causes of the American Civil War.” This
represents a lower-level outcome, i.e., “Foundational Knowledge” in Fink’s taxonomy of
significant learning. This is probably not appropriate as a course-level goal.
• High Level Outcome Example: “Students will analyze the causes of the American Civil War”.
Tip: Look for verbs at the lower and at the higher levels of Fink’s Taxonomy. Refer to the diagram
below and focus on verbs or phrases that represent both basic and ambitious learning outcomes.
Choose these words carefully, as your choice will ultimately determine the kinds of learning
experiences and assessments you will use in your class.
Taxonomy of Significant Learning
Foundational Human Learning How
Application Integration Caring
Knowledge Dimensions to Learn
Remember Use Connect Come to see Get excited Create a plan for
Understand Critique themselves as… about… future learning
Identify the
about…
Manage interaction Interact with
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HOLY SPIRIT UNIVERSITY OF KASLIK
Office of the Provost
Guides
Identify Solve between… others Be ready to… Identify
List Assess regarding… important
Identify the Be more
sources of
Judge similarities Understand interested in…
information
Imagine between… others in terms
Value…
of… Formulate useful
Analyze Relate
questions
Calculate Decide to
Compare about…
become…
Create
Integrate
Coordinate
Solve
problems
Make
decisions
6. Are Developmentally Appropriate
Course outcomes should be challenging, yet achievable. If outcomes are too challenging, students
will likely become frustrated at their inability to accomplish them. If outcomes are too easy, they
are likely to become bored.
• Perhaps Too Challenging: “Students will write a review paper based on the reading of at least 20
papers from political science journals.”
Without a lot of support, this may be an outcome that students would have trouble meeting.
• Perhaps Too Easy: “Students will identify the different parts of a political science journal article.”
This may be something that instructors want their students to be able to do, but it is too simple
to build a course around.
• Perhaps More Appropriate: “Students will interpret concepts from an article in a political science
journal.”
Tip: Find out about the abilities of students entering the class so that to have a good idea of what
they’re capable of doing.
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