Posted by In a constructively aligned course, the unit learning outcomes are aligned not only with the assessments, learning activities and content of the unit, but also with the course of study learning outcomes, graduate attributes, and any legislative and regulatory requirements.
A good learning outcome is both at the right knowledge level and measurable, clearly describing the necessary evidence that a student has achieved the outcome. This will enable regulators and faculty to ensure the unit is contributing to the achievement of the course of study learning outcomes, it will support the writing of aligned assessments and it will support students in achieving the learning outcome.
In this post, we will cover the preparation that saves time and effort in writing a unit learning outcome (ULO), the ideal structure of a ULO, and how to avoid the pitfalls. I am writing in an Australian education context and assuming a tertiary (university) level. In line with the AQF, I will refer to courses of study rather than programmes of study, and units rather than subjects or modules.
Context of Learning Outcomes
As you can see from the diagram above, unit learning outcomes are derived from course outcomes and graduate outcomes (or graduate attributes). They are also influenced by TEQSA, a regulator, and by federal government requirements. Finally, they will be influenced by the pedagogical approach of the academics teaching the unit.
Graduate attributes
A university has Graduate Outcomes (or graduate attributes), which all students should achieve. These outcomes are often fairly abstract and not taught as specific units. Nevertheless, it should be possible to map these graduate outcomes against all units to show where they are learned. Here are examples of graduate outcomes:
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- Teamwork and communication skills
- Cultural competence
- Communication
If your unit is required to address one or more graduate outcomes, your unit learning outcomes will need to reflect this.
Course learning outcomes
Your faculty will have a set of learning outcomes for each course of study that leads to the award of a qualification. To be granted the qualification, a student should have achieved all these outcomes (not fifty percent.) Whichever pathway the student takes towards the qualification, they should achieve the same outcomes. Obviously, these outcomes cannot be too specific. For example, a science graduate should be able to devise and conduct experiments to test hypotheses, then perform statistical analyses of the results and come to legitimate conclusions. They could do this in biology, physics, cosmology, chemistry, psychology, or any other scientific discipline.
For each unit in a course of study, the unit learning outcomes give more detail of what a student should know and be able to do after they have successfully completed the unit. These subject learning outcomes are then used to write assessments and to select learning activities. Both the assessments and the learning activities should align with the unit learning outcomes. It is unrealistic to attempt to write the unit learning outcomes without access to the course learning outcomes and an indication as to which of those course learning outcomes your unit is addressing. You may find the unit learning outcomes have been drafted for you.
Legislation and regulation
The Australian Federal Government has set up a mechanism to maintain the standard of education in Australia.
First, the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) specifies the appropriate level of learning for each Australian qualification. For AQF Level 7, which corresponds to a bachelor’s degree, some of the criteria are:
- “analyse and evaluate information to complete a range of activities
- “analyse, generate and transmit solutions to unpredictable and sometimes complex problems”
Students are also expected to “… demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgement and responsibility in contexts that require self-directed work and learning…”
I have marked in bold some of the words that have implications for the level and types of assessments to be written for your unit, and for the wording of the learning outcomes.
The Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 also has information on learning outcomes and TEQSA, the regulator, has published relevant guidance notes.
Part 6 of the Disability Standards for Education 2005, which applies to universities, covers curriculum development where there is a likelihood of a student with a disability enrolling. Part 1 has a comprehensive definition of “disability”.
Preparation
Before you start writing learning outcomes, you have two more decisions to make:
- What taxonomy of learning outcomes will you use?
- What pedagogical approach will you use?
A taxonomy of learning outcomes
When writing learning outcomes, you can save yourself effort by using a taxonomy of learning outcomes. These are groups of learning outcomes classified according to the depth and domain of learning. Among the best known is Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
This version of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy shows action verbs appropriate to each level of learning. If you look back at the excerpt from the AQF criteria for a bachelor’s degree, you will see the verbs in bold (analyse, evaluate, and generate) correspond to the top three levels of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. This is the level at which the students are expected to perform to earn their degrees. Understanding, remembering, and explaining are not enough.
| Cognitive Process | Definition | Relevant Action Verbs |
|---|---|---|
| Create | Produce new or original work | Design, assemble, construct, conjecture, develop, formulate, author, investigate |
| Evaluate | Justify a stand or decision | Appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, critique, weigh |
| Analyse | Draw connections between ideas | Differentiate, organise, relate, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test |
| Apply | Use information in new situations | execute, implement, solve, use, demonstrate, interpret, operate, schedule, sketch |
| Understand | Explain ideas or concepts | Classify, describe, discuss, explain, identify, locate, recognise, report, select, translate |
| Remember | Recall facts and basic concepts | Define, duplicate, list, memorise, repeat, state |
Adapted from Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved 14-7-23 from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.
Pitfalls
A questionable assumption is that students won’t be able to perform at the level of “Create” until their third year at university, and that they can only perform at or below the level of “Analyse” in their first year. However, with a quick glance at the Level 10 – Victorian Curriculum you can see that students are expected to perform at those levels in Year 10 of secondary school.
Pedagogical approach
Because, in a constructively aligned course, the learning activities, assessments and intended learning outcomes are so closely related, it helps to choose a pedagogical approach before beginning work on the learning outcomes. Your pedagogical approach, which must be compatible with the learning outcomes, helps determine the assessments and learning activities. Examples of pedagogical approaches are:
- Competency-based learning
- Game-based learning
- Mobile-based learning
- Problem-based learning
- Project-based learning
- Scenario-based learning
- Task-centred learning
- Team-based learning
You can find more pedagogical approaches here: Pedagogical Approaches and Models
Writing unit learning outcomes
Unit learning outcomes must cater to three types of audience: students, educators and reviewers. They should be specific and clearly stated in language that can be understood by all three audiences. In particular, they should be written from a student’s point of view, specifying what they must do, what they must know and the context they will be working in.
There should be a total of about five to eight ULOs and they must be comprehensive, covering everything that is to be learned and assessed. If you end up with twenty or thirty ULOs you are sacrificing depth of learning for breadth of learning, or you are specifying the learning outcomes in too much detail. Either way, you are likely to run into trouble when you begin writing the assessments.
The ULOs must be measurable, so avoid vague verbs such as “appreciate,” “know” or “understand.” You cannot see these invisible processes internal to the brain, but you can see evidence, such as a good explanation or a professionally written computer program. In the ULOs, describe the evidence you want to see. The ULOs should contain:
- an action verb that describes what the students should be able to do, and which also describes the cognitive processes involved.
- a phrase identifying the content to be learned.
- the context in which students will be required to perform.
ULOs should be written in present or future tense.
The structure of a learning outcome
Examples
Example 1
Develop C++ Computer programs that satisfy given business requirements.
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Develop | C++ computer programms | that satisfy given business requirements. |
The action verb, “develop” places it at the appropriate level of learning. The content, C++ computer programs, is extremely broad. For example, there is no indication whether the knowledge of the object-oriented paradigm, design patterns, data structures, algorithms or concurrency is required. The context narrows it down slightly.
Alternative:
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Develop | C++ computer programs using object-oriented design, and appropriate data structures | to satisfy given business requirements efficiently. |
Example 2
Design learning and teaching strategies that use digital tools based on relative theories, concepts, and methods.
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Design | learning and teaching strategies that use digital tools | based on relevant theories, concepts and method. |
The action verb, “develop” places it at the appropriate level of learning. The content is described at a fairly high level, not specifying the learning and teaching methods to be used, and the context is clear.
Example 3
Explain object-oriented programming concepts including encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Explain | object oriented programming concepts | including encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism |
In this case, the verb places the learning at level 3 of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, but this is not necessarily cause for concern. The AQF does not require every assessment to be at levels 4, 5 or 6 of the taxonomy, just that at some stage, students have demonstrated skills and learning at those levels. It could be argued that this ULO describes prerequisite learning necessary for satisfying further ULOs in this or a subsequent unit, and that assessing it, provides important formative information to both students and teachers.
Possible alternative:
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Compare and contrast | object oriented programming concepts | including encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism |
Example 4
Problem-solve either well-defined or open-ended problems and communicate an understanding of the underlying mathematics of the complex integration involved.
| Verb | Content | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Problem-solve | Either well-defined or open-ended problems | And communicate an understanding of the underlying mathematics of the complex integration involved. |
The action-verb here is “problem-solve” which does not appear in this version of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. “Solve” appears at Level 3, but there is a good argument (on the web page Thoughts on Problem Solving: Bloom’s Taxonomy. (2013, April 18)) that each level of Bloom’s taxonomy is involved in problem-solving.
Language to avoid
Avoid “By the end of this unit students will be able to…” Firstly, you cannot guarantee that. Second, unless all the assessment is completed on or after the last day of the unit, students can complain that it wasn’t fair because the ULO specified the end of the unit.
Avoid: “Students will demonstrate the ability to…” It is unnecessarily wordy.
Avoid words that have different meanings in different dictionaries. For example, “explicate” is defined differently in the Macquarie Compact and Oxford dictionaries.
See also
- Constructive alignment (lse.ac.uk)
- Learning Outcomes – Learning and Teaching Hub (mq.edu.au)
- Taxonomies of Educational Objectives | Encyclopedia.com
References
- Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved 14-7-23
- Biggs, J. B., & Collis, K. F. (2014). Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy (A. J. Edward, Ed.) [Kindle book]. Academic Press.
- Biggs, J. B., & Tang, C. S. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university; 4. ed). McGraw-Hill, Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
- Calais, J. (2006). Haskell’s Taxonomies Of Transfer Of Learning: Implications For Classroom Instruction. National Forum of Applied Educational Research Journal, 20(3).
- Churches, A. (2009). Bloom’s digital taxonomy. Educational Origami, 4, 43.
- Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(4), Article 4.