Developing Course-Level Learning Outcomes: Enhancing Learning Through Shared Expectations

A Workshop Hosted by: The College of Arts and Science, the Thompson Center for Learning and Teaching, and the Assistant Provost for Assessment and Institutional Accreditation December 1, 2006 University of Michigan-Flint

Agenda:

Introduction (Definitions and Objectives) Working Lunch (Critique and Share) Writing Well Stated Outcomes One Framework: Blooms Taxonomy Independent Work 1:

Articulating your course objectives and outcomes

Course Alignment Independent Work 2:

Specifying Teaching & Learning Activities Stating Assessments of Student Learning

Beyond Course Alignment

Why transform to a language of assessment?

Specific

learning outcomes lead to:

More measurable outcomes Better assessment Higher quality feedback Improved courses and programs Improved student learning and achievement

Alignment Within Courses

Design Backward

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Lesson

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Unit

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Course

Deliver Forward

The Language of Assessment

Outcomes Based Assessment: A process by which you 1. determine the indicators of an effective program, 2. use those indicators as criteria for assessing the program, and 3. apply the results of the assessment toward the ongoing and continuous improvement of the program.

Objectives vs. Outcomes1

Program/course objectives are general goals that define what it means to be an effective program/course. They are general, indefinite, and not intended to be measured. They set the overall agenda for the program/course. Student learning outcomes are specific results the program/course seeks to achieve in order to attain the general goals defined in the objectives. Outcomes are definite and intended to be measured. They establish the particular means by which the agenda (as defined by objectives) is achieved. The achievement of outcomes is evidence that our students are learning.

Direct vs. Indirect Assessment1

Direct

assessment of learning: gathers evidence, based on student performance, which demonstrates the learning itself.

Examples: most classroom testing for grades or evaluation of a research paper on specific criteria

Indirect

assessment of learning: gathers reflection about the learning or secondary evidence of its existence.

Examples: student, alumni, employer surveys

Assessment is not always an add-on1

Embedded assessment: a means of gathering information about student learning that is built into, and is a natural part of the teachinglearning process.

Example: as part of a course, expecting each senior to complete a research paper that is graded for content and style, but is also assessed for advanced ability to locate and evaluate Web-based information (as part of a program level, or a college-wide outcome to demonstrate information literacy).

Formative vs. Summative Assessment 1

Formative assessment: the gathering of information about student learning - during the progression of a course or program and usually repeatedly - to improve the learning of current students. Summative assessment: the gathering of information at the conclusion of a course, program, or undergraduate career to improve learning of the next cohort of students or to meet accountability demands.

Accountability and Improvement1

Assessment for accountability: assessment of some unit (could be a department, program or entire institution) to satisfy stakeholders external to the unit itself. Results are often compared across units, compared to state and national norms, and always summative. Assessment for improvement: assessment that feeds directly, and often immediately, back into revising the course, program or institution to improve student learning results. This can be formative or summative.

Levels of Assessment

Assessment of individuals: uses the individual student, and his/her learning, as the level of analysis. Assessment of programs: uses the department or program as the level of analysis. Ideally program goals and objectives would serve as the basis for the assessment. Assessment of institutions: uses the institution as the level of analysis. Ideally, institution-wide goals and objectives would serve as a basis for the assessment. At this level it is essential to examine institutional documents such as mission and vision statements, as well as strategic plans.

Lunch Activity

Share your experiences with writing learning outcomes for courses or programs with those at your table.

Describe questions/challenges you face

Review the syllabi provided

What do you like/not like with respect to the learning outcomes in each syllabus? Use Worksheet 1 (blue) to make individual observations and the same worksheet (buff) for collective observations

Characteristics of Well Stated 2 Learning Outcomes

student-focused

rather than professor focused focused on the learning resulting from an activity rather than on the activity itself focused on skills and abilities central to the discipline and based on professional standards of excellence general enough to capture important learning but clear and specific enough to be measurable focused on aspects of learning that will develop and endure but that can be assessed in some form now

Common Problems with Learning Outcomes

Using vague terms, such as:

Appreciate Become aware of Become familiar with Develop Know Learn Understand

Describing action taken by someone other than the learner.

The program will... or The course will

A Comparison of Poorly and Well Stated Outcomes

Students will understand Eriksons developmental stages. Students will be familiar with the major sociological perspectives and how they relate to their daily lives.

Students will identify and summarize each of Eriksons stages of development. Students will describe each of the major sociological perspectives and will illustrate how each perspective relates to events in their daily lives. Students will design, conduct, and analyze a research project using appropriate scientific theory and methodology

Students will develop the skills necessary for conducting research in the natural sciences.

Why Classify Learning Outcomes?

All

learning outcomes are not developed, delivered, or measured equally

Learning Domains

Three primary domains for classifying educational goals:

Cognitive (knowledge) Affective (attitudes) Psychomotor (skills)

Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives3 (Cognitive domain)

A now classic system that classifies educational goals to facilitate the development and evaluation of college and university curricula. A hierarchical taxonomy of student behaviors that reflect the development of increasingly complex cognitive abilities and skills as a result of instructional experiences.

Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Levels

There are 6 categories, listed hierarchically from simplest to most complex Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Blooms Taxonomy: Knowledge4

Definition:

ability to remember information from simple (facts, terminology) to more complex/abstract (theories, principles)

Student

Learning Verbs:

List, name, identify, show, define, recognize, recall, state, describe, label, match, outline, reproduce, select

Blooms Taxonomy: Knowledge4

Examples: Knowledge of dates,

events, places, major ideas, and mastery of subject matter

The

student will

Define the 6 levels of Blooms taxonomy of the cognitive domain

Blooms Taxonomy: Comprehension4

Definition:

ability to understand material at a level sufficient for grasping its meaning and inferring its implications Translating, comprehending, or interpreting information based on prior learning

Student

Learning Verbs:

Summarize, explain, interpret, describe, compare, paraphrase, differentiate, demonstrate, restate, illustrate

Blooms Taxonomy: Comprehension4

Examples: Translates knowledge into

next context, interprets facts, compare and contrast, order, group, infer, predict
The

student will

Explain the purpose of Blooms taxonomy of the cognitive domain

Blooms Taxonomy: Application4

Definition:

ability to correctly and independently bring to bear abstractions (e.g., theories, principles, methods) in solving concrete problems The selection, transfer, and use of data and principles to complete a task with a minimum of direction

Student Learning Verbs:

Solve, illustrate, calculate, compute, use, interpret, relate, manipulate, apply, classify, modify, demonstrate, construct, discover, predict

Blooms Taxonomy: Application4

Examples: Use information, methods, concepts or

theories in new situations, solve problems using required skills or knowledge

The student will

Write an instructional objective for each level of Blooms taxonomy of the cognitive domain

Blooms Taxonomy: Analysis4

Definition:

ability to parse information into is constituent elements and to identify the relationships between those elements Student distinguishes, classifies, and relates the assumptions hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a statement or question

Student Learning Verbs:

Analyze, organize, categorize, deduce, choose, contrast, compare, distinguish, separate, differentiate, discriminate

Blooms Taxonomy: Analysis4

Examples: Seeing patterns, organization of parts,

recognition of hidden meanings, identification of components

The student will

Compare and contrast the cognitive and affective domains as specified by Bloom

Blooms Taxonomy: Synthesis4

Definition:

ability to combine elements into new wholes (e.g., ideas, plans of action, abstract relations) that are more than the sums of their respective parts Student originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan, or proposal that is new to him or her.

Student Learning Verbs:

Design, create, hypothesize, invent, develop, support, schematize, write, report, discuss, plan, devise, compare, construct, compose, generate

Blooms Taxonomy: Synthesis4

Examples: Use old ideas to create new ones,

generalize from given facts, relate knowledge from several areas

The student will

Design a classification scheme for writing educational objectives that combines the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.

Blooms Taxonomy: Evaluation4

Definition:

Ability to offer quantitative and qualitative judgments about the value of ideas and methods Student appraises, assesses, or critiques on a basis of specific standards and criteria

Student Learning Verbs:

Evaluate, choose, estimate, judge, defend, criticize, justify, recommend, critique, interpret, support

Blooms Taxonomy: Evaluation4

Examples: Compare and discriminate

between ideas, assess value of theories or presentations, make choices based on reasoned argument, verify value of evidence, recognize subjectivity
The

student will

Judge the effectiveness of writing objectives using Blooms taxonomy

Learning Outcomes by Blooms Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Categories
Unit/Lesson Learning Outcomes 1.a learn the conceptual foundations of inference ComKnow- prehen- Appliledge sion cation Course Goals/Objectives 1. Introduce students to inferential statistics Student Learning Outcomes 1.a.1. Define the three tenets of the Central Limit Theorem 1.a.2. Describe three key distributions 1.a.2. Combine to explain the relationship between the three distributions 1.b Apply to confidence 1.b.1. Outcome intervals

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

X X X

1.c Test for difference between means

2. Introduce students to descriptive statistics 2.a Outcome 2.b Outcome

1.c.1. Outcome
2.a.1. Outcome 2.b.1. Outcome

Note: While this worksheet accommodates 7 learning outcomes, your specific course will most likely have more than this single worksheet can accommodate. The purpose of the worksheet is to provide a framework and not set parameters.

Alignment within a Given Course

Course-Level Learning Outcomes

Teaching and Learning Activities

Assessments of Student Learning

The Next Step:

Given

your student learning outcomes, what specific tasks or activities will you have students complete to promote learning? Given these student learning outcomes, how will you know when your students have achieved the outcomes for that lesson or course (what assessments will you use)?

Teaching & Learning Activities by Outcomes and Blooms Taxonomy

Student Learning Outcomes 1.a.1 Define the three tenets of the Central Limit Theorem 1.a.2. Describe three key distributions 1.a.3 Combine to explain the relationship between the three distributions 1.b.1 Outcome 1.c.1 Outcome 2.a.1 Outcome 2.b.1 Outcome Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Categories
Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Class lecture and students will read assigned chapter.

Class lecture and students will read assigned chapter.

In class, students will calculate sample means and construct a sampling distribution. Homework will reinforce lesson.

Assessments by Outcomes and Blooms Taxonomy

Student Learning Outcomes 1.a.1 Define the three tenets of the Central Limit Theorem 1.a.2. Describe three key distributions 1.a.3 Combine to explain the relationship between the three distributions 1.b.1 Outcome 1.c.1 Outcome 2.a.1 Outcome 2.b.1 Outcome Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Categories
Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Homework and examination.

Homework and examination.

Homework and examination.

Beyond Course Alignment

Thinking Globally: Alignment of course level learning outcomes: Sequentially

How do my outcomes fit with those of more advanced courses? What do I expect students to have learned by the time they when they enter this class? How do all of the courses within a programs curriculum fit together? How do the program curricula contribute to the institutional outcomes?

Programmatically:

Alignment Between Course Outcomes and Institutional Outcomes

Design Backward

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Lesson

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Unit

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Course

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Academic Program

Intended Learning Outcomes of the Institution

Deliver Forward

Want to learn more?

Plan to participate in the Assessment Summit, January 12, 2007

References
Leskes (2002) Beyond Confusion: An Assessment Glossary, Peer Review. 2 Huba and Freed. 2000. Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses. 3 Bloom.1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain 4 From Don Clark, http://www.nwlink.com/~dpmc;arl/hrd/bloom.html, the Learning Skills Program at the University of Victoria (htttp://www.coun.uvic.ca/learn/program/hndouts/bloom. html) , the Faculty Roles and Rewards Program at Portland State University (http://edtech.clas.pdx.edu/presentations/frr99/blooms.ht m), and W. Huitt, http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html.
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