How to Write

Learning Outcomes

Activity #1: Distinguishing Between Program and Learning Outcomes

Activity #2: Learning Outcome Components Exercise

Activity #3: Writing Outcomes - Practice Makes Perfect!

 How to Write Learning Outcomes
Program outcomes examine what a program or process is to do, achieve, or accomplish for its own
improvement and/or in support of institutional or divisional goals; generally numbers, needs, or satisfaction-driven.

Learning outcomes examine cognitive skills that students develop through department interactions;
related to measurable, transferable skill development. They are statements indicating what a participant (usually students)
will know, think, or be able to do as a result of an event, activity, program, etc.

ABCD Structure of a Learning Outcome

Audience Who does the outcome pertain to?

What do you expect the audience to know/be able to do?

Behavior (This needs to include an action verb to describe the

learning, chosen from the Bloom’s Taxonomy word bank
on page 2.)

Condition Under what conditions or circumstances will

the learning occur?

Degree How much will be accomplished, how well will the

behavior need to be performed, and to what level?

Students who attend advising sessions will choose

EXAMPLE
courses that fulfill their chosen degree requirements.

Outcome Writing – The 3 Ms: Common Challenges When

Check your outcome against these criteria:
Writing Learning Outcomes:
• Describe program outcomes, rather than learning outcomes
1. Meaningful: How does the outcome support the
• People don’t use Bloom’s taxonomy verbs and instead use
departmental mission or goal?
vague terms like: appreciate, become aware of/familiar with,
2. Manageable: What is needed to foster the achievement
know, learn, value, use, understand
of the outcome? Is the outcome realistic?
• Too vast/complex, too wordy
3. Measurable: How will you know if the outcome
• Multiple outcomes in one learning outcome statement
is achieved? What is the assessment method?
(the word “and” is usually a clue!)
• Not specific enough (e.g., effective communication skills)

To improve this learning outcome statement:

EXAMPLE
“RAs will be more self-aware as leaders”, you could change it to:

“As a result of attending RA training, RAs will be able to accurately

assess the strengths and weaknesses of their leadership skills.”
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Cognitive Domain
The cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives offers a framework for classifying learning outcomes.
The framework is hierarchical in nature, beginning with a foundational layer (Remember) and accelerating in a stepwise
manner (from Understand to Apply to Analyze to Evaluate and on to Create). Select from this word bank when writing your
learning outcome statements.

Putting elements together to form a novel, coherent whole or

CREATE make an original product

EVALUATE Making judgments based on criteria and standards

Breaking material into its constituent parts and detecting how

ANALYZE the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose

APPLY Carrying out or using a procedure in a given situation

Determining the meaning of instructional messages,

UNDERSTAND including oral, written, and graphic communication

REMEMBER Retrieving relevant knowledge from long-term memory

Adapted from A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), et al., 2001)

REMEMBER UNDERSTAND APPLY ANALYZE EVALUATE CREATE

Cite Articulate Compute Calculate Argue Act

Define Ask Construct Categorize Assess Arrange
Find Characterize Demonstrate Compare Check Assemble
Identify Clarify Employ Contrast Convince Build
Indicate Classify Exercise Correlate Critique Compose
Label Describe Illustrate Deconstruct Debate Construct
List Discuss Make Detect Decide Create
Locate Elaborate Model Diagram Defend Design
Match Estimate Operate Differentiate Determine Develop
Memorize Explain Perform Distinguish Judge Formulate
Name Infer Plot Examine Justify Generate
Outline Interpret Practice Experiment Measure Improve
Quote Paraphrase Present Graph Predict Invent
Recall Recognize Produce Integrate Prioritize Modify
Recite Report Provide Order Rank Plan
Recognize Restate Show Organize Rate Prepare
Repeat Summarize Sketch Select Recommend Revise
Reproduce Translate Solve Sequence Reflect Synthesize
State Visualize Use Solve Relate Write
 Activity #1: Distinguishing Between Program and Learning Outcomes

For each of the statements below, identify:

Is the statement a program or learning outcome statement?
What information is missing? How could the outcome be strengthened?

1. The Undergraduate Research Office will increase support for student attendance at regional, national,
and international conferences.

2. Students will be able to demonstrate effective communication skills as a result of participating in the Leadership Program.

3. The Wellness Program will increase the number of smoking cessation seminars offered by 20% by hiring a
graduate assistant to conduct the seminars.

4. Students will identify 10 behaviors and/or characteristics of healthy relationships with others after attending this seminar.

5. The number of personal solicitations focused on scholarship needs will increase.

6. Students and faculty will receive more information about co-curricular transcripts and the number of students
completing transcripts will increase.
 Activity #2: Learning Outcome Components Exercise

For each learning outcome, try to identify the four components:

Audience/Who Condition/How
Who does the outcome pertain to? Under what conditions or circumstances will the learning occur?

Behavior/What Degree/How much

What do you expect the audience to How much will be accomplished, how well will the behavior
know/be able to do? need to be performed, and to what level?

1) As a result of attending five counseling sessions at the Student Counseling Center, students will be able to identify
one or more strategies to cope with their problems.

Audience:
Students

Behavior: coping strategies

Condition: attending five sessions

one or more strategies; five
Degree: concealing of sessions

2) At the conclusion of the Greek Life Anti-Hazing presentation, students in attendance will be able to identify five behaviors
or activities that constitute hazing.

Audience:

Behavior:

Condition:

Degree:

3) Faculty who attend the NSSE workshop will be able to identify three ways their work contributes to the institution scoring
well on the NSSE benchmarks.

Audience:

Behavior:

Condition:

Degree:
 Activity #3: Writing Outcomes - practice makes perfect!

Brainstorm…

1. Identify the overarching/broader objective or goal your outcome is going to support:

2. Identify the audience:

3. What do you want them to be able to know, think, or be able to do? (Be specific!)

4. What circumstances or context will foster the learning?

5. To what degree will the learning occur? (Be specific!)

6. How will you measure the learning?

Fill in the blanks:

Audience:

Behavior:
<will learn what>

Condition:
<under these circumstances / conditions>

Degree:
<to this level of efficiency / effectiveness>

Check yourself:
YES NO NOT SURE

Is the outcome measurable?

Is the outcome meaningful?
Is the outcome manageable?
Would you feel comfortable/proud sharing this outcome
with students, campus constituents, and external audiences?

Rewrite the learning outcome statement to address any issues: