Why use Learning Outcomes?
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ to teaching and learning. At the same time, when students sign up for a course, they want an idea of what they will learn. Equally, as instructors, we benefit from having a road map to guide us.
We may decide to take detours, side roads on the way, but the general direction for both students and instructors will remain the same. For example, the destination for a course might be France. Some students may end up in Paris and others in a village in Normandy, but they all will hopefully end up in France.
Learning outcomes are a tool we can use to describe to students the desired learning destination with an indication of:
- how they will travel
- what they’ll be expected to do along the way
- and where they’ll end up