Speaker 1: In this video, we'll talk about writing effective course outcomes and learning objectives. These learning goals are the foundation of a well-aligned course. If they are well written, course outcomes and module objectives should clearly communicate how students can be successful in your course. Let's start by diving into the difference between course outcomes and module learning objectives. The main difference between course outcomes and learning objectives is the scope of what they cover. In general, course outcomes specify what a student must know and do at the end of the course. These should be broad in nature so that they can be broken down into module objectives, which we will discuss shortly. Because they address the entirety of the course, these outcomes should be written at a higher Bloom's Knowledge level than module objectives. What does this mean? For example, a course outcome might state, students will be able to organize and interpret information intellectually and responsibly. Organizing and interpreting, which are high on the Bloom's Verbs scale, can be broken down into lower-level activities, like locating and gathering information through libraries, the internet, and field research methods, and reporting on findings. These lower-level activities could comprise module-level objectives, which have a narrower focus. All course outcomes should align to one or more module objectives, be measurable, specific, and relevant to the overall course goals, and be written in student-facing language. Here are some further examples of course outcomes. How could each of these be broken down into lower-level components? Articulating your learning objectives will help you select and organize course content and determine appropriate assessments, instructional strategies, and content. It will also help students direct their learning efforts appropriately and monitor their own progress. The mastery of these objectives should allow the student to successfully meet the higher-level course outcomes. Each module objective should align to one or more course outcomes, be measurable, specific, and relevant to how the student will use the module material, and be written with student-facing language. You might want your students to know or understand a particular concept, but the objective should be written as to how you will be able to measure your students' level of knowing or understanding in an assessment. Verbs like know, understand, comprehend, and appreciate are sometimes referred to as soft verbs. How will you know that the students understand? How will they demonstrate their appreciation? This demonstration also allows you to observe the student's progress in meeting course outcomes and module learning objectives. Before using a verb like know or understand, ask whether you can observe students carrying out the activity that is implied by the verb. What we write needs to be more concrete. How do we write course outcomes and module objectives? There are a few basic questions to ask first. These are, what do I want students to learn or be able to do? Can I connect a specific task or activity to the objective so that learners can demonstrate competence? What context can I provide to tell students how the objective will be assessed or observed? These three questions correspond to the parts of a clear learning outcome or objective, the noun, the action verb, and the context. The action verb is critical since it tells students what they will be doing. The noun tells them what is being assessed. The context is also important as it tells students the conditions of the assessment. When a learning objective includes an action verb that is linked to an assessment and tells how the student will demonstrate that they met the objective, we say that it is measurable. Let's look at some examples of learning objectives and discuss whether they are good or need to be revised, according to our formula. Example 1. Understand the impact of the Great Migration on African American literature. This example contains the noun, which is the impact of the Great Migration, and an appropriate context, which is African American literature. But how specifically will students demonstrate understanding? When you observe a student understanding an impact, we can choose a more specific and measurable verb that relates to the module assessment, which is writing an essay. In this case, a better action verb would be discuss. Example 2. Learn how to calculate atomic mass. In this example, there is a noun but no context. The verb learn is also problematic because it is difficult to measure and observe learning. What students will actually be doing is already in the objective they will be calculating. In this case, we can drop the first two words and start there. For the context, it is helpful to give students more information about the conditions under which they will calculate atomic mass. This could take a variety of forms, depending on what you think is most relevant. A great way to visualize the connection between your course outcomes, module objectives, learning resources, and assessments is to complete a course alignment map. Tracing the link horizontally between these components can help you better conceptualize your students' learning path. You will also be able to clearly see when something does not support or relate to the other things in the map.