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A Guide to Student Learning Outcomes 

By: David Castañeda, Director of Online Education

TL;DR

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are crucial for well-designed courses and for institutional accreditation. Use "backwards design" (start with the end goal) to create effective SLOs with action verbs (like those in Bloom's Taxonomy) that are measurable and align with course content and assessments. Think about long-term impacts as recommended by the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model. This approach ensures students know what's expected and instructors can effectively measure learning.

Student learning outcomes (SLOs) – also called student learning objectives or learning objectives – are the foundation for developing a well crafted and clearly articulated course. The course SLOs provide the instructor and the students with a shared understanding of the direction and purpose of the course. They represent both the starting block and the end measurement for all course materials, activities, and assessments. In a well crafted course, the student learning outcomes are clearly articulated using action verbs that lead to measurable achievement. 

SLOs are not only important for instructors and students but are a key component to our institution’s accreditation. See the following quote for additional context about the use of SLOs in accreditation.

In 1989, the USDE began requiring accrediting organizations to address student learning outcomes as a condition for recognition, and by 1989, half of all states required public institutions to assess and publicly report on student learning. By the mid-1990s, most accrediting organizations were examining student achievement in the institutions and programs they authorized, though their approaches, levels of engagement and terminology varied widely. (Council for Higher Education Accreditation, 2019).

This guide was developed to help you craft simple, effective, and comprehensive learning objectives that will support strong course development. 

Clear Articulation of Intent

Clear articulation of course objectives is extremely helpful for the development of a well aligned and comprehensive course that’s easy to navigate for students and instructors alike. This articulation can be challenging when creating course objectives because it requires thought and analysis about the course’s full trajectory. Taking a backwards design approach can be a helpful way of plotting out this trajectory. 

Backwards design is a method that asks you to start with the end in mind (Stavredes & Herder, 2014). While traditional approaches to learning begin with the material, backwards design begins with the student’s capacity. Instead of asking, what does the student need to know about the material? It asks, What should the student be able to do when they are done with the course? Backwards design requires instructors to conduct more exploration about the capability of the student after completing the course. This goes beyond understanding concepts to considering how the concepts will apply in the student’s work, life, or future study. 

Steps to backwards design:

1. Starting with the assessments.

   What are they measuring? Are they appropriately measuring your topic? What can you do to make them more applicable? It can be especially helpful to review your final assessments and determine if they are properly equipping your students for the application of the materials. 

2. Align your content. 

   Once you have established your assessments, review your material, assignments and activities. Are your readings, videos, activities, assignments, lectures, and discussions leading your students to succeed in your assessments? Take steps to make the appropriate changes to ensure your students are equipped to succeed. 

3. Retool your student learning objectives. 

   Now that you have reviewed your course from the end, review your course SLOs. Do they match the assessments and align with your materials and activities? Consider rewriting, adding, or eliminating SLOs that do not help your students succeed. 

Using Action Verbs

The use of action verbs in SLOs is becoming increasingly expected from accrediting bodies and professional organizations as more institutions look to categorize learning based on a learning taxonomy (Nevid & McClelland, 2013). Two learning taxonomies will be outlined here as reference materials for selecting action verbs. These are Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM). 

Bloom’s Taxonomy

By far the most popular model, Bloom’s taxonomy gained prominence over the years by presenting a simple tiered approach to learning. Indeed many universities include Bloom’s in their guides to learning objectives:  to check out many resources that are already available. 

This model is typically presented as a pyramid and originally included the following tiers of learning listed as increasing grades of complexity: 1. Knowledge, 2. Comprehension, 3. Application, 4. Analysis, 5. Synthesis, and 6. Evaluation. These six areas of learning were revised in 2001 and now include: 1. Remember, 2. Understand, 3. Apply, 4. Analyze, 5. Evaluate and 6. Create. Bloom’s revised taxonomy is represented in the image below. 

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Pyramid

Image from Bloom’s Taxonomy by Ivan Andreev, 2024.

There are several tables with exhaustive lists of verbs available through online searches. Below is a brief sample of these verbs so that you can begin to understand the differences between the various tiers. 

Table: Sample of Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs

When writing your SLOs, Bloom’s taxonomy recommends selecting action verbs that fit your intentions and realistically describe what your learners will be able to accomplish because of the course. 

Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM)

The Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model encourages a complex approach to assessment by extending the considerations of learning beyond the classroom. While perhaps better known in the arena of professional development training, this model provides an additional lens through which to consider the longevity of your SLOs by asking: What happens later?

LTEM is presented in the form of a table that includes 8 tiers of increasing complexity and distance from the learning activities: 1. Attendance/Completion, 2. Learner Activity, 3. Learner Perceptions, 4. Knowledge, 5. Decision-Making, 6. Task Performance, 7 Transfer to Work Performance, 8. Effects of Transfer. The first six tiers (1-6) are focused on the learning that happens during the time of the course. The final two tiers (7 and 8) encourage instructors to consider how the learning will transfer to applicable performance and long-term capability. 

LTEM: Learning-Transfer EvaluationModel

Image from Work-Learning Research:  

When writing your SLOs, LTEM encourages instructors to consider the long-term effects of participation in your course activities. Ask yourself, how will their time with you transfer to their professional and academic performance long after they have completed the course?

Measurable Achievement 

Measurable SLOs are essential for helping instructors create a structured and accountable educational environment for their students. They promote a clearer alignment between assessments and outcomes for instructors and students alike. Moreover, measurable outcomes allow for a more objective and equitable assessment of student progress by delineating clear expectations for all. As an added benefit, measurable outcomes facilitate improvement by offering a basis for specific feedback. 

Alignment of SLOs with materials and assignments for Measurable Achievement

Fortunately, developing clearly articulated SLOs with action verbs and long-term thinking will likely have already produced measurable outcomes. When reviewing this aspect, look for alignment and start from the beginning. Do the course SLOs lead to the materials and assignments which support the student in your assessments? If so, then congratulations on developing clearly articulated, actionable, measurable student outcomes!

Putting it Into Practice

Now that the elements have been presented, here is an example of a revised SLO using clear articulation, action verbs, and measurable achievement.

Original SLO: Understand the process of research. 

This outcome provides a good start since it already uses an action verb, though “understand” can be difficult to measure and “the process of research” could be articulated further. A backwards design approach will elaborate that the instructor wants the student to be able to recall the basic steps of research so they can apply it to their current and future studies. Thus a clearer articulation may be:

Clearer SLO: Identify the steps in the research process.

This changed verb provides a potential measure as well, since the assessment could ask the student to verify that they can make this identification through an assignment or test. Though this statement alone does not fully capture the instructor’s intent to have the student also apply these steps in their studies. Thus, this SLO may benefit from being longer:

New SLO: Identify and explain the key steps of the research process and apply this knowledge by outlining a basic research proposal. 

This final SLO fully captures the instructor’s intent, provides a better articulation of the outcome, and provides the student an understanding of the measurable achievement.

References

• Andreev, I. (2024). Bloom’s taxonomy. Valamis.com 

• Council for Higher Education Accreditation (2019). Accreditation and student learning outcomes: perspectives from accrediting organizations.  

• Nevid, J. S., & McClelland, N. (2013). Using action verbs as learning outcomes: applying bloom’s taxonomy in measuring instructional objectives in introductory psychology. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 1(2), 19-. 

• Stavredes, T., & Herder, T. (2014). A guide to online course design : strategies for student success (1st ed). Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand. 

• Work-Learning Research. (2024). The Learning-Transfer Evaluation Model.