Course Alignment

When thinking about designing and developing a course, an instructor must consider:

• learning goals, outcomes, and objectives;
• assessments and feedback; and
• instructional strategies, learning activities, and resources.

Consider learning outcomes, assessments, and activities that support one another in order to provide students with the best opportunity to learn.

This resource will explain what alignment is in course design and what to look out for in order to create a well aligned course.

The Alignment Triangle

Alignment in course design means that the outcomes, assessments, and activities all support one another. It is often depicted as an isosceles or equilateral triangle. If one part of the triangle is absent or is not supportive of the other parts, the triangle will collapse or will look different than the intended triangle.

Learning Outcomes:

Learning outcomes guide the selection and design of learning activities and assessments.

Assessments:

Assessments are in alignment when they assess whether or not a student can achieve the specific outcome.

Activities:

Activities and resources are in alignment when they provide students the best opportunity to learn what is specified in the learning outcome.

Ensuring Alignment

A good learning outcome contains a verb that can guide the selection or creation of activities that students need to engage with to achieve the outcome. The same verb can guide the selection or creation of assessments that can measure how well students achieved the outcome and facilitate appropriate feedback.

It is critical that learning activities, including skills practice, match the learning outcome and that assessments measure what students learned and practiced. After reviewing the course, you may discover that you have an activity or assessment that is not aligned with the outcomes. You may need to modify the activity or assessment to reflect the outcome or you may end up revising the outcome.

Example

Here is an example of this relationship between these three components affecting each other.

• The learning outcome, or objective of a lesson is to explain the events that caused World War I.
• The activity for the lesson is to outline the historical events that lead to the tensions which sparked the First World War.
• The assessment of this lesson comes in the form of an exam question, which asks students to discuss the role of governments and politics which gave rise to the First World War.

Resources

• Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J.O., (2001). The Systematic Design of Instruction. 5^th Edition. New York: Longman.
• Gronlund, N. E., & Brookhart, S. M. (2009). Writing Instructional Objectives (8^th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
• Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy, an overview. Theory into Practice (41)4, 212-219.

Constructing Learning Outcomes

Learning can be defined as lasting change caused by experience. Learning cannot be observed directly but it can be inferred from behaviour.

“For learning to occur, there has to be some kind of change in the learner. No change, no learning. And significant learning requires that there be some kind of lasting change that is important in terms of the learner’s life.”

(Fink, 2013, p. 34)

Learning outcomes and objectives, written from a student perspective, communicate what the student needs to do in order to demonstrate that they met the learning expectations.

This resource will outline how to write learning outcomes and introduce you to domains of learning and taxonomies to help you write your learning outcomes.

Sources that can Inform Learning Goals, Outcomes, and Objectives

Instructors and course authors may face various situations when creating or revising a course, such as:

1. developing a new course or redeveloping a course from scratch;
2. teaching a course that another course author created or one that relies heavily on a textbook; or
3. developing or teaching a course that is part of a larger program.

The course author can draw on the following resources to determine the key topics, concepts, events, skills and experiences that they want as part of a new course, as discussed by Carriveau (2016):

• personal expertise in the discipline;
• expertise from colleagues and practitioners in the discipline, including publications;
• existing outcomes, objectives or goals related to the course theme;
• student and teacher textbooks;
• department and institutional goals;
• professional accreditation standards; and
• course descriptions and topics.

After the key topics, concepts, events, skills and experiences are determined, the following questions will help in writing the learning outcomes and objectives:

• What are the most important knowledge, skills, or attitudes (KSA) for this group of learners?
• What level of learning is needed for this group of learners? What level of cognitive skill is appropriate?
• What criteria need to be included? (Criteria may include using specific materials, level of accuracy or proficiency required, etc.)
• How will instructors and students determine if the student met the required expectation?

Before reviewing how to structure learning outcomes and objectives, let’s take a look at taxonomies and domains.

Taxonomies and Domains

Taxonomies in teaching and learning are systems used to classify learning outcomes and objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. Taxonomies aid in verb selection.

There are three major domains of learning: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. It is not unusual for taxonomies focus on one domain. Below are definitions and illustrations of taxonomy wheels.

Often, when we hear the term ‘taxonomy’ we think of Bloom’s taxonomy, which focuses on the cognitive domain. Below is Anderson and Krathwohl’s 2001 version of the Cognitive Domain taxonomy, A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy, which is a rework of Bloom’s original.

Cognitive Process	Level of Complexity	Typical Use	Sample Verbs
Remembering	Lowest	Recall facts	define, describe, duplicate, find, identify, list, locate, memorize, name, recall, recognize, repeat, reproduce, retrieve, state.
Understanding	Low	Explain concepts	classify, describe, discuss, explain, estimate, identify, locate, paraphrase, predict, recognize, report, select, summarize, translate .
Applying	Low – Medium	Use information in a new way	apply, carry out, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, execute, illustrate, implement, interpret, operate, schedule, show, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analyzing	Medium – High	Differentiate between components	attribute, compare, contrast, criticize, deconstruct, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, find, integrate, organize, outline, question, test.
Evaluating	High	Produce judgement	appraise, argue, check, conclude, critique, defend, detect, evaluate, explain, experiment, hypothesize, judge, monitor, select, support, test, value.
Creating	Highest	Assemble elements into novel product	assemble, construct, create, design, develop, devise, formulate, invent, plan, produce, make, write.

Other taxonomies

Take the time to investigate a few other taxonomies to find one which will work best for your needs, course or discipline.

1. Krathwohl, Bloom & Masia (1956, 1999) Affective domain
2. Harrow (1972) Psychomotor domain
3. Simpson (1972) Pscyhomotor domain
4. Dave (1975) Psychomotor domain
5. Nunnally (1967) Affective domain
6. Reigleuth (1999) Affective & Cognitive domains
7. Gagne (1972) Cognitive, Affective & Psychomotor domains

Writing Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Starting with a topic or task and how students will demonstrate having learned it, you can then follow a set of steps to write the learning outcomes and associated objectives.

1. Start with one KSA.
2. Determine the level of learning related to the KSA.
3. Select a verb that matches the level of learning and communicates what you want students to do in order to demonstrate their learning.
4. Add the criteria (if necessary).
5. Put everything together to write the learning outcome(s) or objective(s).

For information on using learning goals, outcomes, and objectives for course design, see Learning Outcomes – Alignment.

Resources

• Cariveau, R. S. (Ed.). (2016). Developing Student Learning Outcomes. In Connecting the Dots. 2nd edition. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
• Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. (2011). A model of learning objectives. Iowa State University. Retrieved from www.celt.iastate.edu/teaching/effective-teaching-practices/revised-blooms-taxonomy/
• Gronlund, N. E., & Brookhart, S. M. (2009). Writing Instructional Objectives (8^th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
• Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy, an overview. Theory into Practice (41) 4, 212-219.
• Krathwohl, D., & Andreson, L. (2002). Taxonomies of educational objectives. Retrieved from www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403200606.html
• Teaching Support Services, U Guelph. (2011). Learning objectives: a basic guide. University of Guelph. Retrieved from  www.otl.uoguelph.ca/system/files/Writing, Revising and Refining Course Learning Outcomes.pdf
• Teaching and Learning Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retrieved from https://tll.mit.edu/
• Stellenbosch University. (2016). Appendix A: Taxonomies of Learning Domains. Retrieved from www.sun.ac.za/english/learning-teaching/ctl/Documents/Summary of all domains.pdf

Learning Outcomes: Definition, Characteristics, and Benefits

This resource is designed to help you write and use learning outcomes as you design and teach courses. It includes relevant definitions and the characteristics and benefits of learning outcomes. The resource will be useful for those who are creating a new course, re-developing a course, or teaching a course that was designed by someone else.

Definitions

Goals:

Course goals or learning goals are the broad desired results of a course. Goals reflect the purpose of the course and may be derived from a program of study. They are what you want students to learn or get out of your course (Fink 2013).

Outcomes:

Learning outcomes describe what learners should know, be able to do, and value as a result of integrating knowledge, skills, and attitudes learned throughout the course. They are stated in measurable terms.

Objectives:

Learning objectives describe the intended result of a learning experience. They are stated in measurable terms. Learning objectives identify discrete aspects of a learning outcome or goal. Collectively, they roll up to meet learning outcomes or goals.

We provide definitions of goals, outcomes, and objectives not as a definitive list of terms that must be used in your course but as a way to help you in your approach to developing and teaching your course. The following structure shows a relationship between the terms:

Course Level	Unit Level	Topic Level
Learning goal
	Learning outcome 1
		Learning objective 1 Learning objective 2 Learning objective 3
	Learning outcome 2 Learning outcome 3
		Learning objective 2 Learning objective 4 Learning objective 5

Characteristics

Effective learning outcomes are:

• Clear statements, containing a verb and an object of the verb, of what students are expected to know or do
• Action-oriented
• Free of ambiguous words and phrases
• Learner-centered—written from the perspective of what the learner does
• Clearly aligned with the course goals: each learning outcome will support a course goal
• Aligned with the course content, including assessments
• Realistic and achievable: the audience must be able to achieve the learning outcome within the logistics of the course (time, environment etc.)
• Appropriate for the level of the learner (see taxonomies)

Benefits

Learning outcome statements clearly articulate what students are expected to be able to know, do, and value as a result of the learning. They guide the selection of teaching strategies, materials, learning activities, and assessments. They also help guide students in determining what and how to learn in the course.

Well written outcomes help instructors	Well written outcomes help students
Identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that learners should develop through the course	Guide their studies and choose how they will approach the learning
Select, create, and organize the content, activities, and instructional strategies that students will need in order to achieve the outcomes	Assess their own learning and gauge their progress
Design assessments and feedback strategies that are aligned with the learning outcomes	Prepare for formal assessment
Map their curricular outcomes to a program or accreditation standard.	Develop metacognitive skills

References

• Gronlund, N. E., & Brookhart, S. M. (2009). Writing Instructional Objectives (8^th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
• Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy, an overview. Theory into Practice (41)4, 212-219.