Setting course learning outcomes

Before getting started

Learning outcomes are the first step in setting up your course properly. But first, you need to have a course (of course). See Creating a course for more information.

What are learning outcomes?

Learning outcomes are the goals of your course. They are the things you want your students to be able to do after completing the course.

Learning outcomes are usually written in the form of a verb, such as "understand" or "apply". They are also usually written in the form of a statement, such as "understand the basics of programming" or "apply the principles of programming to solve a problem".

What do learning outcomes look like?

Learning outcomes are heirarchical. This is an example of a learning outcome for a course on programming:

• Programming
  • Programming basics
    • Understand the basics of programming
    • Apply the principles of programming to solve a problem
  • Programming advanced
    • Understand advanced programming concepts
    • Apply advanced programming concepts to solve a problem

What do I gain from setting learning outcomes?

Other than the obvious benefit of having a clear goal for your course, setting learning outcomes also has some other benefits:

• Better organization: By linking questions to learning outcomes, you can use filters to quickly evaluate your question banks and this will help you create exams more easily in the future.

• Reports: while not all reports depend on learning outcomes, having your questions linked to learning outcomes will tell you exactly which learning outcomes your students are struggling with. That way, you can focus on improving those specific learning outcomes.

Step 1: Selecting a structure

1. From left menu in the course, click on Learning outcomes. Then click on Get started

2. Now you have to select the structure of your learning outcomes, how many levels they will have what each level will be called.

   We already have some common structures for you to choose from, but you can also create your own by choosing Custom.

3. If you choose one of the presets, click on Next.

4. If you choose Custom, you need to define each level. You can add levels using the Add level button and filling in the name of the level.

   You can use the trash icon to delete a level.

   When you're done, click on Save.

Step 2: Adding learning outcomes

4. Now you should see an empty list with a single Add button. You can click on it to start adding the highest level of your learning outcomes.

5. Fill in the name of the item and click on the check icon.

6. Once a level is added it will turn into an accordion. You can click on it and repeat the process to add more items to the lower level.

7. To edit the name of an item, click on the pencil icon. and to delete an item, click on the trash icon.

8. You can add as many items, they're automatically saved as you add them.