Measuring Outcomes and Objectives

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Outcomes
• Objectives
• Measuring Objectives

Introduction

This guide provides you with useful terminology and assignment ideas to help you create meaningful and measurable objectives for your courses.  Use this guide to help you create an aligned course map. 

Outcomes

An outcome is a statement of what skills or knowledge a student should be able to demonstrate upon successfully completing your course.  Generally known as student learning outcomes, these are provided to you by your supervisor, and every section of a course uses the same outcomes.  

Strong Outcomes

• One active verb that requires higher-level thinking of a student per SLO
• Is general enough to include larger course goals while also being specific to the scope of the course
• Are limited to 3-5 per course

Objectives

An objective is a measurable goal for student learning during a particular unit (week, module, chapter, etc.) of the course that aligns back to an outcome.  Objectives are created by the individual instructor and can vary between sections of a course depending on how the instructor plans to achieve the student learning outcome.  In other words, as long as you can show how the objective aligns to the student learning outcome, and you have a way to show how students achieved that objective, it does not need to be same as another instructor's objective or be a prewritten objective from a required course textbook.  

Strong Objectives

• One active verb that can be measured with something the student must do to show mastery
• Does not ask the student to do more than the verb used for the outcome
• Are not dependent on textbook material
• Aligns to a specific aspect of a SLO
• Answers the question, what will students know or be able to do at the end of this module?
• Answers the question, how will I know that students know the content or can perform the skills required for mastery? 

Writing and Improving Objectives

Measuring Objectives

To show that students have met your objectives and therefore your course outcomes, you need to make sure the assignments you create align to the verb you have selected for each objective.  We've created a chart with examples of active verbs that indicate that level of cognitive process and the type of work students might be doing if your objective begins with that verb.