The two terms, Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes are often conflated and lead to confusion. To bring clarity to this topic, we have provided examples that highlight the close relationship between learning objectives and outcomes.
Learning Objectives typically refer to activities or steps for achieving course goals as stated by the instructor. They are therefore “teacher-centric”. Another feature of a well written learning objective is that it is measurable.
Learning Outcomes on the other hand, are written from the learner’s perspective and include a specific context that makes the outcome more understandable and meaningful to the student. Outcomes are also written in measurable terms.
For example, in a Psychology course on mental illness, one of the learning objectives could be written as follows:
- Students will be able to define schizophrenia and describe with examples, the different types of schizophrenia.
The Learning Outcome for the above learning objective can be contextualized and written thus:
- When given a case study, students will be able to identify whether it describes a case of schizophrenia, and if it does, which of the following schizophrenic reactions are involved: hybephrenic, catatonic, or paranoid.
Browse through more resources on Learning Objectives and Learning Outcomes below: