The two terms, Learning Outcomes and Learning Objectives have confused and befuddled educators.
Learning Objectives are typically steps (actions) taken to achieve the goals of a course as stated by the instructor. They are therefore “teacher-centric” and are written in concrete, measurable terms.
Learning Outcomes on the other hand, are written from the learner’s perspective and include a specific context that makes the learning relevant and meaningful.
For example, in a Psychology course on the topic of 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: