Dear Mr Servaas de Kock

In my opinion use of learning outcomes in your teaching and course design can result in many potential benefits.

Better Learning

Learning outcomes can be used to provide guidance for students, so they know what is expected of them, and thus what they should focus on in their studying, attend to in class, and look for in their readings. This focused time‐on task means less time is wasted.

Increased Motivation

Learning outcomes reinforce the belief that there is a real point to what is being taught and assessed, that there is a reason for what they experience in their courses.

Better Performance 

Not surprisingly, when students know exactly what they are expected to demonstrate, they are better able to demonstrate those things.

Focused on Teaching

Anyone who has made the switch to outcome‐based teaching will tell you that it can transform the way you plan courses and classes – for the better.

 Assessment

Just as learning outcomes can be used to create strategically‐targeted lessons, they can be used to create strategically‐targeted and appropriate assessment methods.  Assessment becomes part of the students’ overall learning experience.

Attention to Outputs

The use of learning outcomes helps us focus on the outputs of our work, rather than the inputs.

The only thing you have to choose whether you will use Bloom's taxonomy or SOLO taxonomy. I would recommend the SOLO taxonomy for a Higher Education.

 Best wishes,

Andrija

You can also use their level of critical thinking, a 21st Century Skill by using online debates. The attached shows how this can be done.

Best regards,

Debra

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

You might be interested in the liearning outcomes that are innovation competences. Some years ago I developed innovation pedagogy. See the attached papers.

Andrija: Thank you very much for your contribution to highlight the use and importance of learning outcomes. I find the SOLO taxonomy very interesting.

Debra: I totally agree with you that at the end of the day it is the most important task and aspect of an educater to transfer (your) knowledge, skills and experience to the student or learner. There will always be a debate on the WHAT and HOW of teaching and learning.

Juha: Thank you very much for your totally fresh contribution of Innovation Pedagogy!

My question now to you and any other member of this Group is if you don't think the formulation of learning outcomes are very subjective? Depending on "your" view, language ability and background "you" will construct or formulate learning outcomes that you like and think is the best. If I must formulate the learning outcomes, it might be that mine can or will differ from yours.

1. So what "tool" or "methodology" is available to help "me" and "you" to get more or less to the same learning outcomes?

2. How and where do you start to "teach" yound academics how to formulate learning outcomes?

3. Who must construct or formulate these learning outcomes - Academics or the Design team?

4. When do you construct and formulate learning outcomes for either a qualification, learning material or module/subject? Do you first complete the contents and then construct or formulate the learning outcomes or is it that one first construct and formulate the learning outcomes and then you let the material developers draft the learning guide?

Looking forward to your input again. 

Dear Servaas de Kock,

I think that the starting point is not your course but the purpose of the whole program which contains your course since that program has a students group target and and a designed objective. Your course should be integrated into that curriculum and should answer to the overarching objective. 

The learning outcomes are subjective since the final outcomes for each student depend on his/her motivation and effort to study based on your input materials and suggested literature.

From my point of view the online courses should contain built-in motivational stories and suggestions able to stimulate the curiosity of students to read more and to reflect on the input materials you prepared for them. Also, it is important to know that incorporating only rational knowledge in your input materials is not enough. You should be able to incorporate as well emotional knowledge and spiritual knowledge able to be present in the learning outcomes. Learning is based on knowledge dynamics and many professors just ignore that aspect. I attached two of my papers presenting these ideas about knowledge complexity nature and its dynamics. I hope they will be worthy reading and reflecting upon.

Wishing you great success.

Dear Servaas de Kock,

1.Learning outcomes include clearly and precisely written statement about what a student

should know, understand, be able to do (demonstrate) and evaluated by the end of the process learning. Refer to the student and teacher are formulated.

The learning outcomes are different from the objectives of the study and courses that define the courses. Tools is only Bloom's taxonomy.

2. The curriculum subjects that I teach Military pedagogy I have topic: learning outcomes.

3.  In my institution CDA, Course teacher is construct learning outcomes for his  school subject 

4. When we construct the curriculum for course we writed learning outcomes.

I hope I have been of some help.

Best wishes,

Andrija

Constantin: I really appreciate your valuable contribution. I more and more realise that there is so much depth in your one sentence" I think that the starting point is not your course but the purpose of the whole program which contains your course since that program has a students group target and and a designed objective. Your course should be integrated into that curriculum and should answer to the overarching objective" 

Then you further stated " The learning outcomes are subjective since the final outcomes for each student depend on his/her motivation and effort to study based on your input materials and suggested literature".

Does this mean that the learning outcomes for a specific course, say for instance the example of Anrija above - Military pedagogy - will have the same course learning outcomes for all students, but that each student will have his or her own learning outcomes as you stated "since the final outcomes for each student depend on his/her motivation and effort to study based on your input materials and suggested literature" ?

Constatin I would like to hear if I am interpreting your view correctly? Or is this where your view why "Learning is based on knowledge dynamics", is so important?

Andrija: Thank you very much for your further contribution. Do you have the same or a different view than Constantin?

Juha I find it very interesting and is just wondering if there is a link between your      " innovation pedagogy" and the "knowledge dynamics" of Constantin?

And does all of the above link with or is related to Learning and Teaching styles of both the student and lecturer?

Looking forward to some further input and debate.

Best wishes!

Servaas

Dear Servaas de Kock,

I have put into my synthetic message to you three basic ideas:

1) If a course is conceived as a part of a larger program (i.e. undergraduate or graduate program), then its objectives should be integrated into the overarching program objectives. If it is just a single course offered as post-graduate or optional course in a specific academic context then its learning objectives should reflect the purpose of offering that course.

2) We define the learning objectives starting with that reference mentioned above and based on our experience, but the real outcomes depend on the motivation and effort of students to read, listen and reflect on the main ideas explained during teaching. However, learning is not 100% the content of teaching since each students has got his/her own experience and a previous level of knowledge, i.e. a given level of understanding. I am not referring to topics like mathematics where a linear equation is a linear equation for everybody. I refer to all those course whose content depend upon a certain interpretation, like management, marketing, business or creativity. Here, the learning objectives represent only some desirable outcomes. They are actually focused spots or ideas both professors and students should have. For instance if one of the objective outcomes is "understanding the nature and the structure of a strategy" in a course about Business strategies, each student will have an understanding which is conditioned by his/her previous level of knowledge about management, business, and the perception of future. I am not talking about memorizing a given definition, but about understanding a new concept or theory in afield of study which is not completely rational or logic like mathematics.

3) According to my multifield theory of knowledge based on metaphorical thinking there are three fields of knowledge: rational, emotional, and spiritual. Knowledge from each field can transform into knowledge from another field. That means knowledge dynamics, like one form of energy can transform into another form of energy (e.g. by friction, mechanical energy transforms into heat). For instance when one thinks about a difficult exam next day he/she enter a certain emotional state (rational knowledge transforms into emotional knowledge). Learning as a process is based on these knowledge dynamics and many interesting new ideas we get first as emotional states or intuitions and then transform them into rational thoughts and ideas. 

I attached a short presentation of a book I published in USA last year about organizational knowledge dynamics where I present all these new ideas. Also, a short explanation of knowledge dynamics in a paper. I hope I could be more useful this time.