We were developing the learning outcomes for the penultimate semester of the program, which is very important. Five courses were being worked on, and all five are quite important to be assessed so that the professional coming out of the degree is competent. The first task was the number of learning outcomes (LOs) for each course. Based on an arbitrary number of 30 outcomes for the semester, each course was assigned a certain number based on the number of learning hours (actual and self-learning time). The next question was how deep the learning outcome should be and how to decide. This was very critical as the students learn based on the learning outcome. The LOs should be written clearly so that the assessments are guided appropriately. Once the five course coordinators finished writing the LOs, we tested it with five recently graduated alumni and five relevant faculty to check the depth. The testers were asked to describe exhaustively what content is covered by the LOs. There were differences in the content and the LOs were tweaked and tested again. When 80% of the content matched between the recent graduates and faculty, the LOs were finalized. The type and quantity of assessment items were decided based on the learning hours and content of the LOs. It all was smooth till the exam coordinators sourced the questions, especially the domain of cognition. Two authors writing questions of a LO had different expectation as an answer. Then we put a guideline that the content depth should be guided by the lecture and what is required of a fresh graduate. But….not all LOs had lectures, some were done by PBL, the learning depth is group specific. The confusion continued till I switched jobs.
How do you determine the depth of learning and how do you write it in a learning outcome?
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