Lesson Aims and Outcomes

Lesson Aims and Outcomes
The traditional way of designing courses or study days was to start with the content of the course. Teachers decided on the content that they intended to teach and planned how to deliver this content. This type of approach focused on the teacher’s input. Course descriptions referred mainly to the content of the course which would normally be delivered in lecture format - death by PowerPoint! This approach to teaching has been referred to as ”teachercentred”. A criticism of this type of approach is that it can be di#cult to identify precisely what the student should be able to do as a result of attending the course or study day. International trends in education show a shift from the traditional teacher centred approach to a student centred approach. This latest model focuses on what the students are expected to be able to do at the end of the course or study day. Hence, this approach is commonly referred to as an outcome-based approach. Statements called “intended learning outcomes”, commonly shortened to “learning outcomes”, are used to describe what the students should be able to do at the end of the learning period. So learning outcomes can: 1. Give the course participant a clear indication of what is expected of them in terms of quantity and quality of learning. 2. Help learners plan their learning. 3. Provide information to managers, mentors, and supervisors about the anticipated learning of participants on a course. Intended learning outcomes should inform directors, advisors, trainers and participants of the minimum level of learning that is expected to be achieved by attendance on a study day. 4. Align the learning outcomes to the assessment criteria if a course is to be assessed. 35(9,286 1(;7 Train the Trainers’ Toolkit | Unit 6 Writing Aims and Learning Outcomes and Planning an Inter-Professional Learning Session How do you write a learning outcome? A good starting point is to establish what the student/participant will be expected to be able to do at the end of the course/session. Here are some examples of learning outcomes: By the end of this session participants should be able to: 1. Discuss the use of summative and formative assessment in training 2. Provide quality feedback for your dental trainee which facilitates improved performance and is motivational 3. Derive a set of learning and teaching principles which can be applied to your role as a Trainer/Facilitator The learning outcome should start with an unambiguous action verb, enabling the result to be observed or measured in some way. In learning outcome 2, “provide” is the verb. The next step would be to state the object of the verb, for example, in learning outcome 2, “quality feedback” is the object of the verb “provide”. Lastly, there should be a phrase that indicates the context or provides the condition. In learning outcome 2, “for your dental trainee” indicates the context and “that facilitates improved performance and is motivational” would be the condition. Thinking up words to demonstrate learning can be di!cult, so the following list of verbs should help. Adapted from Bloom, (1956) by Moon, J, (2002) 1. Knowledge: The recall of information. de!ne, describe, label, list, match, arrange, name, recite, recall, relate, repeat, order, recognise, record, reproduce, state, underline. 2. Comprehension: The translation, interpretation or extrapolation of knowledge. arrange, classify, describe, discuss, sort, explain, express, identify, indicate, translate, interpret, locate, report, restate, extrapolate 3. Application: The application of knowledge to a new situation. apply, practice, solve, choose, prepare, use, illustrate, schedule, sketch, use, demonstrate, operate, sketch, measure 4. Analysis: Break down knowledge into parts and show relationships among the parts. analyse, diagram, question, appraise, discriminate, test, calculate, distinguish, di"erentiate, categorise, examine, compare, contrast, experiment, inventory, criticise 5. Synthesis: Bring together parts (elements, components) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for new situations. arrange, design, prepare, assemble, formulate, propose, collect, manage, compose, organise, synthesise, create, plan, write, construct, modify, conduct 6. Evaluation: Judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes. appraise, estimate, select, argue, evaluate, support, assess, judge, value, attack, predict, score, compare, rate, defend Reference: Davidson L (2008) Start learning and teaching in dentistry NHS Education for Scotland, Edinburgh. Handout 1 was adapted from guidance by Lynne Davidson, NHS Education for Scotland, Dental Deanery, Edinburgh.
Lesson outcomes, sometimes called intended learning outcomes, learning objectives or student-focused goals, are measurable, observable and specific statements that clearly indicate what a student should know and be able to do at the end of a lesson. Lesson outcomes should be focused and centred on the actual intended learning.
The predominant outcome of an English lesson ought to be our students learning language or skills which they can then transfer to other genres, situations and topics. The aim of English lessons is to guide linguistic, cognitive and affective change in students. This may be achieved by supporting the lesson outcomes with activities and materials/resources, selected according to the identification of students’ learning needs and interests as well as preferred teaching styles.
Writing lesson outcomes is fundamental to good lesson planning. A review of the lesson-planning literature in curriculum studies (Black and Wiliam, 1998; Gronlund & Brookhart, 2009; Pollard, 2014; Savage, 2015) shows five major benefits from writing intended lesson outcomes.
First, the process of deciding what will be taught in a lesson allows the teacher clarity of purpose and enables a predictive focus on student learning. Identifying the outcomes means there is a clear focus to each lesson. Second, writing learning outcomes for each lesson allows learning to be staged and sequenced. Identifying the key learning outcomes of one lesson allows it to be connected to the next and built upon and integrated by students. Third, by explicitly articulating lesson outcomes, the teacher’s assessment of the intended learning of each lesson can be much more precise.