Embracing the nuances within a learning outcomes approach: moving the discussions forward
I recently attended a Higher Education Academy (HEA) webinar in which Michael Tomlinson presented some of the findings from the following project: ‘Exploring the impact of policy changes on students’ attitudes and approaches to learning in higher education’. All of the findings Tomlinson presented were interesting – especially as it was actual students’ opinions that we were […]
Making learning outcomes really student-centred
I questioned in a previous blog post whether learning outcomes are really deserving of their ‘student-centred’ claim if they are primarily derived by teachers/lecturers and if we have no real idea about how students are actually using them. The ‘Learning Outcomes Project’ team has recently had a paper published in which we begin to address the […]
Learning about learning outcomes: the student perspective
Our first ‘Learning Outcomes Project’ paper has just been published in Teaching in Higher Education. It’s called ‘Learning about learning outcomes: the student perspective’, and is based on research we conducted with students at the University of Leicester concerning their perceptions about, and uses of, learning outcomes. We are particularly pleased with this publication as it […]
Beyond Bloom: other useful taxonomies for learning outcomes
In my last post, I suggested that the learning outcomes (LOs) discourse is becoming narrowed around prescribed elements, such as that they must be measurable. Another of these elements has never, I don’t think, been officially prescribed. Yet it has become such an ingrained feature that any discussion of writing or implementing LOs inevitably falls […]
Going beyond the ‘rules’ of learning outcomes: opening up the discourse
I came across this quite useful presentation the other day on the web. It raises some key critical questions about learning outcomes (LOs) and also reaffirms what are seen as the central elements of an LO approach. One of these much stated central elements is that LOs must be measurable. It might seem that in some […]
Making learning outcomes work for social responsibility and not neoliberalism
Last week I read a really interesting piece by Henry Giroux called ‘Defending higher education in the age of neoliberal savagery’. In this piece Giroux makes some key critical comments: – As market mentalities and moralities tighten their grip on all aspects of society, democratic institutions and public spheres are being downsized, if […]
Neoliberal (economically) focused HE: why it reinforces performative learning outcomes
In a tweet last week I asked whether we should be focused on ‘learning outcomes’ or ‘outcomes for learners’. This was after I had read an interesting paper by William Buhrman (2011) who argued that ‘learning outcomes’ should be reframed as ‘outcomes for learners’. This latter phrasing, he suggested, goes beyond ‘what we want students to know about’ […]
Who are learning outcomes REALLY for?
Some people, who see learning outcomes more as accountability tools, may shout ‘MANAGERS’. Others, who espouse the student-centred notions of learning outcomes, will most probably shout ‘STUDENTS’. The literature would certainly suggest that these are the two main audiences for learning outcomes. But, if we take the most educationally ideal answer, i.e. ‘students’, are […]
Can learning outcomes support the broader purposes of higher education?
I was asked the question the other day: ‘Do you think it would be possible for a Medical course to have just one learning outcome?’ Interesting. What would this learning outcome be? ‘By the end of this course you (the student) will be a caring, compassionate, competent and safe doctor’. This question came from a […]
Learning outcomes in higher education: what’s being blogged?
Welcome to the first blog of the ‘Learning Outcomes’ project at the University of Leicester (UoL). Most people will be aware that there is currently much focus on developing, or further embedding, a learning outcomes approach in UK higher education (i.e. ‘By the end of this module, students will be able to…). This focus has […]
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