{"id":431,"date":"2014-12-18T11:59:33","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T11:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/?p=431"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:23:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:23:59","slug":"framelos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/2014\/12\/18\/framelos\/","title":{"rendered":"How do we frame the concept of ‘learning outcomes’ for students?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thinking<\/a><\/p>\n

In a previous blog post <\/a>I detailed a current project that we are working on which concerns engaging students in the process of developing learning outcomes (LOs).\u00a0 I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague the other day in which he asked me:<\/p>\n

‘if you are asking students to develop LOs, how are you defining to them what LOs are?’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, anyone\u00a0familiar with\u00a0this area will probably know the definition of LOs commonly given in the literature, i.e. that they are statements of what a student should understand, know and\/or be able to do at the end of a learning period.\u00a0 This is not to say that this definition is unanimous or problem-free.\u00a0 However, it is a definition that most teachers would recognise.<\/p>\n

But this definition is not what my colleague was asking me to recite.\u00a0 Rather, he\u00a0was asking me: what are LOs to students?\u00a0 What are we asking students to consider as LOs?\u00a0 Now we could simply say here that we are asking them to think about what they will know and be able to do at the end of a module or course.\u00a0 But this may be a\u00a0challenging process\u00a0for students at the beginning<\/em> of a learning period when they don’t have the contextual knowledge of the content that the module will cover, what will be included in the assessments, etc.\u00a0 So, if students are going to be involved in developing their own LOs, we have to have a definition for them that goes beyond LOs as simply what they will know or can do.<\/p>\n

\"Motivation\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My thoughts are that a student-focused definition has to centre more on their motivations for doing the module\/unit\/course\/etc, and their aspirations for it.\u00a0 It has to engage with the experiences and knowledge that they will be bringing to that particular learning situation.\u00a0 Overall, the process of developing LOs with students\u00a0has to engage\u00a0them in thinking about and reflecting on themselves as learners and the learning journey that they want to take.<\/p>\n

So how do we condense that down into a meaningful definition of what we are asking students to consider as LOs?\u00a0 That requires some thinking.\u00a0 In my ongoing and very wide searching of the LOs literature I have not come across anyone offering a definition of this kind.\u00a0 If any reader has then please do get in touch.\u00a0 It would also be very useful to find out if any reader\u00a0does give a definition of LOs to their students that differs from the common academic one.<\/p>\n

\"Question<\/a><\/p>\n

I guess what I’m really asking is how is the concept of LOs framed for students?\u00a0 Is it framed for them or do we just expect them to take the same meaning from it that we, as teachers, do?\u00a0 Would the\u00a0common definition that we have be as useful and meaningful to students?\u00a0 I’m asking lots of questions here because I’m still\u00a0trying to clarify my own thinking around this issue.\u00a0 I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts or any ways in which you may actually be addressing some of the points I’ve raised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a previous blog post I detailed a current project that we are working on which concerns engaging students in the process of developing learning outcomes (LOs).\u00a0 I had a very interesting conversation with a colleague the other day in which he asked me: ‘if you are asking students to develop LOs, how are you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,2],"tags":[14,17,19],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-implementinglos","category-losinhe","category-uolproject","tag-extendinglos","tag-reflections-on-los","tag-student-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/loproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}