Understanding & Using Outcomes

Outcomes...the road map to student success!

Outcomes (or objectives) are used to state the expected skills or knowledge a student will gain by completing a specific course or learning unit.  Courses typically have two types of learning outcomes, those at the course level and those at the module/weekly/topic level.

Outcomes should always be written in student friendly language, be at an appropriate skill level for the level of the course, be measurable, and be aligned with specific assessments in your course.  In addition, module level objectives should also align with and support those at the course level.

Graded student assessments (quizzes, assignments, discussions, etc.) in Canvas can be aligned to course or module level outcomes using rubrics.  Assessments that are aligned to outcomes using a rubric will generate reporting data.  Using Outcomes you can manage, define, and frame your student's learning experience. Outcomes can also be easily tracked if the Learning Mastery Gradebook is enabled in your course.

Outcomes can be added as graded or ungraded items on a Rubric.  You can distinguish between your regular Rubric criterion and Outcomes criterion by looking for the icon next to your Outcome.  Your regular Rubric criterion will not have an icon associated to them.  You can look at any Rubric in this course as an example.


Learning Resources:

Explore the Guides links below.  Each link will open in a new tab.  You can return to Canvas by clicking on the Canvas tab in your browser. 

Watch

Read

After exploring the Guides links, return to Canvas and click the "Next" button at the bottom right of the page to move to the next section of the module.

TIP: Building or rebuilding a course is a great time to examine or re-examine your outcomes.  You may find this list of Bloom's Taxonomy of action verbs Links to an external site. helpful in doing so.  Be sure to check in with your campus Office of Instruction and eLearning Department for specific course outcomes and requirements.