Learning Goals
Having good learning goals (also called "learning objectives" or "learning outcomes") is key to taking an evidence-based approach to education. This means faculty members laying out learning goals for the programs and individual courses in operational terms of what students should be able to do if they learned what the departmental faculty would like them to. These goals should include EVERYTHING the faculty hope students will learn, from concepts to vocabulary to specialized skills to habits of the mind, … Establishing clear goals informs the design of curriculum, teaching, and evaluation methods.
Below are a number of documents to help instructors develop learning goals.
UBC Research on Learning goals
What Value are Course-Specific Learning Goals?
Learning Goals study: Beth Simon, STLF in Computer Science and Jared Taylor, STLF in Life Sciences, conducted a study of student and faculty perceptions of the usefulness of learning goals (accepted for publication in the Journal of College Science Teaching).
Learning goals examples
Learning Goals/Objectives Examples
Good examples of learning goals — developed by departments involved in the Science Education Initiatives at UBC and the University of Colorado [Chemistry, Computer Science, Geological Sciences, Life Sciences, Physics, and Statistics].
Learning Goals - Computer Science
Learning goals developed for 5 UBC Computer Science courses.
the UBC Computer Science Department experience
(most of this is very relevant to other departments):Developing Learning Goals 101
How to Develop Learning Goals for an Established Course: The Computer Science Model. A document that Beth Simon put together that describes the successful process that the UBC Computer Science Department went through to establish learning goals in multiple courses.
Tracking Changing Learning Goals - Steve Wolfman's experience (1-page version)
Tracking Changing Learning Goals - (3-page version)
Account written by Steve Wolfman on the trajectory they went through in developing learning goals for CPSC 101.
A Glimpse into the Process of Creating Learning Goals
Script of a role-play discussion between Steve Wolfman and STLF Beth Simon. It attempts to re-enact and give the feel for the process used in the UBC Computer Science Department to create learning goals for their courses. They often started by looking at an exam question previously used in the class – and used this to stimulate discussion and refinement of the actual goals faculty had for students taking the course. The discussion is modeled from an exam question used in CPSC 101 (a course for non-majors) in Summer 2006.
Learning Goals - Computer Science
Learning goals developed for 5 UBC Computer Science courses.
Learning goals Workshop & talk Materials
UBC Learning Conference, Oct 2, 2008: Learning Goals Symposium
Learning Goals: What, Why, How: Beth Simon, Jared Taylor, and Steve Wolfman
Bringing Learning Goals to Fruition: Francis Jones and Brett Gilley
Slides from the Wieman Learning Goals Workshop
