It's About Learning

Student will be able to… (SWBAT)

If you can keep in mind that an outcome must be stated in terms of what a student will be able to do and you use an action verb that describes what the student will be able to do within a specific context…then you will have a good outcome. A well written learning outcome must have 3 components:

• Verb(s)
  Subject
  Context

One more thing – Avoid the term “understand” or its variant “develop an understanding“. Why?

You can’t measure “understand” or “understanding” and in order for an outcome to be effective or SMART is has to be measurable.

SMART Outcomes:

Specific – state clearly what the student/learner should able to do, and at what level
Measurable – you should have an idea of how the outcome will be assessed
Attainable – your student/learner must be able to accomplish the outcome
Realistic – similar to attainable but focuses on the appropriateness of the task
Time-appropriate – can the outcome be completed within a reasonable time frame

The following two documents provide more detailed information and can be used as a self check when you are writing learning outcomes:

• National Institute for Learning Assessment Guidelines for Well written Student Learning Outcome Statements – Writing Learning Outcome Statements.pdf
• Thompson Rivers University Centre for Student Learning and Innovation – Examples of Good and Bad Learning Outcomes