Manual for ESTRO Teachers

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COURSE PRESENTATIONS ANDCONTENT Defining Learning outcomes for EACH course presentation

Learning Outcomes specify the intended endpoint of a period of engagement in specified learning activities. They are written in the future tense and should clearly indicate the nature and/or level of learning required to achieve them successfully. They should be achievable and assessable and use language that learners (and other teachers) can easily understand. They relate to explicit statements of achievement and always contain verbs. Outcomes should be SMART : Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound.

Individual outcomes should relate to one of the three domains described by Bloom (1956): • Cognitive (knowledge and intellectual skills) • Psychomotor (physical skills) • Affective (feelings and attitudes).

Outcomes should avoid ambiguity or over-complexity. The table below lists the elements of the revised cognitive domain with a brief description, and then some useful verbs that can be used to map the learning outcome on to the relevant level.

Bloom’s Taxonomy: cognitive domain

Description

Useful verbs for outcome-level statements

Judge, appraise, evaluate, compare, assess, conclude, contrast, criticise, critique, defend, describe, discriminate, explain, interpret, justify, relate, summarise, support Design, organise, formulate, propose, categorise, combine, compile, compose, create, devise, design, explain, generate, modify, organise, plan, rearrange, reconstruct, relate, reorganise, revise, rewrite, summarise, tell, write Distinguish, analyse, calculate, test, inspect, break down, compare, contrast, diagram, deconstruct, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, identify, illustrate, infer, outline, relate, select, separate Apply, use, illustrate, practise, change, compute, construct, demonstrate, discover, manipulate, modify, operate, predict, prepare, produce, relate, show, solve Comprehend, convert, defend, distinguish, estimate, explain, extend, generalise, give example, infer, interpret, paraphrase, predict, rewrite, summarise, translate Define, list, name, recall, record, define, describe, identify, know, label, list, match, name, outline, recall, recognise, reproduce, select, state

Ability to judge X for a purpose

Evaluation

Arranging and assembling elements into a whole

Synthesis

Breaking down components to clarify

Analysis

Using the rules and principles

Application

Grasping the meaning but not extending it beyond the present situation

Comprehension

Recall of information previously presented

Knowledge

If possible, resist the temptation to use words and phrases like: Know..., Understand..., Really know..., Fully understand..., Be familiar with..., Become acquainted with..., Have a good grasp of..., Obtain a working knowledge of..., Acquire a feeling for..., The majority of these examples are imprecise and difficult to make ‘SMART’.

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Manual for ESTRO Teachers