In higher education, we must be concerned with student learning and development.
After all, we’re in the business of facilitating opportunities and a supportive environment for those things. If our internal reasons were not enough, the increased scrutiny on higher education calls us to measure and demonstrate how effective we are in our efforts.
To do that, however, we must first be able to articulate what learning looks like.
Whatever you call them – learning goals, learning objectives, outcome statements, learning outcomes (my go-to) – we should be able to indicate the knowledge or skills we intend students to gain.
The good news is there are general elements to include in naming what students will know, think, or do as a result of engaging with us.