Using AI to Draft Learning Outcomes

Creating effective learning objectives is a critical aspect of designing a higher education course. A good learning objective serves as a clear, concise statement that describes what students are expected to learn and be able to do at the end of a course or a specific lesson. Here are the key elements that make a good learning objective for a higher education course:

1. Alignment with Course Goals and Standards: The learning objective should align with the broader goals of the course and adhere to academic standards and benchmarks. This ensures that the objective contributes to the overall educational aims of the program and institution.
2. Specificity: A good learning objective is specific and clear, avoiding vague language. It precisely states what the student is expected to learn or accomplish, which helps in guiding both instruction and assessment.
3. Measurability: The objective should be measurable, meaning that there is a way to assess whether or not students have achieved it. This could involve tests, projects, presentations, or other forms of assessment that provide tangible evidence of learning.
4. Student-Centered: Effective objectives focus on student learning rather than teacher instruction. They emphasize what the students will do or understand, not just what the instructor will cover or present.
5. Appropriate Level of Difficulty: The objective should be challenging yet attainable for students at the course level. It should push students to advance their skills and knowledge without being so difficult that it becomes demotivating or overwhelming. Using action verbs from Bloom's Taxonomy (such as analyze, create, evaluate) helps in creating objectives at the appropriate level. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a big help in brainstorming and drafting learning objectives for your course. When given the right context, it can generate tailored, specific, and measurable learning objectives that align with course goals. AI tools can suggest outcomes and adjust the difficulty level of objectives, ensuring they are challenging yet attainable. 

Sample Prompt 1

When using an AI to generate Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) it’s important to provide the AI with specific information about your course, your students, and your purpose. A good prompt will include information that will help the AI to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Here’s a sample prompt to get you started:

“Help me to write course outcomes for my undergraduate course on healthcare ethics. This will be a 6-week course designed to introduce healthcare students to ethical issues, frameworks, and decision-making processes. Specific topics that we will cover in the course include Patient Rights and Confidentiality, End-of-Life Decision Making, Resource Allocation, Medical Research Ethics, Public Health Ethics, Genetics and Reproductive Ethics, Organ Donation Ethics, and Healthcare Policy. Write a maximum of five course outcomes that encompass these topics.

Format my course outcomes as a numbered list. Each outcome should be one sentence. Begin each outcome by using a strong and measurable verb. Use only one verb per objective. Make each outcome student-centered. Avoid using jargon if possible. Don’t use the words understand, understanding, demonstrate.”

Sample Prompt 2

Using AI to draft Module Learning Outcomes (MLOs) is similar to using it and drafting CLOs. Except, you should focus on providing information about the specific module that you’re working on. You can also ask the AI to help you align your module outcomes with your course outcomes. Here’s an example:

“Help me to write module outcomes for my undergraduate course on healthcare ethics. Here’s a list of course outcomes:

1. 1. Evaluate the ethical dimensions of patient rights and confidentiality in healthcare settings.
   2. Justify ethical decisions in end-of-life care, integrating cultural, religious, and legal considerations.
   3. Assess resource allocation in healthcare, focusing on equity and justice in various settings.
   4. Critique ethical challenges in medical research, public health, genetics, and reproductive ethics.
   5. Develop informed positions on organ donation and healthcare policy ethics through research and analysis.

I’ll be writing module two now. In this module, I want to teach my students about informed consent, access to medical records, disclosure of medical errors, HIPAA compliance and regulations, and patient advocacy and support. Write one module outcome for each of these topics.

Format my course outcomes as a numbered list. Begin each outcome by using a strong and measurable verb. Use only one verb per objective. Make each outcome student-centered. Avoid using jargon if possible. Don’t use the words understand, understanding, demonstrate. Also, align each of the module outcomes with at least one of my course outcomes by including aligned course outcome numbers in parentheses at the end of the module learning outcome.”

When writing module outcomes, it can be helpful to use the same conversation that you used to generate your course outcomes. This way, you don’t need to provide them again.

Tips and Best Practices 

Here are a few miscellaneous tips on using AI to generate learning outcomes:

1. Review AI Work: As always, it is important for you as the course designer to review and assess learning outcomes generated by AI. Don’t just assume that they are correct and that they make sense. Make sure that the objective is suitable for your course, topics, and students.
2. Choose Verbs: While the formatting of learning objectives can change, as a rule of thumb, it’s good practice to begin your learning objectives with a strong and measurable action verb. AIs tend to try and use the words “understand” or “demonstrate understanding.” However, these are not measurable verbs. It can be helpful to remind the AI not to use these words.
3. Provide Context: In general, the more information that you can provide to your AI, the more likely it is to develop learning outcomes that you can use for your course. Provide as much information as you can upfront about your purpose, learners, topics, course format, and other relevant information. And remember, you can always provide this information later in the conversation, and ask the AI to revise the outcomes that it has generated.
4. Use One Verb Per Outcome: AIs tend to be unnecessarily verbose. Consider asking the AI to use only one verb per outcome. This can make outcomes easier to read, understand, and measure.