Learning Outcomes: Begin with the End in Mind
There is much literature (scholarly, anecdotal, and appearing in blogs, newsletters, etc.) on the creation of learning outcomes and a review of that literature is beyond the scope of this short blog post, however, it is important to remember three RIPS Law blog posts that date from 2014 and 2015 during the time law schools were discussing the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standard 302 on learning outcomes. In one RIPS Law Librarian blog post, Beau Steenken states, “…we are forced to pick and choose what we want our students to learn, which is the question at the heart of outcomes-based education,” and notes that a rubric for grading an assignment based on learning outcomes under ABA Standard 302 provides better feedback than a “results-based rubric” because such a rubric fosters grading students based on what the students do rather than how they align with what the instructor has done. In another RIPS Law Librarian blog post, Cynthia Condit makes a distinction between “goals” or “objectives” and “learning outcomes” for first year legal research lessons. Condit recognizes that there is not a “standardized assessment terminology” and notes that definitions of “learning objectives” and “learning outcomes” vary across sources...