Answer this question: What are the most important things a student should know, be able to do, or value after completing your class?
Techniques for answering this question follow. All draw upon your prior experience in teaching the class. Those in the left column suggest you look at written materials you have already created. Those in the right suggest starting with brainstorming.
Focus on the essentials: what successful students need to learn in your class, not everything they might learn.
In December 2015, the Law faculty adopted learning outcomes for the school reflecting the knowledge, skills, and values Drake Law graduates will possess. Each individual course a student takes contributes to these institutional outcomes.
It might be helpful to review this information as you determine the essential knowledge, skills, and values students should obtain as a result of taking your class.
Here is an example of how a program or course learning objective may address a narrower slice of one of the school's objectives:
(Niedwicki 676).
If you already list course objectives or competencies, review them to make sure they are still an accurate and complete list of essential learning. This might be all that you need to move on to the next step of turning these ideas into learning outcomes.
Consider the exams or graded assignments you have offered in this class in the past.
What knowledge, skills, and values did students need to demonstrate to do well?
If you were already assessing the most essential learning, this might be an effective way to start your list.
You might find it effective to simply brainstorm an answer to the question stated in the objective. If you take this approach, considering related questions might also be useful.
Short version
(Adapted from the University of Oregon Assessment and Research Office)
Longer version
Barbara Glesner Fines at UMKC has written extensively about legal education and the importance of learning outcomes. Her article, The Power of a Destination, provides guidance for thinking through the establishment of learning outcomes in a law school course.
The University of Texas at Austin Faculty Innovation Center notes that a course's big ideas or themes "shape the way students think about a subject and develop skills and values related to the discipline."
Identifying what students need to understand to grasp these big ideas might be useful considerations in writing your learning objectives. The center recommends asking these questions:
Similar to the big ideas technique, consider the overall purpose of your course by answering these questions:
(Adapted from Texas Tech University Office of Planning and Assessment)