Intended Learning Outcomes

A range of external and internal reference point are available to guide us in developing learning outcomes and ensure that we are pitching them at an appropriate level. Key reference points include:

1. Framework for Higher Education Qualifications this provides a benchmark of the generic requirements students should meet at each level of qualification (e.g. Foundation Degree, Bachelors, Masters).
2. SEEC Credit Level Descriptors provide more detailed benchmarking of each individual level of study and generic expectations of students at each level. (Level 4 = year 1 undergraduate, level 5 = year 2, level 6 = year 3 and level 7 = masters level)
3. QAA Subject Benchmark statements set out discipline-specific expectations for students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. If your discipline is not represented you may need to consult the statement of one or more cognate disciplines.
4. Professional, regulatory or statutory body requirements. Your course may be regulated or accredited and you will also need to take into account any of their requirements in terms of learning outcomes.
5. Queen Mary Statement of Graduate Attributes is an internal framework which sets out the university-wide expectations for Queen Mary graduates in terms of attributes and skills development. At a programme level, you should include an attribute relating to each of the Queen Mary values. At a module level you might include 1-2 attributes where relevant. See the Graduate Attributes staff guide for more details.

Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is a useful guide for thinking about the appropriate level of learning outcomes.  Developed in the 1950s and most recently updated in 2001 (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001), Bloom’s taxonomy is helpful in providing a range of active verbs to use when putting together outcomes.

The table below sets out examples of verbs relating to the different levels of the taxonomy. Don’t expect students to be able to carry out higher level tasks without the basic levels - the proposal behind Bloom’s Taxonomy is that students must master the ‘lower’ level cognitive processes (such as those grouped under ‘knowledge’ and ‘comprehension’) before they can move up to ‘higher’ levels of the framework (such as ‘synthesis’ and ‘evaluation’). 

The design of the framework is not judgemental and the lower levels are equally as vital to higher education as the higher levels.  Even for the most complex, high level courses there may still be a need for students to identify or recall as well as to interpret, apply and analyse.

In Bloom’s hierarchy, verbs relating to the lower cognitive processes will be more likely to be used in outcomes for lower levels of study (Levels 4 and 5), while those related to higher cognitive processes are more likely at Levels 6 or 7.

Adapted from Stefani, L. 2009. Planning Teaching and Learning: Curriculum Design and Development. In Fry, H. et al (eds) A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

For more level descriptors see FHEQ and SEEC credit level descriptors.

Descriptor for a higher education qualification at level 6 on the FHEQ: bachelor's degree with honours

Bachelor's degrees with honours are awarded to students who have demonstrated:

• a systematic understanding of key aspects of their field of study, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline
• an ability to deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within a discipline
• conceptual understanding that enables the student:
  - to devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and
  techniques, some of which are at the forefront of a discipline
  - to describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or
  equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
• an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge
• the ability to manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).

Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:

• apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects
• critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem
• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and
  non-specialist audiences.

And holders will have:

• the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring:
  - the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
  - decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts
  - the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further training of a
  professional or equivalent nature.

Descriptor for a higher education qualification at level 7 on the FHEQ and SCQF level 11 on the FQHEIS: master's degree

Master's degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated:

• a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice
• a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship
• originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline
• conceptual understanding that enables the student:
  - to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline
  - to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where
  appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.

Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to:

• deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in
• the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and
  act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or
  equivalent level
• continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level.

And holders will have:

• the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring:
  - the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
  - decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations
  - the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development.