Comm Arts Forms

Com Arts Course Learning Outcomes

Posted on

Course learning outcomes have many advantages, among them that they clearly communicate what individual courses will help students achieve, and they help instructors organize their courses and identify their central goals.  To appear to students in the program guide, new or revised course learning outcomes would normally have to be approved course-by-course through individual course change proposals; but the Communication Arts Undergraduate Committee has secured a grant that will enable us to get approval for new or revised course learning outcomes for all our courses as a single slate.  To do this, each instructor will need to generate learning outcomes that they are happy with and submit them for inclusion in that department database.

The interactive tool below explains what learning outcomes are and provides guidelines for writing them; it then offers a sandbox for you to start drafting course learning outcomes (3-7 per course) that will meet UW requirements.  You can even use it to submit your work to the committee (to complete the task or to get additional help and feedback).  We hope this exercise will strengthen our curricula by encouraging instructors to reflect on their goals and more clearly communicate the value that our courses have been offering to students.

 

Quick Guide to Writing Course Learning Outcomes

(Based on Writing Student Learning Outcomes, UW-Madison-Office of the Provost)

Courses typically have 3-7 learning outcomes that address what students are expected to know or be able to do after they complete the course. Course learning outcomes may, but do not need to, address the Com Arts program learning outcomes. If you teach a general education course, such as ethnic studies, Communication A, Communication B, or Quantitative Reasoning B, you may have a set of prescribed learning outcomes that will also need to be included.

  • Begin with an action verb. The action verb indicates the level of learning.
  • Follow with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student. Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper). Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    • Sample statements/objects:
      • definitions and theoretical explanations of gender, sex and communication
      • key theories, concepts, and methods in the analysis of digital media
      • effective dramatic scenes from raw footage
      • cultures of television production in terms of identity, community, meaning and hierarchies of power that shape collaboration and inclusivity
    • Additional notes:
      • 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
      • The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

Course Learning Outcome Examples:

  • Identify and explain definitions and theoretical explanations of gender, sex and communication.
  • Create effective dramatic scenes from raw footage.
  • Critically examine cultures of television production in terms of identity, community, meaning and hierarchies of power that shape collaboration and inclusivity.
  • Identify and describe prominent modes, movements, and tendencies in avant-garde film.
  • Apply rhetorical and cultural theory to issues of health, illness, and healthcare.
  • Critically evaluate the relationship between gender and power.
  • Demonstrate how a television text’s deeper and ideological meanings are communicated through elements such as filming, editing, sound, plot, and characterization.

 

Learning Outcomes For Com Arts Course

  • Course Learning Outcome #1

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Course Learning Outcome #2

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Course Learning Outcome #3

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Learning Outcome #4 (optional)

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Learning Outcome #5 (optional)

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Learning Outcome #6 (optional)

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Learning Outcome #7 (optional)

  • This is a sample list of action verbs meant to give suggestions and potential options. Feel free to use them or any other action verbs that might fit your course better. Whatever action verb you choose, please make it the first word you use when you write your learning outcome below.
  • When writing the learning outcome below, follow the action verb with a statement. The statement is the object of the action verb (grammatically speaking). It describes the knowledge or the abilities to be demonstrated by the student.
    o Don’t include a specific assignment for the course (i.e. 10 page paper).
    o Write the statements to the students in the course instead of the university administrators.
    o Do not include the phrase “Students will be able to”
    o 400 characters is the length limit for CLOs.
    o The system can’t accommodate special characters (e.g., accents, umlats, ampersands, etc.) or special formatting (e.g., bullets, dashes, numbering, etc.)

  • Submitting Course Learning Outcomes

    Once you hit submit below, your course learning outcomes will be submitted to the Undergraduate Committee, at which point they will contact you with any questions, suggestions, or confirmation that your outcomes have been added to the department database we’re building.