"Well begun is half done," Aristotle said. Preparing your classroom sessions is as important as running them. If you want to help students learn, you must first define learning outcomes, then design learning activities that allow students to achieve these outcomes. As part of your preparation, you must also take care of the learning environment, such as the room and any required equipment.
Learning outcomes are the key to the whole process. They suggest activities you can design and run for your students. They help you prioritize these activities and manage your time during sessions. They allow you to evaluate your sessions and dictate the type of exam you must organize to assess your students' learning.
Learning activities are activities students engage in: They are about what students do in the classroom (and perhaps outside of it), not about what you do. Designing activities that are adequate for the learning outcomes is the most important step. No matter how good a facilitator you are, you will not be able to salvage an inadequate learning activity by facilitation alone — not any more than you can salvage a poorly designed oral presentation by delivery alone.
Finally, the learning environment is an important success factor. Reserve an appropriate room for the learning activities you have designed, and prepare or secure any equipment you need for these activities.
Defining learning outcomes
To help students achieve specific learning outcomes, you must have a clear idea of what these outcomes are. If you are a teaching assistant, you may have received a list of outcomes from your professor. If you did not or if you are in charge of the course, you need to define them for yourself.
A learning outcome is not the material to be learned: It is a capacity applied to that material. As such, it is best expressed as a sentence that starts with:
By the end of the course, students should be able to . . .
And continues with a verb and an object, for example:
. . . balance a chemical equation.
The capacity can involve knowledge, skills, or even attitudes. Here are examples of verbs you can use to write the corresponding types of learning outcomes.
Knowledge
| define | define the terms gene, chromosome, and allele |
| describe | describe the method for measuring electrical resistance known as the Wheatstone bridge |
| identify | identify the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction on a schematic diagram |
| list | list the various organs in the human digestive tract |
| state | state Heisenberg's uncertainly principle |
| Other examples: cite, explain, name | |
Skills
| analyze | analyze critically an abstract written by a classmate |
| apply | apply the three laws of thermodynamics to . . . |
| design | design an algorithm that . . . |
| measure | measure the thickness of a wire with a laser beam |
| solve | solve partial differential equations |
| Other examples: calculate, construct, create, critique, develop, evaluate, infer, interpret, plan, predict, present, recognize, select, summarize, write | |
Attitude
| appreciate | appreciate the importance of . . . |
| observe | observe the safety rules for . . . |
| recognize | recognize a situation in which they must . . . |
| Other examples: value, listen actively, be sensitive to | |
Define learning outcomes both for the course as a whole and for each module (such as each classroom session) within the course. If you are a teaching assistant and have not been given the outcomes by your professor, you can define them by using your best judgment, by asking previous teaching assistants for the course, or by looking at the exam questions from previous years.
To be useful, a learning outcome must be specific and observable. In this respect, verbs such as know, recall, and understand are best replaced by more observable alternatives, such as cite, define, or describe. Besides the capacity to be developed, you can specify the means put at the disposal of students (for example, "using pen and paper only") and the criteria used for evaluating the capacity (for example, "in five minutes or less").
