{"id":2589,"date":"2020-11-24T11:25:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T19:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2020-11-24T11:25:05","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T19:25:05","slug":"what-are-learning-outcomes-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2020\/11\/what-are-learning-outcomes-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Learning Outcomes For?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Bitzer,\u2019 said Thomas Gradgrind. \u2018Your definition of a horse.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.\u2019 Thus (and much more) Bitzer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Now girl number twenty,\u2019 said Mr Gradgrind. \u2018You know what a horse is.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening chapters of Dickens\u2019 Hard Times<\/em> probably have all of us recoil at the insistence of Mr Gradgrind on a school where the three subjects in the curriculum are \u2018Facts. Facts. Facts.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do things differently now. We have \u2018learning outcomes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what could be wrong with that? My university\u2019s guidelines note that \u2018learning outcomes\u2019 are \u2018student-centered rather than instructor-centered\u2019, and \u2018focus on student products, artifacts, or performances, rather than on instructional techniques or course content.\u2019 Faculty are advised that \u2018the key to writing effective learning outcomes is the selection of active, measurable verbs\u2014the tasks you want students to do<\/em> at the end of your class.\u2019 And, the important last step, \u2018consider how you will be able to measure whether students have met those outcomes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I like to think I am a person endowed with perspective and a sense of proportion. Like Dickens himself,  who wrote \u2018I often say to Mr. Gradgrind that there is reason and good intention in much that he does \u2013 in fact, in all that he does \u2013 but that he over-does it.\u2019 (thanks to Donald Winch for the pointer). And in the directives we receive that all courses in higher education need to have measurable learning outcomes, well, it over-does it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were I teaching a class to certify gas pipe mechanics, I might well include measurable learning outcomes. It is a course whose sole intention is to have students be able to do<\/em> something at the end of the course, one that done properly will avoid buildings being blown to smithereens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not what universities are about. Because in a university, although it might have some<\/em> practical classes in techniques, akin to learning how to properly fit a gas pipe, where the goal is to have ability in the technique that one did not have before, the essence of a university is that the activity<\/em> of being in class, the listening and thinking and conversing and reconsidering, is what the classes are for. It is not like a trip to the dentist, where the goal is the end result of a cavity being filled, and the process is simply something that must be endured. It is what goes on in the moment<\/em> that matters most. It is a hike not simply to reach the mountaintop for the view it offers, but a hike for the hike itself, for all the steps, all the sights and sounds along the way. \u2018A university is not a machine for achieving a particular purpose or producing a particular result; it is a manner of human activity,\u2019 wrote Michael Oakeshott in 1950, as he warned, with good reason, about the path on which we now find ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning outcomes are tied to a concept familiar to those regular readers of artsjournal.com<\/a>, the instrumentalization of activities that have value for their own sake, but where that value is being eclipsed in the discourse: attending the theatre makes you healthy, a visit to the art gallery improves your test scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am old enough to have attended university in the days before the learning outcomes bureaucracy took hold. I do not think my education suffered for it: a quick look at any course outline and readings gave a pretty good sense of what was going to happen in the classroom. How the change came I am not sure \u2013 perhaps partly the shift in students becoming \u2018consumers\u2019 (as Stefan Collini argues here<\/a>); perhaps the shift to the \u2018new public management\u2019 through the 90s and beyond that now dominates public and nonprofit bureaucracies; or a means of reining in what were seen as excesses in the academic freedom of faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I think the real cause is a lost appreciation for the intrinsic value of what happens in a university course. One where nobody knows at the beginning which ideas will most excite students and warrant further investigation and discussion. And where each student will, in the end, have had a different experience, depending on the preconceptions that were brought into the class, and which ideas had resonance, and which did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is my first year teaching online. It\u2019s a necessary thing, a worthwhile sacrifice as we make our way through the pandemic. And for every article I read that says \u2018well, it turns out learning outcomes are achieved just as effectively in online education as in on-campus\u2019, I think, yes, that might well be so. But we are losing something else, in not having that activity of gathering in a room. And if all of our courses are to become exercises in achieving measurable learning outcomes, what is the campus actually for?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Bitzer,\u2019 said Thomas Gradgrind. \u2018Your definition of a horse.\u2019 \u2018Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.\u2019 Thus (and much more) Bitzer. \u2018Now girl number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/school.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-FL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1915,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/12\/about-that-university-of-kentucky-mural\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":0},"title":"About that University of Kentucky mural","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"At the University of Kentucky a 1930's WPA-funded mural by Ann Rice O'Hanlon has been temporarily covered while the university administration, faculty and students deliberate on the presentation of the work and its depiction of African-Americans. The story has prompted a response from author Wendell Berry, in an opinion piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"history","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/04\/capital-inequality-and-investments-in-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":1},"title":"Capital, inequality, and investments in art","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What are the effects of an increased concentration of wealth on the art market? Writing in the New York Times, Scott Reyburn looks for a link between the theories in most newsworthy economics book of the year, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and what we are seeing at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"so have you really read this through?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/piketty-199x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2884,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/05\/who-wants-to-go-to-college\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":2},"title":"Who wants to go to college?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Should more young people go to college? This morning's papers presented very different answers to the question. The New York Times reports on President Biden's idea that we ought to ensure there are good and interesting careers and stable incomes for people who do not want to, or find it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2135,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/11\/why-its-time-to-completely-totally-finally-give-up-on-economic-impact-studies-in-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":3},"title":"Why it’s time to completely, totally, finally give up on economic impact studies in the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my last attempt at this topic, based on some recent (friendly!) twitter conversations and questions. One. Let me start with some data. Here, from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, are sector shares of GDP (i.e. the total value added from each sector) for recent years. If you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"no, I don't think it will really work","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/kill-projects-like-vampire.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2304,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2018\/03\/tainted-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":4},"title":"Tainted money","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on a stunt by New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz, in which at the Metropolitan Museum of Art he registers his protest of the plaza named for donor David Koch: Mr. Saltz was carrying a long strip of paper that had been printed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"who paid for this?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Met-Museum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Met-Museum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Met-Museum.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1330,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/opera-and-arts-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":2589,"position":5},"title":"Opera and arts education","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Audiences for live performance of opera are aging and declining. What ought to be done about that? General Manager of New York's Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, in an interview with the BBC (on which I posted, on a different topic, yesterday) has this to say: \"The box office has not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"much to learn","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/NYCschool.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2592,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions\/2592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}