Now we need to shift our gaze from the broad, high-level strategies you’ve been working on for your whole programme. Your broad strategies for embedding are the “big picture”.
Now, imagine you’re switching from wide angle lens to zoom on a camera. Your next three assessments require you to do some assessing and some teaching. To do this well, we need to zoom in much closer.
You’re going to zoom in by developing some very specific learning outcomes to guide your planning, assessing and teaching.
But before we launch into writing learning outcomes, here’s a quick heads up of what’s left to finish your training.
After this assessment, you’ll learn to do the following:
- BEFORE you teach: Use diagnostic assessment including the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool
- TEACHING: Plan and facilitate the kind of embedded activities that your learners need for your training.
- AFTER you teach: Measure learner progress
Each of these stages in the embedding process needs to be highly focused. The way we focus here is through writing very specific learning outcomes.
Each stage, whether it’s a diagnostic assessment, your teaching activities, or some kind of progress assessment is guided by your learning outcomes. These are your road map. They keep you on track and ensure that you focus on the things that you’ve identified as important.
But first:
- What is a learning outcome?
The term learning outcome is shortened from intended learning outcome. A learning outcome is a short statement that says:
- What you expect learners to be able to do at the end of the learning.
You already wrote a short statement that summed up your broad strategy for embedding literacy and numeracy. With your strategies, you’re looking at the whole of your programme.
With learning outcomes, you’re looking at teaching and assessing some specific aspect of literacy and numeracy.
