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Learning Outcomes Examples and Template

Ten worked learning outcomes and a verb bank, plus sheets that check each outcome against its graded work and your program's framework.

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Pack of 8 files: 5 documents, 3 spreadsheets

Learning Outcomes Examples and Template
  • How the Level Check WorksDocument
  • Outcome StatementsDocument
  • Writing GuidanceDocument
  • Observable Verb BankDocument
  • Mapping NoteDocument
  • Outcome RegisterSpreadsheet
  • Assessment Evidence CeilingSpreadsheet
  • Framework CoverageSpreadsheet
RiverLearning Outcomes Examples and Template

Outcome Register

Three levels per outcome, not one

The verb's level, the ceiling of the evidence behind it, and the lower of the two. A gap is a number.

COVerbVerb levelAssessmentCeilingRealisedRuleVerdict
CO-1———————
CO-2———————
CO-3———————
CO-4———————
CO-5———————
CO-6———————

Framework coverage, both directions

RowOutcomes claiming itEvidenced at the ruleClauses namedAssessed, never stated
(1)————
(2)————
(3)————
(4)————

A verb list cannot know your descriptor rows, and a sentence formula cannot know whether your assessment reaches the level it helped you claim.

Page 1 of 1147 words

How to write learning outcomes

Learning outcomes say what students should be able to do by the end of a course or program, as actions someone else could watch and grade. To write one, start with a single observable verb pitched at the level the course should reach. Name what students act on, and any condition that makes the task hard. Then check that graded work in the course can show it.

Keep your list of graded work open while you write. A polished sentence reads just as well when nothing in the course tests it, so the graded work, not the wording, tells you whether an outcome holds.

A teacher in a blue shirt writes physics equations and a force diagram on a green chalkboard, seen from a student's seat
Outcomes say what students will do, not what the lecture covers. Photo: Tra Nguyen on Unsplash

Gather what the outcomes answer to

Course outcomes rarely stand alone. They feed a program's outcomes, and often an accreditor's. In an ABET-accredited engineering program, the program's outcomes are the seven student outcomes in ABET's Criterion 3, plus any the program adds. ABET defines student outcomes as what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation1. Before you draft a word, collect four things.

  • The framework's outcome statements, word for word, not a summary
  • Any level your institution expects at this course number
  • The current outcomes, noting where each version came from
  • Every graded item, its form and its share of the grade

The last item is the easiest to skip, and it decides what any outcome can honestly claim. If the catalog and last term's syllabus word an outcome differently, find out which version your institution treats as official.

Write learning outcomes with observable verbs

Lead each outcome with one verb naming something students do. Cornell's Center for Teaching Innovation advises avoiding verbs that cannot be observed and measured easily2, and lists appreciate, become aware of, become familiar with, know, learn and understand. Nobody can watch a student understand. They can only watch what the student does with it.

So ask what each vague verb was standing in for. "Understand convection" could mean picking the right correlation for a flow or predicting what happens when the flow speeds up, and those need different tests.

Rewriting outcomes nobody can grade

TopicAs inheritedRewritten
Modes of heat transferUnderstand the three modes of heat transferDifferentiate the three modes in a given situation and determine which dominates
ConvectionBe familiar with the standard correlationsSelect a correlation for a given flow and check that the flow lies inside its range of validity
RadiationKnow the radiation shape factorsDerive the shape factor for a two-surface enclosure and compute the net exchange

From the made-up heat transfer course worked through in this template.

Keep to one verb per outcome, too. "Describe and analyze" puts two levels in one sentence, and one grade cannot show which of them a student reached. Split it, or keep the verb you will grade.

Pitch each outcome at the course's level

Bloom's taxonomy, revised in 2001, orders thinking from remembering and understanding up through applying, analyzing and evaluating to creating. Iowa State University's teaching center notes that lower-division courses can assess at the lower levels and upper-division courses at the higher ones3. If your institution expects a level by course number, write it down. Every outcome gets compared with it.

Don't let a verb list set the level for you. Cornell's teaching center lists "contrast" under understanding, analyzing and evaluating4. The task decides. "Determine the Reynolds number" from a given velocity, diameter and fluid properties is a calculation. "Determine which thermal resistance dominates a composite wall" asks students to reason.

Conditions move the level as well. Picking a correlation from a supplied list is applying a method, while choosing among several and checking each one's range of validity is analysis. Adding "including one not covered in the course" asks students to learn something new. Say the condition whenever it is the hard part.

Make sure graded work can show it

Now read each outcome against the graded work behind it. Cornell's guidance is that the assessment method is driven by the thinking skills in the outcome4. A multiple-choice item can ask which recommendation is best, but picking one of four is not building and defending one. If the outcome says justify, students have to write the justification.

Give every outcome two levels: its verb's, and the highest its evidence can show. The outcome really claims the lower of the two. When the verb falls short, rewording is cheap. When the evidence falls short, don't soften the verb to match a weak quiz. Move the outcome to work that can carry it, or record the gap as an open item.

ExampleAn outcome that claimed more than its evidenceAn illustrative example written for this guide, from the template's made-up heat transfer course.

ME 341 Heat Transfer, a 300-level course whose outcomes are expected to reach analyzing.

As found: "Evaluate two candidate cooling schemes and justify a recommendation." Its only evidence was the multiple-choice quizzes, together worth 15% of the grade.

The fix: the evidence moved to the team design project, worth 25%, where students write the recommendation and defend it.

  • Two levels apart. The template counts a multiple-choice quiz as showing applying at most, two levels below evaluating.
  • The cheap fix was wrong. Softening the verb would have made the document consistent and the course weaker.

Self-reports can't carry an outcome on their own. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's assessment office counts student surveys as indirect evidence and says indirect evidence by itself is insufficient5. Use a survey to ask why students did well or badly, not as proof that they did.

Map the set to your framework, both ways

Next, map the set onto your framework, with one row for each framework outcome. Start with the obvious direction: which rows does each course outcome claim? Then run it backward. For each major assignment, ask what it requires of students, and whether any outcome says so.

Team projects are a good place to start, because ABET's list includes an ability to function effectively on a team1. If a team design project carries 25% of the grade and no outcome mentions teamwork, the course grades that skill without ever claiming it. A client memo does the same for communication, another item on ABET's list. Both gaps are cheap to close, because the work already exists.

Count the clauses inside each row, too. ABET's design outcome asks for solutions that consider public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors1. That is eight factors, and an outcome naming only cost still earns a tick in a matrix.

Don't fill a gap with a sentence

If a row has no outcome and the course doesn't assess it, don't write one just to complete the matrix. Record where the program covers it instead; a program curriculum map shows which course does.

Check the set before it goes to committee

Before you send the outcomes

  • Every outcome leads with one verb a grader could observe
  • None rests on understand, know, appreciate or be familiar with
  • Each outcome reaches the level your course number calls for, or the gap is recorded
  • Graded work can show each outcome at the level it claims
  • No outcome relies on a survey or self-rating alone
  • Every framework row is claimed, or recorded as taught elsewhere
  • Each major assignment, such as a team project, has an outcome naming what it assesses

Once the outcomes hold, line them up with the graded work in a course design template and turn each one into criteria with a grading rubric. To run the level and coverage checks on your own course, open the template on this page in River.

How to use this template

Use the files as they are, or open them in River. To work by hand, read How the Level Check Works first, then clear the made-up heat transfer course from the three sheets and enter your own outcomes and graded work.

With Edit with AI, River asks for four things: your framework's outcome text, any course-level rule, your current outcomes, and your graded work with weights. It fills in the Outcome Register and the Framework Coverage sheet, then lists the rows that need your decision. It drafts new wording only after you've read the register.

  1. Download it or open it in River

    Download the five Word documents and three CSV sheets free, or open the template in River to check your own outcomes with AI.

  2. Gather the four inputs

    Collect your framework's outcome text as published, any course-level rule, the current outcomes, and every graded item with its weight.

  3. Fill in the Outcome Register

    Record each outcome's verb level and what its evidence can show, or let River fill in the register and coverage sheet.

  4. Rewrite, then file the note

    Fix wording where the verb falls short, take evidence gaps to whoever owns the assessment, and log open items in the Mapping Note.

What's in the template

Eight outcomes, three at the rule, one over-claiming by two levelsWhat each verb can be placed at, what each assessment can actually evidence, and the two framework rows the course assesses without stating.
Learning Outcomes Examples and Template
RiverOutcomes

Outcome Register

Three of eight can be placed at the rule

Kenniston Institute of Technology, ME 341 Heat Transfer, 300 level. Kenniston's rule for 300 level: Analyse.

COVerbLvlEvidenceCeilRealRuleVerdict
CO-1understandnoneQuiz3none4Unplaceable
CO-2calculate3Homework334Short 1
CO-3analyse4Midterm444Met
CO-4be familiar withnoneQuiz3none4Unplaceable
CO-5design6Project664Met
CO-6attribute4Lab report444Met
CO-7knownoneFinal4none4Unplaceable
CO-8justify5Quiz334Over-claims 2

Two kinds of failure, two costs

RowKindRemedyCost
CO-1, CO-4, CO-7No level at allRewrite around an observable actWording
CO-2Under-claimsVerb up, evidence to the midtermWording
CO-8Over-claims by 2Evidence to the design projectAssessment

Softening CO-8's verb to match a quiz would close the gap on paper and make the course worse. That is why the two kinds are scored separately.

RiverCeilings

Assessment Evidence Ceiling

30% of the grade cannot reach the rule

A form of evidence caps what it can show whatever the question asks. Ceilings come from the task, not the topic.

IDAssessmentFormCeilGradeCarries rule
A-1Quizzes 1 to 4Selected response315%No
A-2Homework 1 to 8One-method problem315%No
A-3Midterm examConstructed response420%Yes
A-4Lab reports 1 to 3Own measured data415%Yes
A-5Exchanger design projectArtefact plus rationale625%Yes
A-6Final examConstructed response410%Yes
A-7End-of-course surveySelf-reportnone0%Never

What that leaves

ReadingShareConsequence
Ceiling below the rule30%Nothing mapped here can claim Analyse
Ceiling at or above the rule70%Where every outcome has to live
Able to reach 5 or 625%One assessment, so one home for Evaluate

A-7 gets a ceiling of none rather than a low number. A confidence rating is useful and evidences no outcome at any level.

RiverCoverage

Framework Coverage

Four rows claimed, three carrying evidence

ABET Criterion 3, outcomes (1) to (7). Five of the eight outcomes pile onto row (1).

RowWhat it asksClaimsEvidenceClausesVerdict
(1)Solve complex problems5CO-3—Evidenced
(2)Apply engineering design1CO-51 of 8Half stated
(3)Communicate to audiences0none—Unclaimed
(4)Ethical responsibilities1none0 of 4No evidence
(5)Function on a team0none—Unclaimed
(6)Experiment and interpret1CO-6—Evidenced
(7)Acquire new knowledge0none—Unclaimed

The reverse direction, and a second framework

FindingDetail
Assessed, never statedA-5 is a team project worth 25% of the grade and no outcome claims row (5)
Assessed, never statedA-5 requires a written client memo and no outcome claims row (3)
Same eight sentences, EQFKnowledge and skills covered, nothing on responsibility and autonomy

Row (2) names eight factors a design must consider and CO-5 names one, cost. A tick matrix cannot tell one from eight.

  • Outcome StatementsTen worked outcomes for one course, each with its framework row, its evidence and the reasoning behind every change.
  • Observable Verb BankVerbs by level with the evidence each one needs, plus verbs to avoid and what they usually mean.
  • Writing GuidanceOne verb per outcome, conditions that change the level, six sentence patterns and a four-point check before committee.
  • How the Level Check WorksThe three checks in order: verb against the course-level rule, assessment against what it can show, outcomes against the framework.
  • Mapping NoteThe record for the course file: what the review found, what changed, and each open item with an owner.
  • Outcome Register sheetOne row per outcome: its verb level, what its evidence can show, the lower of the two and the gap.
  • Assessment Evidence Ceiling sheetEach graded item with its form, its share of the grade and the highest level it can show.
  • Framework Coverage sheetEach framework row, the outcomes claiming it, the clauses your wording names, and work assessed but never stated.

Common questions

How do you write a good learning outcome?

Begin with "By the end of the course, students will be able to," then add one observable verb, what students act on, and the condition that makes it difficult. "Select a convection correlation for an unfamiliar flow and check that it applies" can be graded; "understand convection" cannot. Then name the graded work that will show it.

What is the difference between learning outcomes and learning objectives?

Mostly scope: an outcome is a course's broad result, and objectives are the smaller steps toward it. Iowa State University's teaching center uses the terms this way, describing learning objectives as specific, discrete units6 of knowledge and skill reached in a short time. ABET reverses the scale: its "program educational objectives" describe what graduates are expected to attain within a few years after graduation.

Which verbs should you avoid in learning outcomes?

Avoid verbs that name a state of mind, such as understand, know, appreciate, learn and be familiar with, because no assignment can show them directly. Be careful with demonstrate and show, too. They take their level entirely from the words after them, so "demonstrate an understanding of" is still understand.

How many learning outcomes should a course have?

There is no set number, but every outcome needs graded work that can show it, so what you can assess limits the list. Cornell's teaching center advises keeping only the most essential learning outcomes2. The worked example in this template ends with 10 outcomes for a three-credit course, four of them resting on one design project.

Should a learning outcome include a performance standard?

Not necessarily. The common ABCD formula (audience, behavior, condition, degree) includes one as the degree, such as "within 10% of the measured value." This template keeps that standard in the rubric instead, where it can change when the equipment does. If your accreditor requires a stated target, keep it in your assessment records with the year it was set.

Is this learning outcomes template free?

Yes. Download the five Word documents and three CSV sheets with no signup. Every file is filled in for a made-up heat transfer course, so you can see how each one works before you clear it. Edit with AI opens the same template in a free River workspace.

What does Edit with AI do?

It opens the template in a free River workspace and asks for your framework's outcome text, any course-level rule, your current outcomes and your graded work with weights. River places each outcome, checks what its evidence can show, maps the set to your framework both ways and lists the rows that need your decision. It suggests new wording only after you've read those results.

Sources

  1. ABET. “Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2026 – 2027.” abet.org (opens in a new tab)

  2. Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation. “Setting Learning Outcomes.” teaching.cornell.edu (opens in a new tab)

  3. Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. “Bloom’s Taxonomy.” celt.iastate.edu (opens in a new tab)

  4. Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation. “Learning Outcome Types and Recommended Assessment Methods.” teaching.cornell.edu (opens in a new tab)

  5. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. “Choose a Method to Collect Data/Evidence.” manoa.hawaii.edu (opens in a new tab)

  6. Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. “Course Objectives.” celt.iastate.edu (opens in a new tab)

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

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Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

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