Learning: Objectives, Competencies, or Outcomes?

Abstract

The IFT Education Standards require learning outcomes to be written for each food science course. This will require many faculty members to rethink their approach to instruction. The 1st step in this approach is to understand the distinction between an assessable outcome and a general objective of competency. Several resources for outcomes and assessment include Diamond (1998) and Palomba and Banta (1999). Further details on assessment of learning outcomes can be found in the Guidebook for Food Science programs at the IFT web site (www.ift.org).