Reflection on How to Write the Learning Outcomes for an Online Programming Course for Teachers

Abstract

The EU Commission for Higher Education through the Bologna Process declaration has put into action a series of reforms. One of the reforms is the development of learning outcomes in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). One part of these reforms requires European universities to identify and describe learning outcomes students will achieve after attending a course or program. There is no exact way of writing the learning outcomes, and there seems to be an indistinctly use of terms when explaining outcomes [1]. This can naturally cause some possible confusions in relation to what the learning outcomes should consist of, and make it difficult to write the learning outcomes for a course or a program. The purpose of this paper is to promote some explanations and clarifications that can ease the writing of the learning outcomes. The research question is How to write meaningful learning Outcomes? This paper presents a reflection on how the learning outcomes might be written. It is taken into account recommendations from relevant literature and framework intended for Europe. In this paper, the online course Applied Programming for Teachers is an example of how meaningful learning outcomes may be written with a focus on digital competence.