We won't list the same desired outcomes for every course, although there may be some overlap arising from our strongest core values. One outcome we could want for students of a survey course may be a heightened interest that will transfer into lifelong learning. In contrast, inspiration for lifelong learning may not be a goal in courses that prepare students for professional practice. Applied outcomes ability to pass a specific part of a state licensing exam or ability to use the acquired knowledge in practical ways, while mundane, could actually be more important in some courses. Cohen concluded that lack of excellence in classrooms was caused, not so much by ineffective teaching, but by a misalignment between what instructors intended to teach, what they actually taught, and what they tested.
Alignment is characteristic of a developed teaching system .
Our students need to know the instructional outcomes that we intend. Importance of overt disclosure of desired outcomes was recognized more than 35 years ago, yet it is amazing how seldom the needed communication takes place. One of the best places to begin to evaluate the status of communication in our own teaching system is at the syllabus. The syllabus introduces us and our course, and the specific values we have defined through our first three exercises, as well as the objectives we just expressed, should be obvious to a reader of our syllabus. A student should be able to list, after reading the syllabus for our subject course, the same three primary course objectives we just expressed on the reverse side of this newsletter.