Examples and Suggestions

Course-level Learning Objectives

Even if you already have course-level learning objectives (CLOs) written for your course, take some time to review these examples and the activity. Then revisit your CLOs. You may find that they need to be refined. 

Review the examples in the accordion to view sample learning objectives from different courses.

School of Education: Educational Policy Example (Graduate Course)

The following CLOs are included in the Federal Education Policy course in the Education Policy masters program.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

CO1. Explain the origin and purpose of the federal role in education within the structure of the U.S. educational system, including the federal government, state education boards and agencies, and local education boards and agencies.

CO2. Describe the various enactments of the key federal law governing K-12 education, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and articulate the ways in which the law has changed and evolved over time.

CO3. Compare the roles of academic standards, assessments, and accountability in informing policymaking.

CO4. Examine the federal role in civil rights enforcement through the Office for Civil Rights.

CO5. Examine the federal role in special education through the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

CO6. Examine the federal role in defining and ensuring educator quality.

CO7. Identify the policy levers the federal government has for influencing education and describe potential uses/purposes for each.

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences: University Writing Program Example (Undergraduate Course)

The following CLOs are used in the Reintroduction to Writing (Reintro) course, taught by the University Writing Program for all first-year students at Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

After Reintro, all students will be able to:

Identify and employ iterative writing processes to generate ideas and draft texts, to review and revise their own and other’s texts, and to adopt new ideas, organizational strategies, and language choices (Processes)

Integrate critical thinking strategies into their reading, writing, and speaking through work with summary, interpretation, synthesis, response, argument, source evaluation, citation, and more (Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing)

Analyze, choose, and apply rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to inform or persuade specific audiences (Rhetoric and Genre)

Critically reflect on relationships among language, standardization, power, and justice; explore how languages and their varieties inform writing, speaking, and interpretative choices (Linguistic Diversity & Complexity)

Carey School of Business: Supply Chain Analytics Example (Graduate Courses)

The following CLOs are included in the Supply Chain Analytics course in the Business Analytics & AI masters program.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Articulate the importance of supply chain decisions to a firm’s success.
Formulate models to capture the trade-offs involved in matching demand and supply.
Examine supply chain risks borne out of demand and supply uncertainty.
Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different distribution network configurations.
Develop production and inventory plans to manage supply chain uncertainty.

Connecting Program-, Course-, and Module-level Objectives

This next example demonstrates how program-level objectives (PLOs), CLOs, and module-level objectives (MLOs) are interconnected.

School of Advanced International Studies: Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy Example

The following PLOs, CLOs, and MLOs are examples of how PLOs in the Sustainable Energy masters program are incorporated into the course- and module-level objectives in the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development course, as well as how course assessments can be mapped to modules and CLOs.

PLOs for the Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy (this only includes the ones pertaining to the example course):
1. Explain the sustainable energy field, including challenges and opportunities to increasing sustainable energy alternatives
2. Draw connections between the energy sector and climate change and the transformative impact of sustainable energy
3. Describe the trade-offs between environmental conservation and economic growth in managing environmental problems in the energy sector
4. Compare how oil, natural gas, coal, and electricity markets are organized and function.
5. Evaluate the sustainable energy market and the policy tools that drive investment
6. Analyze effective and feasible global policies to reduce the environmental impact of energy production and consumption
7. Analyze the technological advances in distributed and renewable energy and the potential and challenges of expanding them
CLOs for SA.685.725 Sustainable Energy and Economic Development
1. Analyze the role of energy in economic development (III, V)
2. Identify the drivers of energy supply and demand in emerging countries (III, IV)
3. Summarize the status and prospects for rural electrification in emerging countries (III, VII)
4. Summarize the status and prospects for clean cooking fuel access in emerging countries (III, VII)
5. Outline the low-carbon development challenge for emerging countries (I, II, VI)
6. Recognize the potential of distributed energy in emerging countries (VII)
7. Evaluate the particular challenges that emerging countries face in energy policy formulation (III, V, VI)
8. Create and present original research on energy for economic development (V, VI, VII)
MLOs for Module 2: Energy Supply and Demand in Emerging Countries
- Summarize energy supply and demand in emerging countries (2)
- Recognize barriers to reliable and affordable energy supply in emerging countries (7)
- Evaluate policy solutions to improving energy supply and demand in emerging countries (2)

Activity

Refer to the Writing Effective Learning Objectives resource from the Johns Hopkins University Provost's Office to write your course learning objectives. If you have already written course learning objectives, review the article to ensure they are written effectively.
Take notes on the Learning Objectives portion of the Course Planning Activity Worksheet.