§8.3.7. Dimension 4: Achievement of Learning Outcomes
This dimension is about whether the instructor clearly communicates the learning goals for the course, what evidence is used to determine the degree to which students achieve the defined course goals, how well course assignments, assessments, and learning activities are aligned with the defined learning goals, whether there are efforts to ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to achieve the learning goals, whether standards for evaluating learning are clear and connected to program, curriculum, or professional expectations, and whether the quality of learning supports success in other contexts.
Sources of evidence: Student work samples, reflection, meeting with instructor, review of student materials.
This dimension is assessed through review of student work, analysis of learning outcomes, and instructor reflection, not through student surveys. The Student Perceptions of Learning Experience instrument does not assess this dimension. While it may seem natural to ask students how much they learned, perceived learning does not track actual learning. In a controlled experiment, Deslauriers et al. (2019) found that students who learned more (as measured by test performance) reported feeling they had learned less, and vice versa. Uttl, White, and Gonzalez (2017), in a comprehensive meta-analysis, found that the correlation between student evaluation ratings and student learning is effectively zero. A “perceived learning” item would thus measure neither the learning environment nor actual learning, while carrying the same bias vulnerabilities as other evaluative items.