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5. Learning Outcomes

How to use this activity

This activity supports practical application of the concepts in your lesson.

  1. Download this activity as a docx file
  2. Work through the activity step by step. Keep your answers concise and focused
  3. Return to your lesson when you are done.

What to do: Draft or revise outcomes so they are observable and action-oriented

Expected output: A short set of clear learning outcomes

Approximate time: 15–20 minutes

Used in

Before you start

You will typically need:

  • Outputs from earlier activities (if applicable)
  • Notes from your current lesson
⬇ Download as .docx

Instructions

Define what learners will be able to do as a result of your training. Good outcomes are observable, specific, and grounded in your learners' real context. You will refine these as you develop activities and assessment — treat this as a strong starting point, not a final contract.

You will use

If you already have a training

Current outcomes

List your existing learning outcomes. If they are not written down, write what you currently intend learners to achieve — even informally.

Diagnose

For each outcome, ask:

  • Is it observable? Could you watch a learner demonstrate this, or see evidence of it in something they produce?
  • Is it specific? Does it describe a concrete action, or is it vague ("understand," "appreciate," "be aware of")?
  • Is it realistic? Given the learner constraints you documented in Activity 3: Learner Reality Mapping, can your learners actually achieve this within the training?

Rewrite outcomes

Rewrite each outcome using:

  • Action verbs — describe what learners will do, not what they will know or feel (e.g., "identify," "design," "evaluate," "produce")
  • Clear context — specify the conditions or setting (e.g., "given a dataset," "for their own training programme")
  • Observable behaviour — someone watching should be able to tell whether the learner has achieved this

If you are creating a new training

Draft your outcomes

Write 3–5 learning outcomes for your training. For each one:

  • Outcome: What will learners be able to do?
  • Why this matters: How does this connect to the change you described in your theory of change (Activity 2)?
  • Reality check: Is this achievable given the constraints you identified in Activity 3?

Then run each outcome through the Diagnose prompts above — observable, specific, realistic. Revise any that fall short.

Translation to your learners

Are these outcomes achievable for the learners you actually have — not ideal learners, but the ones you described in Activity 3? Pick the outcome that is most at risk of being unrealistic and either revise it or identify what additional support learners would need to achieve it.

Context check

Do any of your constraints make specific outcomes impractical? For example, if learners have limited time after the training, outcomes that require extended practice may need to be scoped differently. Identify any outcomes that need adjustment based on what is genuinely feasible.

Reflection

Look at your final set of outcomes. Do they collectively describe a meaningful change — or have they become a list of small, safe, easily measurable actions that miss the point of your training? What would you adjust?

Reuse in later sections

Your learning outcomes feed directly into: