The ABC's of Lesson Development Part I: Learning Outcomes

I've spent the last 6 years working with curriculum development in an Adult Learning organization. We used a curriculum development process that makes delivering training thorough and practical. Having a clear structure helps clients see what they are learning and provides them confidence with the materials you have developed.

This process is called Outcome-based Learning.  An outcome is a conceptual container that holds all the knowledge, skills and judgements  you need to accomplish the outcome. At the onset of each lesson the developer should complete the following sentence:

"At the end of this lesson my learners will be able to..."

and what follows next is an action word, or verb, and the outcome.

Let's use the example of cleaning a kitchen in this sentence. At the end of this lesson, my learner will be able to Clean the Kitchen.

The learning outcome, Clean the Kitchen holds all the knowledge, skills and judgements (KSJ's) required to perform the outcome. Here is a list of KSJ's for the Clean the Kitchen outcome.

Knowledge
Safely use cleaning chemicals.
Prepare cleaning solutions using ratios.
Understand the appropriate tools for the appropriate job task. 

Skills
Sweep floors.
Wash dishes.
Wash floors.
Clean counters.

Judgements
Choose appropriate cleaning supplies for the job.
Choose appropriate cleaning tools for the job.
Assess when kitchen is clean.

These KSJ's are what you teach your clients if they are taking your How to Clean the Kitchen lesson. This framework provides the lesson developer with a road map for lesson development and a clear framework for you clients. This method is considered a best-practice in curriculum development and private trainers and consultants can use this method for developing their own materials too.

The next article in this series is on DACUM (Developing A CUrriculuM) which is a storyboard / workshop method that helps you develop KSJ's for your training. The ABC's of Lesson Development is a series on outcomes-bases lesson development and assessment. If you are interested in this series subscribe to our RSS feed and follow along.