A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

46 ❘
Teaching, supervising, learning
6 Evaluation
This covers the learner’s ability to construct an argument, compare opposing arguments,
make judgements and so on. Can learners make judgements based on internal evidence?
Can they make judgements based on external evidence?
The following verbs may be useful in constructing learning outcomes in response to
these questions:
judge select evaluate choose
assess compare estimate rate
measure argue defend summarise
In using these verbs to form your learning outcomes it is useful to bear in mind that you
may need to check that your students actually understand the meaning of the verbs. Do
your students understand, for example, the difference between ‘compare’ and ‘contrast’?
Do they understand what it means to ‘construct an argument’?
In writing learning outcomes, there are other factors relating to ‘the curriculum’ as
students experience it that need to be taken into consideration. For example, learning
outcomes should include a description of the kinds of performances by which achievement
will be judged, either within the outcome or in an associated set of assessment
criteria (Toohey, 1999).
CREDIT LEVEL DESCRIPTORS
One of the issues many staff find problematic is that of credit levels and level descriptors.
There is a strong push within the UK higher education sector towards credit frameworks.
For example, the Southern England Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer
(SEEC, 2001) has presented a set of guidelines on Credit Level Descriptors. These descriptors
are grouped under four headings:
• Development of knowledge and understanding (subject specific)
• Cognitive/intellectual skills (generic)
• Key transferable skills (generic)
• Practical skills (subject specific).
Credit level descriptors may be used as the means by which each subject area can check
the level of demand, complexity, depth of study and degree of learner autonomy expected
at each level of an individual programme of study. While credit level descriptors are