A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
Intended learning outcomes (ILOs) are ubiquitous within higher education programmes being used to define the attainments of students to be achieved at programme stages against the scope of the curriculum specifications. As such it might be assumed that lecturers use (ILOs) as the design framework for structuring their teaching and assessment diets and that students use them to guide their studies and self-assessment of their progress. However there has been increasing debate regarding the utility of ILOs including the perception that they are too bureaucratic and managerial to support learning effectively (Hussey & Smith 2008). There is limited evidence regarding the actual usage of ILOs so this paper will report on the views of students and staff in Biological Sciences. About of 80% of students (n = 311) and staff (n=37) considered that ILOs were useful learning aids and specified the range of material to be assessed without restricting the breadth of learning. In terms of the level of learning 60% of students but fewer than 40% of staff reported ILOs specified the level most of the time. ILO usage showed specific patterns with 80% of students considering them to be most useful after the teaching activity or when revising; from the staff perspective fewer than 40% reported planning out ILOs as the first step in teaching design. These findings will be discussed in the context of the current debate on the role of ILOs.
