Understanding Audiences

Skills development and mentoring programme for museums

Factsheet 1 – Writing intended learning outcomes

Identifying the learning outcomes you intend visitors to achieve increases the likelihood of them being achieved and also enables you to evaluate more effectively. The clearer and more specific they are the easier it is to collect evidence to support them, to analyse it and to present the findings.

Intended learning outcomes are what you intend people to ‘learn’ as a result of an experience, programme or event (ideally agreed with them first).

The definition of learning the museums sector currently adheres to is as follows:

‘Learning is a process of active engagement with experience.

It is what people do when they want to make sense of the world.

It may involve an increase in skills, knowledge, understanding, values

and the capacity to reflect. Effective learning leads to change, development,

and the desire to learn more. It is about personal development which leads to change. That change can be cognitive, cultural, emotional, social, sensory or physical’

This definition was first developed by the Campaign for Learning and has since been adopted by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in connection with the Inspiring Learning for All framework

Learning is a combination of:

  • Prior knowledge and experience – what the learner brings with them
  • Social interaction and the involvement with the physical environment – what happens during the experience
  • Consolidation – what happens after the experience

Generic learning outcomes (GLOs) areoutlined in the Inspiring Learning for All framework and fall into the following categories (and accompanying GLO chart). An example of a learning outcome is given under each and an example of an appropriate evaluation tool:

Knowledge & Understanding

To understand details about the medieval period, such as dates, chronology, key events, etc.

- collect evidence through a before and after exercise such as personal meaning mapping.

Skills

To improve skills such as listening and team working

- collect evidence through interviewing project participants.

Attitudes & Values

To develop a sense of what it was like to be an ordinary person in the past living in this area

- collect evidence through focus group discussion.

Enjoyment, Inspiration, Creativity

To have used imagination and enjoyed creating a piece of art inspired by the collection

- collect evidence through observation of workshop and its products.

Activity, Behaviour, Progression

To have an intention to visit the museum again independently

- collect evidence through sticky dot rating chart with sad/smiley faces at each end asking ‘How likely are you visit the museum again? Put your sticky dot on the chart in the right place’, then discuss.

Evidence of learning outcomes can be presented quantitatively if required, eg. 7 out of 10 participants significantly changed their attitude towards the museum as a result of the project.

 Alison James & Nicky Boyd 2007