Transformative Learning Outcomes: Shifting the Learning Outcome Conversation from Assessment to Design

What if the focus of learning outcomes shifted from telling students what they will know at the end of a course to who they will become? Learning outcomes have drifted away from informing curriculum design to providing parameters for external assessment. This article reviews this shift along with a proposal to reimagine learning outcomes as transformative learning outcomes. It discusses previous work on transformative learning outcomes and proposes a new conceptual definition: learning outcomes that articulate habits of mind or ways of being that students will develop because of a learning experience or sequence of learning experiences. Such learning outcomes must target specific aspects of a student’s identity that the course will develop and be perceived by the student as connecting to multiple life domains. Courses designed to target transformative learning outcomes provide possibilities for interdisciplinary curriculum development and may more effectively facilitate learning transfer. The article also provides a short case study as an example of how transformative learning outcomes can influence course design and delivery.