Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria: What's the difference?

Learning outcomes are what you want to learn, and assessment criteria are how you show that you've learned it.

Learning outcomes are like a list of things you should be able to do after learning something new, just like when you're learning to ride a bike, your goal is to balance, pedal, and steer. That’s what you’re trying to learn!

Assessment criteria are the rules for how you prove that you’ve learned those things, it's like a teacher watching you ride and saying, “You did great balancing!” or “You need more practice with steering.”

Imagine learning to ride a bike:

• Your learning outcomes might be: balance, pedal, and steer.
• The assessment criteria could be: how steady you are, how smoothly you pedal, and how well you turn.

So, learning outcomes tell you what you need to learn, and assessment criteria tell you how you’ll show that you’ve learned it, just like a teacher checking your bike skills!