Essential Intent and Learning Outcomes

The essential intent of a course provides the framework for determining the related learning outcomes. The learning outcome statements are specific and have a narrower focus as they determine what behaviours learners are supposed to demonstrate at the end of a specific section. The learning outcomes must be in aligment with the essential intent of the course. Let's take the course intent statement from the Vehicle Maintenance course. Notice how there are several specific learning outcomes that students will have to demonstrate in order to satisfy the intent of the course:

So there is a clear hierarchy between intent and outcomes. Depending on how you will sequence your content, you may have broader outcomes for a module and more specific ones for lessons within a module. We will look at this hierarchy in more detail in the Planning Your Course section.