Start With Outcomes: How Clear Intent Drives Quality

How to Achieve High-Quality Online Courses (Part 1)

High-quality online learning rests on one foundational principle: constructive alignment.

Biggs and Tang (2011) describe constructive alignment as the process of ensuring that learning outcomes, assessments, content and learning activities all point in the same direction. Learners construct meaning through carefully designed activities, and those activities must align with the intended outcomes.

At Learning Design Solutions (LDS), constructive alignment is not an abstract theory. It is the bedrock of our design practice. Every stage of planning and authoring is shaped by it. When alignment is strong, the course is coherent, teachable and meaningful. When it isn’t, the quality suffers.

And alignment always begins with clear, purposeful learning outcomes.

Working with Module Learning Outcomes in Practice

In UK higher education, learning outcomes are defined through programme validation. Programme-level outcomes describe the capabilities a graduate must achieve, and these map down into Module Learning Outcomes (MLOs) for each component of the programme.

So, when we begin collaborating with an academic author, we are never starting from a blank page. We begin with MLOs (sometimes written as ILOs, Intended Learning Outcomes), already approved as part of the programme specification.

However, the academic author of the online module is often not the person who wrote the specification. This means the outcomes may feel:

  • too broad

  • too abstract

  • not obviously teachable

  • difficult to assess

  • misaligned with the way the SME naturally approaches the subject

Sometimes outcomes can be refined through the institution’s minor modification process, but often they must remain exactly as written.

This is where the learning designer’s role becomes essential: interpreting, operationalising and making the outcomes teachable and measurable.

From Module Outcomes to Weekly Outcomes: A Critical Step

One of our most important tasks at LDS is breaking down MLOs into weekly learning outcomes (WLOs).

Weekly outcomes must:

  • move learners meaningfully toward one or more MLOs

  • be teachable within the timeframe

  • be measurable through appropriate activity and assessment

  • support a coherent narrative and cognitive journey

If a weekly outcome cannot be mapped to a module outcome, it should not be included.

If a module outcome cannot be mapped onto weekly outcomes, the structure needs revisiting.

This mapping exercise provides clarity for everyone:

  • SMEs understand what each week must achieve

  • learning designers can build a purposeful learning journey

  • assessment can be aligned with confidence

  • learners see how each week contributes to the overall goals

It is one of the strongest drivers of high-quality course design.

Storyboarding: Aligning Outcomes with Content and Activities

Once weekly outcomes are defined, we move into storyboarding. At LDS, every content element, activity, scenario, quiz or case study is explicitly tagged to a weekly outcome.

We consistently ask:

  • Which outcome does this teach?

  • Does the activity give learners a real opportunity to practise the skill defined in the outcome?

  • Is the cognitive level correct?

  • Have we distributed the cognitive load appropriately across the module?

  • Are any outcomes over- or under-represented?

This maintains integrity in the design and ensures the final module is not only aligned, but coherent and purposeful.

When alignment is strong:

  • assessment becomes easier to design

  • the module narrative is clearer

  • content becomes focused rather than sprawling

  • activities become meaningful rather than decorative

  • multimedia decisions are driven by purpose, not novelty

How a Pedagogically Trained AI Agent Enhances Outcome Mapping

One of the most significant recent developments in our design practice is the use of a pedagogically trained AI agent—our Learning Design Expert GPT—to support the alignment process.

Because this AI agent is trained specifically in:

  • constructive alignment

  • UK HE design principles

  • Bloom’s taxonomy

  • activity-led online pedagogy

  • accessibility and inclusion

  • assessment integrity in the age of AI

…it adds genuine value to the early design phases without replacing human judgement.

The AI supports alignment by:

Checking Mapping

It highlights weak or inconsistent links between module and weekly outcomes.

Testing Assessability

It identifies outcomes that cannot realistically be taught or measured.

Detecting Gaps and Overload

It helps ensure capabilities are evenly and realistically distributed across the module.

Strengthening Clarity

It proposes phrasing that makes outcomes measurable, teachable and aligned.

Supporting SME–LD Collaboration

Acting as a neutral “third voice”, it helps SMEs articulate intentions more clearly and engage more deeply with outcome-based design. Have a read through our recent blog post if you want to understand what we mean by the three voices in AI course design.

Importantly, the learning designer and SME still make all final decisions.

The AI simply accelerates insight, improves the first iteration and enhances overall quality.

This has been especially valuable on large-scale projects—such as current project developing multiple degree programmes for the Walbrook Institute London —where consistency and clarity across multiple modules were essential.

Why Starting with Outcomes Lifts the Whole Course

When outcomes, weekly structure and the storyboard are aligned:

  • assessment design becomes more coherent

  • activities feel purposeful

  • content is streamlined

  • learners understand the journey they are on

  • multimedia is chosen strategically

  • accessibility improves

  • teaching teams gain a shared language for quality

This is why LDS always starts with outcomes—not content, not technology, not structure.

The quality of the destination depends on clarity at the start.

Coming Next in the Series

Now that we’ve explored how clear outcomes underpin constructive alignment, the next instalment in our series moves to the second element of high-quality online learning:

Designing With Cognitive Load in Mind

We’ll look at how thoughtful sequencing, narrative flow and multimedia decisions help learners process complex ideas without overload — and how LDS applies these principles when shaping weekly learning journeys and storyboards.

Reference

Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011) Teaching for Quality Learning at University. 4th edn. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill / Open University Press.

Steve Hogg