Institutional Settings
Institutions will also need to establish key Institutional Settings to support consistent, meaningful outcomes assessment with Outcomes for Blackboard. These settings—including the Performance Results Scale, Bloom’s Taxonomy analysis, template customizations, and the learning outcomes statement framework—define the shared language, evaluation criteria, and data collection standards used across the institution. By aligning on these settings early, institutions create a common foundation for assessing learning, ensure clarity for faculty and assessors, and enable reliable aggregation, longitudinal reporting, and continuous improvement across courses, programs, and institutional levels.
Performance Results Scale
The Performance Results Scale is a universal, annual-term setting that provides a clear view of outcome performance and enables aggregation across assessments with different scoring methods. It standardizes how learning outcomes are evaluated and reported institution-wide while allowing flexibility at the course and assignment level to support faculty-aligned assessment.
Define the Institutional Performance Results Scale
Institutions may configure 2 to 5 scale units.
Scale titles are customizable at the institutional level
Scale units may be configured to support Pass/Fail use cases
Midpoints of scale, by default will be set for the midpoint of the scale units, if there is an odd number of scale units it will be rounded down. Example; if there are five scale units 3 will be met and 2 will be not met.
Note
This can be adjusted by institutions.
A single Performance Results Scale is used across the institution
Note
This applies to scale structure and labels only; thresholds are configurable at lower levels.
Configure Scale Governance
The Performance Results Scale is set by Annual Term.
Once assessment data is entered, the scale for that annual term is locked to protect reporting integrity
Scale item titles can be updated at any time without impacting historical data
Identify which stakeholders should be included in governance regarding the institutional Performance Results Scale. Consider anyone who is involved in aggregate scoring or achievement metrics, General Education representatives, Institutional Effectiveness and Research, Provost, etc.
Set and Adjust Performance Thresholds
Default performance thresholds can be defined for each scale unit
Thresholds are adjustable at the assignment-level, allowing robust and flexible outcome measurement
This supports varied assessment strategies while maintaining institutional consistency
Align Language with Faculty Culture
Use clear, faculty-friendly language (e.g., Exceeds / Meets / Approaching / Not Met)
Promote consistent scale usage across programs to support reliable, aggregated reporting
Things to Consider
Does your campus have a shared scale and common language already in use?
A shared Performance Results Scale allows outcome data to be aggregated and compared across courses, programs, and academic terms—supporting trend analysis and longitudinal reporting.
The Performance Results Scale is visible across the institution:
At the course level, for each outcome measured
At the student level, showing individual mastery of outcomes
At the program, subject, and institutional levels, aggregating results across terms
By combining a single institutional scale with adjustable thresholds at the assignment level, institutions can ensure data consistency while still respecting disciplinary differences and instructional design needs.
Engage faculty, assessment leaders, and academic governance early when defining scale language and defaults. Aligning on shared terminology upfront builds trust in the data, improves adoption, and strengthens the value of outcomes reporting across the institution.
Resources
Bloom’s Taxonomy Analysis
Bloom’s Taxonomy Analysis enhances outcomes assessment by classifying learning outcomes based on cognitive complexity. This added layer of insight helps institutions, academic leaders, and faculty understand not only what students are learning, but how deeply they are engaging with that learning. Outcomes allows institutions to select a Bloom’s Taxonomy variant to support consistent classification and rich visualizations across the institution. When aligned on a shared cognitive framework, institutions gain deeper insight into learning design and create more intentional pathways for student success.
Decide which Bloom's Taxonomy Version your Institution will Use
This selection applies institution-wide and informs how learning outcomes are analyzed and visualized. Site Administrators may choose from the following options:
Original Bloom's Taxonomy
Revised Bloom's Taxonomy
Meta-Bloom's Taxonomy
None (disable classification)
Establish Guidance
To support consistent and meaningful use of Bloom’s Taxonomy Analysis, institutions should provide clear guidance. This includes sharing examples of Bloom’s-aligned verbs and associated cognitive levels, ensuring outcomes are written at appropriate levels across courses and programs, and helping faculty visualize the Bloom’s level of aligned learning outcomes. With this context, instructors can better understand the cognitive depth being assessed, align assignments and activities to the intended level of learning, design more intentional instruction that supports progressive skill development, and view student achievement through the lens of cognitive rigor—not just performance.
Things to Consider
Bloom’s Taxonomy options can be changed at any time by Site Administrators, as institutions may evolve their approach as assessment practices change.
Resources
Template Customizations
To support consistent planning, assessment, and reporting, Outcomes provides three customizable, site-wide templates that reflect your institution’s language and assessment practices. These templates standardize how data is collected while allowing flexibility across academic units.
Understand the Three Core Templates
Here’s an expanded and clearer version of Understand the Three Core Templates that provides more guidance without becoming overly prescriptive, and keeps a consistent, client-facing tone.
Outcomes (Learning Outcome) Template: This template captures information about the learning outcome statement itself and is used and visible consistently across Outcomes. This template defines what students are expected to know, do, or demonstrate.
Assessment Template: This template documents how learning outcomes are measured. It captures details about the assessments or assignments used to evaluate student learning and provides transparency into the methods and expectations behind each measure.
Results Template: This template captures what was learned from the assessment process and supports analysis, reflection, and continuous improvement. This template connects performance data to interpretation and action, enabling institutions to demonstrate accountability and close the loop on assessment activities.
Determine Template Names
Templates can be named to reflect the assessment terminology used at your institution. While these templates are titled Outcomes, Assessment, and Results by default, institutions can rename them to align with local language and practice—such as Competencies, Performance Indicators, Skills, or similar terms. Establishing consistent, familiar terminology helps improve clarity, faculty adoption, and shared understanding across the institution.
Determine Required Information
Before configuring templates, identify what information your institution will ask to be provided and what will be required to support consistent, meaningful reporting across the institution. Template field settings—such as visibility and required status—can be adjusted at granular levels within the Institutional Hierarchy. This allows institutions to enforce consistency where needed while accommodating variation across disciplines, programs, or reporting units.
Draft Clear, Concise Instructions
Well-written instructions within each template field help ensure consistent interpretation and completion across departments and programs, improving data quality and usability.
Things to Consider
Balance Standardization and Flexibility. Templates should collect enough consistent data to support aggregation and reporting, without overburdening faculty with unnecessary fields.
Focus Results templates on insights and next steps, not just data capture, to support continuous improvement and accreditation needs.
Involve assessment leaders, faculty representatives, and governance groups when defining template fields and instructions to build buy-in and ensure relevance.
Resources
Learning Outcomes Statement Framework
A well-defined learning outcomes framework provides the foundation for meaningful outcomes assessment and alignment across the institution. Outcomes for Blackboard allows institutions to relate and align outcomes, skills, and competencies throughout the Institutional Hierarchy—connecting outcomes to courses, assessments, and programs to reflect how learning is designed and measured.
Establishing a clear outcomes framework early helps institutions avoid rework during implementation and supports consistent alignment, assessment, and reporting over time.
Review and Finalize your Outcomes Statement Structure
Establish a consistent structure for learning outcomes by using a common format (such as an action verb paired with a learning demonstration and context), ensuring outcomes are clearly measurable and assessable, and defining outcomes at each level while identifying the highest level at which each outcome will be measured.
Validate Relationships Across Levels
Identify and document how learning outcomes connect across levels of the curriculum, ensuring for example that Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) align to Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and that PLOs connect to Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) where appropriate. Establishing and documenting these relationships through an alignment crosswalk or mapping exercise creates clarity and efficiency during implementation, reduces rework, and ensures Outcomes will automatically generate curriculum maps that clearly show how learning outcomes connect and progress across courses, programs, and the institution.
Identify Course and Assessments that Support Outcomes
Identify and document the courses and assessments that provide evidence for learning outcomes, including key gateway, milestone, and capstone experiences, to ensure program and institutional outcomes are measured intentionally and consistently.
Things to Consider
Determine who at your institution is responsible for identifying and maintaining outcome and assessment alignments. This may include faculty, program leaders, assessment coordinators, or instructional design teams.
Ensure there is shared understanding between faculty and instructional design teams around how outcomes are written, aligned to assessments, and evaluated within courses.
Engage faculty leadership, program chairs, assessment teams, and instructional designers early to agree on outcome structure, alignment practices, and governance. A shared framework strengthens consistency, reduces implementation friction, and enables more meaningful outcomes reporting and continuous improvement.
Resources
Guiding Questions
The questions below are intended to help guide conversations among institutional stakeholders as you prepare for Outcomes. Use them to prompt discussion, align expectations, and identify decisions related to governance, ownership, and reporting that will support a successful implementation.
What types of learning outcomes would your campus like to capture with the Outcomes tool (e.g., institutional, general education, programmatic, course)?
How are you currently capturing learning outcomes data sets?
Do you have your learning outcomes statements written?
Who will be responsible for drafting, and entering student learning outcome data?
Do you have a common scale that your institution uses to compare learning outcomes data sets?
Do you have a mapping document that outlines which courses/sections will be responsible for collecting evidence of learning for each set of learning outcomes?
Do you have common assessments and/or rubrics chosen as evidence for learning outcomes achievement?
Will you capture learning outcomes data in aggregate or by individual student score?
Do you have any interdisciplinary goals or academic programs that you need to assess?
How often do you collect and report on learning outcome data?
What types of reporting will leverage your learning outcomes dataset?
What population on campus do you plan to launch this tool with first (e.g., small pilot group, specific department/program, full roll out to all constituents)?
What are three goals that you would like to meet by launching Outcomes on campus?
After establishing your Outcomes site, how do you hope to leverage your Outcomes data?
What are the priorities of campus leadership and/or how can Outcomes support your campus’s strategic plan?
Requirements Checklist
Institutional Hierarchy (Required before Outcomes provisioning)
Subjects (Required)
Create Subjects
Add Subject to a Node
Terms (Required before Outcomes provisioning)
Create an Annual Term (cannot be continuous)
Assign Term Types to Terms
Assign Terms to parent Annual Term
Programs (Optional)
Create Programs
Add Program to Node
Add Subject to Program(s)
Courses (Required before Outcomes provisioning)
Subject Assigned
Term Assigned
Performance Results Scale Units Identified
Bloom’s Taxonomy Analysis Option Identified
Template Customizations Worksheet
Outcomes Template
Assessment Template
Results Template
Learning Outcomes Framework