Does the design of learning outcomes matter from students' perspective?

Learning outcomes have gained more attention in the development of higher education course unit programmes. This study sought to understand how the design of learning outcomes relates to students' perceptions of their motivation, satisfaction, engagement and achievement of the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes from 78 course units were coded to reflect the level of cognitive demand according to Bloom's Taxonomy and the attended students (n = 1329) were surveyed regarding their perceptions of their achievement of the learning outcomes. The results indicated that the lowest four levels of Bloom's Taxonomy were most commonly used in the design of learning outcomes, the highest level was not used at all. The levels of learning outcomes related to students' perceptions of their achievement of learning outcomes, motivation, satisfaction and engagement. The results demonstrated that students were more likely motivated, satisfied, engaged to achieving learning outcomes, which were designed at higher levels of cognitive demand.