The learning outcomes comprise the knowledge and skills (and attitudes) attained by learners who complete a unit of learning successfully.

Learning outcomes can be specified on several levels of detail. Instructional designers can choose to specify learning outcomes at two levels, each with advantages and disadvantages.

It is possible to:

• define the learning outcomes at the global level of the unit of learning;
• specify learning outcomes for every single activity in the learning design.

Instructional designers can follow several approaches:

• define the learning outcomes only at the level of the unit of learning as a whole, not indicating the sub-outcomes (eg, elements of competency) of the individual learning activities or what they add to the overall outcomes
• define the learning outcomes only per learning-activity and not globally for the unit of learning. The learning outcome for the unit of learning is nothing more or less than the list of all the learning outcomes specified in the different learning activities.
• define the learning outcomes on both levels: the learning outcomes at the unit of learning level can be described more abstractly than those at the activity level.