Terminology.

• Objective: an expected accomplishment of graduates during the first few years after graduation.
• Outcome: a competence (knowledge, skill, instinct, reflex, perspective, or habit of mind) acquired by the time of graduation.^1.3
• Performance criteria: some specific, measurable statements identifying a specific knowledge, skill, attitudes, and/or behavior students must demonstrate as indicators of achieving a given outcome.

We need two feedback loops:

1. The objectives loop, which determines the appropriateness of our outcomes and objectives to the needs of our constituents and adjusts our objectives accordingly.
2. The instruction loop, which determines the degree to which our graduates achieve our outcomes and adjusts the rest of our instructional process accordingly.

The way we approach constituents will differ for these two loops, e.g., interviewers and low-level managers might be better at determining commenting on the degree to which our graduates have achieved our targeted outcomes. Higher level managers might be better at saying whether our objectives are appropriate to their needs.