Learning outcomes: making learning and teaching explicit.

[Introduction, by Nicky Whitsed]: Many health librarians have roles that include teaching responsibilities. For most librarians there is absolute clarity that the purpose of the taught sessions is to enable the health student to be an effective and successful learner. There is also likely to be an intention to ensure that the clinician is able to make clinical decisions based on evidence. These outcomes (which may be clear to the librarian) may not necessarily be obvious to the learner. This column by Chris Dillon explores the concepts around learning outcomes in more details and illustrates the importance of addressing learning outcomes. The learning experience can only be enhanced if the learning outcomes are commonly shared by the librarian and by the learner.