The ‘right’way to write learning goals and objectives

Ruth A. Gyure, forCenter for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Western CT State UniversityFebruary 12, 2013

•Teach you to distinguish goals from objectives

•Help you learn how to write effective goals, objectives, and performance criteria.

•Make sure you understand how to match competencies to learning objectives.

•Answer all your questions about learning goals and objectives, in practical terms.

TODAY’S WORKSHOP WILL

Goals and objectives do NOT reflect what the teacher, program or course will do. They should reflect what the LEARNER OR PARTICIPANT will be able to do or what they will know.

•Compare and contrast learning objectives vs. learning goals.

• List at least three characteristics of a well-written learning objective.

• Write learning objectives that contain measurable verbs and communicate clearly.

• Develop learning objectives that demonstrate Bloom’s higher levels of thinking.

•Develop effective assessment strategies to measure outcomes and competencies.

AFTER TODAY’S WORKSHOP YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

STRATEGY

GOAL

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION

MISSION

ACTIVITY

PERFORMANCE CRITERIALEARNING OUTCOME

COMPETENCY

OBJECTIVEEVIDENCE OF MASTERY

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION

MISSION

(STRATEGY)

GOALS

ACTIVITY A

OBJECTIVES

ACTIVITY B

ACTIVITY C

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA(CONDITIONS)

LEARNING OUTCOME(BEHAVIORS)

EVIDENCE OF COMPETENCY

EVIDENCE OF MASTERY

What is a GOAL? Characteristics of goals?

Does this definition differ when developing university goals, programmatic goals, course goals?

• Broad, long term

• A DESIRED OUTCOME (not an activity)

• Should reflect the direction of the institution

GOALS

A statement that describes in broad terms what the learner or participant will gain from the instructional experience or program. OR a desired outcome of the Program. Examples:

Students in the Course will gain an appreciation for the role of the Clinical Laboratory Technologist in the health care system.

Participants in the Workshop will become familiar with multiple approaches and models for measuring microbial diversity.

All graduates of the Program will pass the AACP Certification Examination and successfully be employed as medical technologists.

The University will achieve a minimum retention rate of 75% annually.

THE QUESTION NATURALLY ARISES…HOW WILL THE GOALS BE ACHIEVED???

OBJECTIVES -

Definition: A statement in specific and measurable terms that describes what the learner will know or be able to do as a result of engaging in a learning activity.

Example, in Introduction to Medical Technology :

“Students will list three characteristics that make the Clinical Laboratory Technologist distinctive from other specialists in the health

care system.”

THE WORD ‘MEASURABLE‘ IS VERY IMPORTANT.

GOALS ARE GUIDEPOSTS BUT OBJECTIVES ARE THE TARGET OF YOUR ASSESSMENT PLAN.

Value and Purposes of Objectives:

•Knowing where you intend to go increases the likelihood of ending up there.

•They guide the teacher, organizer, presenter in planning of instruction, delivery of instruction and evaluation of student/participant achievement.

•They guides the learner, helping her/him focus and set priorities.

•They allow for analysis in terms of the levels of teaching and learning.

Effective Learning Objectives Are:

• Consistent with the goals of the curriculum• Clearly stated• Clearly measurable• Realistic and doable• Appropriate for the level of the learner• Worthy (Important stuff)

TWO SAMPLE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

A. Name two major types of bacterial cell walls.

B. Given a legal case description, determine three possible causes of action and identify which would be best recommended.

•Which of these two objectives requires more thought and effort•relative to writing a test question?

•Which is easier to assess?

•Which of these is measuring student learning at a HIGHER LEVEL?

.

I’ll bet you knew the answers, and this partially explains why we see so many low level objectives and low level questions on student exams

Bloom’s Taxonomy

– Knowledge– Comprehension– Application– Analysis– Synthesis– Evaluation

Comprehension Verbs (2nd level)• Restate• Discuss• Describe• Identify• Locate• Report• Explain• Express• Recognize• Review

Knowledge Verbs (1st level)• Define• Memorize• List• Recall• Repeat• Relate• Name• Repeat Application Verbs (3rd level)

• Translate• Interpret• Apply• Practice• Illustrate• Operate• Demonstrate• Dramatize• Sketch• Employ• Schedule• Use

Synthesis Verbs (5th level)

• Compose• Plan• Propose• Design• Assemble• Create• Prepare• Formulate• Organize• Manage• Construct• Set-up

Evaluation Verbs (6th level)

• Judge• Appraise• Evaluate• Revise• Score• Select• Measure• Value• Estimate• Choose• Compute• Assess

Analysis Verbs (4th level)

• Distinguish• Differentiate• Appraise• Analyze• Calculate• Criticize• Compare• Contrast• Examine• Test• Relate• Experiment

PROBLEM POSSIBLE ERROR POTENTIAL SOLUTION

Too broad or complex Maybe too many objectives covered in one statement

Separate into more objectives stated more explicitly.

No behavior to evaluate Using verbs like “comprehend” or “understand” lead to this issue

Change the verbs in the objective to reflect what you want the student to do to demonstrate achievement of the objective.

Vague assignment outcome. (What will be measured? Expectation for student?)

The objective doesn’t state the behavior and conditions expected.

Specify the assignment and associated expectations.

SOME TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN WRITING OBJECTIVES THAT LEND THEMSELVES TO

EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT.

I am going to pass out a set of SAMPLE learning objectives from a variety of courses.

1. Pick ONE of the courses and identify two objectives you feel are poorly written, and suggest better wording.

2. Glance over all of the examples:

A. Which set of course objectives do you feel addresses higher-order learning goals the best?

B. Which set of course objectives do you feel is written in a way that easily lends itself to assessment.

C. In this set of learning objectives (B above) what would be an example of an assessment that would be appropriate?

THREE DOMAINS OF LEARNING COVERED IN BLOOM’S TAXONOMY:

•Cognitive (knowing)• Psychomotor (doing)• Affective (feeling)

(Statements of affective outcomes include: “show sensitivity to” … “accept responsibility for” …. “be willing to” ….. demonstrate commitment to”)

The A.B.C.D. method (Heinich, et al., 1996) is helpful

Audience (A) – Who? Who are your learners?

Behavior (B) – What? What do you expect them to be able to do?

Condition (C) – How will the learning occur? What will the student be given or already be expected to know to accomplish the learning?

Degree (D) – How much? How well? Total mastery (100%)? Ability to you respond correctly 80% of the time? etc.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION

MISSION

(STRATEGY)

GOALS

ACTIVITY A

OBJECTIVES

ACTIVITY B

ACTIVITY C

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA(CONDITIONS)

LEARNING OUTCOME(BEHAVIORS)

EVIDENCE OF COMPETENCY

EVIDENCE OF MASTERY

Tying Objectives to Assessment

Once you establish all the behaviors, conditions and degrees of mastery for each objective, you can use

them to determine what types of assignments, tests or alternative assessment (e.g. a portfolio) you should

use in the course.

If these three components are congruent then teaching and learning is enhanced, hence, “The Magic Triangle.”

If these three components are not congruent?

Learning Objectives

Learning Evaluation

Instructional Activities

1. Students become discouraged and unhappy and make the assumption the objectives cannot be trusted and they will stop paying attention to them.

2. Meaningful assessment becomes more complicated, difficult, or impossible.

Mismatched Content and Assessment The first graphic below (Adapted from Dwyer 1991) shows a mismatch of the objectives, instruction and assessment.

Instruction and Assessment match the Objectives

SUMMARY

1. Establish objectives based upon course goals and programmatic (curriculum) goals.

2. Make sure objectives are:

• Written with useful verbs that relate to the desired learning level (Bloom’s)

• Associated with activities (behaviors) included in the course

• Lend themselves to effective assessment that is included as a course assignment.

• Clear and understandable to the audience.

Highly recommended resources:

DePaul Teaching Commons, a very comprehensive site for explanations and examples about learning goals and objectives.

FLAG TOOLS Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide for science, math and engineering instructors

Carnegie Mellon Enhancing Education, a site with fantastic educational resources..from planning a course to assessing a program.