The ‘right’way to write learning
goals and objectives
Ruth A. Gyure, for
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
Western CT State University
February 12, 2013
TODAY’S WORKSHOP WILL
•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.
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.
AFTER TODAY’S WORKSHOP YOU WILL BE ABLE
TO:
•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.
OBJECTIVE
EVIDENCE OF MASTERY
MISSION
COMPETENCY
LEARNING OUTCOME
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
ACTIVITY
STRATEGY
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
GOAL
MISSION
GOALS
(STRATEGY)
OBJECTIVES
ACTIVITY A
LEARNING OUTCOME
(BEHAVIORS)
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
(CONDITIONS)
EVIDENCE OF MASTERY
EVIDENCE OF COMPETENCY
ACTIVITY B
ACTIVITY C
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
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
Knowledge Verbs (1st level)
• Define
• Memorize
• List
Comprehension Verbs (2nd level)
• Recall
• Restate
• Repeat
• Discuss
• Relate
• Describe
• Name
• Identify
Application Verbs (3rd level)
• Repeat
• Locate
• Report
• Explain
• Express
• Recognize
• Review
• Translate
• Interpret
• Apply
• Practice
• Illustrate
• Operate
• Demonstrate
• Dramatize
• Sketch
• Employ
• Schedule
• Use
Analysis Verbs (4th level)
• Distinguish
• Differentiate
• Appraise
• Analyze
• Calculate
• Criticize
• Compare
• Contrast
• Examine
• Test
• Relate
• Experiment
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
SOME TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN WRITING
OBJECTIVES THAT LEND THEMSELVES TO
EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT.
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.
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.
MISSION
GOALS
(STRATEGY)
OBJECTIVES
ACTIVITY A
LEARNING OUTCOME
(BEHAVIORS)
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
(CONDITIONS)
EVIDENCE OF MASTERY
EVIDENCE OF COMPETENCY
ACTIVITY B
ACTIVITY C
ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION
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.
Learning Objectives
Learning Evaluation
Instructional Activities
If these three components are congruent then teaching and learning is
enhanced, hence, “The Magic Triangle.”
If these three components are not congruent?
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:
Carnegie Mellon Enhancing Education, a site with fantastic educational
resources..from planning a course to assessing a program.
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