DefinitionLearning Objectives:Learning objectives guide students in their learning efforts from the beginning of the course to the end, describing what the students must do to demonstrate the mastery of each objective. Show
Student Learning Objectives should be written with verbs gleamed from Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning, as these verbs are clear and more importantly, they are measurable. So at the end of the course, the we want students to evaluate, create, construct, solve, access, analyse or describe. Then we measure how well they are able to perform these tasks. Assessment methods should be used to test these objectives. Also, when students are able to achieve the objectives, then it reflects on your program of having achieve its goals. Learning objectives should have the following four (4) elements:
Learning objectives describe the knowledge and skills we want students to gain from our instruction. In addition to letting students know what they must do to successfully complete your course, learning objectives are used to:
Learning objectives help anchor assessments and activities in evidence-based course design. By aligning objectives, assessments, and activities, we can collect data on student performance in achieving those objectives. This information helps students and instructors to monitor student progress. At a broader level, student performance data helps learning scientists to improve theories of learning, which in turn helps learning engineers to make interactive improvements to the course. The following examples diagram two learning objectives and demonstrate two noteworthy points. Example 1 shows that not every learning objective must contain a condition or state a degree.  Example 2 shows that the ABCDs do not have to be in a particular order. AudienceThe better you understand your audience—their prior knowledge, goals and motivations, values, attitudes, and other factors that influence their learning—the better you can tailor your learning objectives to meet their needs. Keeping your audience’s perspective in mind as you develop your learning objectives helps ensure that your objectives are relevant, student centered, and focused on what students must achieve to successfully complete your course. Once you have identified your audience with these factors in mind, writing the audience part of the ABCDs is simple. Learning objectives commonly begin with a phrase such as “After reviewing this section, students will be able to…” or “After completing this activity, learners will be able to…” Repeating opening phrases in a list of objectives, however, is redundant.
Example: Keep learning objectives student centredLearning objectives are a powerful tool for you, but their primary purpose is to tell students what they must do to successfully complete your course. The following is an instructor-centered, not student-centered, objective, and it describes an instructional activity rather than the knowledge or skill students must demonstrate after this activity: Arrange for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative to speak to the class about endangered species. Here is a student-centered learning objective related to the instructional activity. It specifically states what is expected of the students: Students will describe the role of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service in protecting endangered species in the United States. Which of the following objectives are student centred?
Answer: Third and fourth answers. These objectives focus on what students should do. BehaviourThe behavior described in a learning objective must clearly state an observable and/or measurable action that students can perform to demonstrate mastery of the skill or knowledge called for by the objective. It requires precise language that students can interpret without ambiguity. Bloom’s taxonomy provides a rich source of action verbs that can help you compose observable and/or measurable objectives that align with assessments. Bloom’s taxonomy is a classification system of intellectual behaviors—thinking, learning, understanding—developed as a means to measure proficiency and competence. The taxonomy was developed by a team of cognitive psychologists, led by Dr. Benjamin Bloom, in an effort to make assessment more systematic and to promote higher levels of thinking in education, such as analysis and evaluation rather than just restating facts. Domains of Bloom's TaxonomyIndividually and collectively, people possess widely varying knowledge and skills as well as different levels of expertise. Consider, for example, the differences in the following skills:
Bloom and his colleagues recognized the need to classify knowledge and skills in order to be able to assess them. They identified three domains of learning activity: The cognitive domain addresses knowledge and thinking skills such as writing an essay. The psychomotor domain encompasses physical skills such as manipulating a tool or an instrument. The affective domain is concerned with subjective areas such as emotional development and conflict resolution. Bloom’s domains are sometimes listed with word associations to make them easier to remember: The three domain are sometimes collectively called KSA for knowledge (cognitive domain), skills (psychomotor domain), and attitude (affective domain). Cognitive DomainThe revised Bloom’s taxonomy divides the cognitive domain into a cognitive process dimension and a knowledge dimension. The cognitive process dimension involves the development of intellectual skills,] which are categorised along a continuum of cognitive complexity from lower-order to higher-order thinking skills: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.
Examples of Cognitive ObjectivesRemember
Remember
Apply
Analyse
Evaluate
Create
Which of the following is an example of a learning objective in the affective domain?
Answer is "Mediate a dispute between workers." "Mediating" is what makes this an affective skill; it encompasses the way individuals act or react emotionally. Which of the following is an example of a learning objective in the psychomotor domain?
Answer is "Given a pair of cut lenses ..." "Assembling a pair of eyeglasses" is what distinguishes this learning objective as being in the psychomotor domain. Learning objectives written for the psychomotor domain entail learning new skills or altering or combining existing skills that involve physical ability and manual dexterity. Which of the following is an example of a learning objective in the cognitive domain?
Answer is "Categorise criminal activity ..." "Categorize" is what distinguishes this objective as being in the cognitive domain. The cognitive domain focuses on intellectual skills that are categorized according to cognitive complexity. A common mistake in stating performance or behavior characteristic in a learning objective is to describe a teaching point, practice exercise, or some other aspect of learning activity.1 Such activities are intended to teach and support the learning objective. Notice in the following examples that the behaviors described are not learning objectives but rather learning activities:
Knowledge DomainThe knowledge dimension was added to the revised taxonomy to help you consider the types of knowledge we use:
A simplified way to think about the difference between the knowledge and cognitive process dimensions of the cognitive domain is that the knowledge dimension identifies the types of knowledge we use, whereas the cognitive process dimension identifies six ways we use knowledge. The following table illustrates how the cognitive process and knowledge dimensions intersect. Psychomotor DomainThe psychomotor domain of Bloom's taxonomy categorizes skills at four levels: adapting, practicing, imitating, and observing. Psychomotor objectives entail learning new skills or altering or combining existing skills that involve physical ability and manual dexterity. Online course may not present many opportunities to work with psychomotor objectives, but it is worth trying to attempt to write them.
Examples of Psychomotor Objectives
Affective DomainThe affective domain of Bloom's taxonomy encompasses the way individuals act or react emotionally. It focuses on subjective factors such as motivations, appreciations, values, emotions, and attitudes. The five categories under the affective domain are characterizing, organizing, valuing, responding, and receiving.
Examples of Psychomotor Objectives
Final Words on Bloom's DomainWithin each domain, levels of proficiency are identified in order of increasing complexity and assume that skills are mastered at one level before the learner progresses to the next. These measures of competence help you develop concrete learning objectives and appropriate assessments. The higher the level of expertise specified by the learning objective, the more sophisticated your assessment techniques must be. Two of the most important educational goals are “to promote retention and to promote transfer.” Retention, is the ability to recall information in much the same way that it was presented. It takes place at the first level of the cognitive domain (remember) and corresponds to the observe level of the psychomotor domain and to the receive level of the affective domain. Transfer is the process of synthesizing new information with prior knowledge and applying it to other situations. It takes place at the ascending levels of the cognitive domain: (understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create) and corresponds to the imitate, practice, and adapt levels of the psychomotor domain and to the respond, value, organize, and characterize levels of the affective domain. Objectives that promote transfer require a bit more thought than those that promote retention. ConditionA condition describes
Think in concrete terms when you write conditions for demonstrating mastery of an objective: What tool, prop, or special circumstance is necessary? What tool, prop, or special circumstance should be denied? What limitations must be set, or what latitude must be given? Example: Condition characteristic adds specificitySuppose you are teaching a theater arts class, and the topic is nonverbal performance. The first learning objective that comes to mind is:Students will be able to create and produce a nonverbal performance. The learning objective is workable but it is broad. By adding a condition, you can make your learning objective more specific, so you can better focus your instruction and students can better direct their learning efforts: Students will be able to create and produce a nonverbal performance incorporating various physical movement techniques. Now consider a learning objective for a journalism class: Students will be able to write newspaper articles. This learning objective needs to be more specific because many variables are at play in writing newspaper articles, including type of article and how information is gathered. The revised objective contains two conditions that clarify what students are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it: Students will be able to write feature articles using information gathered from personal interviews.Looking at an objective from a crime scene investigation class: Students will be able to describe a mock crime scene. Adding a condition makes the learning objective more specific. Students now know the circumstance under which they must demonstrate the behavior, and they will not be taken by surprise when they are given only 60 seconds to study the scene: After studying a mock crime scene for 60 seconds, students will be able to describe their observations.Be sure that any conditions stated in your learning objectives relate to the performance of the behavior, not to the instructional activities that support the objective. The following examples do not constitute conditions:
Which of the following describes condition characteristic of an objective?
Answer is "The situation under which the performance is to occur." An objective describes the important conditions (if any) under which the performance is to occur. Example conditions include “working with a partner,” “without the use of a calculator,” and “given a CPR manikin.” Which part of this learning objective is an example of a condition? Students will be able to describe, in order from simplest to most complex, the major levels of organization in the human organism.
Answer is "In order of simplest to most complex." Which of the following is an example of a condition?
Answer is "Without the use of a calculator." The student is asked to perform a task without the use of a calculator. DegreeLearning objectives sometimes state a degree of acceptable performance. Often, the degree is implied; that is, students can assume the behavior is to be performed without error unless a criterion is explicitly stated. In other cases, the degree is accounted for in just a word—“successfully construct,” “accurately describe”—but in such cases, be prepared to set criteria for successfully and accurately. Sometimes the degree is specific: “list all 12 moving parts,” “to within 1/32 inches.” As with the condition, the degree is not always stated or required. Example: Degree characteristic adds criteriaIn the previous example of adding conditions to learning objectives, we developed three solid objectives that provide clear direction to both students and instructors:Students will be able to create and produce a nonverbal performance incorporating various physical movement techniques. Students will be able to write feature articles using information gathered from personal interviews. After studying a mock crime scene for 60 seconds, students will be able to describe their observations. These objectives can be further sharpened even further by adding a degree of acceptable performance. Students will be able to create and produce a 10-minute nonverbal performance incorporating at least three of the physical movement techniques discussed in class.Students will be able to write feature articles, of 500 to 750 words, using information gathered from personal interviews. After studying a mock crime scene for 60 seconds, students will be able to describe their observations, identifying at least 10 pieces of evidence. Stating criteria in the learning objectives helps students to focus their learning efforts and aids you in assessing their performance. If you state the degree of acceptable performance in your learning objective, be sure it is precise. Criteria such as “to the satisfaction of the instructor,” “must be able to make 80 percent on a multiple-choice exam,” and “must pass a final exam”1 are too vague (and in the case of satisfying the instructor, too subjective) to be useful in a learning objective. The criteria must relate directly to the behavior and provide a means to measure it. Making 80 percent on an exam and passing a final exam are related to test taking, not to a specific behavior stated in a learning objective. “To the satisfaction of the instructor” could be salvaged by changing it to “according to an instructor-supplied checklist of criteria.” Which part of this objective is an example of a degree? At the end of this module, instructors will be able to create learning objectives in a standardised format for every component of their online course.
Answer is "Every component of their online course." Goals:The goals of a course or unit of instruction are stated in various ways and in various places, such as in course descriptions and topic lists used in course catalogs and other introductory material. Phrases such as “you will be able to” and “students will gain insight into” often pepper these materials and sometimes may be confused with learning objectives because of the similar wording. However, course descriptions and topics lists tell learners what to expect of the course, whereas learning objectives tell learners what is expected of them. Difference between a Goal and an Objectivegoal - the end toward which effort is directed objective - something toward which effort is directed Goals state, in general terms, the aims or purposes of instruction. They are often stated as broad, long-range outcomes that instruction is intended to achieve rather than as observable or measurable actions. Well-considered goals provide a basis on which detailed learning objectives can be developed: you can analyze a goal to identify the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve the goal, then state the knowledge and skills as learning objectives. Objectives state, in precise terms, the intended learning outcomes of a unit of instruction. The primary difference between a goal and an objective is that an objective specifies observable and/or measurable skills and knowledge that students must demonstrate to show achievement of the broader goals. Examples of Goal Statements and Learning ObjectivesThe following goal statement is for a course on electronic health record systems:
The goal is broad, but it provides guidance in writing observable, measurable learning objectives such as the following:
The following table summarizes the differences between goals and objectives.
Additional samples of goal statements and learning objectives:
NOTE:
What is an affective learner?Defining Affective Learning
Affective learning is concerned with how learners feel while they are learning, as well as with how learning experiences are internalized so they can guide the learner's attitudes, opinions, and behavior in the future (Miller, 2005).
What is the potential of tapping the affective domain in enhancing the learning of students?Thus, there is significant value in realizing the potential to increase student learning by tapping into the affective domain. Similarly, students may experience affective roadblocks to learning that can neither be recognized nor solved when using a purely cognitive approach.
Why is affective domain important in teaching?The affective domain includes factors such as student motivation, attitudes, perceptions and values. Teachers can increase their effectiveness by considering the affective domain in planning courses, delivering lectures and activities, and assessing student learning.
Which of the following is an example of direct instruction quizlet?Which of the following is an example of direct instruction? Students practice solving two-digit multiplication problems while the teacher circulates among them, offering assistance and preventing off-task behavior when necessary.
|
