+

Developing
SMART objectives
+
Aim and Objectives
 Aim
 To develop a greater understanding of the value and
purpose of SMART objectives and plan for improvements
in the writing of lesson objectives.
 Objectives
 Explain the difference between an aim and an objective.
 Explain the difference between SMART and NOT SMART
objectives.
 Produce a set of SMART objectives.
 Evaluate how SMART objectives are on 3 session plans
+ Compass Directions
Aims – what are
they? Aims are like compass
directions – indicating the
Clear and concise general direction the
statements that describe
what the TEACHER hopes TEACHER wishes to travel.
to achieve.

To explore open and

To improve the closed questioning
learners’ ability to
communicate techniques
effectively in formal
written English.

To develop an Aims are not specific or

understanding of the SMART enough to assess
role of an Artist. whether learning has taken
place.
The difference between
aims and objectives

Aims are teacher-centred.

Learning outcomes or objectives are learner-

centred and if written SMART(ly) progress can be
measured.

+
+ Writing aims
To develop an awareness of
To develop an appreciation of
To develop an understanding of
To explore
+
SMART
 The acronym SMART is widely used to describe
learning outcomes and objectives.

 A learning outcome or objective is a personalised

target.

 SMART objectives identify what’s going to happen,

who’s going to do it, and when it’s going to be done
by.

 This is easy to say but much harder to do in

practice.
+
Making sense of SMART
 SPECIFIC
 They say exactly what you mean (overall main aim, broken down
into small steps).

 MEASURABLE
 You can prove that you’ve reached them.

 ACHIEVABLE
 You can reach them (broken down into small steps to make their
achievement more obvious to the learner)

 REALISTIC
 They are about the action you take

 TIME-RELATED
 They have deadlines (broken down for any small steps that might
be required).
+
SMART in action: Activity 1

 SMART in action
 (see Setting SMART Objectives Help Sheet)

 Activity 1 : Making targets SMARTER.

 Decide whether the objectives are SMART or NOT SMART.

SMARTen up those which are not.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
High cognitive demand – reasoning required
Evaluation
Judge, evaluate, give arguments for and against, criticise
Synthesis
Summarise, generalise, argue, create, design, explain the reason for
Analysis
Break down, list component parts of, compare and contrast, solve,
differentiate between
Application
Use, apply, construct, solve, select
Comprehension
Explain, describe, give reasons for, identify causes of, illustrate
Knowledge
List, recognise, select, reproduce, draw

Low cognitive demand – little reasoning

required
+ Challenge is good!

Staying at the bottom of Bloom’s

Taxonomy can lead to surface learning
eg learning without understanding.
Knowledge tasks are fine as a start, (list,
recognise) but we must build in more
difficult tasks into our teaching (lesson
plans) which cover higher levels of
learning for learning to be effective.
(explain, compare, evaluate, analyse, give arguments
for and against)
Some questions to consider
when looking at objectives:
 Are your lesson objectives appropriate?
 Who really owns the objectives?
 Are they challenging (Bloom’s taxonomy)?
 Are lesson objectives sufficiently specific and
measurable?
 Are your lesson objectives achievable?
 Do your lesson objectives relate to your overall
aim?
Aim and Objectives
 Aim
 To develop a greater understanding of the value and
purpose of SMART objectives and plan for
improvements in the writing of lesson objectives.
 Objectives
 Explain the difference between an aim and an
objective.
 Explain the difference between SMART and NOT
SMART objectives.
 Produce a set of SMART objectives.
 Evaluate how SMART objectives are on 3 session
plans