6.

Preparing Instructional
Objectives
6.1 Characteristics of
a useful objectives
6.2 Criteria of a well
stated Objectives
Jamine Joyce C. Ortega RN
 OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, the graduate students will be able to
• Identify the differences between goals and objectives.
• Demonstrate the ability to write behavioral objectives accurately
and concisely using the four components of condition,
performance, criterion, and who will do the performing.
• Cite the errors most frequently made in writing objectives.
• Distinguish among the three domains of learning.
• Explain the instructional methods appropriate for teaching in the
cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
CORRECTLY.
The fable, as relayed by Robert F. Mager in his 1984 book on Preparing
Instructional Objectives, is:

Once upon a time a Sea Horse gathered up his seven pieces of eight
and cantered out to find his fortune.

Before he had traveled very far he met an Eel, who said,

“Psst. Hey, bud. Where ‘ya goin’?”
• “I’m going out to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse, proudly.

• “You’re in luck,” said the Eel. “For four pieces of eight you can have
this speedy flipper, and then you’ll be able to get there a lot faster.”

“Gee, that’s swell,” said the Sea Horse, and paid the money and put
on the flipper and slithered off at twice the speed.
• Soon he came upon a Sponge, who said,

• “Psst. Hey, bud. Where ‘ya goin’?”

• “I’m going out to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse.

• “You’re in luck,” said the Sponge. “For a small fee I will let you have this jet
propelled scooter so that you will be able to travel a lot faster.”
• So the Sea Horse bought the scooter with his remaining money
and went zooming through the sea five times as fast. Soon he
came upon a Shark, who said,
• “Psst. Hey, bud. Where ‘ya goin’?”
• “I’m going out to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse.
• “You’re in luck. If you’ll take this short cut,” said the Shark, pointing
to his open mouth, “you’ll save yourself a lot of time.”
• “Gee, thanks,” said the Sea Horse, and zoomed off into the interior
of the Shark, there to be devoured.
“If you don’t know where you’re going,
you can’t get there.”
Writing Instructional Goals and Objectives

• What is a Goal?
Goals are broad, generalized statements about what is to be
learned. Think of them as a target to be reached, or "hit."
What is an Objective?
• Objectives are the foundation upon which you can build lessons
and assessments that you can prove meet your overall course or
lesson goals.
• Think of objectives as tools you use to make sure you reach your
goals. They are the arrows you shoot towards your target (goal).
Are Goals and Objectives Really That Important?

• The purpose of objectives is not to restrict spontaneity or

constrain the vision of education in the discipline; but to ensure
that learning is focused clearly enough that both students and
teacher know what is going on, and so learning can be
objectively measured
.
 Different archers have different
styles; so do different teachers.

 You can shoot your arrows

(objectives) many ways.

 The important thing is that they

reach your target (goals) and
score that bulls-eye!
 Goal Objectives Learning Outcomes

What the The specific, The expected behaviors/skills

the student should be able to
student is measurable, perform at the end of the
course/unit.
intended to observable
These are more broad and tend
behaviors the
master/perform to not state specifically how the
student will perform the skill,
student will
by the end of perform to reach
just that they are expected to
perform it.
the the goal.
course/lesson.
The difference between goals and learner outcomes are still
Debated. Some allege they are one and the same!
• Instructional objectives are statements of
educational expectations for students.
• Research has NOT demonstrated a strong
link between writing objectives and student
achievement
• Nevertheless, it is still considered good
educational practice to have written
objectives in order to facilitate
communication to students about
expected outcomes.
Thus, stating clear course objectives is important because:
• i. To provide direction for the instructional process by clearly
stating the intended learning outcomes.
• ii. To convey instructional intent to pupils, parents and
educational organisations.
• iii. To provide a basis for evaluating pupil learning by describing
the performance to be measured.
• Thus a clearly stated instructional objective makes the methods
and materials of teaching more effective. It also helps to know
what the pupils should learn and how the learning is to be
expressed.
There are a number of approaches to writing
objectives:

• Mager -- Behavioral objectives

Mager proposes writing specific statements about observable outcomes that can
be built up to become a curriculum (an inductive approach).

• Gronlund -- General/specific objectives

Gronlund proposes starting with a general statement and providing specific
examples of topics to be covered or behaviors to be observed (a deductive
approach).

• Eisner -- Expressive objectives

Eisner proposes that not all instructional objectives should focus on
outcome; some should focus on the learning process itself (expressive
objectives).
Now…there are three
domains to learning
each with their own
taxonomies
Learning Domains
• Cognitive (knowing)
– Mental skills
– This is the knowledge portion.

• Affective (feeling)
– Emotions, motivation, and attitudes.

• Psychomotor (doing)
– Physical skills, coordination, and gross and fine motor skills.
Cognitive
Cognitive objectives are designed to increase an individual's
knowledge. Many refer to Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive
objectives, originated by Benjamin Bloom and collaborators in the
1950’s.

In the 1990's, Lorin Anderson, a former student of Bloom, along with

David Krathwohl, one of Bloom's original partners, worked to revise
the original taxonomy. The Anderson and Krathwohl Taxonomy was
published in 2001 in the book "A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching,
and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives."
Why the
changes?????
1. Knowledge is a product of
thinking, not a category of
thinking in itself. So it was
changed to Remembering.
2. The taxonomy changed from
nouns to actionable verbs.
3. Comprehension changed to
Understanding.
4. Synthesis changed to Creating
because creative thinking is a
more complex skill than critical
thinking (synthesis) and
therefore, not only did the word
change but where it is located
on the taxonomy.
5. Older Bloom was more
applicable toward younger
audiences (elementary) but the
New Blooms accommodates a
more comprehensive audience.
Think of the taxonomy more like a
ladder

Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering
Analysis: the ability to break down information to Analyze, categorize, compare,
understand its structure, to categorize, and to contrast, differentiate, identify,
recognize patterns illustrate, infer, outline, relate, select,
separate, calculate
Synthesis: the ability to bring together sets of Compile, create, design, diagnose,
information to create or invent solutions to diagram, discriminate, explain,
problems, to illustrate relationships between generate, modify, organize, plan,
parts of a whole relate, reorganize, separate,
summarize, write, devise
After reading handouts provided by the
nurse educator, the family member will
calculate the correct number of total
grams of protein included on average per
day in the family diet.
Given a sample list of foods, the patient
will devise a menu to include foods from
the four food groups (dairy, meat,
vegetables and fruits, and grains) in the
recommended amounts for daily intake.

Evaluation: the ability to make a judgment based Appraise, assess, compare, Following a thorough nursing orientation,
upon evidence conclude, contrast, criticize, critique, the nurse will assess his or her readiness
describe, evaluate, explain, interpret, to function independently as a staff nurse.
justify, summarize, support
Hierarchical Classification of the
Affective Domain
Internalizing

Organizing

Valuing

Responding

Receiving
PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN ACTION VERBS FOR OBJECTIVES EXAMPLE

Perception: observation of behaviors involved in Observe, attend to, ask, describe, Observe correct technique for conducting
completing a task participate, answer a pelvic exam

Set: becoming mentally prepared to perform the task Question, explore, consider outcomes, Describe the steps involved in conducting
participate, tell, give examples, a rapid HIV test
express confidence, describe

Guided response: the early stage in learning a complex skill Complete, demonstrate, replicate, Demonstrate an IV insertion procedure
that includes imitation, performing a task with assistance, share, point out, break down, put safely and correctly on multiple patients
and trial and error; adequacy of performance is achieved by together under supervision
practicing

Mechanism: the intermediate stage in learning a complex Arrange, choose, conduct, construct, Draw blood using universal precautions
skill; learned responses have become habitual, and the design, integrate, organize, perform,
movements can be performed with some confidence and modify, refine, respond, vary, draw
proficiency (acting without assistance)

Complex overt response: performing automatically with Arrange, choose, conduct, construct, Conducts a thorough physical examination
facility and habitually; fine tuning and perfection of the skill design, integrate, organize, perform,
or technique modify, refine

Adaptation: Here the skills are internalized to such as Adapts, Alters, Modifies, Reorganizes Modifies sterilization techniques
extent that the student can adapt them to cater for special etc. according to the article to be sterilized.
circumstances.

Origination: This is the highest level & concerns the Composes, Creates, Designs, Designs a splint to restrain the forearm of
origination of new movement pattern to suit particular Originates etc. child who is on I.V. Infusion.
circumstances.
Now that we know all
the learning domains,
how do we effectively
create instructional
objectives???
1. Are specific! Leave little room for interpretation or ambiguity.

Examples of poor objectives:

• The patient will be able to prepare a menu using low-salt foods. [Condition and criterion
missing]

• Given a list of exercises to relieve low back pain, the patient will understand how to
control low back pain. [Performance not stated in measurable terms; criterion missing]

• The nurse will demonstrate crutch walking postoperatively to the patient. [Teacher-
centered]

• During discharge teaching, the patient will be more comfortable with insulin injections.
[Performance not stated in measurable terms; condition missing; criterion missing]

• The patient will verbalize and demonstrate the proper steps to performing self-
catheterization. [Contains two expected behaviors; criterion missing; time frame missing]

• After a 20-minute teaching session, the patient will appreciate knowing the steps required
to complete a fingerstick. [Performance not stated in measurable terms; criterion missing;
condition missing]
2. Include the three cardinal characteristics for articulating the
objective.
a. Performance- what exactly will they be able to do in observable
terms. It is measureable!
b. Condition- the condition under which they will be asked to
perform the task.
c. Criteria- how well they will be performing the task (if possible).
Ex. After a 20-minute teaching session, the patient will verbalize at least
two feelings or concerns associated with wearing a colostomy bag.
Another way to look at this is via the A,B,C, D’s
A= Audience (Student will be able to)
B= Behavior: What they are expected specifically to do and how to
demonstrate it
C= Condition: Condition in which the task will be performed.
D= Degree: How well they will be expected to perform the task.
 S.M.A.R.T Objectives
• S= Specific
• M= Measureable
• A= Attainable/Achievable. Can the students actually perform
the objective within the skill sets and time frame assigned?
• R= Relevant. Is the objective relevant to the lesson, its overall
goal or end result, the age group, and prerequisite knowledge?
• T= Time bound
Typical Problems Encountered When
Writing Objectives
Problems in Writing Objectives
Problem Error Type Solution
The objective is too broad in scope
Too vast/complex or is actually more than one Simplify/break apart.
objective.

The objective does not list the Be more specific, make sure
False/missing behavior,
correct behavior, condition, and/or the behavior, condition, and
condition, or degree
degree, or they are missing. degree is included.

Describes instruction, not

conditions. That is, the instructor
Simplify, include ONLY
Only topics listed may list the topic but not how he or
ABCDs.
she expects the students to use the
information

No true overt, observable Describe what behavior you

False performance
performance listed. must observe.
Re-write your lesson’s objectives
using all four parts of the ABCD
method of writing objectives.
Pay special attention to using
concrete words for the behavior.