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Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
IADC
Training Committee Meeting
April 15, 2009
1
Agenda
Participants will be able to:
Understand what a learning objective is and why
they increase the effectiveness of training.
Compare and contrast learning goals and
learning objectives.
List the 3 parts of the “ideal” learning objective.
Understand how adults learn.
Understand about learning domains, Bloom’s
Taxonomy and their levels of learning.
Connect the verbs associated with each level in
Bloom’s taxonomy.
2
Agenda
Participants will be able to:
Begin writing learning objectives using defined
formats.
Connect the verbs associated with each level in
Bloom’s taxonomy
Understand the importance of standards and
performance and conditions to writing effective
learning objectives.
Review the evolution of writing an effective
learning objective.
3
Why Use Learning Objectives?
By defining where you intend to go, you increase the
likelihood the learner ends up in the intended destination.
Guides the learner, helps his/her focus on what needs to
be learned, and sets priorities.
Shows the learner what behaviors are valued.
Focuses and organizes the instructor.
Creates the learner’s basis for
self-assessment.
Sets the stage for what the “mastered”
skill looks like.
4
Effective learning objectives …
Are learner-focused (not instructor or content focused)
Focused on the intended learning that results from an
activity, course, or program
Reflective of the institution’s mission and the values for
which it represents
Reflects important, non-trivial aspects of learning that are
credible to the learner
Focuses on skills and abilities central to the discipline
and based on professional standards
Captures general concepts, but with enough detail to be
clear, specific, and measurable or observable
Focuses on aspects of learning that will develop and
endure but that can be assessed in some form now
5
Goals versus Learning Objectives
Goals are statements that describe in broad
terms what the leaner will gain from instruction.
Example:
- Learners will gain appreciation of the role of a
family medicine physician in the health care
system.
6
Goals versus Learning Objectives
Objectives are statements which describe specifically
what the learner is expected to achieve as a result of
instruction.
Objectives direct attention to the learner and the types
of behaviors they should exhibit. Sometimes these
statements are called behavioral objectives.
Example:
- Learners will list three characteristics
that make the family medicine physician
distinctive from other specialists in the
health care system.
7
Learning Objectives
(Mager,1975)
8
Exercise: Evaluating Learning Objectives
Use the criteria on the previous slides to
evaluate the learning objectives that follow.
Identify the objectives that meet
9
Exercise: Evaluating Learning Objectives
Calculate the lift and drag for blimps and airfoils.
Use lift and drag calculations to evaluate aerodynamic vehicle
performance.
Design an internal structural configuration for simple trusses,
beams, columns, and shafts in order to meet specified leading and
deformation criteria.
Explain at a level understandable by a non-technical person how jet
propulsion works.
Create models or inviscid, steady fluid flow over simple profiles and
shapes.
Draw conclusions about the solvability of a system of linear
equations using determinant and rank of a matrix.
Solve geometric problems concerning lines and planes using
vectors.
Given a stethoscope and normal clinical environment, the medical
student will be able to diagnose a heat arrhythmia.
10
Exercise: Evaluate Learning Objectives
Explain the division of the resistance of a ship into its components.
Choose a basis for the plan or the space suitable for a specific
geometric problem.
Analyze the relationships among the properties, structures, heat
treatment, and load for metals.
Analyze the factors which cause metals to disintegrate in human
environments.
Distinguish emissions from combustion characteristics.
Create interactive 3-D models of products and environments using
VRML.
Analyze and evaluate different planning techniques.
Solve a system of linear equations using Gaussian elimination.
Solve a system of linear equations using matrix inverse and matrix
calculations.
Use energy principles to determine the stress and deformation
states of structures comprised of on-dimensional elements (beams,
columns, and rods).
11
Writing Learning
Objectives
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Understand your Audience
Learning Objectives should be written from the
prospective of the learner --- not the instructor.
Consider the characteristics of your audience when
writing learning objectives. Create training and learning
activities to support their needs and abilities.
What they will be expected “to do” after the training
Their physical, mental and thinking abilities
Their educational level, skills and abilities
How they best learn
What they need to know to do the job
What they already know about the job
Have they been trained before
Why they haven’t been effective doing the task
What’s in it for the learner to perform the tasks identified.
13
Characteristics of Adult Learners
Adults are autonomous and self-directed.
They need to be free to direct themselves.
Instructors must actively involve adult participants in the learning process and serve
as facilitators for them.
Get the participants' perspectives about what topics to cover and let them work on
projects that reflect their interests.
Adults have accumulated a foundation of life
experiences and knowledge.
Connect learning to this knowledge/experience base.
To help them do so, instructors should draw out participants' experience and
knowledge which is relevant to the topic.
Relate theories and concepts to the participants and recognize the value of
experience in learning.
Adults are goal-oriented.
Upon enrolling in a course, learners usually know what goal they want to attain.
They appreciate courses that are organized and have clearly defined objectives.
Instructors must show learners how the class helps the learner attain their goals.
This classification of learning objectives must be done early in the course .
14
Characteristics of Adult Learners
Adults are relevancy-oriented.
Adults must see a reason for learning something.
Learning has to be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be of
value to them.
Instructors must identify objectives for adult participants before the course
begins.
Let participants choose projects that reflect their own interests.
17
Levels of Learning Objectives
(Bloom’s Taxonomy)
Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Knowledge
Evaluation
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation Knowledge
18
Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels
Level Description
Benjamin Bloom’s
Taxonomy has Knowledge Focuses on memorization and
been around recall
since the mid- Comprehension Focuses on understanding the
information memorized
1950s. His
structure for Application Focuses on being able to apply
what is understood
“thinking”
behaviors Analysis Focuses on being able to take
apart and use critical thinking
provides a nice skills to understand what was
stair-step applied
approach to Synthesis Taking what is known and has
thinking about the been applied and using it in
levels of learning. different ways.
one listed?
20
Exercise: Evaluating Levels of Objectives
21
Writing a Learning Objective
In this example, the lesson plan calls for the learner to
first generate a “graphic organizer” about a chapter titled,
“A Decisive Battle.”
22
Writing Learning Objectives
A well-stated objective Objective Description Example
Part
provides a clear
picture of the Behavior What a learner will Learner will
be able to do create a time
outcome or line of the main
performance you events at
Gettysburg
expect as a result of
the lesson. It should Conditions How they will be After generating
able to do it a graphic
be specific, concise, organizer based
and most on “Chapter 5:
A Decisive
importantly, Battle.”
observable or Standard of Degree of With a rubric
Performance accuracy rating out 3 (out
measurable. of 5) or better.
23
Example: Learning Objective Formats
After the training period the learner will be able to
perform __________ (task). The task must be
performed under the following conditions: __________
(condition), ___________ (condition), and ___________
(condition). The following standards must be met:
__________ (standard), ___________ (standard), and
__________ (standard).
24
Example: Learning Objective Formats
Given a __________ (condition), ________
(condition), and __________ (condition),
perform ____________ (task). The task must
be performed as _________ (standards).
Verbs Taxonomy
Evaluate Evaluation
Design Synthesis
Distinguish Analysis
Apply Application
Explain Comprehension
Define Knowledge
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Start All Objectives with Verbs
Level Appropriate Verb for Level
Knowledge ● Define ● Memorize ● List ● Recall ● Recognize ● Repeat ● Related ● Record ●
Name ● Identify ● Acquire ● Underline ● Label ● State ● Relate ● Order ●
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Standards are Measurable
Level Appropriate Verb for Level
29
Example of a Well-written Objective
After completing this course you will be able to:
Place a caller on hold
Activate the speaker phone
Play new messages on the voice mail system
List the three elements of a proper phone greeting
Transfer a call to a requested extension
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Evolution of a Learning Objective
The next slides show the evolutionally development of an
objective using input from a group.
The strategy was as follows.
1. An individual wrote the first draft of the objective.
2. He/she explained the intent of the objective to a group.
3. The group responded suggestions.
4. The objective was rewritten.
Notice how the group process
improved the original statement
into a well-articulated
learning objective.
33
Evolution of an Objective
Original objective submitted to the group for review:
Using Fick’s Law of Diffusion, contrast the movement of
oxygen and glucose from the plasma to the intracellular
space. Based on their chemical properties, predict which
of these substances would show diffusion, limited
movement, and which would show flow limited
movement.
34
The Evolution of an Objective
The author’s statement of intent:
I expect the students to review the factors influencing
diffusion (presented earlier in the course), and contrast
the movement of two different agents from the blood to
the cell. I also expect a working definition of flow limited
and diffusion limited
transport.
35
The Evolution of an Objective
What the group suggested:
Glucose movement is tissue specific, and entry into the cell
by any of a variety of glucose transporters further
obscures my intent (transport from the blood to cell).
Identity a tissue, and delete intracellular space. Finally
transport is a poorly defined term, replace with exchange
(the term used in the text).
36
The Evolution of an Objective
Final revised version:
Using Fick’s Law for Diffusion, contrast the movement of
oxygen and glucose from the plasma to a skeletal
muscle cell. Based on their chemical properties, predict
which of these substances would show diffusion limited
exchange and which would show flow limited exchange.
37
Bibliography
Clark, Donald, “A Quick Guide to Writing Learning Objectives,” ©
November 30, 2008
Kruse, Kevin, “How to Write Great Learning Objectives”
Lieb, Stephen, Planner, Arizona Department of Health Services
and part-time Instructor, South Mountain Community College
from VISION, Fall 1991
Mager, Robert, “Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction,”
1962
Mager, Robert, What Every Manager Should Know about Training,
1992
Ohio University Faculty, “Writing Learning Objectives: Beginning
with The End in Mind”
38