Learning Objectives

In this part of Instructional Design Knowledge we will take a look at the topic of Learning Objectives. We are going to discuss the questions as why it is important to have well defined objectives, what does it mean three components format of learning objectives, what are the terminal behaviour, the conditions, the standards and the performance stability in the learning objectives definition, how to describe the objectives in verbal and non verbal terms, how to derive and how to write learning objectives and so forth.

Learning objective is substantial procedure of instructional design process, but unfortunately it is being neglected as something not necessarily to be taken into account. Learning objectives are to serve as a guide for an instructional planning and evaluation. They provide a framework for subject matter content selection, sequencing of the topics, applying relevant instructional strategies and techniques, standards for assessment students' achievement and a criteria for evaluating the effectiveness and the efficiency of the instruction.

After completing Learning Objectives unit you should be able to:

• Distinguish instructional goal from learning objective
• Identify correctly the terminal behaviour, the conditions and the standard components of learning objective
• Discriminate between terminal and enabling objectives
• Formulate own project's learning objectives

Guide Tips

The issue of learning objectives is going to be considered in the framework of four instructional events: Lecture Notes, Case, Blueprint and Project. Lecture Notes provides with an explanation what learning objectives are about. There are three additional components incorporated in Lecture Notes - Library, Index and Forms. In Library you can find relevant references to books and URLs. Index contains some key terms definitions. Forms provide with opportunities to download some relevant Microsoft Word templates.

In Case will see some examples of learning objectives definitions based on this course. Blueprint consists of procedural guidelines how to derive and write good learning objectives. You already selected a project to deal with during the course. In project part of learning objectives you will be invited to execute some exercises and to formulate the learning objectives of the particular project you had chosen. It is expected that one of events will attract you more than others. The order of instructional events is not a substantial factor, but the completing the instructional events cycle is important. Spend some time to look at each of the instructional events.

Definitions and Components

Introduction part of Learning Objectives issue was purposed to drop your attention as why is necessary to define learning objectives in a appropriate manner, what are the important content points and how to navigate throughout this section. Now we are going to the learning objective definition, the differences between goal and objective, components of learning objective, the terminal and enabling objectives, and the strategy of deriving learning objectives.

Instructional goal and learning objective both describe the outcomes of instruction. While instructional goal is a general and sometime a vague description of what is expected from the learner to know and to do after an instruction, learning objective is a clear and a precise description of a instructional goal. You can see some examples of instructional goals and learning objectives.

A three components learning objective format consists of the terminal behavior, the conditions and the standard. Terminal behavior describes what the learner should be able to do in order to demonstrate that s(he) achieve the objective. The terminal behavior is any performance that can be observed or recorded. Terminal behaviour should be expressed using action verbs. If the behavioral component is missing it is difficult to measure whether the student has achieved an instructional goal. The terminal behavior should describe different cognitive processes - remembering, understanding, applying, problem solving etc, that leads to the different level of accomplishment.

The conditions feature of learning objective describes the situation in which the learner will demonstrate the terminal behaviour. Learning objective definition should specify all of the conditions under which a performance will be tested. The conditions might be aids or tools that a learner is allowed to use in the test situation, restrictions to be imposed on the situation and thirdly, how needed information will be presented.

The standard property of learning objective formulation describes the minimal accepted level of performance at the end of the instruction. The standard is a kind of proof that a learner is achieved at the objective. The type of standard selected depends on the specificity of the terminal behaviour. It could be occurrence of behaviour, time, speed, accuracy, reference, consequences, etc.

Guide Tips

In Library you be able to see some additional readings and URLs. Index contains definitions of the key terms in this section. Forms provides you with some templates for good learning objective definitions.

The instructional events of case, blueprint and project give you some additional opportunities to take more detailed picture of learning objective definition. Case is about examples, blueprint consists of guidelines,and project require to practice learning objective definition. It is up to you to select what events you like. However we think that it is the case that is more relevant as a next step. Whatever events you will choose, it is reasonable to make a trip throughout all of instructional events.