Why do I need learning objectives?

Dear Aggie,

I believe my course content and assignments speak for themselves and don't see the value in drafting learning objectives. I know I have organized my course well and that students should be able to see a logical progression of learning. With that said, what is the point in writing learning objectives?

~Lost in Learning Objective Purgatory

Dear Lost,

It is great to hear your course already has the foundations to support your students’ learning! At first glance, writing learning objectives can appear to be a daunting process, especially when you have spent significant time ensuring your course is well organized and presents the content in a logical and straightforward manner. However, having a course that is well organized and structured means you have the information you need to draft solid learning objectives.

Investing the time in writing solid learning objectives is well worth the effort. Presenting your students with well-written learning objectives establishes your expectations for learning and provides guidance for your students as to how the different elements of your course relate to one another. An added benefit is that learning objectives can also help you, the instructor, keep track of your students’ progress. I like to think of learning objectives from the student’s perspective where, if asked what they learned in your course, they could answer succinctly and with confidence. In other words, objectives help students to explicitly state what they know, describe skills they have acquired, or express new perspectives they have gained.

A hallmark of what is known as backward course design is to begin in that exact position, the end of the course. Think about where you want your students to end up after taking your course. Writing student-centered learning objectives means you focus not only on what learners will gain, but how they may retain new knowledge, skills, and attitudes that help them become lifelong learners. Starting a sentence like "By the end of the semester you will..." helps keep the focus on what students should be able to know and do by the end of the course.

A key component of a learning objective is that it is measurable. When drafting your learning objectives consider using Bloom’s taxonomy verbs as it represents the active learning process where students can demonstrate skills and knowledge acquired through increasingly sophisticated processes. Using Blooms’ taxonomy, a hierarchy of learning skills, will help you to view the progression of learning from simply recalling facts to creating and sharing new ideas and organize your course accordingly. Each level of Bloom's taxonomy is represented by a variety of active verbs that promote active rather than passive learning. Finally, it's important to make sure your objectives are measurable, that is represented by observable tasks you can use to assess learning. Although the notion “understand” has been a part of Bloom’s taxonomy for years, understanding, as a concept, is not measurable.  However, understanding could be assessed by any number of measurable actions such as “defining concepts” or “choosing the appropriate formula to calculate an outcome.” You can find an example here. 

A simple method for creating learning objectives in conjunction with Bloom’s taxonomy is to use the following formula:

Compare the following examples.

The first is a weak example:

"After completing this course students will understand the differences between an emu and an ostrich."

With some slight modifications, it can become a stronger example:

"After completing this course students will be able to identify the similarities and differences between an emu and an ostrich."

For more help writing measurable learning objectives be sure to look for the Teaching Academy’s Digital Faculty Fellow course design workshop called "Ready-Set-Launch!" offered at the end of the fall 2022 semester!

During this workshop we will help you get organized for the spring semester and help you create an engaging course to maximize student learning. For more information please visit Ready-Set-Launch!

~Aggie

Guest columnist Chadrhyn Pedraza contributed this week's post.