Articulating specific learning objectives is an essential first step when designing a course. How will students have changed after learning with you in a course? What questions will they know to ask, and what skills will they have developed in order to explore those questions? Addressing these course goals often begins well before the semester starts. Once you’ve drafted strong learning objectives, aligning subsequent assignments, activities, and assessments with the objectives can help you and your students achieve success.
Attributes of Effective Learning Objectives
Consider looking at your learning objectives through the lenses of:
- Measurability: write the learning objective in a way that can be measured or observed
- Authenticity: consider how this knowledge will be applied in real-world contexts
- Depth of Knowledge: use Bloom’s Taxonomy to build learning objectives and lay the foundation for the assessment of those objectives
Some things to keep in mind:
- Bloom’s Taxonomy is hierarchical, so higher levels of learning are dependent on the learner having acquired knowledge and skills from the lower levels. This does not mean that you must have a learning objective at every level.
- You will have 3-6 learning objectives for your course, which may mean that your course-level learning objectives are somewhat broad. Use your module-level objectives to dig even deeper into specifics.
For additional support, explore a resource on using Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Critiques of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Scholars have critiqued the way Bloom’s Taxonomy is sometimes interpreted, including the implication that learning is a linear process. Further, the placement of remembering at the bottom of the pyramid as a “lower-order” skill implies less value or that it should be avoided. Read this article for additional critiques.
Revising Learning Objectives
Consider using the lenses of measurability (M), authenticity (A), and depth of knowledge (D) to revise your learning objectives. Consider the real example objectives below, which were taken from an introductory course on educational technology for future and current teachers:
Original Learning Objectives
Demonstrate basic and advanced levels of knowledge of Internet resources.
Considerations
(M): How will “Demonstrate” be measured? Does this mean ability to find things or search online?
(A): What is meant by “Internet resources”? It’s possible this has potential for future application, but the vagueness leaves it unclear.
(D): Is demonstration of knowledge basically just remembering, or proof of remembering?
Revised Learning Objective
Describe emerging technologies and instructional strategies.
Original Learning Objectives
Create web pages using basic HTML and web page authoring tools.
Considerations
(M): Without specific details around performance or accuracy, how will this objective be achieved?
(A): HTML skills are not necessary for future success in teaching. Will students ever use these skills again? Are there other skills which would better serve their future success?
(D): Because “Create” is a high-level skill, what other skills may students need before they’re able to create?
Revised Learning Objectives
Demonstrate proficiency in finding and using web-based educational resources.
