Learning objective

Definition

Learning objectives are statements that define the expected goal of a curriculum, course, lesson or activity in terms of demonstrable skills or knowledge that will be acquired by a student as a result of instruction. Also known as : Instructional objectives, learning outcomes, learning goals.

Learning outputs, i.e. student productions are different. They allow follow-up (e.g. formative feedback) and measuring if learning objectives are met.

See also:

• Bloom's taxonomy

Introduction

The definition of learning objectives is (or should be) the foundation of any instructional design. They are integral determining factor of strategies and Instructional design model and methods, pedagocial scenarios and lesson plans.

Defining learning objectives

Learning objectives when attained should be observable behaviours or actions.

Mesurement of learning outcomes is strongly influenced by behaviorist learning psychology and educational models, in particular Blooms taxonomy.

Criticism of this approach argue that some learning types, e.g. problem solving require more complex proof of learning than typical exam texts. Some of that criticism has been addressed by Krathwohl's Revision of Blooms's Taxononmy . Other propositions were formulated by Jonassen, of which we present one version below. Finally, there is a strong relationship with competency-based education based on competence frameworks or maps.

Verbs for defining learning objectives

Words used to define learning objectives are often teacher centered and ambiguous.

E.g. Students will know the seven original member countries of the European Union and their capitals.

Formulations such as "Student will understand, comprehend, know" are problematic in that one cannot observe knowing or comprehension. Learning objectives should be formulated in a way that specifies how learning will be observed or measured and are thus intertwined with evaluation methods. Words that describe what the student will do to show that he or she understands are more useful.

E.g. Students will be able to list 5 countries in Europe and their capitals.

Verbs presented in the following table are lists of verbs that correspond to the cognitive domains within Bloom's Taxonomy from CyberCampus's Tips for writing performance-based objectives.

Verbs for defining learning objecitves according to Bloom's taxonomy

Source:Kemp, J.E., Morrison, G.R., & Ross, S.M. (1998). Designing effective instruction, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill

Jonassen and Tessmer taxonomy of learning outcomes

Jonassen and Tessmer (1996) created an Outcomes-Based Taxonomy for the Design,Evaluation, and Research of Instructional System. Tationale for this taxonomy was based on the observation that more traditional instructional design models do not include all possible learning outcomes. In particular, metacognitive aspects and higher order problem solving skills are missing. The authors used multiple sources, e.g. trainign and design textbooks, research on existing taxonomies, learning outcomes found in articles in instructional research journals, and texts in educational psychology.

Below we reproduce the table presented in a preprint that somehow got many years ago, since we cannot find the original. Since the Training Research Journal journal is probably dead since we cannot find any online trace, we assume that we could reproduce these rather large tables.

No.	Outcome	Class	Measurement	Criteria
1.1	Cued propositional information	Declarative knowledge	Recognition	Accuracy
1.2	Propositional information	Declarative knowledge	Recall	Accuracy
1.3	Acquiring bodies of information	Declarative knowledge	Paraphrase (gist)	Thematic fidelity
2.1	Information networking	Structural knowledge (declarative)	Relationships/ Similarity judgements	Correctness/ Consistency/ Completeness
2.2	Semantic mapping/ conceptual networking	Structural knowledge (conceptual)	Concept mapping	Completeness/ Embeddedness/ Integratedness
2.3	Structural mental models	Structural knowledge	Talk backs/ Pathfinder nets	Congruence with experts
3.1	Forming concepts	Cognitive components/ structural knowledge	Identifying/classifying New instances	Generalization discrimination
3.2	Reasoning from concepts	Cognitive components	Drawing conclusions, Recognizing entailments	Logic of inclusion/inference
3.3	Using procedures	Cognitive components	Performing procedures	Accuracy/speed/automaticity
3.4	Applying rules	Cognitive components	Demonstrating algorithms/ Procedures	Accuracy/speed/automaticity
3.5	Applying principles	Cognitive components	Drawing implications (cause, conclusion, results)	Misconceptions/errors
3.6	Complex procedures (convergent problem solving)	Cognitive components	Selecting/using cognitive com	p Effectiveness/efficiency of solution strategy
4.1	Identifying/ defining problem	Situated problem solving	Describing problem space	Absence of pre-defined solution/real problem
4.2	Decomposing problem/ Integrating cognitive components	Situated problem solving	Identifying issues/ operations/subproblems	Correct operations
4.3	Hypothesizing solutions	Situated problem solving	Generating hypotheses/ solution options	Originality/variety/efficiency
4.4	Evaluating solutions	Situated problem solving	Assessing hypotheses/ solution options	Congruence with problem space/elegance
5.1	Mental modeling	Knowledge complexes	Talk backs/teachbacks	Congruence with experts
6.1	Generating new interpretations	Ampliative skills	Stating/defending/ rationalizing	Process relevance
6.2	Constructing/ Applying arguments	Ampliative skills	Stating/defending/ rationalizing	Compellingness
6.3	Analogizing	Ampliative skills	Analogies	Correctness/plausibility
6.4	Inferencing	Ampliative skills	Inferring from knowns/ drawing implications	Reasonableness/plausibility
7.1	Articulating content (prior knowledge)	Self knowledge	Explaining/differentiating/ integrating performance	Accuracy
7.2	Articulating sociocultural knowledge	Self knowledge	Explaining/differentiating/ integrating performance	Congruence of behavior wit mores
7.3	Articulating personal strategies (strategic knowledge)	Self knowledge (metacognition)	Explaining/think aloud	Congruence with work behavior
7.4	Articulating cognitive prejudices/ weaknesses	Reflective self knowledge	Explaining/differentiating/ integrating performance	Triangulation of personal/ social feedback
8.1	Assessing task difficulty	Executive control	Problem assessment/ think aloud	Accuracy
8.2	Goal setting	Executive control	Self report/think aloud	Problem/process relevance
8.3	Allocating cognitive resources	Executive control	Self report/think aloud	Problem/process relevance
8.4	Assessing prior knowledge	Executive control	Self report/think aloud	Problem/process relevance
8.5	Assessing progress/error checking	Executive control	Self report/think aloud	Process completion/think aloud
9.1	Exerting effort	Motivation (conation)	Observation/self report	Intensity
9.2	Persisting on task (tenacity)	Motivation (conation)	Observation/self report	Time on task
9.3	Engaging intentionally (willingness)	Motivation (conation)	Observation/self report	Mindfulness
10.1	Making choices	attitude	Choice behavior/attitude scale	Personal containment

"Class" is defined as a kind of learning type.

Construct Class	Characteristics	Differences from related constructs	Learning payoffs
Ampliative skills	Uses rules of logic and imagination to draw conclusions, explain implications, imagine possibilities.	Problem solving is acquisition of solution method or heuristics. Ampliation is acquisition of information extension skills.	Learners can extend and integrate knowledge on their own. Can apply knowledge to novel situations.
Structural knowledge	A thematic set of propositions, images, concepts, or rules interconnected by various types of relationships.	Declarative knowledge, concepts and rules may involve the acquisition of individual outcomes without multiple relationships between them.	Learners can better recall and transfer acquired facts and skills. Improves troubleshooting skills. Facilitates ampliation (extension) of learning.
Self-knowledge	Uses reflection and self-examination skills to identify cognitive and affective strengths and weaknesses.	Executive control or learning strategies Regulation of cognitive or affective states. Self-knowledge stresses awareness of them.	Allows learner to self-correct learning and performance. Removes emotional impediments. Develops self- regulation & distributed cognition (metacognition).
Situated problem solving	Emphasizes problem solving in authentic performance contexts. Identifies the suboutcomes of problem solving (identication, decomposition, etc.)	Complex procedures have a definable set of steps or solutions. Situated problem solving proceeds by heuristics with multiple “correct” solutions.	Facilitates problem solving transfer to workplace contexts Enables diagnosis of specific problem solving failures.
Executive control	Focuses upon controlling internal learning and problem solving processes.	Motivation focuses upon control of conative and affective states during learning and problem solving, not cognitive.	Develops problem solving efficiency. Improves teamwork and social learning.
Motivation	Involves the willful manipulation of task attention. effort, and enthusiasm. Has distinct suboutcomes of willigness, persistence, and effort.	Attitudes are value-based and stable propensties to act or choose. Motivation has will-based and transient states of feeling or exerting.	Enhances learning and performance effectiveness in all outcome domains. Develops self-regulated learning (metacognition).

Tools

• Radio James Objectives Builder (link fixed 3/2013).

Links

Introductions for "Bloom"-type definitions

All of the following links offer similar advice. That doesn't mean that there are no alternatives. For example, in some pedagogies, the learning objectives also could be described in terms of a product that implicitly defines skills to be learned.

• See also: learning level and learning type

• Articulate Your Learning Objectives, Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University, (3/2013).

• Learning Objectives, TIPS AND TACS COURSES, niversity of Nottingham (consulted 3/2013).

• Mager's Tips on Instructional Objectives - overview of Mager's Preparing instructional objectives provided in a course at Georgia State University

• Effective Use Of Performance Objectives For Learning And Assessment (PDF), ©Teacher & Educational Development, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, 2005

• Bloom's Taxonomy (Wikipedia)

• Educational aims and objectives (Wikipedia)

• Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Laboratory, MIT. (consulted 3/3013)

• Developing Learning Outcomes: A Guide for Faculty UToronto (consulted 3/3013)

• Writing Quality Learning Objectives, Park University (consulted 3/3013)

• Writing learning objectives, Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Penn State.

Examples

• Swiss Catalogue of Learning Objectives for Undergraduate Medical Training (consulted 3/2013).

References

Other

• Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, R. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J. & Wittrock, M. C. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing. New York, NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

• Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, Cognitive Domain. New York ; Toronto: Longmans, Green.

• Mager, R.F. (1984). Preparing instructional objectives. (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: David S. Lake.

• Cybercampus, Golden Gate University, Tips for writing performance-based objectives, accessed November 16, 2009.

• Kraiger, K., Ford, J. K., & Salas, E. (1993). "Application of cognitive, skill-based, and affective theories of learning outcomes to new methods of training evaluation." Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 311-328.

• McKeachie, W. J. (1999). Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers (10thEdition). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.