ELearning/Course design/Goals of instruction

"If you don't know where you're going, any place will do." Alice in Wonderland

Learning goals and objectives are collectively referred to as learning outcomes. Creating them is sometimes viewed as the most onerous step for designers as they set out to create a course. It doesn't need to be this way. It can actually be pretty quick and easy. First, we begin with the end in mind and, second, we use tools that make the job easier.

Goals and objectives

We can think of goals and objectives as a continuum, with one end being general in nature and the other specific. We can add other descriptors:


1. Goals and objectives

When we think about learning outcomes, most of us begin with more general descriptions. We want learners to explore, understand, and appreciate the topic of our course. What a great place to start! These generalized, long-term goals are what inspire students to want to learn. Their purpose is to communicate what the course is about.

But we can't stop there. Our goals have created a big-picture view of what we want to accomplish in the course. Objectives, then, create the map, the increments necessary to progress toward our big goals. Objectives attempt to identify the "best evidence" of internal (cognitive, affective) processes and states, and external (behavioral) capacities (Smith & Ragan, 2004).

Consider the following statements:

"Students will be able to use constructivist learning principles in their classroom instruction."
"In order to demonstrate an understanding of constructivist learning principles, the student will be able to accurately identify the constructivist examples from a list of examples and non-examples, and explain why each is or isn't constructivist in 20 words or less, with an accuracy of 80% or better."

Notice how the first statement provides the big-picture, long-term goal of the course while the second statement describes a specific increment toward that goal. It leaves little doubt what the instructor is seeking, how it will be measured, and what constitutes success. There will typically be 1 to 3 objectives for every goal.

Statement #2, the objective, includes the following elements:

Intention of the performance (in order to . . .)
Performance to be measured (the student will . . .)
Conditions under which the performance will occur (from a list . . .)
Criteria for successful performance (with an accuracy of . . .)

Purpose of objectives

Do objectives need to be so detailed as above? The short answer is "no", but let's consider the purpose of objectives (Gronland 2003):

Facilitate overall course development by encouraging goal-directed planning.
Inform students of the standards and expectations of the course.
Provide information for the development of assessments by identifying the types of evidence that students need to produce to demonstrate mastery.
Clarify the intent of instruction and guide the formation of instructional activities (textbook selection, teaching resources, instructional methods, etc.).
Provide a framework for evaluating student understanding and progress.
Serve as an implicit contract between instructor and students setting up a basis for accountability.
Drive curriculum planning (such as the development or revision of courses).
Provide evidence of student learning to be utilized for accreditation.

That's a lot of responsibility for learning objectives. This list can be summarized in one word: focus. Clearly articulated objectives provide focus for the instructor, students, reviewers and accreditation agencies. The most important being focus for you, the instructor, and your students.

Key elements of objectives

Back to our question of whether or not objectives need to include conditions, performance, and success criteria: For learners, intention, conditions and criteria are not always included, but are implicit. It is most important that you describe the performance you are expecting to see that will constitute sufficient evidence that the course material has been mastered. The key question, then, is "Does the objective provide sufficient focus to help you and your students know what to teach, learn and test for?" Let's restate the objective without intention, conditions, and criteria and see how it goes:

2. "Students will be able to identify constructivist learning activities and explain why they are constructivist."

Not perfect perhaps, but it does tell us and learners what is important. Consider how much clarity of purpose that goals and objectives provide for the instructor:

Separating out the need-to-know from the nice-to-know,
Where to concentrate your limited time and effort,
What to test students for,
What materials and learning activities to include.

Then consider how goals and objectives help your learners:

What to study and practice?
Where to spend extra time and effort?
What must be mastered?

We have a goal analysis worksheet and rubric that will help you move from learning goals to learning objectives.

Linking Goals and Objectives

Learning objectives do not necessarily flow directly from learning goals. This is because goals vary in scope and modules need to provide some level of workload balance. The illustration below represents possible relationships between goals and objectives.


2. Possible relationships between goals and objectives

Learning Goal A represents a "large" goal that is best subdivided. Subgoal 1 becomes the basis of Module or Unit 1 with three learning objectives, and Subgoal 2 becomes the basis of Module 2.

Learning Goal B represents a goal that is best addressed throughout the course, and so is included as part of all three modules.

Learning Goal C is of "moderate" scope and forms the basis of Module 3.

Learning Goal D is of "small" enough scope that it would be awkward as a separate module, and so has been incorporated where it fits best, Module 3.

Tools

All of the above explains why goals and objectives are important, but it doesn't make the job of creating objectives any easier. Here are two tools guaranteed to help you create well-articulated, targeted objectives without consternation and pain.

Learning domains and levels

As discussed in the Language of learning article, Bloom's Taxonomy provides an excellent model for developing learning objectives using its two primary dimensions:

Domain describes the varieties of human experience in which learning occurs. Learning taxonomies are described for the cognitive, affective, psychomotor, interpersonal, and perceptual domains.

Level describes the degree of learning, a hierarchy of mastery ranging from simple to complex, superficial to deep, isolated to integrated. It is important to note that the hierarchy is intended to communicate the need for learners to progress from the lower to the higher levels. In other words, lower-order objectives must be attained before moving to each succeeding level. Prerequisite knowledge and skill must be attained in order to successfully complete the current level. The number of levels varies among the domains, partly because the phenomena within each domain vary, and partly because different authors have taken different approaches to describing the levels.

Here we see all the domains and levels combined into a single table.

3. The complete Bloom's Taxonomy

Expression

When composing learning objectives, we want to reflect their action orientation. They should always contain an action verb and an object of the action (what). Students do something to demonstrate learning!

Using our two tools, let's look again at a learning objective:

"Students will identify constructivist learning activities and explain why they are constructivist."

Learning domain: Cognitive
Learning level: Remembering and understanding conceptual knowledge
Action verb: Identify and explain
Object: Constructivist learning activities

Appropriateness

Now we can ask ourselves about appropriateness. Is the learning domain and level appropriate to the subject matter, level of the course, and point in time or progress within the course? What do you think? (Constructivist learning theory is conceptual knowledge within the cognitive domain. The objective of identifying and explaining would be most appropriate for early in the course, while students are learning about constructivist learning theory before they are asked to apply it.)

Modular or Unit objectives

Recall that course level goals and objectives lie along a continuum, from most general to most specific. Module-level objectives are the most specific statements of desired outcomes generally expressed within a course. As such, they need to be measurable in a concrete way.

As a means for reviewing course goals and objectives, let's review the goals and objectives of an instructional design course.

Course learning goals

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Select and use appropriate methods for every aspect of course delivery that match the learning audience, the content, and the online environment.
Create and manage a course within a learning management system (LMS) in a manner that maximizes investment of time and effort toward desired student learning outcomes.
Identify and utilize the multitude of resources at their disposal to create and manage aspects of the online learning environment.

Notice how the goals focus on the different aspects of building and managing a course within an LMS. It's a useful method for helping learners understand what the course is about. The fact is, however, that these goals do not directly communicate their relative scope. Using our original schema, learning goal A is a very encompassing goal, and needs to be subdivided. In fact, all six modules follow from this goal. Learning goal B focuses on using the LMS, with its various tools covered within the appropriate modules. Learning goal C is of fairly narrow scope, and so is incorporated into module 5. Here is the visual representation:


4. Allocating learning goals and subgoals into modules

Module level objectives

Module-level learning objectives for a course are listed below. Notice the various ways the objectives are worded, and their varying scope. There is no one right way to compose learning objectives. We have attempted to include three ingredients in every objective: (1) action verb and object; (2) capable of being measured; and (3) expressed as concretely as possible. How did we do? After reading them, do you feel like you understand what is expected of course students? What's missing? What could be excluded?

Module 1: Learning and Teaching Online