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The Best Choice .... according to the experts

Jones, 1997 – "Clear objectives can help the instructor design lessons that will be easier for the student tocomprehend and the
teacher to evaluate".

Lohr, no date – "A properly written objective tells you what specific knowledge, skill, or attitude is desired and what method of
instruction and criteria for learner achievement are required."

Rationale
Writing clear course objectives is important because:

Objectives define what you will have the students do.

Objectives provide a link between expectations, teaching and grading.

Basic Information

Questions you need to think about

Who are your students? Freshman? Senior? A mix of different prior knowledge and experience?

Is this course a general education course or a course required for the major?

The A.B.C.D. method

The ABCD method of writing objectives is an excellent starting point for writing objectives (Heinich, et al., 1996). In this system, "A" is for
audience, "B" is for behavior, "C" for conditions and "D" for degree of mastery needed.

1. Audience (A) – Who? Who are your learners?

2. Behavior (B) – What? What do you expect them to be able to do? This should be an overt, observable behavior, even if the actual behavior
is covert or mental in nature. If you can't see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, you can't be sure your audience really learned it.
3. Condition (C) – How? Under what circumstances or context will the learning occur? What will the student be given or already be expected to
know to accomplish the learning?
4. Degree (D) – How much? How much will be accomplished, how well will the behavior need to be performed, and to what level? Do you want
total mastery (100%), do you want them to respond correctly 80% of the time, etc. A common (and totally non-scientific) setting is 80% of the
time.

Examples of Well-Written Objectives

Below are some example objectives which include Audience (A), Behavior (B), Condition (C), and Degree of Mastery (D). Note that many
objectives actually put the condition first.

Cognitive (comprehension level) -"C: Given examples and non-examples of constructivist activities in a college classroom, A: the student B: will
be able to accurately identify the constructivist examples and explain why each example is or isn't a constructivist activity D: in 20 words or less."

Cognitive (application level) -"C: Given a sentence written in the past or present tense, A: the student B: will be able to re-write the sentence in
future tense D: with no errors in tense or tense contradiction (i.e., I will see her yesterday.)."

Cognitive (problem solving/synthesis level) -"C: Given two cartoon characters of the student's choice, A: the student B: will be able to list five
major personality traits of each of the two characters, combine these traits (either by melding traits together, multiplying together complimentary
traits, or negating opposing traits) into a composite character, and develop a short (no more than 20 frames) storyboard for a cartoon D: that
illustrates three to five of the major personality traits of the composite character."

Psychomotor - "C: Given a standard balance beam raised to a standard height, A: the student C: (attired in standard balance beam usage attire)
B: will be able to walk the entire length of the balance beam (from one end to the other) D: steadily, without falling off, and within a six second
time span."

Affective - "C: Given the opportunity to work in a team with several people of different races, A: the student B: will demonstrate an positive
increase in attitude towards non-discrimination of race, D: as measured by a checklist utilized/completed by non-team members."

Notes on Objective Writing

When reviewing example objectives above, you may notice a few things.

1. As you move up the "cognitive ladder," it can be increasingly difficult to precisely specify the degree of mastery required.

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28/4/2014 Writing Objectives | Penn State Learning Design Community Hub
2. Affective objectives are difficult for many instructors to write and assess. They deal almost exclusively with internal feelings and conditions
that can be difficult to observe externally.
3. It's important to choose the correct key verbs to express the desired behavior you want students to produce. See the pages on a page on
cognitive objectives (Blooms' Taxonomy), affective objectives and psychomotor objectives to see examples of key words for each level.

Typical Problems Encountered When Writing Objectives

Objective Writing Problems with Solutions

Problems Error Types Solutions

Too The objective is too broad in scope or is actually more Use the ABCD method to identify each desired behavior
vast/complex than one objective. or skill in order to break objectives apart.

No behavior No true overt, observable performance listed. Many Determine what actions a student should demonstrate
to evaluate objectives using verbs like "comprehend" or "understand" in order for you to know of the material has been
may not include behaviors to observe. learned.

Only topics Describes instruction, not conditions. That is, the instructor Determine how students should use the information
are listed may list the topic but not how he or she expects the presented. Should it be memorized? Used as
students to use the information. background knowledge? Applied in a later project? What
skills will students need?

Vague The objective does not list the correct behavior, condition, Determine parameters for your assignments and specify
Assignment and/or degree, or they are missing. Students may not them for your students.
Outcomes sure of how to complete assignments because they are
lacking specifics.

Tying Objectives to Assessment

Once you establish all the behaviors, conditions and degrees of mastery for each objective, you can use them to determine what types of
assignments, tests or alternative assessment (e.g. a portfolio) you should use in the course.

The Assessment section discusses how to design methods to evaluate student performance and includes examples using different types of
learning objectives.

References
Dwyer, F. M. (1991). A paradigm for generating curriculum design oriented research questions in distance education. Second American Symposium
Research in Distance Education, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.

Heinrich, R., Molenda, M., Russell, J.D., Smaldino, S.E. (1996). Instructional Media and Technologies for Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill.

Huitt, W. (2000). Bloom et al.'s taxonomy of the cognitive domain.

Retrieved May 14, 2003, from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html

Kizlik, B. (2003). How to write effective behavioral objectives. Boca Raton, FL: Adprima.
Retrieved May 14, 2003, from http://www.adprima.com/objectives.htm

Lohr, L (no date). Objectives, sequencing, strategies.

Retrieved May 14, 2003 from http://www.coe.unco.edu/LindaLohr/home/et502_cbt/Unit3/Unit3_menu.htm

SOGC Org (No date). Writing instructional objectives: The what, why how and when.
Retrieved May 14, 2003, from http://www.sogc.org/conferences/pdfs/instructionalObj.PDF

Additional Links
Writing Objectives (B. O'Bannon, University of Tennessee)
Behavioral Objectives and How to Write Them (Florida State University)

Writing Objectives (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)

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