Writing learning objectives
By any name, the work equally well

In any discussion of teaching writing, learning objectives should be the teachers' starting point. However, not all teachers use the same terminology in that discussion.

You are likely to hear various adjectives used to describe the writing objectives, such as:

• Learning objectives

• SMART objectives

• Behavioral objectives

• Performance objectives

The terms people use to describe their learning objectives for teaching writing often reveal their background and biases. This page will give you a quick overview of the ways the various terms are used.

Within the educational context, however, each of those terms refers roughly to the same thing: statements of how teachers will measure success.

Teachers succeed as teachers only when all their students succeed as learners.

When you are writing learning objectives for use in teaching writing and teaching other curriculum topics, the objectives will be written the same way regardless of what you call them.

Learning/educational objectives

Folks who use the specific terminology writing learning objectives or writing educational objectives probably have an education background.

Learning/educational objectives often target behaviors that are at the heart of education, but which may not be achievable by the educational system.

Although such objectives specify outcomes in terms of behaviors, often the learning objectives are long-range and not directly measurable in learning period under the teachers' control.

Let me give you an example.

I once developed an online summer program whose goal was to turn into high school graduates eighth grade students identified by their guidance counselors as potential dropouts. The program ran for 20 days in the summer between the students' eighth and ninth grade years.

The learning objective for the program could be stated thus:

Students will graduate from high school within 5 years.

Even though the learning objective was measurable, I could not measure it within the 20 days of the program.

During the program itself, I had to rely on measurements that I took as proxies for the learning objective. I decided that if students attending the program every day (attendance was not required), I would accept that as a proxy for high school graduation.

All 17 students attended the program every day, so I achieved my proxy learning objective. However, only 16 of the 17 graduated high school within 5 years, so I failed to achieve my learning objective.

Performance objectives

I like to use the term performance objectives to describe my writing objectives, that is my objectives with regard to writing, because I associate performance with the performing arts.

However, the terminology doesn't have anything to do with artistry and everything to do with profits.

People who write learning objectives they refer to as performance objectives, probably have a background in business management, human resources or training.

Performance objectives often are used to describe desired outcomes that affect a company's bottom line, such as the number of calls handled by operators at a call center, the number of accident-free days in a manufacturing plant, or the sales figures for toothpaste.

While there may be performance objectives that all employees must meet to keep a certain job, performance objectives are sometimes stated in terms of departments. If all workers meet just the performance objectives for their jobs, the department may not meet certain of its performance objectives.

Behavioral objectives

The phrase behavioral objectives originated with psychologists who wanted to study behaviors they could see instead of theorizing about internal processes they couldn't see.

The term has fallen out of favor in education for a couple reasons. One is that the word behavior has a rather negative connotation among teachers. You will hear them talk about behavior problems, but never about behavior accomplishments. Even when teachers say students are "on their good behavior," the implication is that good behavior is abnormal.

Also, behavioral objectives are associated with operant conditioning, which educators think of in terms of rats pushing levers to get food pellets. (Educators want to control learners' behavior but they don't want to be seen as controlling that behavior.)

SMART objectives

If you are writing learning objectives you call SMART objectives, you probably come from a business background.

SMART objectives build in a dose of realism that objectives by other names sometimes lack. The term also avoids descriptors that make teachers antsy and substitutes a term that has positive vibes for educators: educators like anything SMART.

The acronym SMART usually stands for

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable/Appropriate

• Realistic/Relevant

• Time-specific

Whichever adjective you use to describe objectives for your classes in writing, writing learning objectives that let you know if you succeeded is absolutely essential.

Click to learn about the general procedure for writing learning objectives.