The format
for writing writing objectives (or objectives for any other subject)
can be recalled by the mnemonic
A,
B,
C,
D,
which stands for audience, behavior, conditions, and degree.
All too often, a teacher calls a list of topics she plans to cover
her "objectives." An statement that tells what the teacher
will do is not a learning objective.
4 elements of good objectives
Statements of writing objectives translate learning
goals into measurable outcomes, specifying:
-
Audience: Who are the learners to whom the goals apply?
-
Behavior: What you expect learners to do to demonstrate
learning?
-
Conditions: What are the conditions under which you
students must demonstrate their knowledge?
-
Degree: What degree of knowledge must learners demonstrate
before you say they know the material?
Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail so you have a
better idea of how to write objectives that cover each of them.
Audience
While you may work toward a writing goal over a series of years,
you can measure
your progress only if you have a laddered
series of annual objectives leading to the goal.
In school settings, it's wise to specify the class, group, or
grade to whom the objectives apply. If you include that information,
it is easy for an outsider to see that your objectives are aiming
at the goal students are to meet by graduation.
It may be useful to define a group of learners by their entry-level
attributes. For example:
-
Students who scored less than 70% on the diagnostic test
-
Students whose first language is not English
-
Students who failed seventh grade last year
Although you must hold all students to the same ultimate standard
— all students should achieve the same goals — certain
groups may need a specific kind of instruction to bring them up
to speed.
Without preparing writing objectives in advance, it's far too easy
for a teacher to throw remedial activities at students without checking
to see if those activities actually accomplish what they were supposed
to accomplish.
Behavior to be demonstrated
Another element you must consider when you think about how to write
an objective for a class you teach is the actual behaviors you
want to see.
Will students write an essay or give a speech? Will students have
to recognize items on a test? recall dates? analyze lab reports?
evaluate literature?
You must specify the behavior you will require because different
behaviors require different kinds of learning and teaching.
You may some goals that focus on attitudes. You might want
students to enjoy poetry, for example. Since enjoyment can't be
measured directly, you should use a proxy you can measure.
A proxy for enjoying poetry might be that students attend a poetry
reading that's not a required or extra credit activity.
Test conditions
The most accurate reading of how well students learned material
occurs when the learning situation and the assessment situation
are highly similar.
Stating in your objective the conditions of the assessment situation
will remind you of the conditions you have to provide for learning.
It is not fair to students or yourself to expect students to demonstrate
their learning in ways that they haven't practiced.
Common assessment types
Some common types of assessments are:
Less common assessment types
If you want students to demonstrate their learning in a non-test
format such as by writing papers, building models, or preparing
a video, you need to put that into your objective.
All too often teachers decide at the last minute to use an assessment
medium that neither teacher nor students knows well enough to use
without a huge investment of time to master the medium.
Next step: content for objectives
Knowing the proper format for objectives is of little value if you don't know
what
your objectives will be about. Setting annual objectives is more efficient than setting objectives by the unit or lesson.
