Tomorrow’s Professor

When planning any educational experience, we begin with goals and objectives. The logic of this approach is clear. Goals are general statements of what we, as teachers, plan do during the unit of learning, while objectives delineate what the learners will be able to do as a result of their learning experiences. The discussion contains a definition of goals and objectives and prepares teachers to develop and convey objectives for the learning experience to students. Definitions of objectives, an overview of the cognitive processes that objectives should address, the relationships of objectives to other components of the learning experience, and some guidance on preparation of objectives follow.

Definitions of goals and objectives

Goals are a global view of expected outcomes of a learning experience; they reflect the plans of the instructor by stating what the instructor and the instruction are planned to accomplish in the learning experience. Goals take into account the selection of instructional content, the teaching methods to be used, instructional materials, and the student performance. Thus, they focus attention on the teaching activity itself.

Instructional objectives focus the learning experience on the student including a statement of one of several specific performances with the achievement contributing to attainment of the goal. The intended learning outcomes of specific tasks, indicated in objectives, are broadly outlined in the goals. Learning objectives are a statement of what, specifically, students will be able to do as a result of the learning experience, and how they will demonstrate they have learned what is expected of them. The focus of objectives shifts from the teacher to the students. When objectives are well stated, they clarify learning expectations in terms of measurable or observable student performance. Objectives development includes several fundamental steps: first, classifying the goal statement according to the kind of learning that will occur, and second, identifying and sequencing the performance of the activity. Because we wish to challenge our learners to accomplish high levels of learning, mindfulness of the level of performance of our learners and higher levels they might accomplish are an important component.

Objectives should be neither too general nor too specific. For appropriate classroom instruction, instructional objectives should be manageable with the objective defining specific types of performance that students can achieve.

From the two objectives below, choose the one which reflects the learner’s accomplishments as a result of learning.

1 Understands analysis with scientific methods.
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Why use learning objectives?

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Objectives in instructional design

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Categories of objectives

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Level of objectives

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Level of cognitive performance Mental process to be demonstrated Recognition, recall Understanding Compare Analyze Translate Interpret Classify Application Solve problems Diagnose Select Evaluation Value judgment Reasoning Decision making

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Conclusion

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Tomorrow’s Professor

Definitions of goals and objectives

Why use learning objectives?

Objectives in instructional design

Categories of objectives

Level of objectives

Conclusion

Further Reading

Abstracts of Funded National Institutes of Health Grants

Academic Technology Transfer and Radiology

Advances in Radiologic Image Analysis From MICCAI 2006