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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?

Taken for educational purposes only from
http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/objectives/writingobjectives

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 – Who? Who are your learners?
2. Behavior – 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 – 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 – 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.


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

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

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

Cognitive (problem solving/synthesis level) -"Given two cartoon characters of the
student's choice, the student 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 that illustrates
three to five of the major personality traits of the composite character."

Affective - "Given the opportunity to work in a team with several people of different
races, the student will demonstrate an positive increase in attitude towards non-
discrimination of race, 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.
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

Problems Error Types Solutions

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


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

Only topics are Describes instruction, not Determine how students
listed conditions. That is, the should use the information
instructor may list the topic but presented. Should it be
not how he or she expects the 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 Determine parameters for
Assignment correct behavior, condition, your assignments and specify
Outcomes and/or degree, or they are them for your students.
missing. Students may not 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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The best choice for writing objectives

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The best choice for writing objectives