A clear statement of what your instructional goals are for this course will help determine the pathway to develop the course. Stating goals in term of student performance will be the start to developing specific student learning objectives\/outcomes and aligning assessment.
Goal statements are broad and will later be broken into smaller steps in order to write student learning objectives\/outcomes. (The literature uses the terms objectives and outcomes in different ways, often interchangeably. In some cases objectives are an intermediate step between goals and outcomes, often specified at an institutional, college or department level. Here we will use the term objectives for consistency and simplicity sake).<\/p>\n
“What do I want my students to know and be able to do when they have completed my course?”
Write 3 or 4 broad learning goals for your course.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Example : Students will design a garden.<\/em><\/p>\n Now break down each goal into smaller steps. Each step should be concrete and measurable: These are your student learning objectives.<\/p>\n “How can I break down my goals into realistic, pragmatic, measurable and achievable student learning objectives?” To be useful objectives:<\/p>\n Examine goals in using Bloom’s Taxonomy<\/a> to make sure you are setting objectives at the level appropriate for your learning context.<\/p>\nDetermining Student Learning Objectives<\/h2>\n
Guiding Question<\/h3>\n
Below are two examples of objectives for the goal listed above. There will typically be two or more objectives per broad goal.
Example 1: Given a site for a garden, students will be able to talk to stakeholders about their needs, and select a garden theme for the proposed garden.<\/em>
Example 2: Based on the theme selected, students will be able to develop a design plan for a garden that is appropriate to the location and climatic conditions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n