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Writing Course Learning Objectives
At this point in the module, you have gathered some course conceptualization documents and shared them with your instructional design consultant. You will now have an opportunity to use those documents to help you write 5-9 course learning objectives. You may already have a set of objectives written for your course. If that’s the case for you, we would like you to review some key ideas that may help you evaluate your learning objectives against educational guidelines.
After reviewing the information provided, please proceed to the Design Task Activity that follows. Your objectives will be reviewed with your instructional design consultant during one of your scheduled meeting times.
Our Definition of Learning Objective
A learning objective is a statement that defines something that students will learn as a result of the educational experiences they will have in the course. Learning objectives outline the knowledge, skills, attitudes, attributes, habits, etc. that students are expected to achieve or demonstrate.
Consider the following examples of learning objectives from actual online courses offered by Boise State:
- Describe the developmental physiology, normal etiology, pathogenesis and clinical manifestations of commonly found altered health states.
- Estimate the cost savings associated with an energy-saving improvement to a home.
- Evaluate the economic performance of various market structures.
- Analyze the methods used by philosophers to address philosophical problems.
- Describe how languages vary, both internally and in comparison to other languages, and the ways that language is connected to social, cultural, and historical contexts.
Well-written learning objectives help students know exactly what they must do to succeed in the course. They also help you outline the scope of the course content and suggest different types of learning activities, making it much easier to design the course.
Levels of Learning Objectives
You may have noticed that some of the learning objectives listed above are very general in nature, while others are more specific. Learning objectives may be written at various levels of generality. At Boise State University, faculty may write learning objectives at four distinct levels, each with a different purpose:
- University/Department level (very general): Boise State University has identified eleven broad learning objectives that should be achieved by the time an undergraduate student completes his/her program of study. These University Learning Outcomes are specified in the Foundational Studies program. Departments may also write general-level learning objectives that they want students to achieve. Such objectives may be based on professional standards or accreditation guidelines.
- Course level (general): Objectives at this level outline the main things you want students to know or do by the end of your course. You may write these on your own, or your department may have written