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Creating Learning Outcomes

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A learning outcome is a concise description of what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. Having clearly articulated learning outcomes can make designing a course, assessing student learning progress, and facilitating learning activities easier and more effective. Learning outcomes can also help students regulate their learning and develop effective study strategies.

Defining the terms

Educational research uses a number of terms for this concept, including learning goals, student learning objectives, session outcomes, and more. 

In alignment with other Stanford resources, we will use learning outcomes as a general term for what students will learn and how that learning will be assessed. This includes both goals and objectives. We will use learning goals to describe general outcomes for an entire course or program. We will use learning objectives when discussing more focused outcomes for specific lessons or activities.

For example, a learning goal might be “By the end of the course, students will be able to develop coherent literary arguments.” 

Whereas a learning objective might be, “By the end of Week 5, students will be able to write a coherent thesis statement supported by at least two pieces of evidence.”

Learning outcomes benefit instructors

Learning outcomes can help instructors in a number of ways by:

• Providing a framework and rationale for making course design decisions about the sequence of topics and instruction, content selection, and so on.
• Communicating to students what they must do to make progress in learning in your course.
• Clarifying your intentions to the teaching team, course guests, and other colleagues.
• Providing a framework for transparent and equitable assessment of student learning. 
• Making outcomes concerning values and beliefs, such as dedication to discipline-specific values, more concrete and assessable.
• Making inclusion and belonging explicit and integral to the course design.

Learning outcomes benefit students 

Clearly, articulated learning outcomes can also help guide and support students in their own learning by:

• Clearly communicating the range of learning students will be expected to acquire and demonstrate.
• Helping learners concentrate on the areas that they need to develop to progress in the course.
• Helping learners monitor their own progress, reflect on the efficacy of their study strategies, and seek out support or better strategies. (See Promoting Student Metacognition for more on this topic.)

Choosing learning outcomes

When writing learning outcomes to represent the aims and practices of a course or even a discipline, consider:

• What is the big idea that you hope students will still retain from the course even years later?
• What are the most important concepts, ideas, methods, theories, approaches, and perspectives of your field that students should learn?
• What are the most important skills that students should develop and be able to apply in and after your course?
• What would students need to have mastered earlier in the course or program in order to make progress later or in subsequent courses?
• What skills and knowledge would students need if they were to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• What values, attitudes, and habits of mind and affect would students need if they are to pursue a career in this field or contribute to communities impacted by this field?
• How can the learning outcomes span a wide range of skills that serve students with differing levels of preparation?
• How can learning outcomes offer a range of assessment types to serve a diverse student population?

Use learning taxonomies to inform learning outcomes

Learning taxonomies describe how a learner’s understanding develops from simple to complex when learning different subjects or tasks. They are useful here for identifying any foundational skills or knowledge needed for more complex learning, and for matching observable behaviors to different types of learning.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a hierarchical model and includes three domains of learning: cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. In this model, learning occurs hierarchically, as each skill builds on previous skills towards increasingly sophisticated learning. For example, in the cognitive domain, learning begins with remembering, then understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and lastly creating. 

Taxonomy of Significant Learning

The Taxonomy of Significant Learning is a non-hierarchical and integral model of learning. It describes learning as a meaningful, holistic, and integral network. This model has six intersecting domains: knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. 

See our resource on Learning Taxonomies and Verbs for a summary of these two learning taxonomies.

How to write learning outcomes

Writing learning outcomes can be made easier by using the ABCD approach. This strategy identifies four key elements of an effective learning outcome:

Consider the following example: Students (audience) , will be able to label and describe (behavior) , given a diagram of the eye at the end of this lesson (condition) , all seven extraocular muscles, and at least two of their actions (degree) .

Audience 

Define who will achieve the outcome. Outcomes commonly include phrases such as “After completing this course, students will be able to...” or “After completing this activity, workshop participants will be able to...”

Keeping your audience in mind as you develop your learning outcomes helps ensure that they are relevant and centered on what learners must achieve. Make sure the learning outcome is focused on the student’s behavior, not the instructor’s. If the outcome describes an instructional activity or topic, then it is too focused on the instructor’s intentions and not the students.

Try to understand your audience so that you can better align your learning goals or objectives to meet their needs. While every group of students is different, certain generalizations about their prior knowledge, goals, motivation, and so on might be made based on course prerequisites, their year-level, or majors. 

Use action verbs to describe observable behavior that demonstrates mastery of the goal or objective. Depending on the skill, knowledge, or domain of the behavior, you might select a different action verb. Particularly for learning objectives which are more specific, avoid verbs that are vague or difficult to assess, such as “understand”, “appreciate”, or “know”.

The behavior usually completes the audience phrase “students will be able to…” with a specific action verb that learners can interpret without ambiguity. We recommend beginning learning goals with a phrase that makes it clear that students are expected to actively contribute to progressing towards a learning goal. For example, “through active engagement and completion of course activities, students will be able to…”

Example action verbs

Consider the following examples of verbs from different learning domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy . Generally speaking, items listed at the top under each domain are more suitable for advanced students, and items listed at the bottom are more suitable for novice or beginning students. Using verbs and associated skills from all three domains, regardless of your discipline area, can benefit students by diversifying the learning experience. 

For the cognitive domain:

• Create, investigate, design
• Evaluate, argue, support
• Analyze, compare, examine
• Solve, operate, demonstrate
• Describe, locate, translate
• Remember, define, duplicate, list

For the psychomotor domain:

• Invent, create, manage
• Articulate, construct, solve
• Complete, calibrate, control
• Build, perform, execute
• Copy, repeat, follow

For the affective domain:

• Internalize, propose, conclude
• Organize, systematize, integrate
• Justify, share, persuade
• Respond, contribute, cooperate
• Capture, pursue, consume

Often we develop broad goals first, then break them down into specific objectives. For example, if a goal is for learners to be able to compose an essay, break it down into several objectives, such as forming a clear thesis statement, coherently ordering points, following a salient argument, gathering and quoting evidence effectively, and so on.

State the conditions, if any, under which the behavior is to be performed. Consider the following conditions:

• Equipment or tools, such as using a laboratory device or a specified software application.
• Situation or environment, such as in a clinical setting, or during a performance.
• Materials or format, such as written text, a slide presentation, or using specified materials.

The level of specificity for conditions within an objective may vary and should be appropriate to the broader goals. If the conditions are implicit or understood as part of the classroom or assessment situation, it may not be necessary to state them. 

When articulating the conditions in learning outcomes, ensure that they are sensorily and financially accessible to all students.

Degree 

Degree states the standard or criterion for acceptable performance. The degree should be related to real-world expectations: what standard should the learner meet to be judged proficient? For example:

• With 90% accuracy
• Within 10 minutes
• Suitable for submission to an edited journal
• Obtain a valid solution
• In a 100-word paragraph

The specificity of the degree will vary. You might take into consideration professional standards, what a student would need to succeed in subsequent courses in a series, or what is required by you as the instructor to accurately assess learning when determining the degree. Where the degree is easy to measure (such as pass or fail) or accuracy is not required, it may be omitted.

Characteristics of effective learning outcomes

The acronym SMART is useful for remembering the characteristics of an effective learning outcome.

• Specific : clear and distinct from others.
• Measurable : identifies observable student action.
• Attainable : suitably challenging for students in the course.
• Related : connected to other objectives and student interests.
• Time-bound : likely to be achieved and keep students on task within the given time frame.

Examples of effective learning outcomes

These examples generally follow the ABCD and SMART guidelines. 

Arts and Humanities

Learning goals.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to apply critical terms and methodology in completing a written literary analysis of a selected literary work.

At the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate oral competence with the French language in pronunciation, vocabulary, and language fluency in a 10 minute in-person interview with a member of the teaching team.

Learning objectives

After completing lessons 1 through 5, given images of specific works of art, students will be able to identify the artist, artistic period, and describe their historical, social, and philosophical contexts in a two-page written essay.

By the end of this course, students will be able to describe the steps in planning a research study, including identifying and formulating relevant theories, generating alternative solutions and strategies, and application to a hypothetical case in a written research proposal.

At the end of this lesson, given a diagram of the eye, students will be able to label all of the extraocular muscles and describe at least two of their actions.

Using chemical datasets gathered at the end of the first lab unit, students will be able to create plots and trend lines of that data in Excel and make quantitative predictions about future experiments.

• How to Write Learning Goals , Evaluation and Research, Student Affairs (2021).
• SMART Guidelines , Center for Teaching and Learning (2020).
• Learning Taxonomies and Verbs , Center for Teaching and Learning (2021).

Information Literacy Toolkit: Resource for Teaching Faculty

• Learning Outcomes

Writing Learning Outcomes

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• Objectives vs Outcomes
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Structure of a Learning Outcome Statement:

• An  action  word that identifies the performance to be demonstrated
• A l earning statement  that specifies what learning will be demonstrated in the performance
• A broad statement of the  criterion  or standard for acceptable performance 

Characteristics of Good Learning Outcomes:

• Specify the level, criterion, or standard for the knowledge, skill, ability, or disposition that the learner must demonstrate
• Include conditions under which they should be able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, abilities, or dispositions
• Contain active verbs using  Bloom's taxonomy
• Be measurable / assessable 
• Example of a poorly written outcome: At the end of the session, students will create a search strategy using Boolean operators and write a correctly formatted MLA citation for a scholarly article. 

"Learning objectives" and "learning outcomes" are often used interchangeably in the literature. In general, "objectives" are intended results or consequences of instruction, curricula, programs, or activities, while "outcomes" are achieved results or consequences of what was learned, i.e. evidence that learning took place. Objectives are often focused on teaching intentions and typically indicate the subject content that the teacher intends to cover. Learning outcomes, on the other hand, are more student-centered and describe the actions the learner should be able to take as a result of a learning experience. 

Learning Objective:  This workshop will cover background and method for writing learning objectives.

Learning Outcome:  At the end of this session, participants will be able to construct a learning outcome for an undergraduate course

• Are the outcomes written using action verbs to specify definite, observable behavior? OR Do they use vague or unclear language, such as "understand" or "comprehend"?
• Is it possible to collect accurate and measurable data for each outcome?
• Is it possible to use a single method to measure each outcome? 

Achievable/Actionable 

• Do the outcomes clearly describe and define the expected abilities, knowledge, and values of learners?
• Are the outcomes aligned with the mission, vision, values, and goals of the institution? program? course?
• Can the outcome be used to identify areas for improvement?
• Are learners at the center of the outcome, or does it focus on the teacher's behaviors?
• Is the language used to describe an outcome, not a process?

Timely/Timebound

• Can the outcome be assessed within the duration of the learning experience (course session, assignment, course, degree program, etc.)?
• How to Write Objectives and Outcomes Basics of writing learning outcomes. Includes information on how to clarify an "unclear outcome."
• Learning Outcomes: University of Connecticut Excerpt from "Assessment Primer: Goals, Objectives, and Outcomes." Quick overview of the basics of learning outcomes with a focus on course-level outcomes.
• Northern Illinois University Instructional Toolkit This guide is a brief compilation of teaching-related information from several sources, including instructional guidebooks from other institutions, journals, and contributions from master teachers and academic support units at Northern Illinois University. The guide is meant to be a quick reference and not a comprehensive source on teaching-related information.

3 Methods for Writing Learning Outcomes

• Bloom's Taxonomy
• ABCD Method
• Backwards Design

Bloom's Taxonomy forms the base of any learning outcome statement. The action verbs used in the taxonomy are measurable and discrete. Aim for learning outcomes that include skills that span across the pyramid. Although it is easy to focus on the foundations of "remember" and "understand," try to include at least one outcome that strives for "evaluation" or "creation." 

Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching (2015).  Bloom's Taxonomy .

• Teaching Guide for Bloom's Taxonomy: Vanderbilt University Overview of the original (1956) taxonomy and revised (2001) version.
• Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs Cheat Sheet One page handout including list of verbs for each level of the taxonomy.

Learning Outcome Statements can be written using the ABCD (audience, behavior, condition, and degree) method.  While the method is often directed at learning objectives, it can also be used to write learning outcomes. 

• A(udience) Who is the target audience? (e.g., " ENGL397 students will be able to..." )
• Should be both observable and measurable behaviors
• Should refer to action verbs that describe behaviors 
• C( ondition ) What are the conditions/constraints in which the learners will be expected to perform these tasks? (e.g., "At the end of the session" )
• D( egree ) How will the behavior need to be performed (e.g., " between primary and secondary sources ")

Learning Outcome: "At the end of the session, ENGL397 students will be able to distinguish between primary and secondary sources"

• ABCD Method: Maryland Faculty Online Three page overview of the ABCD method including specific examples.

Backwards Design is a method of instructional design which asks users to begin with the "end" - desired results, goals, or standards - and then build a curriculum from the "evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform" (Wiggins and McTighe). In short, it calls on teachers to identify learning outcomes as a first step and then build a lesson plan that works in service toward those goals. This process has three stages:

• Identify desired results:  establish curricular priorities by separating desired outcomes into three categories: (1) "Enduring Understanding,"  things you want learners to remember after they have forgotten everything else about the course, or concepts that have to be grasped before other knowledge can be gained (2) "Important to Know and Do," skills, methods, principles, and concepts without which learning would be incomplete (3) "Worth Being Familiar With, " things that can be covered if there is time, or may be covered adequately through supplementary material, such as tutorials or readings.
• Determine acceptable evidence : think about the evidence needed to document and validate that the desired learning outcomes have been achieved. Evidence should be collected over time and does not have to be entirely focused on an end of workshop activity. For example, if one of your goals is for students to learn how to problem-solve, give them an assessment that requires a demonstration of problem-solving skills (Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching). 
• Plan learning experience and instruction:  once you have identified outcomes and assessment measures, decide how you will teach the concepts. Focus instruction around the "enduring understanding" concepts and "important to know and do." Only include the "worth being introduced to" when the other two categories are completely satisfied.
• Understanding by Design: Vanderbilt University Short and sweet overview of Understanding by Design by Wiggins and Tighe.
• Backward Design for Hybrid Instruction This interactive guide walks faculty through the 9 steps of Backward Design. It is oriented toward hybrid courses, but can be useful for any instructional designer.

Program & Institutional Learning Outcomes

• Nesting Learning Outcomes
• UMD Outcomes

Learning outcomes should build on one another. The learning outcomes you set for a particular session should contribute to the development of the course or unit outcomes, which build toward macro-level program and university-wide learning outcomes. Each of these learning outcomes should work in concert with one another, building towards the same set of goals, although individual outcomes will vary in specificity. 

Not every lesson, course, or unit outcome will address every program or institutional outcome. However, to build consensus among student learning, it is important that members of these large educational communities agree on learning outcomes. 

• Mission, Vision, and Values for Instruction Guiding Principles for UMD Libraries Instruction program.
• University-Wide Learning Outcomes for Undergraduates Provided by the Provost's Commission on Learning Outcomes Assessment. Includes specific information literacy outcomes.
• General Education Learning Outcomes by Course Learning outcomes for general education courses. Although it does not include specific information literacy outcomes, information literacy concepts are incorporated into the Academic and Professional Writing Program outcomes.
• Graduate-Level Learning Outcomes Assessment Efforts are being made to improve the graduate-level process and add learning outcomes.
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Writing intended learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes can be defined as the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities that an instructor intends for students to learn or develop. Outcomes are more specific than learning goals , which take a 10,000-foot view of what an instructor desires for students to gain from a course. Research suggests that when they are well written, clear, and measurable, learning outcomes can improve learning and motivate student engagement.

Research shows that learning outcomes improve learning when they describe specific, measurable takeaways (Richmond et. al, 2016). The Backward Design process helps achieve these outcomes through alignment , where learning outcomes are written first during course development to serve as a framework from which all class activities and assessments are selected or designed (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005). Once outcomes are mapped backward to activities and forward to larger learning goals, instructors can consider assessments , both weekly and final, that measure student progress toward attaining learning outcomes.

Learning goals and outcomes can be written for entire courses as well as for individual classes. They are generally written with an action verb such as “define,” “synthesize,” or “create,” and a noun describing specific content, concepts, or skills.

Recommendations 

• Follow the A-B-C-D Guide - A-B-C-D stands for Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree, and describes the major components of an intended learning outcome. Instructors can develop learning outcomes by following the A-B-C-D guide. Audience describes the intended learners of a given outcome (typically “Students”). Behavior is a verb describing understanding, cognitive growth, or a skill that learners will develop (“explain,” “analyze,” “create”). Condition describes physical and temporal features of the outcome (“within,” “undergirding,” “verbally,” “by the end of term”). Degree describes the level of attainment (“independently,” “fully”). 
• Design Learning Outcomes at Multiple Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy - Depending on the learning goals of a course, instructors can consider writing learning outcomes that span multiple levels of cognition delineated through the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002). The lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, “Remembering,” focuses on student recall of information, while the highest, “Creating,” addresses how students can synthesize multiple elements to develop a new idea or product. To encourage higher-order thinking, instructors can consider designing outcomes beyond the “Remembering” and “Understanding” levels. Descriptions of each level are delineated below alongside sample action verbs for each level. See also Bloom’s Taxonomy .

• Share and Revisit Learning Goals and Outcomes with Students - As learning goals and outcomes serve as a framework for the course, instructors should share them on Course Syllabi and refer to them throughout the semester. In addition, learning outcomes can be shared at the beginning of class, and revisited at the end of class.
• Ask Students About Their Intended Learning Outcomes - Research indicates that students respond positively to questions about their own goals for learning or taking a particular class (Ambrose 2010). Instructors can engage students in questions about their learning in the first class session , and discuss ways to align their goals with intended learning outcomes.
• Monitor Student Progression in Achieving Outcomes - Develop ways to assess whether students are working towards particular outcomes. In addition to essays, quizzes, and exams, Formative Assessments such as Think-Pair-Share, One-minute Papers, Clicker Questions, and general questions posed to the class can help instructors monitor student progression towards achieving learning outcomes, and modify instruction as needed.

The downloads section (bottom) features a printable handout version of this web page.

Ambrose, S., Bridges, M., Lovett, M., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research – Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dirks C, Wendroth MP,  Withers M. (2014). Assessment in the College Classroom. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Krathwhol DR. (2002). A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview. Theory Into Practice 41(4): 212- 218.

Richmond, A., Boysen, G., and Gurung, R. (2016). An Evidence-based Guide to College and University Teaching. New York: Routledge.

Wiggins GP, McTighe J. (2005).  Understanding by Design. Moorabbin, Vic: Hawker Brownlow  Education.

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Home » Blog » How To Write SMART Learning Objectives & Outcomes

How To Write SMART Learning Objectives & Outcomes

As a methodology first created for business management, SMART has since been adapted across numerous fields, including education. SMART objectives offer a structured framework to help educators design effective learning goals that are clear, focused, and reachable. They ensure that learners can understand what is expected from them, fostering a more efficient and meaningful learning experience.

What are SMART Learning Objectives?

The SMART framework breaks down learning objectives into five key characteristics: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Each characteristic plays a pivotal role in creating a comprehensive learning goal that is practical, attainable, and aligned with overall educational targets.

George T. Doran first proposed the SMART framework in the November 1981 issue of Management Review . In his initial formulation, Doran’s A stood for “assignable,” meaning a task that can meaningfully be given to a specified individual. His R stood for “realistic,” a concept now captured by the latter-day “achievable” component.

In its current form, the framework offers a set of criteria that can be applied to any learning methodology to ensure that its content and assessment systems are fit for purpose.

The learning objective should be well-defined, clear, and unambiguous. Instead of setting a broad or generic goal, educators should aim to specify what the learner will achieve upon successful completion of the course or lesson.

Another way to think of this is to consider what the learner will be able to do or understand, having completed the course, that they couldn’t have done or understood beforehand. How will it change their work life, skillset, or understanding?

The objective must include criteria for measuring progress and outcome. This ensures that the learner’s progress can be tracked, and the effectiveness of the learning process can be evaluated.

With eLearning content , there are numerous ways to measure progress and comprehension, including completion percentages, internal quizzes, and final assessments. Various interactive tools allow for gamifying the process of measurement with puzzles and challenges that can be inserted into the course material to maintain interest and gauge understanding.

The learning objective should be realistic and attainable. While ambitious goals can be motivational, they should not be so challenging as to be unattainable, which might lead to frustration or discouragement.

Stepped courses with modules for complete beginners, intermediate-level learners and experts can help ensure that the student completes a course at a level they can manage. Courses should avoid being too lengthy or complicated, or the end goal can begin to seem unreachable.

Break down your course materials into slides, lessons, and modules to motivate students to persist, and reward completion stages with badges, congratulations, or other markers of success.

The objective should align with the learner’s broader educational or professional goals, ensuring the learning process is meaningful and applicable to their overall development. This is particularly important in mandatory training courses such as fire and safety training, first aid or DEI courses.

By tailoring courses to the day-to-day situations your students and employees will face, you will increase engagement.

If a course has an in-person element, make sure it incorporates time for students to discuss how each lesson relates to their own life or work. Lively discussions will follow, and the relevance of the topic will hit home.

Each objective should have a defined timeline, offering a clear deadline for when the learning goal should be achieved. This enhances motivation and allows progress tracking over time.

Run many trials of your courses and time how long it takes the average student to complete the various modules, then tweak the content and design accordingly. Experience has shown that an individual module should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete.

Another good idea is to give students a realistic notion of how long each part of the course will take to finish. This will allow them to allocate sufficient time for completion, without having to interrupt their flow.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing SMART Learning Objectives

Creating SMART learning objectives involves six critical steps – an initial definitional stage and then one step for each concept in the SMART framework. By following these steps methodically, you’ll ensure your courses are well-designed and fit for purpose.

Step 1: Identify Desired Outcome(s)

Before setting an objective, identify the desired learning outcomes of the lesson or course. What should learners know or be able to do by the end? It’s a good idea to specify this up front to set expectations.

When you’ve devised the course, you can run tests and examine the achieved outcomes. Do they match your intentions when designing the course? If not, a rethink may be required.

Step 2: Be Specific

Use action verbs to precisely define what the learner will achieve. Clearly state the scope of the objective to eliminate ambiguity.

Here’s an example of a poorly written course objective:

“Students will gain an understanding of the basics of social media marketing.”

And here’s that objective written with more specificity (with action verbs in bold):

“Students will appreciate the different audiences of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, understand the marketing objectives that can be achieved using each one, and will practise using some marketing techniques to make best use of each medium.”

Step 3: Ensure Objectives are Measurable

Define clear, quantifiable criteria to evaluate progress and success. You might establish various methods of assessment, including quizzes, projects, or discussions.

Be very transparent upfront about what constitutes an excellent, good, or acceptable “pass mark.” While some courses pass or fail only (driver’s tests, for example), others have gradations of achievement.

It can be difficult to quantify comprehension of a complex topic with multiple choice questions, so if it is vital that students gain an in-depth knowledge of a complex subject, then it is better to include a project, in-person assessment or written essay.

Without some sort of measurable outcome, there’s a danger students can complete courses as “lip service” to the notion of education, without really learning anything.

Step 4: Ensure Objectives are Achievable

Consider the resources available and the learners’ current capabilities when setting objectives. This ensures that the goals are challenging but within reach.

It can be helpful to run a “pre-assessment” test or questionnaire to gauge current comprehension level. If you do so, make sure you stress that there is no good or bad level of achievement; you are simply trying to identify a place to begin.

Match your course materials to the age, reading level and/or educational level of your students. Don’t use overly complicated language when simpler terms will do.

Step 5: Ensure Objectives are Relevant/Personalised

Align the learning objectives with the overall goals of the course and the individual learner’s needs. This ensures the learning process is valuable and beneficial for the learner.

Online systems allow for a high degree of learning personalisation of courses, including offering modules in a range of languages or including various optional extras.

As well as making the course content fit students’ needs, you need to make sure the outcomes match what they’ll be able to use in their employment or day-to-day lives.

For instance, if you were teaching a course in beer-making in a microbrewery setting, but most of your students were likely to work in commercial breweries, it would be wise to tailor the outcomes to include those very different environments.

Step 6: Establish Deadlines/Timeframes

Set clear deadlines for each objective. Balance the time constraints with the scope of the objective to ensure it’s feasible within the given timeframe. This may involve a degree of trial and error as you’re designing the course.

There’s little more frustrating than being told a course must be completed in one hour, only to find that its quizzes are so lengthy and challenging that it takes twice as long to finish.

Examples of SMART Learning Objectives

Here are examples of SMART objectives in different settings:

Classroom Setting

“In this semester, students will improve their writing skills by composing and revising at least three essays, with each essay receiving a score of 70% or higher.”

Note that there is room for variation in this objective – some students may complete three essays while others may do more. 70% is an ambitious but not unrealistic goal if your student intake has been pre-selected for basic literacy.

Online Courses

“By the end of this 20-hour online photography course, participants will produce a portfolio of ten high-quality photographs demonstrating mastery of advanced lighting techniques.”

This course may use advanced photo analytics to judge whether specific lessons about dynamic range, composition, colour, focus and subject choice have been adhered to and demonstrated.

What’s especially good about this objective is that it specifies the completion time (20 hours) and work volume (ten photos) very precisely.

Professional Development

“Within six months, team members will complete an advanced project management course, implement new strategies in their work, and show a 20% decrease in project overruns.”

Although the 20% overrun reduction may prove ambitious, it’s likely that the course organisers have researched the difference between the effect on deadlines of trained versus untrained teams.

“Within six months” is time-bound, but allows some wriggle room, for learners who can complete their coursework more quickly. The objective promises real professional and personal development.

Each of the above examples is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Benefits of Using SMART Learning Objectives

Enhanced focus and clarity.

SMART objectives provide clear and concise goals, aiding learners in understanding exactly what is expected. They ensure that a higher percentage of learners engage with course materials and see courses through to completion.

Improved Measurement and Assessment

Because they’re measurable, SMART objectives make progress tracking and outcome assessment easier and more effective. It becomes easier to demonstrate the efficacy of a course, and to identify places where materials can be improved in future iterations.

Increased Motivation and Engagement

Achievable and time-bound objectives motivate and engage learners by providing clear goals and a sense of urgency. They can foster a spirit of friendly rivalry too, as team members compete with one another to gain the best completion scores.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing SMART Objectives

Here are some of the frequent pitfalls course creators face:

• Avoid vague or overly broad objectives that fail to clearly state what is expected from the learner. These will not inspire excitement and may lead to students feeling adrift as they work through the course materials.
• Avoid objectives without measurable criteria that offer no way to evaluate success. Neither the course creator nor the student is well-served by a course with no objective measure of achievement.
• Avoid irrelevant content that students won’t be able to incorporate within their lives or working environment. If elements add to completion time but don’t contribute to course objectives, the content should be left out.
• Lastly, steer clear of unattainable or unrealistic goals that may frustrate or discourage learners. This will reduce engagement and can cause you to receive poor reviews of your courses.

Strategies for Implementing and Monitoring SMART Objectives

Methods for effective implementation include:

• Incorporating objectives into lesson planning and making sure they are at the forefront when designing a course.
• Tracking progress and adjusting as necessary. Run numerous trials of your courses in the design stage, including participants at various levels of prior subject knowledge.
• Providing regular feedback and support to learners. Take stock at various points during your course, either with recaps (for an online course) or in-person discussions of “what we’ve learned so far.” This helps learners feel they’re keeping up.

SMART is Objectively Better

Creating SMART learning objectives plays an important role in enhancing educational effectiveness. It enables learners to understand expectations, focus their efforts, and measure their progress.

As an eLearning company , Skillshub is committed to creating efficient and impactful learning experiences.

We incorporate these principles into our learning modules, providing a well-rounded eLearning platform and approach that caters to each learner’s unique needs and abilities.

Join us today to elevate your learning experience!

Sean McPheat

Sean is the CEO of Skillshub. He’s a published author and has been featured on CNN, BBC and ITV as a leading authority in the learning and development industry. Sean is responsible for the vision and strategy at Skillshub, helping to ensure innovation within the company.

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Course Contents

Learning outcomes.

The content, assignments, and assessments for this course are aligned to the following learning outcomes:

• Define reflection as an intellectual process
• Identify knowledge types embedded within reflection
• Recognize possible structures for reflective writing
• Recognize component skills of reflective writing
• Define the concept of rhetorical context
• Identify writers’ rhetorical contexts
• Identify readers’/responders’ rhetorical contexts
• Identify active reading strategies
• Evaluate active reading strategies
• Identify strategies for using context clues
• Evaluate strategies for retaining new words
• Differentiate between formulaic and organic structure.
• Identify characteristics of organically-structured essays.
• Recognize techniques for effective paragraph construction
• Evaluate paragraph construction
• Identify successful strategies for writing introductions and conclusions
• Evaluate successful strategies for writing introductions and conclusions
• Recognize rhetorical context in relation to content
• Identify strategies for development
• Recognize rhetorical context in relation to structure
• Identify strategies for revising for paragraph structure
• Identify strategies for revising for global structure
• Evaluate strategies for arranging ideas
• Recognize rhetorical context in relation to style
• Identify strategies for revising for style
• Evaluate strategies for revising for style
• Recognize common grammar and mechanical errors
• Demonstrate ability to proofread
• Identify the domain of analysis
• Recognize the barriers to analysis
• Recognize keys to successful analysis writing
• Evaluate keys to successful analysis writing
• Identify different types of analytic processes
• Apply different types of analytic processes
• Recognize appeals to logos
• Evaluate appeals to logos
• Recognize appeals to pathos
• Evaluate appeals to pathos
• Recognize appeals to ethos
• Recognize strategies for establishing appeals to ethos
• Recognize an arguable thesis
• Evaluate an argumentative thesis
• Recognize common logical fallacies
• Evaluate logical fallacies in texts
• Recognize rhetorical approaches to building common ground
• Evaluate rhetorical approaches to building common ground
• Recognize strategies for rebuttal and refutation of counterargument
• Evaluate strategies for rebuttal and refutation of counter-argument
• Differentiate types of sources
• Apply the CRAAP analysis method to evaluate print sources
• Apply the CRAAP analysis method to evaluate online sources
• Apply the CRAAP analysis method to evaluate multimedia sources
• Identify the five components of the “source sandwich”
• Differentiate among paraphrase, summary, and quotation
• Evaluate application of paraphrase, summary, and quotation
• Identify the conventions of citation and references
• Interpret the conventions of citation and references
• Recognize markers of credibility in writing
• Differentiate among the markers of credibility in writing
• Define multimodality
• Recognize different modes
• Define Remediation
• Define Remix
• Evaluate attribution within remix
• Recognize the standard uses of apostrophes
• Demonstrate the standard uses of apostrophes
• Differentiate the standard uses of semicolons and colons
• Demonstrate the standard uses of semicolons
• Demonstrate the standard uses of colons
• Recognize the standard uses of commas
• Demonstrate the standard uses of commas
• Recognize run-on sentences
• Recognize sentence fragments
• Demonstrate revision for run-on sentences
• Demonstrate revision for sentence fragments
• Learning Outcomes. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Magnify. Authored by : Eucalyp. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://thenounproject.com/term/magnify/1276779/ . License : CC BY: Attribution

Assessment, Improvement and Review

• Writing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Writing Clear and Appropriate SLOs

A Student Learning Outcome (SLO) states what students will know, understand, and be able to do as a result of an educational experience. Follow these guidelines to create SLOs for educational experiences, in programs, courses, and co-curricular activities.

• Is appropriate for the level of performance expected from the educational experience, which may draw from  Bloom's taxonomy .
• Specifies the behavior the student  will do  using an action verb, such as the examples that align with  Bloom's taxonomy .
• Provides some detail regarding the context of the behavior, such as information related to the educational experience.
• Identifies the quality or condition of performance expected as appropriate for the context (e.g., "clearly," "accurately," or "appropriately").
• Is measurable and consistent with the assessments used.
• Maintains simplicity by focusing on one action verb.
• Avoids wording such as "know...," "understand...," "be familiar with...," "have increased knowledge of...," and "learn..."

UMD Program SLO examples:

Communication Sciences and  Disorders: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the basic human communication process, including the biological, neurological, acoustic, psychological, developmental, and linguistic and cultural basis.

Liberal Education: Students will demonstrate knowledge of how cultural, social, and/or structural factors influence human social behavior.

Physics: Students will apply the laws of physics to new situations, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Masters of Business Administration: Students will use appropriate quantitative tools and techniques to analyze business problems.

Masters of Music: Students will make stylistic and artistic choices in performance that reflect careful study and scrutiny of relevant historical and cultural practices.

KAML Supplemental Course Instruction: Students will evaluate sources based on information need and the context in which the information will be used.

• Campus Learning Goals and Outcomes: Undergraduate
• Campus Learning Goals and Outcomes: Graduate
• Assessment Process
• 3-Year Assessment Cycle
• Campus Dashboard & Reports
• Campus Assessment Subcommittee
• Excellence in Assessment Awards Overview
• 2018 Awards
• 2019 Awards
• 2020 Awards
• 2021 Awards
• 2022 Awards
• 2023 Awards
• Measuring Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
• Scaffolding Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
• Creating Appropriate Forms of Assessment
• Creating and Using Rubrics
• Using Assessment Results Overview
• Reliability, Validity, and Fairness
• Documenting Assessment Activities in Works
• Online and Library Resources
• Assessment Workshop RFP
• Program Assessment Standards
• Program Assessment Practices
• UMD College & Advanced Writing Assessment Plan
• CAHSS Assessment Plans
• CEHSP Assessment Plans
• LSBE Assessment Plans
• SCSE Assessment Plans
• UMD Graduate School Assessment Plans
• Assessment Plan Information & Templates
• PAL Overview
• Annual Program Assessment Reporting
• Peer Review
• Program Improvement Documentation
• Program Assessment Liaison Contacts
• Category SLOs
• Category Rubrics
• Category Assessment Schedules
• Course Report Forms
• Completed Course Reports
• Category Data and Reports
• Cocurricular Assessment Plans
• Cocurricular Assessment Liaisons
• Program Review Schedule
• Step 1 - Selecting Reviewers
• Step 2 - Writing the Self-Study
• Step 3 - Planning the Site Visit
• Step 4 - Responding to the Review
• Institutional Research Program Review Data
• UMD Program Review College Contacts
• UMD Staff Program Review Materials
• Reviewer Materials
• Program Development Resources

1a. Learning Outcomes for WR 121

Wr 121: writing as a process of inquiry.

Image Attribution: “Inquiry” is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 by Alpha Stock Images 

How does the writing and work you do in WR 121 transfer to your classes and career?

You’ll practice critical thinking and analytical writing skills, as well as cultivate deep reading and cognitive patience with the texts we read. These are valuable skills on the job market and in life, and they are becoming increasingly rare in the age of fast-paced internet reading and posting. We hope you’re willing—maybe excited—to develop your critical reading and writing practice. By reading this creative commons resource and practicing the skills and methods explored, we hope you will feel more confident in your ability to handle a variety of writing situations.

Image Attribution: Master the pen, it will serve you well; by M Mudasir Usman.

Writing as Inquiry Copyright © 2021 by Kara Clevinger and Stephen Rust is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Student Learning Outcomes Course Reflection Essay Example

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Course Reflection: Essay Introduction

The chosen course proved a positive experience for students due to the achievement of an appropriate study atmosphere and the establishment of beneficial student-teacher relationships. Attaining the study group’s confidence permitted instituting a functional feedback mechanism, which allowed those in attendance to demonstrate their grasp of the learned material and give recommendations on bettering the course based on personal experience. Consequently, Student Learning Outcomes were sufficiently achieved, leaving both learners and their lector satisfied with the pupils’ level of attained knowledge and competencies.

Despite the overall success of the course, there remain choice aspects of it that require additional work and improvement to receive even better results. Unpredictable external circumstances, such as weather conditions, resulted in the loss of class time and, therefore, leaving the last chapter uncovered. The acquirement procedure for the e-book access code was not perfected, with numerous pupils opting not to attain it, which made the use of the Marketing Lab troublesome. Additionally, revisiting the length of Exam 1 is necessary due to the difficulty that the majority of students experienced with its timely completion.

Resolving these issues, as well as other minor problems noted over the length of the course, requires addressing their origins. To make the Marketing Lab a more significant part of the learning process, more homework could be assigned from it, integrating questions from the textbook that were not covered in class. Additionally, this would effectively compel students to procure and use the e-book access code. The inclusion of more case studies in the course would also be a useful strategy, which may permit learners to achieve a more profound and hands-on understanding of course material.

Paying increased attention to the ongoing pupils’ assessment becomes crucial under these conditions, making journal entries a viable tactic when checking their comprehension of material after each chapter. Permitting students to include their possible questions in these entries would make working with learners easier through creating facilitated lines of communication. Therefore, considering all of these changes, revising the length of Exam 1 and re-assessing its weight in the overall course evaluation process becomes a necessary step. This change would contribute to the achievement of a balanced grading system that would adequately reflect the work done by students throughout their learning process.

The Effect of Professional Development on Education

The success of the course may be linked to the effort put into professional development, which permits perfecting the teaching process to achieve better learning outcomes. Attending Blackboard and Digital Measures training made gaining a mastery of teachers’ resources and integrating them to the best of their use possible within the classroom setting. Additionally, the ITCL Symposium helped achieve a better understanding of course material and how it could be taught, the presentation on product development having become part of the classroom lectures. The participation in coaching and symposiums, therefore, not only presented a chance for sufficient professional growth but also permitted apperceiving additional educational materials.

Implementing modern educational methods, which integrate the benefits of new technologies inside a traditional classroom setting, makes possible the attainment of previously unreachable goals through a combined teaching approach. In this aspect, Blackboard training may claim the most significant impact on the quality of provided schooling since it helped improve the continuity of the educational process through the demonstration of useful virtual teaching techniques.

The benefit of learning through Blackboard is evident due to the possibility of pacing the internet-based learning process, making the received training self-controlled, even if based around deadlines. During training, these aspects proved decisive as there was no need for extensive traveling, providing all the necessary information in one easily accessible place.

This advantage may be carried over successfully into the learning process, either providing the educator with an additional platform for student-teacher communication or presenting a chance for a changeover into entirely internet-based learning. For pupils, this transition could mean heightened educational autonomy when planning their time, which may be a crucial additional professional skill.

Evaluating Results and Setting Future Goals

Despite the positive impact of these provided chances for training, the brevity of the Faculty Annual Evaluation, which lasted one semester, poses significant issues to creating a continuous process of staff education. Additionally, the narrowness of the chosen courses’ topics, as well as their limitation to an in-house setting, poses a significant hindrance in achieving better professional results.

While a modernized approach to education, which focuses on the integration of technological advancements inside the classroom, may be beneficial to modern students’ understanding of the material, this attitude could be detrimental to traditional conceptions. However, as exercises and symposiums retain certain limitations, disputing the significant benefits that they provide to educators is not possible.

These current developments are a positive step towards achieving a better level of faculty performance, creating competent teachers that in turn can produce exceptional students. Advancing the already obtained results may be possible through continuing to provide employees with not only the possibility of professional growth but also presenting them with a broader variety of educational options and topics.

However, setting future goals for development based on the already achieved results becomes viable when considering the significant impact already imparted on the teaching staff. Therefore, setting goals for the coming year that pertain to expanding virtual education and developing online collaboration becomes appropriate and necessary for the continuation of staff growth. Taking additional steps to increase the provided variety of subjects, as well as the types of training offered, such as conferences and workshops, could present a chance to secure a steady reinforcement of teachers’ competencies. Since the already achieved results in educators’ training may be considered an accomplishment, this success should be supported and augmented.

Setting SMART Goals

It may be crucial to keep in mind that the process of education should equally benefit both students and teachers. To continue achieving excellent results and presenting pupils with the chance to learn from the best version of their educator it is necessary to keep giving adequate attention to self-improvement. Therefore, it becomes essential to outline specific SMART goals that are quantifiable and rely on accurate and measurable pre-determined goals that can be attained in a set time and may, therefore, be called realistic.

Predominantly, these SMART goals should be oriented towards developing professional competencies that may help teach management and marketing courses, as these subjects remain primarily taught courses. Attending two new specialized development courses, specifically tailored for those who teach marketing or management before the end of the next year could be a viable betterment option.

Another goal would be carrying out extra research on marketing tactics and management techniques before the start of the next semester and compiling the findings into ten cases for each course for students to solve. Personally forming these cases would permit creating not only a prerequisite for professional development through a study of modern practices but also provide learners with a unique and challenging educational experience.

Considering the assistance provided by technology, it may be necessary, as an educator, to continue integrating online resources into the education process. This aspiration makes mastering a new educational platform before the end of this semester essential objective, the success of which may be measured by the transfer of learning materials to the more modern program. Conducting at least two online examinations or assessments of pupils in the next semester is, therefore, an interdependent and reasonably achievable goal.

Additionally, it is necessary to integrate a virtual system of journal entries that would allow analyzing learners’ competencies as well as their acquired knowledge. Therefore, making journal entries a part of the next marketing and management courses could be an important SMART goal that may prove essential to stimulate students’ reflection regarding the courses’ goals. Incorporating modern technologies into the learning process should prove beneficial for learners who will seek employment in future job markets, which may have heightened expectations regarding the interdisciplinary skills of their staff.

These outlined short-term SMART goals are aimed at developing both professional and personal qualities in pupils and their educator alike. Consequently, the final goal should be related to receiving feedback from learners in both courses, which requires devising a communication from before the end of the current semester and making it accessible online. An omnipresent educational objective, therefore, is making sure that pupils feel confident and secure enough to communicate their possible grievances and suggestions.

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IvyPanda. (2020, December 9). Student Learning Outcomes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/student-learning-outcomes-course-reflection/

"Student Learning Outcomes." IvyPanda , 9 Dec. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/student-learning-outcomes-course-reflection/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Student Learning Outcomes'. 9 December.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Student Learning Outcomes." December 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/student-learning-outcomes-course-reflection/.

1. IvyPanda . "Student Learning Outcomes." December 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/student-learning-outcomes-course-reflection/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Student Learning Outcomes." December 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/student-learning-outcomes-course-reflection/.

• Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
• Instructional Guide

Writing Goals and Objectives

“If you’re not sure where you are going, you’re liable to end up some place else.” ~ Robert Mager, 1997

Instructional goals and objectives are the heart of instruction. When well- written, goals and objectives will help identify course content, structure the lecture, and guide the selection of meaningful and relevant activities and assessments. In addition, by stating clear instructional goals and objectives, you help students understand what they should learn and exactly what they need to do.

Course Goals

A course goal may be defined as a broad statement of intent or desired accomplishment. Goals do not specify exactly each step, component, or method to accomplish the task, but they help pave the way to writing effective learning objectives. Typical course goals include a number of subordinate skills, which are further identified and clarified as learning objectives.

A course goal may be defined as a broad statement of intent or desired accomplishment.

For example, an English 102 goal might be to prepare students for English 103. The goal “prepare students” specifies the big picture or general direction or purpose of the course. Course goals often do not specify student outcomes or how outcomes will be assessed. If you have difficulty defining a course goal, brainstorm reasons your course exists and why students should enroll in it. Your ideas can then generate course-related goals. Course goals often originate in the course description and should be written before developing learning objectives. You should also discuss course goals with your colleagues who teach the same class so that you can align your goals to provide students with a somewhat consistent experience of the course.

Course Goal Examples

Marketing course .

Students will learn about personal and professional development, interpersonal skills, verbal and written presentation skills, sales and buying processes, and customer satisfaction development and maintenance.

Physical Geography course

Students will understand the processes involved in the interactions between, spatial variations of, and interrelationships between hydrology, vegetation, landforms, and soils and humankind.

Theatre/Dance course

Students will investigate period style from pre-Egyptian through the Renaissance as it relates to theatrical production. Exploration of period clothing, manners, décor, and architecture with projects from dramatic literature.

General Goal Examples

• Students will know how to communicate in oral and written formats.
• Students will understand the effect of global warming.
• Students’ perspective on civil rights will improve .
• Students will learn key elements and models used in education.
• Students will grasp basic math skills.
• Students will understand the laws of gravity.

Learning Objectives

We cannot stop at course goals; we need to develop measurable objectives. Once you have written your course goals, you should develop learning objectives. Learning Objectives are different from goals in that objectives are narrow, discrete intentions of student performance, whereas goals articulate a global statement of intent. Objectives are measurable and observable, while goals are not.

Comparison of Goals and Objectives

• Broad, generalized statements about what is to be learned
• General intentions
• Cannot be validated
• Defined before analysis
• Written before objectives

Objectives are

• Narrow, specific statements about what is to be learned and performed
• Precise intentions
• Can be validated or measured
• Written after analysis
• Prepared before instruction is designed

Objectives should be written from the student’s point of view

Well-stated objectives clearly tell the student what they must do by following a specified degree or standard of acceptable performance and under what conditions the performance will take place. In other words, when properly written, objectives will tell your learners exactly what you expect them to do and how you will be able to recognize when they have accomplished the task.  Generally, each section/week/unit will have several objectives (Penn State University, n.p.). Section/week/unit objectives must also align with overall course objectives.

Well-stated objectives clearly tell the student what they must do ... and under what conditions the performance will take place.

Educators from a wide range of disciplines follow a common learning objective model developed by Heinich (as cited by Smaldino, Mims, Lowther, & Russell, 2019). This guide will follow the ABCD model as a starting point when learning how to craft effective learning objectives.

ABCD Model of Learning Objectives

• A udience: Who will be doing the behavior?
• B ehavior: What should the learner be able to do? What is the performance?
• C ondition: Under what conditions do you want the learner to be able to do it?
• D egree: How well must the behavior be done? What is the degree of mastery?

Writing a learning objective for each behavior you wish to measure is good instructional practice. By using the model as illustrated in Table 2, you will be able to fill in the characteristics to the right of each letter. This practice will allow you to break down more complex objectives (ones with more than one behavior) into smaller, more discrete objectives.

Writing a learning objective for each behavior you wish to measure is good instructional practice.

Behavioral Verbs

The key to writing learning objectives is using an action verb to describe the behavior you intend for students to perform. You can use action verbs such as calculate, read, identify, match, explain, translate, and prepare to describe the behavior further. On the other hand, words such as understand, appreciate, internalize, and value are not appropriate when writing learning objectives because they are not measurable or observable. Use these words in your course goals but not when writing learning objectives. See Verbs to Use in Creating Educational Objectives (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) at the end of this guide.

Overt behavior: If the behavior is covert or not typically visible when observed, such as the word discriminate, include an indicator behavior to clarify to the student what she or he must be able to do to meet your expectations. For example, if you want your learners to be able to discriminate between good and bad apples, add the indicator behavior “sort” to the objective: Be able to discriminate (sort) the good apples from the bad apples.

Some instructors tend to forget to write learning objectives from the students’ perspective. Mager (1997) contends that when you write objectives, you should indicate what the learner is supposed to be able to do and not what you, the instructor, want to accomplish. Also, avoid using fuzzy phrases such as “to understand,” “to appreciate,” “to internalize,” and “to know,” which are not measurable or observable. These types of words can lead to student misinterpretation and misunderstanding of what you want them to do.

…avoid using fuzzy phrases such as “to understand,” “to appreciate,” “to internalize,” and “to know,” which are not measurable or observable.

The Link Between Learning Objectives and Course Activities and Assessment

After you have crafted your course goals and learning objectives, it is time to design course activities and assessments that will tell you if learning has occurred. Matching objectives with activities and assessments will also demonstrate whether you are teaching what you intended. These strategies and activities should motivate students to gain knowledge and skills useful for success in your course, future courses, and real-world applications. The table below illustrates objective behaviors with related student activities and assessments.

Examples of Linked Instructional Goals, Objectives, and Assessments

Instructional goal .

Students will know the conditions of free Blacks during antebellum south.

Learning Objective

In at least 2 paragraphs, students will describe the conditions of free Blacks in pre-Civil War America, including 3 of 5 major points that were discussed in class.

A traditional essay or essay exam.

Instructional Goal

Students will know how to analyze blood counts.

Given a sample of blood and two glass slides, students will demonstrate the prescribed method of obtaining a blood smear for microscopic analysis.

Instructor observation of student demonstration in a lab using a criterion checklist of critical steps for objective scoring.

Students will understand how to interpret classic literature.

Learning Objective 

Students will compare/contrast Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Marlowe’s Jaw of Malta in terms of plot, character, and social-political themes.

Assessment 

Instructional goals and learning objectives are the heart of your role as a learning facilitator. When written well, goals and objectives will assist you in identifying course content, help you structure your lecture, and allow you to select activities and assessments that are relevant and meaningful for learning. Make sure that you check with your department to determine whether they require certain learning objectives for a course, for example to align courses with Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) requirements for transferrable general education courses (see the current NIU Undergraduate Catalog section on “Illinois Articulation Initiative Core Curriculum).

Several sources are available that you can use to check the accuracy and efficacy of your learning objectives. The sources below provide checklists and other instruments to help you design effective and meaningful objectives.

Mager, R. F. (1997). Measuring instructional results: How to find out if your learning objectives have been achieved. (3 rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: CEP Press.

Mager, R. F. (1997). Preparing learning objectives: A critical tool in the development of effective instruction. (3 rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: CEP Press.

Penn State University, Schreyer Institute (n.p.). Learning outcomes assessment tutorial. https://sites.psu.edu/loatutorial/

Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., Mims, C., & Russell, J. D. (2019). Instructional technology and media for learning (12 th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Selected Resources

Gronlund, N. E., & Brookhart, S. M. (2009). Gronlund’s writing instructional objectives (8 th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Suggested citation

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Writing goals and objectives. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide

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