Why Care About Objectives

An objective is a description of performance you want learners to be able to exhibit before you consider them competent. An objective describes an intended result of instruction, rather than the process of instruction itself.

Explicit objectives are important for a number of reasons. Here are three of the main ones: First, when clearly defined objectives are lacking, there is no sound basis for the selection or designing of instructional materials, content, or methods. If you don't know where you're going, it is difficult to select a suitable means for getting there. Instructors simply function in a fog of their own making unless they know what they want their students to accomplish as a result of their instruction.

A second important reason for stating objectives sharply has to do with finding out whether the objective has, in fact, been accomplished. Test or examinations are the mileposts along the road of learning and are supposed to tell instructors and students alike whether they have been successful in achieving the course objectives. But unless objectives are clearly and firmly fixed in the minds of both parties, tests are at best misleading; at worst, they are irrelevant, unfair, or uninformative. (How many courses have you taken in which tests had little or nothing to do with the substance of the instruction?)

A third advantage of clearly defined objectives is that they provide students with the means to organize their own efforts toward accomplishment of those objectives. Experience has shown that with clear objectives in view, students at all levels are better able to decide what activities on their part will help them get to where it is important for them to go.

-Preparing Instructional Objectives. By Robert F. Mager

Home   

Syllabus   Building a Basis for Education   Planning Process   Writing Objectives   Testing   Interpreting Test Data   Educational Foundations   Teaching Effectiveness    Learning Styles   Problem Solving and Lecturing   Using Discussions   Conducting Demonstrations    Applications of Learning

This website was last updated on Thursday, August 16, 2001 10:43 AM.  This is version 1.1.  If you have any questions about this site, please email ddavies@ag.arizona.edu.  If you have any questions about the course, please email Dr. James Knight at jknight@ag.arizona.edu.