Although the specific vocabulary used to differentiate between big picture goals and more specific and focused goals may change from one industry, organization, or learning environment to another, the ideas are similar. At Georgian College (and in many other educational environments), learning outcomes are the general big picture goals and learning objectives are the smaller steps that allow learnrs to achieve the larger goal.
Learning Goals are generally determined through the various curriculum proceses at Georgian.
Learning Objectives are generally defined by teachers for particular instructional segments.
CTL WORKSHOP RESOURCES
Workshop Handout (2004). Last updated Fall 2009.
This 10 page handout includes the workshop resources for the following (i) definition and rationale; (ii) structure and form; (iii) deconstructing objectives; (iv) “upping” performance expectations; (v) Bloom’s taxonomy action verbs; (vi) generic building blocks document; (vii) connecting outcomes to assessment
Blooms taxonomy
Bloom’s taxonomy classifies objectives in three domains:
1. Cognitive Domain(demonstrated by intellectual or thinking skills),
2. Psychomotor Domain (demonstrated by physical skills and/or the performance of actions),
3. Affective Domain (demonstrated by attitudes and values)
In each of these three “domains”, goals for learning are described at a variety of levels. Although it has been around for a long time, Bloom’s Taxonomy is still used as a foundational tool for developing learning outcomes and objectives.
Evaluating Outcomes and Objectives
This one page chart provides a handy tool for evaluating outcomes and objectives.
ARTICLES ON OUTCOMES AND OBJECTIVES
Bannister, S. (2002). Developing objectives and relating them to assessment. University of Western Australia. Retrieved September 2009 from:
http://teaching.uncc.edu/files/file/GoalsAndObjectives/DevelopingLearningOutcomes.pdf
Stiehl, R., & Lewchuk, L. (2002). Reconstructing the college curriculum. Learning Abstracts 5(6). League for Innovation. Reconstructing the College Curriculum
BOOKS AVAILABLE IN THE CENTRE FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
Boyle, E, & Rothstein, H (2003). Essentials of college and university teaching: A practical guide. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.
Stiehl, R. & Lewchuk, L. (2002). The outcomes primer: Reconstructing the college curriculum. Richmond, BC: The Learning Organization.
EXTERNAL WEB RESOURCES
Writing Instructional Objectives. Kathy Waller. Retrieved August 2009 from: http://www.naacls.org/docs/announcement/writing-objectives.pdf
This 12 page document offers lots of verb suggestions and other considerations for writing objectives at various levels.
Developing Clear Learning Outcomes and Objectives. The Learning Manager. Retrieved August 2009 from:
http://www.thelearningmanager.com/pubdownloads/developing_clear_learning_outcomes_and_objectives.pdf
This 6 page document offers a very introductory guide to learning outcomes and objectives.
A Quick Guide to Writing Learning Objectives. Don Clark. Retrieved August 2009 from:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/templates/objectivetool.html
This site outlines a simple but useful framework for writing learning objectives.