Penn State Learning Design Community Hub

The Best Choice .... according to the experts

As you develop a course, a lesson or a learning activity, you have to determine what you want the students to learn and how you will know that they learned. Learning objectives, also called behavioral objectives and instructional objectives, are a requirements for high-quality course development.

Kizlik, 2002 – “Behavioral objectives are learning objectives; they specify what behavior a student must demonstrate or perform in order for a instructor to infer that learning took place”.

SOGC Org, no date – “An instructional objective is a statement that will describe what the learner will be able to do after completing the instruction (course)”.

Rationale

Stating clear course objectives is important because:

• Objectives guide the content materials and the teaching methods.
• You can use objectives to make sure you reach your goals.
• Students will understand expectations.
• Assessment and grading is based on the objectives.