What do you want your students to learn from your course? What about a specific unit or lesson in your course? How do you know (with confidence) if they learned the material? Now, the next important question to consider is, “Do your students know what they are supposed to learn from your course?” Do they know what material they should know at the end of the course, unit, or lesson in your class? Can they confidently go into an exam, assignment, or other assessment with confidence knowing what information they should expect to see on that assessment? These are important considerations that must be made when you examine your teaching before teaching the same content again.
One proven method is having good, measurable objectives for the students (Mathumbu et al., 2014; Umugiraneza et al., 2018). A “measurable” objective means you can assess whether the students successfully mastered the content in your class. Measurement can occur informally (formative assessment) or formally (summative assessment). Measurable objectives occur at various levels within your course, such as:
- Course level objectives: these objectives are what you want the students to learn or do by the end of the course. They are the complete picture for the course. They can be measured throughout the course multiple times, as well as on the final assessment in the course.
- Module/unit/chapter objectives: these objectives are what you want the students to learn or do by the end of a unit or chapter. They are often measured on a summative assessment at the end of the unit(s) or chapter(s) or the midterm and final exams.
- Lesson objectives: this is what you want the students to learn or do by the end of a specific class.
Characteristics of Measurable Objectives
Writing measurable objectives is one of the first steps in planning for instruction. Once you identify what you want students to learn and be able to do when each lesson is complete, the measurable objectives you develop will guide what the formative or summative assessment looks like in the course. In addition, creating and sharing measurable objectives allows you to clearly communicate your expectations to students.
Measurable objectives have the following characteristics:
- Behavior: what do you want your students to do? These behaviors should include a measurable action verb. Choose action verbs from Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1956). There are links to the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy and example verbs listed in the Additional Information section.
- Condition: the circumstances that the students will perform the behavior.
- Criteria: expectation level you are going to assess the behavior.
Look at the example objective and the identification of each characteristic:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to locate [BEHAVIOR] on a map [CONDITION] four of the seven [CRITERIA] churches of Asia mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3.
Verbs like “understand,” “learn,” “process,” or “know” are not measurable on any form of assessment. Looking at our objective above, if we change it to “students will know the seven churches of Asia,” how are you going to measure that knowledge? Are you going to expect them to know the exact latitude and longitude for each city? Do they simply have to be able to name the seven churches, know them in the order they appear in Revelation 2 and 3, or some other bit of knowledge that you may have mentioned in a lecture or that they read in a textbook? Having measurable objectives provides the students with specific items to focus on during each lesson, chapter, and unit in the course.
Quality Matters
Measurable objectives are one part of the Quality Matters standards adopted by Faulkner University. Even though Quality Matters focuses on online course quality, the standards apply to in-person courses as well. General Standard 2 on the seventh edition Higher Education Rubric highlights the importance of course/unit/module/lesson objectives. General Standard 2 (Quality Matters, 2023) states: “Learning objectives or competencies describe what learners will be able to do upon completion of the course.” Having a clear picture of what students should know will guide them through your course and make learning more meaningful.
Conclusion
Giving students the best chance for success is vital in education, particularly in Christian education. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). Providing the students with measurable objectives gives them the tools necessary to navigate your course effectively.
Additional Resources
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Resource 1
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Resource 2
https://cte.utah.edu/instructor-education/Blooms-Taxonomy.php
QM Rubric (Learning Objectives, Standards 2.1-2.5)
https://www.qualitymatters.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/StandardsfromtheQMHigherEducationRubric.pdf
References
Bloom, B. S., Engelhart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: the classification of educational goals. David McKay Company.
Mathumbu, D. Rauscher, W., & Braun, M. (2014). Knowledge and cognitive process dimensions of technology teachers’ lesson objectives. South African Journal of Education, 34(3), 1-8.
Quality Matters (2023). The Quality Matters higher education rubric (7th ed.). Quality Matters. Umugiraneza, O., Bansilal, S., & North, D. (2018). Investigating teachers’ formulation of learning objectives and introductory approaches in teaching mathematics and statistics. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 49(8), 1148-1164