Welcome to Module 2 of the teaching writing final project. In the next module, Module 3, you'll be creating a lesson plan that will be the most comprehensive assignment of this final project. Here in Module 2, we're going to start on that assignment by focusing on learning objectives. You probably noticed that all of the assessments in this specialization start off by listing learning objectives that describe what the assessment should demonstrate you've learned. That's where we'll start in this module, looking at learning objectives in general, and then asking you to create two learning objectives for the lesson that you will be describing in Module 3. Learning objectives are statements that describe what students are expected to learn by the end of a specific period, a lesson, a unit, a course, a semester, a school year. This could include information they have gained, skills that they have developed, and artifacts that they have created. There are many different types and applications of learning objectives and even several different terms that are used as synonymous with the term learning objective. You might have heard learning objectives referred to as grade-level indicators, benchmarks, performance indicators, and Learning Standards which are just a few of the many terms that refer to essentially the same concept. The different types of learning objectives are defined by the scope of the learning period. The most common types are grade-level objectives. These objectives may also be referred to as Learning Standards. They describe what students are expected to know and be able to do at the end of a particular grade-level. Course objectives describe what students are expected to know or do by the end of a semester or year-long course. Unit objectives describe what students are expected to know or do by the end of a particular unit or project within a course. Lesson objectives describe what students are expected to learn or do by the completion of a single lesson. For your assignment in this final project, you'll be focusing on this last type. The learning objectives focused on one specific class lesson. Learning objectives are student-centered. They say what students will learn or be able to accomplish by the end of the learning period. They describe a specific behavior and are both specific and measurable. The key to learning objectives is that they should describe observable behavior which can be measured. Avoid verbs like learning and understanding because you can't measure what students have learned or what they understand unless they do something that allows you to measure those things. For instance, you might want students to understand that there are different theories as to the causes of the American Civil War. But in order to tell if they understand or not, you would have to ask students to engage in some activity that demonstrates that understanding in a measurable way. For example, they could write an essay comparing two different theories, or they could arrange a debate between proponents of each of two different theories, or they could create some kind of visual display that graphically depicts potential causes of the war. One way to think of this is that learning objectives are most effective when they meet the SMART model. That is, they are specific. There is a specific skill or body of knowledge students are expected to achieve. They are measurable. That skill or body of knowledge can be measured through something that students do. Action or measurable verbs are used to show that these objectives can be observed through any assessment, such as a test, homework, project, etc. They are achievable. The learning can be achieved within the framework of the lesson unit, course, or program, and students have the prerequisite knowledge to achieve those objectives. They are relevant. Knowledge or skills learned are appropriate for the course and the line with course goals. They are timely or time-bound. There is a clear and realistic and achievable time period identified for when this learning will take place and when the success of the learning can be measured. The most common method for writing a learning objective is in terms of the phrase, students will be able to. For instance, at the end of this unit on the American Civil War, students will be able to list the major battles, compare two different theories about the causes of the Civil War, create an imagined journal that could have been written by a participant in the Civil War. Another option is to phrase it in terms of what students will have done during the unit. Here are the wording would be. By the end of this unit on the American Civil War, students will have listed the major battles, compared two different theories about the causes, created an imagined journal. For our purposes, you may use whichever wording you prefer. When creating learning objectives, ask yourself, what will students be able to know or do? How will students demonstrate that learning? How can you measure it? How will you know if they've learned it? What will be the criteria for evaluation? One other key to learning objectives involves the verbs you use to describe the learning objective. Although there are some theorists who dispute this approach, Bloom's taxonomy is the most common method for describing different stages of learning. This is a classification system that starts with the simplest skills of identifying and defining and moves to higher-order thinking skills such as the ability to analyze, synthesize, and create material. There's a reading in this module that presents a map of Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives and the verbs that can be used when describing each stage of learning. In your peer review assignment for this module, you'll create two learning objectives for the lesson that you'll be describing in the module after this model. For that assignment, I've created an example of how I came up with two learning objectives for one of the lessons in the course, teaching, texts, and forms. Be sure to see the sample learning objective response for a model of how you might create learning objectives for your upcoming lesson.
