Writing Behavioral Objectives

1. Writing Behavioral Objectives BTE363/364

2. What is the Purpose of Learning Objectives? • By knowing where you intend to go, you increase the chances of you and the learner ending up there • Guides the teacher relative to the planning of instruction, delivery of instruction, and evaluation of student achievement. • Guides the learner; helps him/her focus and set priorities • Allows for analysis in terms of the levels of teaching and learning

3. Why Are Learning Objectives Important? • Communication tool • teacher should be able to tell all who are interested what students will learn from instruction • NOTE: Teacher must first see ends (objectives) of his/her own instruction • Objectives stated behaviorally communicate better than non-behaviorally stated objectives.

4. Who Was Robert Mager? • Psychologist • Preparing Objectives for Programmed Instruction (1962) • Influenced school systems for decades • Continues to shape vast majority of corporate training programs today • Argued for use of specific, measurable objectives • Guide designers during course development • Aid students in learning process • Objectives can be called learning, instructional, behavioral, performance, etc.

5. What Was Mager’s Theory? • Learning goals of program/curriculum are first determined • Learning goals should then be broken into a subset of smaller tasks—learning objectives • Learning objectives should have 3 components

6. What is the first step in writing a behavioral objective? Your instructional design should start with the end in mind, that is the behavioral outcome of your instructional intervention. And Robert Mager literally wrote the book on behavioral objectives.

7. Writing Behavioral Objectives

8. Components of Behavioral Objectives • Audience • Behavior (Verb) • Specific • Observable • Conditions • State condition under which behavior is to be completed • State what tools or assistance will be provided • Degree or Standard • Desired performance level • Acceptable range

9. Behavior (Verb) • An action word that connotes an observable behavior or the creation of an observable product • Examples • Describe • Identify • Label • Locate • Name

10. Conditions • Specify the circumstances, commands, materials, directions, etc., that the student is given to initiate the behavior • Simple, declarative statement • Example: • Upon request the student will . . . • Given (some physical object) the student will . . . • Do not include description of instruction that precedes initiation of behavior • Describe only the conditions under which the desired student behavior is to be performed

11. Degree, Standard, or Criteria • Declarative statement  • Describes how well the behavior must be performed to satisfy the intent of the behavioral verb • Usually expressed in some minimum number • Examples • 80% accuracy • 4 out of 5 . . .

12. Example • Given a list of the first 100 numbers arranged in ascending order (conditions), the student will circle (verb) at least nine prime numbers (criteria).

13. Mager’s Definitions of Behavioral Objectives • “What the students should be able to do at the end of a learning period that they could not do beforehand.” (1962) • "An objective is a description of a 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." (1975)

14. Example • Given a stethoscope and normal clinical environment, the medical student will be able to diagnose a heart arrhythmia in 90% of the patients. • Audience? • Behavior? • Conditions? • Standard?

15. What if Conditions & Standards are Missing? • Conditions are assumed to be normal, workplace conditions • Standards are assumed to be perfection (100%) • Must always have written indication of the behavior using measurable or observable verbs

16. Vague Verbs • Unacceptable • Replace with more specific verbs • Example • Vague: understand, know, or learn about • Specific: list, identify, state, describe, define, solve, compare & contrast, operate

17. Example: Training People in Proper Telephone Usage • Poor: • In this course you will learn how to operate the phone and properly communicate with callers. • After completing this course you will be able to: • operate your phone • know how to greet callers • understand the procedure for transferring a call

18. Example: Training People in Proper Telephone Usage • Good: • After completing this course you will be able to: • place a caller on hold • activate the speaker phone • play new messages on the voice mail system • list the three elements of a proper phone greeting • transfer a call to a requested extension

19. Example: Training People in Proper Telephone Usage • Good objectives are built around very specific tasks • Learner knows exactly what is expected • Behaviors are observable • Result • Learner expectancy is achieved • Proper evaluation can be made

20. Goals vs. Objectives • Goals • Broad and sometimes difficult to directly measure • Help focus on the big & important picture • Learning Objectives • Much more specific than a goal

21. Effective Learning Objectives • Consistent with the goals of the curriculum • Clearly stated • Clearly measurable • Realistic and doable • Appropriate for the level of the learner/achievable • Worthwhile (Important stuff)

22. Tips About Word Choice • Use "doing words" • Words which describe a performance (e.g., identify) • Words that can be observed and measured • Words to avoid • Those that describe abstract states of being (e.g., know) • Words that are difficult to observe or measure

23. Tips About Writing • When developing (not actually writing) the objective • List the student behavior first • List the condition statement next • Finally, list the criteria • When writing the objective • Write the condition statement first • Write the student behavior next • Finally, write the criteria

24. Conclusion • Well-written learning objectives are at the heart of any lesson plan • Before you begin to write an objective, spend a little time thinking about what you are describing, and remember to make the student behavior observable.