Learning Objectives Checklist

Description

A well-phrased learning objective (LO) makes your expectations for student activity and results more transparent (Wunderlich, Szczyrba, 2016). In order to enable students to reach the learning and course goals effectively, learning objectives should indicate which activities students need to engage in. By doing so, students acquire academic skills and engage in higher-order cognitive processes, allowing them to reach the learning goals (Wunderlich, Szczyrba, 2016; Ollermann, 2020).

Note
Use cases

Learning objectives provide clarity in every course or assignment and serve as:

  • An introduction to start a unit.
  • A recap at the end of each unit in form of a checklist.
  • Checklists for assignments.
  • Guidance for exam preparation. Students tend to focus on topics and content in exam preparation which stays on an abstract level. A learning objective checklist, can help them refocus on skills and makes knowledge tangible.

MIDI: These tips are also suitable for current teaching situations, but require a little more preparation.

There is no big-time investment necessary, if learning objectives have been defined already. For an existing course in retrospect, you have to go through every unit and write the checklist.

Prerequisite: Learning Objectives have been defined. --> see resources.

  1. Decide whether you want to define learning objectives per course or per unit.
  2. Write down your learning objectives following the what-methode structure: The students are able to ____ by using _____ .
  3. Integrate the learning objectives with Confirmation Blocks as checklists at the end of a unit in courseware.

The three key aspects of learning objectives are:

  1. What
    • What knowldege should students gain? (Knowledge dimension) E.g. "I want students to understand that _______"
    • What activities do they have to perform to acquire that knowledge? (Cognitive processes)
  2. Method: Name tools or methods students will use to acquire the terminology/ principles/ etc. (libraries, models, formulas, maps, programs etc.)
  3. Purpose: How do these topics benefit them, why should they learn it? (e.g. within the discipline or modules). You can generate a list of learning objectives including skills and topics from all units with a summative purpose on the course (not unit) level.

The quality of the checklist depends on the clarity and accuracy of your learning objectives, i.e. the verb ”understand“should NOT appear in any of your learning objectives. Everybody thinks of understanding in a different way, hence students cannot assess their understanding.