EFFECTIVE USE OF PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES FOR LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

What is a learning objective?

A learning objective is an outcome statement that captures specifically what knowledge, skills, attitudes learners should be able to exhibit following instruction. A common misapplication of objectives is for the teacher/presenter to state what he/she is going to do (e.g., “My plan this morning is to talk about…”), rather than what the student is expected to be able to do (e.g., “After this session, you should be able to…”).

Why have learning objectives?

Creating clear learning objectives during the planning process of a unit/week/individual session serves the

following purposes:

• Helps unit planners integrate across a day/week/unit of learning.
• Serves to connect content and assessment around learning.
• Guides selection of teaching/learning activities that will best achieve objectives.
• Gives learners a clear picture of what to expect and what’s expected of them.
• Forms the basis for evaluating teacher, learner, and curriculum effectiveness

What are the key components of a learning objective?

Learning objectives should be “SMART”

• Specific
• Measurable/Observable
• Attainable for target audience within scheduled time and specified conditions
• Relevant and results-oriented
• Targeted to the learner and to the desired level of learning

How do I create a useful learning objective?

To create specific, measurable/observable, and results-oriented objectives:

• It’s helpful to finish the sentence, “After this unit/week/individual session, you should be able to…”
• Start with an observable action word that captures what the learner should be able to do.
• Avoid ill-defined terms that are open to variable interpretation (e.g., understand, learn, grasp); use instead terms that describe directly observable behaviors. 
• When necessary, specify criteria concerning expected standard of performance (e.g., “Describe a mechanism in support of your hypothesis from the organ system down to level of cells and molecules.”).

To create attainable learning objectives:

• Consider the beginning level of understanding/skill of your learners and craft your objective to move them to the next level.
• Consider and specify when appropriate the conditions under which performance will take place (e.g., “On a written exam, describe…” or “With a standardized or actual patient, demonstrate…”)
• Limit number of objectives to major learning points you would like students to walk away with.

To create objectives targeted to the audience and desired level of learning/thinking:

• Ask yourself whether you want learners to be able to: know, apply, integrate, consider the human dimension, care, or learn to learn . 
• These outcomes represent different levels/kinds of thinking.Match your action verb to the desired level.
• Match learning objective with appropriate teaching/learning strategy.

Usage of Blogs in Education

Blogs when used in Education give rise to an increase in student interest and ownership in learning by promoting creative, intuitive, associational and analogical thinking. They provide opportunities for diverse perspectives by offering a combination of solitary and social interaction thereby encouraging collaborative learning. Not only this, they encourage students reflective learning through their exposure to innovative technology aid in effective e-learning. Lastly, they enhance student learning through use of multimedia (audio, visual).

Which subjects to include and why?

The subjects that can be taught through blogs are:

1.  Programming languages.
2.  Literature
3.  Philosophy
4.  Environmental sciences (climate changes/energy conservation/global warming)
5.  History.
6.  Journalism.
7.  Alternative Medicine.
8.  Current research in any medicine (or any other such field).
9.  Innovative experiments in science.
10. How to do literature review?

Things to look out for while selecting any subject are that the subject should be exhaustive and descriptive. There could be multiple view points on the same topic. There is scope for learning through debate/discussion. There could be collaborative group work which could help in understanding the chosen topic. The topic should be reflective.

Students benefit from learning through a blog because they would get instructional tips on the subject. They would get instant feedback from the teacher as well as their peers. It is basically a knowledge management tool for their own learning and studies. The web inspires many students to take their work more seriously and to engage in a level of reflection about their work that is otherwise rare-due to public access on WWW. People in different locations get a chance to share computer screens/doc and audio transmissions as well. 

Last but not the least, an instructor can use a blog effectively because they can assess the debates taking place on the blog and thus address the misconceptions if any, that the students may have. They can cater to a number of students living at different places at the same time. They can give instant feedback to the students and watch the feedback given by the rest of the students. They can have live discussions and provide a number of resources to all the students at the same time. They can also have mentors from different institutes to offer advice on how to improve the session and thus guide the students effectively. For the students of Computing and information technology (C&IT), using the traditional methods, it can be hard to determine if the students have really understood the techniques and resources taught and that they have been able to apply them independently. Using a blog for formative assessment allowed a more supportive approach to teaching. In brief, the learning process is a social co-construction of meaning through conversion. It is primararily constructive and cooperative. When joining in conversions, individuals are required to articulate their view points and to reflect on the perspectives provided but other participants as well as their own. Collaborative discussions are primararily conversational and of course cooperative in nature with individuals contributing to the discussion. What is more significant about this combination of learning process is the level of ownership that the students feel when they are in control of the discussion.

LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES

LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES

Richard M. Felder
Hoechst Celanese Professor of Chemical Engineering
North Carolina State University

Barbara A. Soloman
Coordinator of Advising, First Year College
North Carolina State University

ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNERS

• Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.
• "Let's try it out and see how it works" is an active learner's phrase; "Let's think it through first" is the reflective learner's response.
• Active learners tend to like group work more than reflective learners, who prefer working alone.
• Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is hard for both learning types, but particularly hard for active learners.

Everybody is active sometimes and reflective sometimes. Your preference for one category or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. A balance of the two is desirable. If you always act before reflecting you can jump into things prematurely and get into trouble, while if you spend too much time reflecting you may never get anything done.

How can active learners help themselves?

If you are an active learner in a class that allows little or no class time for discussion or problem-solving activities, you should try to compensate for these lacks when you study. Study in a group in which the members take turns explaining different topics to each other. Work with others to guess what you will be asked on the next test and figure out how you will answer. You will always retain information better if you find ways to do something with it.

How can reflective learners help themselves?

If you are a reflective learner in a class that allows little or no class time for thinking about new information, you should try to compensate for this lack when you study. Don't simply read or memorize the material; stop periodically to review what you have read and to think of possible questions or applications. You might find it helpful to write short summaries of readings or class notes in your own words. Doing so may take extra time but will enable you to retain the material more effectively. 

SENSING AND INTUITIVE LEARNERS

• Sensing learners tend to like learning facts, intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and relationships.
• Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and surprises; intuitors like innovation and dislike repetition. Sensors are more likely than intuitors to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class.
• Sensors tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work; intuitors may be better at grasping new concepts and are often more comfortable than sensors with abstractions and mathematical formulations.
• Sensors tend to be more practical and careful than intuitors; intuitors tend to work faster and to be more innovative than sensors.
• Sensors don't like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world; intuitors don't like "plug-and-chug" courses that involve a lot of memorization and routine calculations.

Everybody is sensing sometimes and intuitive sometimes. Your preference for one or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. To be effective as a learner and problem solver, you need to be able to function both ways. If you overemphasize intuition, you may miss important details or make careless mistakes in calculations or hands-on work; if you overemphasize sensing, you may rely too much on memorization and familiar methods and not concentrate enough on understanding and innovative thinking.

How can sensing learners help themselves?

Sensors remember and understand information best if they can see how it connects to the real world. If you are in a class where most of the material is abstract and theoretical, you may have difficulty. Ask your instructor for specific examples of concepts and procedures, and find out how the concepts apply in practice. If the teacher does not provide enough specifics, try to find some in your course text or other references or by brainstorming with friends or classmates.

How can intuitive learners help themselves?

Many college lecture classes are aimed at intuitors. However, if you are an intuitor and you happen to be in a class that deals primarily with memorization and rote substitution in formulas, you may have trouble with boredom. Ask your instructor for interpretations or theories that link the facts, or try to find the connections yourself. You may also be prone to careless mistakes on test because you are impatient with details and don't like repetition (as in checking your completed solutions). Take time to read the entire question before you start answering and be sure to check your results

VISUAL AND VERBAL LEARNERS

Visual learners remember best what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations. Verbal learners get more out of words--written and spoken explanations. Everyone learns more when information is presented both visually and verbally.

In most college classes very little visual information is presented: students mainly listen to lectures and read material written on chalkboards and in textbooks and handouts. Unfortunately, most people are visual learners, which means that most students do not get nearly as much as they would if more visual presentation were used in class. Good learners are capable of processing information presented either visually or verbally.

How can visual learners help themselves?

If you are a visual learner, try to find diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, or any other visual representation of course material that is predominantly verbal. Ask your instructor, consult reference books, and see if any videotapes or CD-ROM displays of the course material are available. Prepare a concept map by listing key points, enclosing them in boxes or circles, and drawing lines with arrows between concepts to show connections. Color-code your notes with a highlighter so that everything relating to one topic is the same color.

How can verbal learners help themselves?

Write summaries or outlines of course material in your own words. Working in groups can be particularly effective: you gain understanding of material by hearing classmates' explanations and you learn even more when you do the explaining.

SEQUENTIAL AND GLOBAL LEARNERS

• Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from the previous one. Global learners tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly "getting it."
• Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how they did it.

Many people who read this description may conclude incorrectly that they are global, since everyone has experienced bewilderment followed by a sudden flash of understanding. What makes you global or not is what happens before the light bulb goes on. Sequential learners may not fully understand the material but they can nevertheless do something with it (like solve the homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they have absorbed are logically connected. Strongly global learners who lack good sequential thinking abilities, on the other hand, may have serious difficulties until they have the big picture. Even after they have it, they may be fuzzy about the details of the subject, while sequential learners may know a lot about specific aspects of a subject but may have trouble relating them to different aspects of the same subject or to different subjects.

How can sequential learners help themselves?

Most college courses are taught in a sequential manner. However, if you are a sequential learner and you have an instructor who jumps around from topic to topic or skips steps, you may have difficulty following and remembering. Ask the instructor to fill in the skipped steps, or fill them in yourself by consulting references. When you are studying, take the time to outline the lecture material for yourself in logical order. In the long run doing so will save you time. You might also try to strengthen your global thinking skills by relating each new topic you study to things you already know. The more you can do so, the deeper your understanding of the topic is likely to be.

How can global learners help themselves?

If you are a global learner, it can be helpful for you to realize that you need the big picture of a subject before you can master details. If your instructor plunges directly into new topics without bothering to explain how they relate to what you already know, it can cause problems for you. Fortunately, there are steps you can take that may help you get the big picture more rapidly. Before you begin to study the first section of a chapter in a text, skim through the entire chapter to get an overview. Doing so may be time-consuming initially but it may save you from going over and over individual parts later. Instead of spending a short time on every subject every night, you might find it more productive to immerse yourself in individual subjects for large blocks. Try to relate the subject to things you already know, either by asking the instructor to help you see connections or by consulting references. Above all, don't lose faith in yourself; you will eventually understand the new material, and once you do your understanding of how it connects to other topics and disciplines may enable you to apply it in ways that most sequential thinkers would never dream of.