[TOS] learning objectives

Ian ian.lynch at theingots.org
Tue Aug 24 15:47:48 UTC 2010


On Tue, 2010-08-24 at 09:46 -0400, Sabin, Mihaela wrote:
> My experience is that learning objectives are the centerpiece of
> program accreditation and review. 

Usually on a unit credit based system there are Learning objectives
within a unit that are then assessed using related assessment criteria.

> Although the intention is to be explicit about our student-oriented
> approach when we design a course and, therefore, always start with
> stating learning objectives, the reality has shown that students pay
> no attention to them and teachers kick and scream when they are asked
> to craft them. Learning sciences and education research have been
> trying to convince us of the contrary. 

The way we do this (We are a UK accredited awarding organisation with
qualifications in Open Systems linked to the European Qualifications
Framework) is to focus on the assessment criteria. The learner has to
provide evidence against the assessment criteria and if they do this for
all the criteria they will have reached the learning objective. We have
just finished an on-line system for managing the process. It's described
at www.theingots.org/community/evidence with a  facility to try it out.
(Uses Drupal) 

> One thing I learned though is that learning objectives are of limited
> help by themselves. The key is to align them with two other
> indispensible components: (1) assessments to verify that students
> learn what the objectives claim and (2) pedagogies and interventions
> that prepare students to learn what the objectives claim. An important
> ingredient to this alignment is that learning objectives are
> measurable. I recommend that we add a bullet number #3 where the S-K-A
> formula is described
> http://teachingopensource.com/index.php/How_to_write_learning_objectives; and list another useful resource http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/index.html. 
> 
> My take is that the book (as we think of it being used in a course)
> should have around 5 learning objectives, and each chapter should
> refine the granularity of some of these top-level learning objectives
> for the purpose of validating the kind of assessments included in each
> chapter. I don't think it's useful to have learning objectives for
> each section. Or, we should replace those section-level learning
> objectives with assessments that measure how much students have
> learned according to the initial learning plan (i.e. learning
> objectives). For example, we probably agree that 'apply' or
> 'demonstrate' are very suitable action verbs for TOS learning
> objectives. However, to reach this cognitive level, it's useful to
> expect students to 'identify' and 'illustrate'. 

If it helps you can take a look at our on line book that supports
assessment for learning. Still have some work to do but it is mostly
there. Its at www.theingots.org/community/handbook2 click for example
the Gold link at the bottom of the page and then one of the assessment
criteria in the table. The learning objective is in the header. We still
need to do a bit of work linking this to the evidence gathering part and
then links to schemes of work, lesson plans and sources of information
for learning.

> What I'm trying to say is that scaffolding the learning process needs
> support from instructional means and assessment means, always in line
> with our mantra-like learning objectives - we got so far :-). These
> means are the essence of the book anyway. We simply need to tie them
> back to what learning objectives they serve.  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org [mailto:tos-bounces at teachingopensource.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Jadud
> Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 9:21 PM
> To: Karsten Wade
> Cc: tos at teachingopensource.org
> Subject: Re: [TOS] learning objectives
> 
> 
> > Anyway, seems worthwhile to continue, and to tighten the objectives,
> > which could help tighten the content.
> 
> Agreed. I now understand what you're trying to achieve with these,
> which... isn't exactly defined yet. But that you're exploring is
> clear, and that makes it easier to comment/know how to comment on the
> process at this point.
> 
> Cheers,
> Matt
> _______________________________________________
> tos mailing list
> tos at teachingopensource.org
> http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
> _______________________________________________
> tos mailing list
> tos at teachingopensource.org
> http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos

-- 
Ian
Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications
A new approach to assessment for learning
www.theINGOTs.org - 01827 305940

You have received this email from the following company: The Learning
Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79
8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales. 




More information about the tos mailing list