Defining good learning objectives

1. Defininggoodlearningobjectives

2. Before lunch, you should be able to make precise and operational learning objectives that can guide you in designing a course (for PhD supervisors).

3. Individually, write three learning objectives for a PhD supervisor course at your university. 5min What are your participants expected to be able to do after your course? Consider the verbs you use when finishing the sentence: The participants are expected to be able to… Understand, appreciate, give examples of, reflect, deal with, apply, engage in, consider, handle conflicts, know, apply for funding etc.

4. Go to your groups. Discuss your individual suggestions for learning objectives in the group. Consider how and why your individually chosen learning objectives differ. Try to choose at least 3 that you can agree should be used in designing your course. 25min

5. Learning objectives are more useful if they are observable. Think and talk about which of the following are observable? Understand, appreciate, give examples of, reflect, deal with, apply, engage in, consider, handle conflicts, know, apply for funding etc.

6. Discuss how many of your group’s learning objectives are observable? What makes them observable? Could you make them more readily observable by using different verbs? 20 min for slide 5 and 6

7. Learning objects may become even more useful by adding conditions for when you expect them to be observable. Here are some examples… The participants are expected to able to X when… Giving written feedback, advising students, examining students, dealing with co-supervisors, meeting with students, encountering plagiarism

8. Continue enhancing your learning objectives by adding conditions when your learning objectives might become observable. 25 min The participant is expected to able to X when… Giving written feedback, advising students, examining students, dealing with co-supervisors, meeting with student, encountering plagiarism

9. Lastly, you may try to define success criteria for your learning objectives. Try to make them operational. Here are a few examples: The participants are expected to be able to X when Y. This should result in… 70% of students finish on time, student evaluations improve by 30%, supervisor self-efficacy increases significantly, students publish at least one article

10. Write down any applicable success criteria that relate to your learning objectives. You are not required to find success criteria for each learning objective! 20 min Here are a few examples: The participants are expected to be able to X when Y. This should result in… 70% of students finish on time, student evaluations improve by 30%, supervisor self-efficacy increases significantly, students publish at least one article

11. Final words: • Learning objects can be effective tools for designing a course if they are… • Observable • Under certain Conditions • and point towards obtainable Success Criteria (or a minimal acceptable standard) In groups, make your final adjustments to your learning objectives. When you are satisfied with your learning objectives, you can start to discuss what the content and format of the course needs to be.