Organizing a Class Learning Objectives

1. Organizing a Class Learning Objectives Norm Dennis

2. Think about the last class you taught. • Can you list what you covered? • Can you list what the students learned? Why is question 1 easier to answer than question 2?

3. A Technique That Helps Us Go Beyond Knowing About What We Teach to Knowing What Our Students Learn Learning Objectives

4. Seminar V’s Learning Objectives • Define learning objective. • Classify learning objectives according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. • Construct a learning objective. • Appraise the usefulness of learning objectives.

5. Demo Class I’s Lesson Objectives • Define a truss. • List the assumptions necessary to determine internal forces in a truss. • Solve for internal forces in a truss member. From this example, make at least one observation about the characteristics of lesson learning objectives.

6. Operational Definition • Describes what the students should be able to do after: • Completing the reading • Attending class • Completing the assignment • Typically 2 to 4 per class Lesson Content Stated in Learning Terms Action

7. Writing Learning Objectives Action Verb List • Start with action verbs • That can be observed and measured • Avoid: • Understand, know, be aware, appreciate • Use: • Describe, construct, calculate, determine, list • Use complete and simple sentences • Verb = process or behavior • Noun = knowledge to acquire or construct

8. Group Activity • Individually: • Think about your first class that you will be presenting next semester. • For this class, write one lesson learning objective. • With your neighbor: • Share your objective • Refine it • You have 5 minutes.

9. Describe Learning • Three Domains of Learning • cognitive (intellectual abilities) • affective (attitudes, values, interests) • psychomotor (muscular action, dexterity) • Bloom’s (& others) Taxonomy • 1956: a shared vocabulary & “ahead of its time” • 2001 Proposed Revisions • Incorporated two small ones here

10. For the Cognitive Domain Evaluate Synthesize Analyze Apply Comprehend Remember Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives* judge, critique, justify, verify, assess, recommend create, construct, design, improve, produce, propose compare, contrast, classify, categorize, derive, model calculate, solve, determine, apply explain, paraphrase list, recite *includes refinements by Anderson, et. al.

11. Example (Lesson-Level) Objectives • Design the members of the structural steel truss shown below to withstand the HS-20 truck load at any point along the bridge. Synthesize

12. Example(Lesson-Level) Objectives • List the assumptions used in analyzing truss structures. Remember

13. Example (Lesson-Level) Objectives • Compute the internal force in truss member AB. Apply

14. Example (Lesson-Level) Objectives • Assess the three truss designs shown below and recommend the best solution. Explain. Evaluate

15. So What? At what level do we want our students to be working at? At what level of thinking are the first years of higher education typically focused on?

16. So What? • Undergraduate education tends to focus on the lower level thinking skills. (Remember, Comprehend, Apply) • Ideally, alllevels should be addressed in every course • Ideally, alllevels should be assessed in every course

17. So What? • Communicate these expectations • Use activities & teaching strategies that support expectations • Assess and evaluate performance Students will operate at the level we expect them to, if: Learning Objectives

18. Group Activity • Go back to your learning objective previously written and with your neighbor: • Determine what level of learning this objective met. • Try to re-state it to increase its level. • Be ready to present the results of this exercise to the entire group. • You have 3 minutes.

19. Seminar V’s Learning ObjectivesWhere are We? • Define learning objective. • Classify learning objectives according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. • Construct a learning objective. • Appraise the usefulness of learning objectives???

20. Useful For? • Consider student learning • Communicate lesson goals & behavior expectations to students & others • Plan our lesson • Align teaching strategies to desired learning • Assess & evaluate students’ performance

21. Seminar V’s Learning Objectives • Define learning objective. • Classify learning objectives according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. • Construct a learning objective. • Appraise the usefulness of learning objectives.

22. Objectives and Assessment of Learning

23. Objectives and Assessment of Learning

24. Learning objectives shift us away from what we as teachers are covering towards what our students are learning. In Summary Use learning objectives to set up a class where higher levels of thinking are taught, learned, practiced, evaluated, and assessed.

25. The 27-Second Teaching Quiz If your score is > than your age, you AND YOUR STUDENTS are Winners!

26. References • Wankat, P. and F. Oreovicz, 1993, Teaching Engineering, McGraw-Hill, Inc. • Gardiner, L.F., Redesigning Higher Education: Producing Dramatic Gains in Student Learning, AAHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, V 23, No. 7, The George Washington University, Graduate School of Human Development. • Anderson, L.W. and Others, 2001, A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. • Baldizan, M.E. and McMullin, K.M., 2005, Evaluation of Student Learning in an Engineering Graphics Course. J. Prof. Issues in Eng. Ed. and Practice. July. Pp. 192-198.