Post by Admin on Dec 18, 2019 22:49:25 GMT
Learning goals allow you and your students to focus on what they are supposed to learning. When learning goals are explicit, they will guide your students’ decisions on where to focus effort and illuminate what they are to take from a given task. It will also ensure you are evaluating the things you care most about and designing your course or activity to best meet your goals for students. Good learning goals are specific, measurable and focused on the students’ abilities.
You already do this either explicitly by writing down your goals for your students to read or implicitly by giving your students assessments (exams, quizzes, homework, projects, etc.) that match your unwritten goals of what they should know. “Written vs. Unwritten” really boils to this question: how explicit do you want to be with regards to the expectations you have for your students?
how to design effective learning goals
Imagine what your students would be like at the end of your course. Well-written learning goals will allow you to determine if your students match what you have imagined; they should be able to meet specific goals that you have laid out for them. This is only possible if your goals are clear and measurable. One way to approach this is to consider the following questions while designing a learning goal:
What ability will students have or what “action” will students be able to take if they reach the goal? Verbs like “design,” “estimate,” “compare,” “calculate” and “apply” might help you target the skills your students should have by the end of the course?
Learning goals happen at multiple scales so keep in mind not only the lower order goals (e.g. “list” “describe” “define” or “identify”) but also the higher order goals (e.g. “apply” “contrast” “predict” or “critique”). Think about the level of detail and cognitive ability that you expect from your students for a given goal.
“my students should be able to…
…do [something specific] while completing an assignment, a project, a test, a field exercise.” Those are your goals, the actions you want them to be able to take. Some of your goals will involve lower order thinking skills (e.g. list, describe, classify, etc) and others will be at a higher level (e.g. examine, compare and contrast, determine, formulate, design, etc). Bloom’s Taxonomy can help you contextualize the level of thinking skills involved with your goals, and offers many example active verbs that can help you write your goals. Chances are you’ve already used verbs in your assignments. We’re suggesting you become systematic but also creative in your approach to learning goals.
the russian dolls of learning goals: nesting your goals
Small, activity-level goals may address a specific skill or knowledge related to a small portion of the course. These goals will be very specific, narrow in focus, and be measured by a small-scale item (e.g. an assignment, a lab, a question on an quiz, a debate, a specific critical question that is key to the course, etc).
Medium, unit- or topic-level goals may address a set of skills or more general knowledge related to a topic of relevance to the course. These goals will be moderately specific, a bit broader in focus than activity-level goals, and be measured by medium-scale items (e.g. a series of assignments, one or more labs, a series of questions on an exam, a number of in-class activities, etc).
Larger, course-level goals are designed to look at the overall success throughout the course. Course-level goals are broad and can focus on skills that will be useful at the departmental or career level, as well. These goals are measured by large-scale items (e.g. oral or poster presentation, term papers, cumulative labs, in-depth final exam, final exams, etc).
develop course content and iterate
It is challenging to produce a set of learning goals that align well with your content and assessments. The process takes time. Be willing to update your learning goals and allow them evolve each time you teach your course. In some cases, the learning goals will evolve quickly, over the course of one or two terms. In other cases, it may take years for you to develop a series of learning goals that match what you want your students to learn from your course. Regardless, realizing that this is a process and not a one-time event is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop goals and present them to your students.
You already do this either explicitly by writing down your goals for your students to read or implicitly by giving your students assessments (exams, quizzes, homework, projects, etc.) that match your unwritten goals of what they should know. “Written vs. Unwritten” really boils to this question: how explicit do you want to be with regards to the expectations you have for your students?
how to design effective learning goals
Imagine what your students would be like at the end of your course. Well-written learning goals will allow you to determine if your students match what you have imagined; they should be able to meet specific goals that you have laid out for them. This is only possible if your goals are clear and measurable. One way to approach this is to consider the following questions while designing a learning goal:
What ability will students have or what “action” will students be able to take if they reach the goal? Verbs like “design,” “estimate,” “compare,” “calculate” and “apply” might help you target the skills your students should have by the end of the course?
Learning goals happen at multiple scales so keep in mind not only the lower order goals (e.g. “list” “describe” “define” or “identify”) but also the higher order goals (e.g. “apply” “contrast” “predict” or “critique”). Think about the level of detail and cognitive ability that you expect from your students for a given goal.
“my students should be able to…
…do [something specific] while completing an assignment, a project, a test, a field exercise.” Those are your goals, the actions you want them to be able to take. Some of your goals will involve lower order thinking skills (e.g. list, describe, classify, etc) and others will be at a higher level (e.g. examine, compare and contrast, determine, formulate, design, etc). Bloom’s Taxonomy can help you contextualize the level of thinking skills involved with your goals, and offers many example active verbs that can help you write your goals. Chances are you’ve already used verbs in your assignments. We’re suggesting you become systematic but also creative in your approach to learning goals.
the russian dolls of learning goals: nesting your goals
Small, activity-level goals may address a specific skill or knowledge related to a small portion of the course. These goals will be very specific, narrow in focus, and be measured by a small-scale item (e.g. an assignment, a lab, a question on an quiz, a debate, a specific critical question that is key to the course, etc).
Medium, unit- or topic-level goals may address a set of skills or more general knowledge related to a topic of relevance to the course. These goals will be moderately specific, a bit broader in focus than activity-level goals, and be measured by medium-scale items (e.g. a series of assignments, one or more labs, a series of questions on an exam, a number of in-class activities, etc).
Larger, course-level goals are designed to look at the overall success throughout the course. Course-level goals are broad and can focus on skills that will be useful at the departmental or career level, as well. These goals are measured by large-scale items (e.g. oral or poster presentation, term papers, cumulative labs, in-depth final exam, final exams, etc).
develop course content and iterate
It is challenging to produce a set of learning goals that align well with your content and assessments. The process takes time. Be willing to update your learning goals and allow them evolve each time you teach your course. In some cases, the learning goals will evolve quickly, over the course of one or two terms. In other cases, it may take years for you to develop a series of learning goals that match what you want your students to learn from your course. Regardless, realizing that this is a process and not a one-time event is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop goals and present them to your students.