Learning Objectives
Please watch the video below for training on learning objectives and can-do statements.
Course Outcome (CO) – A broad statement of what is achieved by the end of a course of study. Outcomes recognize that meaningful learning synthesizes discrete skills and knowledge to apply to authentic tasks and enduring understandings.
Learning Objective (LO) – An outcome articulated at levels below the course, including, but not limited to module, unit, topic, and chapter. Learning objectives can be (and usually will be) organized in hierarchical relationships. Learning objectives are intuitive and user-friendly. They are intended to describe learning, but not necessarily measurable performance. This is the degree of specificity likely to be most useful for editorial groups and for most of our instructors.
Performance Objective (PO) – A specific statement describing a discretely assessable performance demonstrating the learner’s understanding, proficiency, or mastery of targeted knowledge or skills. A well-constructed learning objective describes the observable performance, conditions under which the performance will be elicited, and the criteria by which the performance will be assessed. Specifically- and deliberately-articulated learning objectives are essential for determining instructional alignment and for gathering precise, valid, and reliable data. This degree of specificity will be most useful to internal course designers and evaluators.
All of these are important in the creation of program content, but we will be tagging only the learning Objectives. Learning objectives must first be created before you can create Can-do statements (What can I do with what I have just learned?) and it is safe to say that there will be some overlap between the LOs and CDSs. On the other hand, learning objectives are author driven, whereas can do statements are created with the ACTFL guidelines in mind and can be categorized by proficiency level as well as communicative goal. LOs tend to be more general and give students an idea of what they will be able to do by the time they complete the chapter. These general goals can be very simple such as:
In this chapter you will be learn how to:
- describe past events in detail.
- talk about holidays and celebrations.
- give details of an accident.
Learning objectives cannot cover every single thing in detail that will be learned, but instead cover the main areas in a broad stroke. We will be able to dig in a bit deeper into what students can actually do with the Can-do Statements. But the goal is to make the LOs
- Simple to read and understand
- Short
- Broad enough to cover sub categories within that objective
- Should show functions students will learn to complete, not directly call out grammar points covered. That is most often indicated in the structures section.
- Ensure to cover grammatical competencies, vocabulary coverage and cultural integration within the chapter