Why are objectives important for education developers, and how to write them properly

1. Don’t Object to Objectives
orip@us.ibm.com
© 2013 IBM Corp.

2. Objectives
When you complete this unit, you can perform the following tasks:
 Fill this section of the presentation template
 Feel you are doing something useful while doing it
2
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

3. What are objectives?
Document of understanding
(DoU) between the course
developer or instructor and the
student.
• If you listen, read, and do the
labs
• You will gain “x” (typically being
able to do something)
3
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

4. Why bother with objectives?
 Guide the course developer
 Motivate the audience
WII FM – What’s In It For Me?
 Provide mental scaffolding
Standard ways to communicate the subtasks
Help understand the different steps
4
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

5. Objective form
Traditional
Given x, do y to z
standard
 Given two three digit
numbers, add them
accurately 90% of the
time.
 Invented for settings that
have tests
5
Our style:
Do y
 Add two three digit
numbers.
 “Given whatever you need
to do this” and “correctly”
are implied
 Not a good base for tests,
but who cares
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

6. Where do the objectives come from?
 Curriculum design: We need
students to be able to “x”
• Management asks for it
• You identify a skill gap
 Technical knowledge:
• To do “x”, you need to do “a”, “b”, and
“c”.
• You can’t do “a”, unless you know “a1”
and “a2”.
 Student analysis:
• Most of our people already know “b”
and “a2”.
• We don’t need to teach these topics or
call them objectives, although we
probably will need to go through them
at the lab.
6
x
a
b
c
a1
a2
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

7. The lazy way to do objectives
 Write labs to achieve the top level objective
 See what is required for the labs
 Write those as your objectives
7
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.

8. Summary
Now that you have completed this unit, you can perform the following tasks:
 Fill this section of the presentation template
 Feel you are doing something useful while doing it
8
IBM Software Group | Security Division
© 2013 IBM Corp.