What does your dream student look like?

(Course Learning Objectives - Taxonomies of Educational Objectives)

What exactly do you expect your students to be able to do at the end of your course? The answer to this question is a set of learning objectives (also known as learning outcomes) that describe in detail what students should be able to do when they successfully complete your course. Course learning objectives communicate effectively our expectations of the students. Moreover, they drive the course design, as they influence the kinds of learning activities students should perform to acquire the prescribed skills. Course learning objectives may be classified in six levels according to a variety of taxonomies (Bloom’s, Anderson’s, Fink’s etc.). Understanding this classification is essential for proper course design and assessment.

In this workshop, we explain the reasons why we need detailed learning objectives in our courses and discuss the various levels of taxonomy of educational objectives in the cognitive and affective domains. More importantly, we discuss how these levels relate to instructional design. Participants will have an opportunity to write and share a few instructional objectives for a course of their choice.