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• v.21(3); Fall 2022

Writing and Using Learning Objectives

Rebecca b. orr.

† Division of Academic Affairs, Collin College, Plano, TX 75074

Melissa M. Csikari

‡ HHMI Science Education, BioInteractive, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Scott Freeman

§ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Michael C. Rodriguez

∥ Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Learning objectives (LOs) are used to communicate the purpose of instruction. Done well, they convey the expectations that the instructor—and by extension, the academic field—has in terms of what students should know and be able to do after completing a course of study. As a result, they help students better understand course activities and increase student performance on assessments. LOs also serve as the foundation of course design, as they help structure classroom practices and define the focus of assessments. Understanding the research can improve and refine instructor and student use of LOs. This essay describes an online, evidence-based teaching guide published by CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ) at http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives . The guide contains condensed summaries of key research findings organized by recommendations for writing and using LOs, summaries of and links to research articles and other resources, and actionable advice in the form of a checklist for instructors. In addition to describing key features of the guide, we also identify areas that warrant further empirical studies.

INTRODUCTION

Learning objectives (LOs) are statements that communicate the purpose of instruction to students, other instructors, and an academic field ( Mager, 1997 ; Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). They form the basis for developing high-quality assessments for formative and summative purposes. Once LOs and assessments are established, instructional activities can help students master the material. Aligning LOs with assessments and instructional practice is the essence of backward course design ( Fink, 2003 ).

Many terms in the literature describe statements about learning expectations. The terms “course objectives,” “course goals,” “learning objectives,” “learning outcomes,” and “learning goals” are often used interchangeably, creating confusion for instructors and students. To clarify and standardize usage, the term “objective” is defined as a declarative statement that identifies what students are expected to know and do . At the same time, “outcome” refers to the results measured at the end of a unit, course, or program. It is helpful to think of LOs as a tool instructors use for describing intended outcomes, regardless of the process for achieving the outcome ( Mager, 1997 ). The term “goal” is less useful. Although it is often used to express more general expectations, there is no consistent usage in the literature.

In this guide, “learning objective” is defined as a statement that communicates the purpose of instruction using an action verb and describes the expected performance and conditions under which the performance should occur. Examples include:

• At the end of this lesson, students should be able to compare the processes of diffusion, osmosis, and facilitated diffusion, and provide biological examples that illustrate each process.
• At the end of this lesson, students should be able to predict the relative rates at which given ions and molecules will cross a plasma membrane in the absence of membrane protein and explain their reasoning.

In terms of content and complexity, LOs should scaffold professional practice, requirements for a program, and individual course goals by communicating the specific content areas and skills considered important by the academic field ( Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). They also promote course articulation by supporting consistency when courses are taught by multiple instructors and furnishing valuable information about course alignment among institutions. As a result, LOs should serve as the basis of unit or module, course, and program design and can be declared in a nested hierarchy of levels. For clarity, we describe a hierarchy of LOs in Table 1 .

Levels of LOs ( Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 )

a Hereafter, our use of the term “learning objectives” specifically refers to instructional LOs.

This article describes an evidence-based teaching guide that aggregates, summarizes, and provides actionable advice from research findings on LOs. It can be accessed at http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives . The guide has several features intended to help instructors: a landing page that indicates starting points ( Figure 1 ), syntheses of observations from the literature, summaries of and links to selected papers ( Figure 2 ), and an instructor checklist that details recommendations and points to consider. The focus of our guide is to provide recommendations based on the literature for instructors to use when creating, revising, and using instructional LOs in their courses. The Effective Construction section provides evidence-based guidelines for writing effective LOs. The Instructor Use section contains research summaries about using LOs as a foundational element for successful course design, summaries of the research that supports recommended practices for aligning LOs with assessment and classroom instruction, and direction from experts for engaging with colleagues in improving instructor practice with LOs. The Student Use section includes a discussion on how students use LOs and how instructor guidance can improve student use of LOs, along with evidence on the impact of LO use coupled with pretests, transparent teaching methods, and summaries of LO-driven student outcomes in terms of exam scores, depth of learning, and affect (e.g., perception of utility and self-regulated learning). Some of the questions and considerations that serve to organize the guide are highlighted in the following sections.

LO guide landing page, which provides readers with an overview of choice points.

Screenshots representing summaries of and links to selected papers.

WRITING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Writing LOs effectively is essential, as their wording should provide direction for developing instructional activities and guide the design of assessments. Effective LOs clearly communicate what students should know and be able to do and are written to be behavioral, measurable, and attainable ( Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). It is particularly important that each LO is written with enough information to ensure that other knowledgeable individuals can use the LO to measure a learner’s success and arrive at the same conclusions ( Mager, 1997 ). Clear, unambiguous wording encourages consistency across sections and optimizes student use of the stated LOs.

Effective LOs specify a visible performance—what students should be able to do with the content—and may also include conditions and the criteria for acceptable performance ( Mager, 1997 ). When constructing an LO, one should use an action verb to describe what students are expected to know and be able to do with the disciplinary knowledge and skills ( Figure 3 ). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive skills provides a useful framework for writing LOs that embody the intended complexity and the cognitive demands involved in mastering them ( Bloom, 1956 ; Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001 ). Assessment items and course activities can then be aligned with LOs using the Blooming Biology Tool described by Crowe et al. (2008) . However, LOs should not state the instructional method(s) planned to accomplish the objectives or be written so specifically as to be assessment tasks themselves ( Mager, 1997 ).

Components of an LO.

Our Instructor Checklist provides specific recommendations for writing LOs, along with a link to examples of measurable action verbs associated with Bloom’s taxonomy.

COURSE DESIGN: ALIGNING LEARNING OBJECTIVES WITH ASSESSMENT AND CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION

Course designs and redesigns built around clear and measurable LOs result in measurable benefits to students (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and other citations in the Course and Curriculum Design and Outcomes section of this guide). LOs are established as the initial step in backward design ( McTighe and Wiggins, 2012 ). They provide a framework for instructors to 1) design assessments that furnish evidence on the degree of student mastery of knowledge and skills and 2) select teaching and learning activities that are aligned with objectives ( Mager, 1997 ; Rodriguez and Albano, 2017) . Figure 4 depicts depicts integrated course course design, emphasizing the dynamic and reciprocal associations among LOs, assessment, and teaching practice.

Components of integrated course design (after Fink, 2003 ).

Used in this way, LOs provide a structure for planning assessments and instruction while giving instructors the freedom to be creative and flexible ( Mager, 1997 ; Reynolds and Kearns, 2017 ). In essence, LOs respond to the question: “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know which road to take and how do you know when you get there?” ( Mager, 1997 , p. 14). When assessments are created, each assessment item or task must be specifically associated with at least one LO and measure student learning progress on that LO. The performance and conditions components of each LO should guide the type of assessment developed ( Mager, 1997 ). Data gathered from assessment results (feedback) can then inform future instruction. The Assessment section of our guide contains summaries of research reporting the results of aligning assessment with LOs and summaries of frameworks that associate assessment items with LOs.

The purpose of instruction is communicated to students most effectively when instructional activities are aligned with associated instructional and course-level LOs (e.g., Chasteen et al. , 2011 , and others within the Instructor Use section of this guide). The literature summarized in the Course and Curriculum Design section of the guide supports the hypothesis that student learning is strongly impacted by what instructors emphasize in the classroom. In the guide’s Student Buy-In and Metacognition section, we present strategies instructors have used to ensure that LOs are transparent and intentionally reinforced to students . When LOs are not reinforced in instruction, students may conclude that LOs are an administrative requirement rather than something developed for their benefit. The guide’s Instructor Checklist contains evidence-based suggestions for increasing student engagement through making LOs highly visible.

Using LOs as the foundation of course planning results in a more student-centered approach, shifting the focus from the content to be covered to the concepts and skills that the student should be able to demonstrate upon successfully completing the course (e.g., Reynolds and Kearns, 2017 , and others within the Active Learning section of this guide). Instead of designing memorization-driven courses that are “a mile wide and an inch deep,” instructors can use LOs to focus a course on the key concepts and skills that prepare students for future success in the field. Group problem solving, discussions, and other class activities that allow students to practice and demonstrate the competencies articulated in LOs can be prioritized over lectures that strive to cover all of the content. The guide’s Active Learning section contains a summary of the literature on the use of LOs to develop activities that promote student engagement, provide opportunities for students to practice performance, and allow instructors to gather feedback on learning progress. The evidence-based teaching guides on Group Work and Peer Instruction provide additional evidence and resources to support these efforts.

ENGAGING WITH COLLEAGUES TO IMPROVE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Momsen et al. (2010) examined Bloom’s level of assessment items and course goals from 50 faculty in 77 introductory biology courses for majors. The authors found that 93% of the assessment items were rated low-level Bloom’s, and 69% of the 250 course goals submitted were rated low-level Bloom’s ( Momsen et al. , 2010 ). A recent survey of 38 instructors of biology for nonmajors found similar results. Heil et al. (unpublished data) reported that 74% of the instructors surveyed write their own LOs, and 95% share their LOs with their students ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). The action verbs used in 66% of these LOs were low-level Bloom’s cognitive skills, assessing knowledge and comprehension ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). Further, an analysis of 1390 LOs from three best-selling biology textbooks for nonscience majors found that 89% were rated Bloom’s cognitive skill level 1 or level 2. Vision & Change competencies, as articulated in the BioSkills Guide ( Clemmons et al. , 2020 ), were only present in 17.7% of instructors’ LOs and 7% of the textbook LOs ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). These data suggest that, in introductory biology for both majors and nonmajors, most instructors emphasize lower-order cognitive skills that are not aligned with teaching frameworks.

Researchers have documented effective strategies to improve instructors’ writing and use of LOs. The guide’s Engaging with Colleagues section contains summaries demonstrating that instructor engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning can improve through professional development in collaborative groups—instructors can benefit by engaging in a collegial community of practice as they implement changes in their teaching practices (e.g., Richlin and Cox, 2004 , and others within the Engaging with Colleagues section of the guide). Collaboration among institutions can create common course-level LOs that promote horizontal and vertical course alignment, which can streamline articulation agreements and transfer pathways between institutions ( Kiser et al. , 2022 ). Departmental efforts to map LOs across program curricula can close gaps in programmatic efforts to convey field-expected criteria and develop student skills throughout a program ( Ezell et al. , 2019 ). The guide contains summaries of research-based recommendations that encourage departmental support for course redesign efforts (e.g., Pepper et al. , 2012 , and others within the Engaging with Colleagues section of the guide).

HOW DO LEARNING OBJECTIVES IMPACT STUDENTS?

When instructors publish well-written LOs aligned with classroom instruction and assessments, they establish clear goalposts for students ( Mager, 1997 ). Using LOs to guide their studies, students should no longer have to ask “Do we have to know …?” or “Will this be on the test?” The Student Use section of the guide contains summaries of research on the impact of LOs from the student perspective.

USING LEARNING OBJECTIVES TO GUIDE STUDENT LEARNING

Researchers have shown that students support the use of LOs to design class activities and assessments. In the Guiding Learning section of the guide, we present evidence documenting how students use LOs and how instructors can train students to use them more effectively ( Brooks et al. , 2014 , and other citations within this section of the guide). However, several questions remain about the impact of LOs on students. For example, using LOs may improve students’ ability to self-regulate, which in turn may be particularly helpful in supporting the success of underprepared students ( Simon and Taylor, 2009 ; Osueke et al. , 2018 ). But this hypothesis remains untested.

There is evidence that transparency in course design improves the academic confidence and retention of underserved students ( Winkelmes et al. , 2016 ), and LOs make course expectations transparent to students. LOs are also reported to help students organize their time and effort and give students, particularly those from traditionally underserved groups, a better idea of areas in which they need help ( Minbiole, 2016 ). Additionally, LOs facilitate the construction of highly structured courses by providing scaffolding for assessment and classroom instruction. Highly structured course design has been demonstrated to improve all students’ academic performance. It significantly reduces achievement gaps (difference in final grades on a 4.0 scale) between disadvantaged and nondisadvantaged students ( Haak et al. , 2011 ). However, much more evidence is needed on how LOs impact underprepared and/or underresourced students:

• Does the use of LOs lead to increased engagement with the content and/or instructor by underprepared and/or underserved students?
• Does LO use have a disproportionate and positive impact on the ability of underprepared and/or underresourced students to self-direct their learning?
• Is there a significant impact on underserved students’ academic performance and persistence with transparent LOs in place?

In general, how can instructors help students realize the benefits of well-written LOs? Research indicates that many students never receive instruction on using LOs ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). However, when students receive explicit instruction on LO use, they benefit ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). Examples include teaching students how to turn LOs into questions and how to answer and use those questions for self-assessment ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). Using LOs for self-assessment allows students to take advantage of retrieval practice, a strategy that has a positive effect on learning and memory by helping students identify what they have and have not learned ( Bjork and Bjork, 2011 ; Brame and Biel, 2015 ). Some students, however, may avoid assessment strategies that identify what they do not understand or know because they find difficulty uncomfortable ( Orr and Foster, 2013 ; Dye and Stanton, 2017 ).

Brooks et al. (2014) reported that about one-third of students surveyed indicated that they had underestimated the depth of learning required to pass an assessment on the stated LOs. Further, students may have difficulty understanding the scope or expectations of stated LOs until after learning the content. Research on how instructors should train students to use LOs has been limited, and many of these open questions remain:

• What are the best practices to help students use LOs in self-assessment strategies?
• How can instructors motivate students to go outside their comfort zones for learning and use LOs in self-assessment strategies?
• How can instructors help students better understand the performance, conditions, and criteria required by the LOs to demonstrate successful learning?
• How might this differ for learners at different institutions, where academic preparedness and/or readiness levels may vary greatly?

CAPITALIZING ON THE PRETEST EFFECT

The guide’s Pretesting section contains research findings building on the pretesting effect reported by Little and Bjork (2011) . Pretesting with questions based on LOs has been shown to better communicate course expectations to students, increase student motivation and morale by making learning progress more visible, and improve retention of information as measured by final test scores ( Beckman, 2008 ; Sana et al. , 2020 ). Operationalizing LOs as pretest questions may serve as an effective, evidence-based model for students to self-assess and prepare for assessment. The research supporting this strategy is very limited, however, prompting the following questions:

• How broadly applicable—in terms of discipline and course setting—is the benefit of converting LOs to pretest questions?
• Is the benefit of operationalizing LOs to create pretests sustained when converting higher-level Bloom’s LOs into pretest questions?
• Does the practice of using LOs to create pretest questions narrow students’ focus such that the breadth/scope of their learning is overly limited/restricted? This is particularly concerning if students underestimate the depth of learning required by the stated LOs ( Brooks et al. , 2014 ).
• Could this practice help instructors teach students to use LOs to self-assess with greater confidence and persistence?

STUDENT OUTCOMES

The guide concludes with research summaries regarding the specific benefits to students associated with the use of LOs. Specifically, 1) alignment of LOs and assessment items is associated with higher exam scores (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and others within the Outcomes section of the guide); 2) exam items designed to measure student mastery of LOs can support higher-level Bloom’s cognitive skills (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and others within the Outcomes section of the guide); and 3) students adjust their learning approach based on course design and have been shown to employ a deeper approach to learning in courses in which assessment and class instruction are aligned with LOs ( Wang et al. , 2013 ).

CHALLENGES IN MEASURING THE IMPACT OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES

It is difficult to find literature in which researchers measured the impact of LOs alone on student performance due to their almost-necessary conflation with approaches to assessment and classroom practices. We argue that measuring the impact of LOs independently of changes in classroom instruction or assessment would be inadvisable, considering the role that LOs play in integrated course design ( Figure 4 ). Consistent with this view, the guide includes summaries of research findings on course redesigns that focus on creating or refining well-defined, well-written LOs; aligning assessment and classroom practice with the LOs; and evaluating student use and/or outcomes ( Armbruster et al. , 2009 ; Chasteen et al. , 2011 ). We urge instructors to use LOs from this integrated perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

We encourage instructors to use LOs as the basis for course design, align LOs with assessment and instruction, and promote student success by sharing their LOs and providing practice with how best to use them. Instructor skill in using LOs is not static and can be improved and refined with collaborative professional development efforts. Our teaching guide ends with an Instructor Checklist of actions instructors can take to optimize their use of LOs ( http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives/instructor-checklist ).

Acknowledgments

We thank Kristy Wilson for her guidance and support as consulting editor for this effort and Cynthia Brame and Adele Wolfson for their insightful feedback on this paper and the guide. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant number DUE 201236 2. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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• Learning Objectives

What is a Learning Objective?

Bloom (1956) suggests a six-stage hierarchy of cognitive competencies :

• Knowledge - Students can collect and restate information.
• Comprehension - Students can interpret and understand information.
• Application - Students can apply information to solve problems.
• Analysis - Students can organize and analyze information.
• Synthesis - Students can create information from information.
• Evaluation - Students can compare and assess information and ideas.

In an update to Bloom, Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) argue that students should be able to:

Undergraduate research experiences that engage students in the scientific method require and develop skills that can be mapped to Bloom's taxonomy and require students to do the tasks that Anderson and Krathwohl suggest they should be able to. And rather than offering isolated experiences with each of the steps of the scientific method, their relationships to one another become transparent, furthering one's understanding of what it means to "do science." Before going headfirst into an undergraduate research experience, you want to consider how directly and deeply you want students engaged in each step of the research process. This will help you determine where you place an undergraduate research experience in your curriculum or course, or if you do undergraduate research outside of the classroom instead (perhaps as part of a summer research experience).

As an example, if your key learning objectives are related to synthesis and evaluation, you may want the culminating project in your class to be a research paper and, if time is limited, you may want to supply students with the background literature and data for the project rather ask them to collect it themselves. If you have an opportunity to supervise the project as an independent study, though, you may have time to work on each of the six competencies more intensely and can involve your student just as seriously in tasks like reviewing the literature and collecting data as in evaluating evidence.

Krathwohl et al (1964) suggests a hierarchy of affective competencies , and you may consider forming some affective learning objectives as well. These competencies are:

• Receiving - Students can notice and tolerate ideas.
• Responding - Students can respond to ideas by investing in them in some way.
• Valuing - Students can demonstrate to others that they value some ideas.
• Organizing - Students can connect that value to existing ones.
• Characterizing - Students' actions are consistent with the internalized values.

Developing Learning and Content Objectives

Here are some tips for writing cognitive learning objectives from the Higher Education Academy.

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Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

What Are Research Objectives and How to Write Them (with Examples)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Research is at the center of everything researchers do, and setting clear, well-defined research objectives plays a pivotal role in guiding scholars toward their desired outcomes. Research papers are essential instruments for researchers to effectively communicate their work. Among the many sections that constitute a research paper, the introduction plays a key role in providing a background and setting the context. 1 Research objectives, which define the aims of the study, are usually stated in the introduction. Every study has a research question that the authors are trying to answer, and the objective is an active statement about how the study will answer this research question. These objectives help guide the development and design of the study and steer the research in the appropriate direction; if this is not clearly defined, a project can fail!

Research studies have a research question, research hypothesis, and one or more research objectives. A research question is what a study aims to answer, and a research hypothesis is a predictive statement about the relationship between two or more variables, which the study sets out to prove or disprove. Objectives are specific, measurable goals that the study aims to achieve. The difference between these three is illustrated by the following example:

• Research question : How does low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) compare with a placebo device in managing the symptoms of skeletally mature patients with patellar tendinopathy?
• Research hypothesis : Pain levels are reduced in patients who receive daily active-LIPUS (treatment) for 12 weeks compared with individuals who receive inactive-LIPUS (placebo).
• Research objective : To investigate the clinical efficacy of LIPUS in the management of patellar tendinopathy symptoms.

This article discusses the importance of clear, well-thought out objectives and suggests methods to write them clearly.

What is the introduction in research papers?

Research objectives are usually included in the introduction section. This section is the first that the readers will read so it is essential that it conveys the subject matter appropriately and is well written to create a good first impression. A good introduction sets the tone of the paper and clearly outlines the contents so that the readers get a quick snapshot of what to expect.

A good introduction should aim to: 2,3

• Indicate the main subject area, its importance, and cite previous literature on the subject
• Define the gap(s) in existing research, ask a research question, and state the objectives
• Announce the present research and outline its novelty and significance
• Avoid repeating the Abstract, providing unnecessary information, and claiming novelty without accurate supporting information.

Why are research objectives important?

Objectives can help you stay focused and steer your research in the required direction. They help define and limit the scope of your research, which is important to efficiently manage your resources and time. The objectives help to create and maintain the overall structure, and specify two main things—the variables and the methods of quantifying the variables.

A good research objective:

• defines the scope of the study
• gives direction to the research
• helps maintain focus and avoid diversions from the topic
• minimizes wastage of resources like time, money, and energy

Types of research objectives

Research objectives can be broadly classified into general and specific objectives . 4 General objectives state what the research expects to achieve overall while specific objectives break this down into smaller, logically connected parts, each of which addresses various parts of the research problem. General objectives are the main goals of the study and are usually fewer in number while specific objectives are more in number because they address several aspects of the research problem.

Example (general objective): To investigate the factors influencing the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

Example (specific objective): To assess the influence of firm size on the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

In addition to this broad classification, research objectives can be grouped into several categories depending on the research problem, as given in Table 1.

Table 1: Types of research objectives

Characteristics of research objectives

Research objectives must start with the word “To” because this helps readers identify the objective in the absence of headings and appropriate sectioning in research papers. 5,6

• A good objective is SMART (mostly applicable to specific objectives):
• Specific—clear about the what, why, when, and how
• Measurable—identifies the main variables of the study and quantifies the targets
• Achievable—attainable using the available time and resources
• Realistic—accurately addresses the scope of the problem
• Time-bound—identifies the time in which each step will be completed
• Research objectives clarify the purpose of research.
• They help understand the relationship and dissimilarities between variables.
• They provide a direction that helps the research to reach a definite conclusion.

How to write research objectives?

Research objectives can be written using the following steps: 7

• State your main research question clearly and concisely.
• Describe the ultimate goal of your study, which is similar to the research question but states the intended outcomes more definitively.
• Divide this main goal into subcategories to develop your objectives.
• Limit the number of objectives (1-2 general; 3-4 specific)
• Assess each objective using the SMART
• Start each objective with an action verb like assess, compare, determine, evaluate, etc., which makes the research appear more actionable.
• Use specific language without making the sentence data heavy.
• The most common section to add the objectives is the introduction and after the problem statement.
• Add the objectives to the abstract (if there is one).
• State the general objective first, followed by the specific objectives.

Formulating research objectives

Formulating research objectives has the following five steps, which could help researchers develop a clear objective: 8

• Identify the research problem.
• Review past studies on subjects similar to your problem statement, that is, studies that use similar methods, variables, etc.
• Identify the research gaps the current study should cover based on your literature review. These gaps could be theoretical, methodological, or conceptual.
• Define the research question(s) based on the gaps identified.
• Revise/relate the research problem based on the defined research question and the gaps identified. This is to confirm that there is an actual need for a study on the subject based on the gaps in literature.
• Identify and write the general and specific objectives.
• Incorporate the objectives into the study.

Advantages of research objectives

Adding clear research objectives has the following advantages: 4,8

• Maintains the focus and direction of the research
• Optimizes allocation of resources with minimal wastage
• Acts as a foundation for defining appropriate research questions and hypotheses
• Provides measurable outcomes that can help evaluate the success of the research
• Determines the feasibility of the research by helping to assess the availability of required resources
• Ensures relevance of the study to the subject and its contribution to existing literature

Disadvantages of research objectives

Research objectives also have few disadvantages, as listed below: 8

• Absence of clearly defined objectives can lead to ambiguity in the research process
• Unintentional bias could affect the validity and accuracy of the research findings

Key takeaways

• Research objectives are concise statements that describe what the research is aiming to achieve.
• They define the scope and direction of the research and maintain focus.
• The objectives should be SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
• Clear research objectives help avoid collection of data or resources not required for the study.
• Well-formulated specific objectives help develop the overall research methodology, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and utilization.
• Research objectives should cover all aspects of the problem statement in a coherent way.
• They should be clearly stated using action verbs.

Frequently asked questions on research objectives

Q: what’s the difference between research objectives and aims 9.

A: Research aims are statements that reflect the broad goal(s) of the study and outline the general direction of the research. They are not specific but clearly define the focus of the study.

Example: This research aims to explore employee experiences of digital transformation in retail HR.

Research objectives focus on the action to be taken to achieve the aims. They make the aims more practical and should be specific and actionable.

Example: To observe the retail HR employees throughout the digital transformation.

Q: What are the examples of research objectives, both general and specific?

A: Here are a few examples of research objectives:

• To identify the antiviral chemical constituents in Mumbukura gitoniensis (general)
• To carry out solvent extraction of dried flowers of Mumbukura gitoniensis and isolate the constituents. (specific)
• To determine the antiviral activity of each of the isolated compounds. (specific)
• To examine the extent, range, and method of coral reef rehabilitation projects in five shallow reef areas adjacent to popular tourist destinations in the Philippines.
• To investigate species richness of mammal communities in five protected areas over the past 20 years.
• To evaluate the potential application of AI techniques for estimating best-corrected visual acuity from fundus photographs with and without ancillary information.
• To investigate whether sport influences psychological parameters in the personality of asthmatic children.

Q: How do I develop research objectives?

A: Developing research objectives begins with defining the problem statement clearly, as illustrated by Figure 1. Objectives specify how the research question will be answered and they determine what is to be measured to test the hypothesis.

Q: Are research objectives measurable?

A: The word “measurable” implies that something is quantifiable. In terms of research objectives, this means that the source and method of collecting data are identified and that all these aspects are feasible for the research. Some metrics can be created to measure your progress toward achieving your objectives.

Q: Can research objectives change during the study?

A: Revising research objectives during the study is acceptable in situations when the selected methodology is not progressing toward achieving the objective, or if there are challenges pertaining to resources, etc. One thing to keep in mind is the time and resources you would have to complete your research after revising the objectives. Thus, as long as your problem statement and hypotheses are unchanged, minor revisions to the research objectives are acceptable.

Q: What is the difference between research questions and research objectives? 10

Q: Are research objectives the same as hypotheses?

A: No, hypotheses are predictive theories that are expressed in general terms. Research objectives, which are more specific, are developed from hypotheses and aim to test them. A hypothesis can be tested using several methods and each method will have different objectives because the methodology to be used could be different. A hypothesis is developed based on observation and reasoning; it is a calculated prediction about why a particular phenomenon is occurring. To test this prediction, different research objectives are formulated. Here’s a simple example of both a research hypothesis and research objective.

Research hypothesis : Employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

Research objective : To assess whether employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

To summarize, research objectives are an important part of research studies and should be written clearly to effectively communicate your research. We hope this article has given you a brief insight into the importance of using clearly defined research objectives and how to formulate them.

• Farrugia P, Petrisor BA, Farrokhyar F, Bhandari M. Practical tips for surgical research: Research questions, hypotheses and objectives. Can J Surg. 2010 Aug;53(4):278-81.
• Abbadia J. How to write an introduction for a research paper. Mind the Graph website. Accessed June 14, 2023. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/how-to-write-an-introduction-for-a-research-paper/
• Writing a scientific paper: Introduction. UCI libraries website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://guides.lib.uci.edu/c.php?g=334338&p=2249903
• Research objectives—Types, examples and writing guide. Researchmethod.net website. Accessed June 17, 2023. https://researchmethod.net/research-objectives/#:~:text=They%20provide%20a%20clear%20direction,track%20and%20achieve%20their%20goals .
• Bartle P. SMART Characteristics of good objectives. Community empowerment collective website. Accessed June 16, 2023. https://cec.vcn.bc.ca/cmp/modules/pd-smar.htm
• Research objectives. Studyprobe website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.studyprobe.in/2022/08/research-objectives.html
• Corredor F. How to write objectives in a research paper. wikiHow website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Write-Objectives-in-a-Research-Proposal
• Research objectives: Definition, types, characteristics, advantages. AccountingNest website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://www.accountingnest.com/articles/research/research-objectives
• Phair D., Shaeffer A. Research aims, objectives & questions. GradCoach website. Accessed June 20, 2023. https://gradcoach.com/research-aims-objectives-questions/
• Understanding the difference between research questions and objectives. Accessed June 21, 2023. https://board.researchersjob.com/blog/research-questions-and-objectives

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing Learning Objectives: Definitions, Strategies and Examples

Simple steps to writing effective, measurable learning objectives for university and college educators. This guide includes practical approaches and helpful examples.

Top Hat Staff

While it’s natural to focus on theory and concepts when designing your course, it’s equally important to think about the net result you want to achieve in terms of student learning. Learning objectives focus on just that—they articulate what students should be able to know, do and create by the end of a course. They’re also the key to creating a course in which courseware, context, teaching strategies, student learning activities and assessments all work together to support students’ achievement of these objectives.

This guide presents essential information about how to write effective, measurable learning objectives that will create a strong structure and instructional design for your course. 

Table of contents

What are learning objectives, learning objectives vs. learning outcomes, how to write learning objectives, tools for developing effective learning objectives, examples of learning objectives.

Learning objectives identify what the learner will know and be able to do by the end of a course. Grounded in three primary learning areas—attitudes, skills and knowledge—clear learning objectives help organize student progress throughout the curriculum .

While the terms “learning objectives” and “learning outcomes” are often used interchangeably, there are subtle differences between them.

One key distinction is that learning objectives are a description of the overarching goals for a course or unit. Learning outcomes , on the other hand, outline goals for the individual lessons comprising that course or unit. Learning outcomes should be measurable and observable, so students can gauge their progress toward achieving the broader course objectives.

Another distinction between the two concepts is that learning objectives focus on the educator or institution’s educational goals for the course. For students, goals and progress in a specific course or program are measured by learning outcomes.

Learning objectives help students understand how each lesson relates to the previous one. This way, students can understand how each course concept relates to the course’s goals, as well as degree or course goals. When writing measurable student learning objectives, instructors should ensure that they are structured in a way that makes it easy for students to assess their own progress, as well as the way forward in their learning.

Strong learning objectives should:

• Focus on what students should learn in a course rather than what the instructor plans to teach
• Break down each task into an appropriate sequence of skills students can practice to reach each objective
• Make use of action-oriented language 
• Be clear and specific so students understand what they will learn and why they are learning it

Learning objectives should also be measurable. In order to be effective, they must lay out what success looks like. This way, students can accurately gauge their progress and performance. From these criteria, students should be able to clearly identify when they have completed an element of the course and are ready to move on to the next one.

Key elements to consider

By answering certain fundamental questions, you can begin the process of developing clear learning objectives armed with the information to craft them effectively.

• Which higher-order skills or practical abilities do you want students to possess after attending your course that they did not possess beforehand?
• What do your students need to know and understand in order to get from where they are now to where you want them to be by the end of the course?
• Which three main items do you want students to take away from your course if they learn nothing else?

3 steps to writing learning objectives

Writing strong and effective learning objectives is a matter of three simple steps:

• Explain the precise skill or task the student will perform.
• Describe how the student will execute the given skill or task and demonstrate relevant knowledge and competency—a quiz, test, group discussion, presentation, research project.
• Lay out the specific criteria you will use to measure student performance at the end of the learning experience.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Used to develop effective learning objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy is an educational framework that is designed to help educators identify not only subject matter but also the depth of learning they want students to achieve. Then, these objectives are used to create assessments that accurately report on students’ progress towards these outcomes.

The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (2001) comprises three domains—cognitive, affective and psychomotor. In creating effective learning objectives, most educators choose to focus on the cognitive domain. The cognitive domain prioritizes intellectual skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and creating a knowledge base. The levels of this domain span from simple memorization designed to build the knowledge of learners, to creating a new idea or working theory based on previously learned information. In this domain, learners are expected to progress linearly through the levels, starting at “remember” and concluding at “create,” in order to reach subject mastery. 

The following are the six levels of the cognitive domain: 

• Remembering
• Understanding

Action verbs

These action verbs and sample learning objectives are mapped to each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy’s cognitive domain. Here, we provide a breakdown of how to implement each level in your classroom. Some examples of action verbs useful for articulating each of the levels within the cognitive domain include:

• Sample learning objective: Upon completion of a geography workshop, students will be able to list the different layers of rock in a given natural structure.
• Sample learning objective: By the end of a Sociology lesson, students will be able to identify instruments for collecting data and measurements for the conducting and planning of research.
• Sample learning objective: After a lesson on literary analysis, students will be able to assign a cohesive reading list for an imagined class on a particular subtopic within the literary realm.
• Sample learning objective: At the end of a course in global economics, students will be able to analyze the economic theories behind various macroeconomic policies and accurately categorize them.
• Sample learning objective: Upon completion of a course on the history of war, students will be able to compare and contrast any two historic wars using timelines of the respective conflicts.
• Sample learning objective: Upon completion of the astronomy course, students will be able to predict the motion and appearance of celestial objects and curate data on the subject from multiple sources and communicate procedures, results and conclusions properly.

The SMART strategy

Simply put, learning objectives are goals for teaching and learning. They provide a sense of direction, motivation and focus. By setting objectives, you can provide yourself and your students with a target to aim for. A straightforward way to set realistic, achievable expectations is through the SMART strategy, ensuring objectives are:

• Specific : Unambiguous, well-defined and clear.
• Measurable : Designed with specific criteria of how to measure your progress toward the accomplishment of the goal in mind.
• Achievable : Attainable and possible to achieve.
• Realistic : Within reach, realistic, and relevant to the course or program’s purpose.
• Timely : With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date, to ensure you can set mini-milestones and check-ins throughout the duration of your course.

By writing measurable learning objectives you can better choose and organize content and use that to select the most appropriate instructional strategies and assessments to meet the learning goals for your course.

• Using language formally vs. informally
• Explaining how to write and speak in each type of language
• Teaching others how to choose and use the appropriate type of language in different situations
• Good example: Upon completion of this course, students will possess the ability to identify and develop instruments for collecting data and measures for executing academic research.
• Poor example: After completing this course, students will be able to explain the organizational structure. 
• Poor example: Students will comprehend the importance of the Civil War.

The first two are good learning objectives because they explain the exact skill or task the student will perform, as well as how they will be tested and evaluated on their performance. The second examples are poor because they are vague and do not include how the knowledge acquired will be evaluated.

Student learning improves when they know what is expected of them. When learning objectives are clear, students are better prepared for a deeper approach to learning. This means that students seek meaning, relate and extend ideas, look for patterns and underlying principles, check evidence, examine arguments critically and engage with course content in a more sophisticated way.

For instructors, this means a more engaged and connected classroom community that works together. By setting clear guidelines for what you intend to teach and for students to learn, you can ensure that you are laying the foundation for a successful and more motivating educational experience.

Hattie, J. A. C., & Donoghue, G. M. (2016). Learning strategies: a synthesis and conceptual model. Science of Learning , 1, 1–13. doi:10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.13

Marsh, P.A. (2007). What is known about student learning outcomes and how does it relate to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning? International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(2), article 22.

Trigwell, K. & Prosser, M. (1991). Improving the quality of student learning: the influence of learning context and student approaches to learning on learning outcomes. Higher Education , 22(3), 251–266.

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• Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Published on July 12, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on November 20, 2023.

Research objectives describe what your research is trying to achieve and explain why you are pursuing it. They summarize the approach and purpose of your project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement . They should:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project
• Contribute to your research design
• Indicate how your project will contribute to existing knowledge

Table of contents

What is a research objective, why are research objectives important, how to write research aims and objectives, smart research objectives, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research objectives.

Research objectives describe what your research project intends to accomplish. They should guide every step of the research process , including how you collect data , build your argument , and develop your conclusions .

Your research objectives may evolve slightly as your research progresses, but they should always line up with the research carried out and the actual content of your paper.

Research aims

A distinction is often made between research objectives and research aims.

A research aim typically refers to a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives.

Your research objectives are more specific than your research aim and indicate the particular focus and approach of your project. Though you will only have one research aim, you will likely have several research objectives.

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Research objectives are important because they:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project: This helps you avoid unnecessary research. It also means that your research methods and conclusions can easily be evaluated .
• Contribute to your research design: When you know what your objectives are, you have a clearer idea of what methods are most appropriate for your research.
• Indicate how your project will contribute to extant research: They allow you to display your knowledge of up-to-date research, employ or build on current research methods, and attempt to contribute to recent debates.

Once you’ve established a research problem you want to address, you need to decide how you will address it. This is where your research aim and objectives come in.

Step 1: Decide on a general aim

Your research aim should reflect your research problem and should be relatively broad.

Step 2: Decide on specific objectives

Break down your aim into a limited number of steps that will help you resolve your research problem. What specific aspects of the problem do you want to examine or understand?

Step 3: Formulate your aims and objectives

Once you’ve established your research aim and objectives, you need to explain them clearly and concisely to the reader.

You’ll lay out your aims and objectives at the end of your problem statement, which appears in your introduction. Frame them as clear declarative statements, and use appropriate verbs to accurately characterize the work that you will carry out.

The acronym “SMART” is commonly used in relation to research objectives. It states that your objectives should be:

• Specific: Make sure your objectives aren’t overly vague. Your research needs to be clearly defined in order to get useful results.
• Measurable: Know how you’ll measure whether your objectives have been achieved.
• Achievable: Your objectives may be challenging, but they should be feasible. Make sure that relevant groundwork has been done on your topic or that relevant primary or secondary sources exist. Also ensure that you have access to relevant research facilities (labs, library resources , research databases , etc.).
• Relevant: Make sure that they directly address the research problem you want to work on and that they contribute to the current state of research in your field.
• Time-based: Set clear deadlines for objectives to ensure that the project stays on track.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

Your research objectives indicate how you’ll try to address your research problem and should be specific:

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

• Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
• Your proposed timeline and duration
• Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
• Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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Home » Blog » Learning Objectives: How to Write, Types and Examples

Learning Objectives: How to Write, Types and Examples

For students, learning objectives provide an overview of the key points and main building blocks covered in a topic.

Skillshub’s experience in the academic and corporate world shows that having established learning objectives can help to improve engagement, motivation, and results.

As a thought leader in the field of educational objectives, we believe there are several types and structures of learning objectives you should consider when planning a course or lesson.

In this article, we’ll look at how to write learning objectives effectively, different types of learning objectives, and provide some example objectives to help you get started.

What are Learning Objectives?

Before we cover the details of writing learning objectives, it’s important to understand what they are and why having them is essential.

Learning objectives provide an overview of the topics covered in a course or lesson and allow everyone involved—teachers, students, and even administrators—to have a shared understanding of the goals for any given session.

In simple terms, learning objectives:

• Outline what students should be able to do after completing the lesson
• Provide a shared understanding of the topics covered in a course or lesson
• Help teachers plan and assess learning activities
• Allow administrators to monitor student progress
• Make it easier for students to review key material

Essentially, learning objectives provide a framework that benefits everyone involved in the learning process.

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What’s the difference between a learning objective and a learning outcome.

Learning outcomes and learning objectives are superficially similar, as in both cases, the two terms are used to describe what students should be able to do after completing a course or lesson.

However, there is an essential distinction between the two.

A learning objective refers specifically to the topics that will be covered during a lesson/course. Learning outcomes, on the other hand, look beyond mere knowledge and provide evaluations on how well students can apply what they’ve learned.

For instance, a learning objective may be to “understand the components of the water cycle”. A learning outcome related to this might be to “identify ways in which humans are impacting the global water cycle.”

The learning objective here defines how the lesson or course should be structured, while the learning outcome provides an evaluation of how well students understand and can apply what they have learned.

Benefits of Well-Written Learning Objectives

Now that you’ve got a clearer understanding of what learning objectives are and how they differ from learning outcomes, let’s take a look at the benefits of having well-crafted learning objectives in place.

There is a wide range of material benefits associated with creating and leveraging learning objectives, including:

Improved lesson and course planning

A clearly stated learning objective provides the basis for lesson and course planning. Well-written objectives help teachers identify not only the topics that need to be covered, but also the resources (e.g., books or videos) needed to cover them effectively.

Improved assessment

Having established learning objectives in place helps teachers create assessments which accurately evaluate student understanding of any given topic.

Teachers can use learning objectives to create quizzes, tests, and other assessments to accurately evaluate student knowledge.

Improved student understanding

Clear learning objectives are helpful for students in a number of ways.

For instance, having an overview of the topics covered in a lesson or course can help students track their progress more effectively and identify areas which may need review.

Furthermore, having objectives in place can help reduce the cognitive load associated with learning new topics, allowing students to focus more on their understanding of a subject rather than worrying about what needs to be done next.

Increased student engagement

Having established learning objectives in place can help keep students and employees engaged during lessons and lectures.

When students have a clear understanding of the topics covered, it becomes easier for them to follow along with the lesson plan and stay focused on the topic at hand.

Furthermore, providing objectives can motivate students by setting out specific goals they should be working towards.

More effective communication between teachers, students, and administrators

A shared understanding of learning objectives helps to ensure effective communication between all stakeholders in the educational process.

Teachers can use objectives to effectively communicate expectations with students, while administrators can use them to monitor student progress.

Having established learning objectives also makes it easier for teachers and administrators to identify potential issues or areas in which students may need additional support.

A better focus on the topics covered in a given course or lesson

Finally, having learning objectives in place helps to ensure that all stakeholders are focusing on the topics covered in a lesson or course.

Objectives set out specific goals which everyone should be working towards and help to keep discussions focused.

By providing an overview of the topics covered, learning objectives can also help teachers identify areas which need further exploration or review.

Overall, having clear learning objectives can help to improve results by providing everyone involved with a shared understanding of the goals of any given lesson or course.

How to Write Effective Learning Objectives

While the basic idea of learning objectives is simple, the act of creating effective learning objectives requires a bit more thought and consideration.

Let’s take a look at some tips to help you craft practical learning objectives:

Understanding the ABCD Model

The ABCD model provides a foundation for creating effective learning objectives.

The ABCD stands for:

The Audience portion of the ABCD model refers to whom the objective is intended for. The intended audience for any learning objective should modify the content and language used in the objective.

For instance, objectives for younger students may need to be simplified or contain more visual aids, whereas objectives for adult learners can assume a higher level of knowledge and use more sophisticated language.

The Behaviour associated with the ABCD model refers to what type of action should be taken by the audience in question.

This could include analytical thinking, problem-solving, writing, or any other behaviour which is relevant to the topic being covered.

The type of behaviour should be specific and clearly defined in order for it to be effectively measured.

The Condition portion of the model refers to what context or circumstances will have an impact on how the objective is achieved.

For instance, a learning objective may require students to solve a problem in a particular way (e.g., without using a calculator).

The condition portion of the ABCD model ensures that any necessary qualifications are taken into account when crafting an objective.

The Degree portion of the ABCD model refers to how successful students should be in order to achieve the learning objective.

This can include anything from basic understanding to complete mastery of the topic in question.

The degree should be clearly specified so that it can be effectively measured when assessing student performance.

Putting it all together

In other words, learning objectives should provide a description of who is being taught, what they should be able to do afterwards, the conditions under which this can be achieved, and how well it must be done.

Using the ABCD model provides an accessible framework that specific learning objectives can be crafted around.

Breaking Down the Process

To help you master the process of creating effective learning objectives, we’ve broken down the process into four steps:

Identify your audience

When crafting learning objectives, it’s important to consider who the objective is intended for. Identifying the intended audience will inform the language and content used in crafting the objective.

Specify desired learner behaviour

Having a specific behaviour in mind will help you create a practical learning objective. Consider which behaviours are necessary for learners to master the topic, and strive to ensure that the objectives reflect these behaviours.

Determine the conditions and constraints

The conditions and constraints surrounding the learning objective should be made explicit. This includes any qualifications or stipulations which must be met in order for learners to achieve the objective.

It should also consider any possible constraints or limitations that may impact how the objective is achieved. These constraints could include time or resource limitations, for example.

Define the degree of success desired

Finally, you should determine how successful learners must be in order to achieve the objective. This could include understanding basic concepts or mastering all aspects of a topic.

By defining the degree of success desired, it will be easier to measure whether learners have achieved the objective.

The degree should be specific and measurable in order for learners to effectively work towards it. This could include anything from basic understanding to complete mastery of the topic in question.

Taking a step-by-step process

By taking a step-by-step approach to creating practical learning objectives, it will be easier to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved.

Ideally, any learning objective should contain all of the necessary information to help learners understand what they need to do in order to succeed.

To achieve this, you should start by outlining what the learner needs to do in a clear and concise manner.

Then, break down each step into more detailed tasks to ensure that all necessary aspects of the objective are included. This could include defining any qualifications or constraints which may impact the completion of the task.

Finally, consider how successful learners must be in order to achieve the task set out in the learning objectives. This should be measurable so that learners can effectively work towards it and track their progress.

By taking a step-by-step approach to writing learning objectives, you will be able to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved for each lesson or course.

Types of Learning Objectives

There are three primary types of learning objectives that can be used as the basis for crafting your own practical learning objectives.

Using these archetypes along with the ABCD model will help to ensure that your objectives are specific, measurable, and achievable.

Knowledge-based Objectives

Knowledge-based objectives are used to measure the learner’s understanding of a particular concept.

This type of objective should focus on testing the learner’s knowledge and comprehension in order to assess their level of understanding.

A good example of a knowledge-based objective would be:

“The learner will be able to explain the process of photosynthesis in at least three sentences.”

Skill-based Objectives

Skill-based objectives are used to assess the learner’s ability to apply their understanding of a concept.

This type of objective should focus on testing the learner’s ability to use the knowledge they have acquired in order to complete a task.

A good example of a skill-based objective would be:

“The learner will be able to apply the principles of photosynthesis to solve a problem.”

Attitude-based Objectives

Attitude-based objectives are used to assess the learner’s attitude towards the concept.

This type of objective should focus on testing the learner’s ability to think critically about a concept and their willingness to apply this knowledge in real-world situations.

A good example of an attitude-based objective would be:

“The learner will be able to demonstrate an understanding of photosynthesis and its implications for sustainability.”

Learning Objectives Examples

To help make the process of crafting practical learning objectives easier, here are some examples you can use as a reference point.

Knowledge-Based Objectives Examples

“The learner will be able to list the three main components of photosynthesis and explain their role in the process.”

“The learner will be able to identify the five primary sources of energy used in photosynthesis and explain how they are utilised.”

Skill-Based Objectives Examples

“The learner will be able to apply their knowledge of photosynthesis to construct a model demonstrating the process.”

“The learner will be able to use the principles of photosynthesis to design an experiment that tests one of its aspects. “

Attitude-Based Objectives Examples

“The learner will be able to discuss the implications of photosynthesis on climate change and how it can help reduce negative impacts.”

“The learner will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of photosynthesis for our environment and its impact on sustainability.”

Best Practices for Writing Learning Objectives

While writing learning objectives can be challenging, the good news is that there is established best practice for crafting effective and practical learning objectives.

By following these guidelines, you will be able to ensure that your learning objectives are clear, achievable, and useful.

Make your Objectives Specific and Measurable

Good learning objectives are specific and should clearly indicate what the learner needs to accomplish to achieve the desired outcome. They should also be measurable so that it is evident when the learner has achieved them.

Use Action Verbs

Action verbs should be used in the learning objectives to indicate what the learner will do. This will make it clear to both the trainer and the learners what is expected of them.

Action verbs include:

• Understand • Identify • Demonstrate • Apply

Consider the Level of Difficulty

Before writing the learning objective, you should consider the difficulty level appropriate for the learners. The degree of difficulty should be challenging but also achievable so that learners can successfully work towards it.

Align objectives with the overall learning goals

Learning objectives should be aligned with the overall learning goals of the course or lesson. This will ensure that all objectives contribute towards achieving the desired outcome for the learners.

Turning Learning Objectives into Training Objectives

While learning objectives are most commonly used in educational settings to help guide the learning process, they can also be used as a basis for creating training objectives.

Training objectives should focus on the desired outcomes from the training activity and use similar language and structure as learning objectives.

The critical difference is that the focus will be more on how to best achieve these outcomes rather than what needs to be learned.

Some strategies for turning objectives into training objectives include:

• Focus on how to effectively apply the knowledge or skills acquired from the learning activity.
• Consider how best to facilitate the transfer of this knowledge or skill so that learners can use it in their professional lives. Make sure the objective is measurable and achievable.

An example of a training objective derived from a learning objective is:

Learning Objective: “The learner will be able to identify the five primary sources of energy used in photosynthesis and explain how they are utilised.”

Training Objective: “The learners will understand how to combine different sources of energy to create new products or applications.”

Developing content and assessments that align with objectives

The primary difference between learning and training objectives is that learning objectives focus on knowledge acquisition, whereas training objectives focus on skill development.

Where learning objectives prioritise content that teaches the learner about a specific concept, training objectives focus on developing problem-solving skills that can be applied to real-world scenarios.

When it comes to assessments, learning objectives should align with content and assessments that allow learners to demonstrate their understanding of the material. This could include multiple choice questions, short answer tests, and even practical activities.

By comparison, assessments for training objectives should encourage learners to apply their skills in a practical setting. This could include case studies, simulations, and group activities that allow learners to use the knowledge they have acquired in a problem-solving context.

Assessing and Evaluating Learning Objectives

Once written, learning objectives should not be static and should be reviewed regularly to ensure they are still relevant and achievable. To assess the learning objectives, it is essential to use both formative and summative assessments.

Formative assessments should be used during the learning process to measure progress and help identify any areas where learners may need additional support or guidance. This could include quizzes, tests, or group activities.

On the other hand, summative assessments should be used at the end of the learning process to measure the transfer of learning. These could include essays or presentations that require learners to demonstrate their understanding of the material.

By regularly assessing and evaluating your learning objectives, you can ensure they remain relevant and achievable for all learners. This is particularly true of training objectives where the application of the skills acquired is tested in a practical setting.

Measuring Learning Objectives

The ability to measure learning objectives is essential for assessing the success of a course or lesson. Learning objectives should be measurable to ensure it is evident when learners have met them.

As mentioned, formative assessments should be used during the learning process to help measure progress, while summative assessments should be used to measure how much learners have learned.

Other methods for measuring learning objectives include:

• Pre- and Post-Tests: This involves administering a test or quiz before and after the lesson to measure how much the learners have learned.
• Self-Assessments: Ask learners to reflect on what they have learned at the end of each lesson or session.
• Observation: An observer can be used to watch a learning activity and provide feedback on how well learners are performing.
• Projects: Ask learners to create a project or product at the end of the lesson that demonstrates their understanding of the material.

By using these different methods of measurement, you can ensure that your learning objectives are being met and that learners are gaining the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

Final Thoughts

Learning objectives are essential for any educational or training setting.

By measuring learning objectives regularly, you can more accurately track the success of your course or lesson and ensure that all learners achieve their desired outcomes.

Skillshub’s innovative eLearning platform makes it easy for trainers to create, measure, and assess learning objectives. With tools like quizzes and assessments, and reporting tools to track progress, Skillshub can help you ensure that all learners are achieving their desired outcomes.

Our professionally designed off-the-shelf courses are also a great way to get started and provide you with all the tools and resources you need to develop engaging and interactive courses.

With our comprehensive suite of e-learning solutions, Skillshub can ensure that your learners have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.

If you’re looking for an easy and efficient way to create, measure, and assess learning objectives, Skillshub is the perfect platform for you.

As an eLearning company , Skillshub is committed to creating efficient and impactful learning experiences.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you achieve your educational goals.

Sean McPheat

Sean is the CEO of Skillshub. He’s a published author and has been featured on CNN, BBC and ITV as a leading authority in the learning and development industry. Sean is responsible for the vision and strategy at Skillshub, helping to ensure innovation within the company.

Updated on: 11 October, 2023

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Khan Academy Blog

The Power of Learning Objectives: A Guide for New Teachers

posted on October 4, 2023

By Aviv Weiss , Senior Product Marketing Manager for Educators at Khan Academy and former Teacher

Hey there, as a new teacher, one of the most important things you can do is set clear expectations for what your students are meant to achieve. This is where learning objectives come in. They’re like a road map that guides both you and your students. In this blog, we’ll explore the benefits of setting learning objectives in the classroom and guide you through creating specific and measurable objectives that can help your students succeed. We’ll also share some helpful tips to ensure your students’ success with implementing learning objectives and explore how AI-powered applications like Khanmigo can save you time and help you achieve your teaching goals faster. Let’s get started!

Use AI to write learning objectives with these prompts

Benefits of learning objectives in the classroom.

Setting clear learning objectives has numerous benefits for both teachers and students.

First and foremost, learning objectives provide direction and focus for lessons,which helps teachers maintain a clear vision of what they want to achieve. This ensures that students understand the purpose of the lesson. By knowing what they’re supposed to learn and achieve, students are better able to stay engaged, motivated, and interested in what they are learning.

Plus, by setting clear objectives, teachers can more easily assess student progress and adjust their teaching style and strategies to ensure students are getting the most out of each lesson.

How to Set Specific, Measurable Learning Objectives for Your Students

To create strong learning objectives, let’s be specific and measurable in our statements. This way, we can easily determine if students have met the objectives and make it clearer for them to understand what we expect. So, start by pinpointing the most important outcomes you want your students to achieve. Then, let’s create a statement that clearly explains what students will know or be able to do by the end of the lesson. For example, “students will be able to differentiate between adjectives and adverbs in sentences.” Let’s make sure the objective is achievable and realistic for your students’ level. You’ve got this!

Align Your Learning Objectives to State Curriculum 

Aligning your learning objectives to the state curriculum is super important for ensuring educational effectiveness. By mapping your objectives to the curriculum, you can provide students with a structured and comprehensive learning experience that meets all the required standards. This alignment not only helps students acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, but it also supports their overall academic growth and success. So, take the time to carefully analyze and align your learning objectives to the state curriculum, and get ready to see your students thrive in their educational journey!

Let’s give an example of developing a learning objective with Khanmigo:

Khanmigo : Let’s write some learning objectives! What standard are you working on today? (Please provide the text of the standard.) Teacher : My students need to tackle standard 6.G.A.1. Can you help me break down what they need to be able to do to master this standard?  Note: This is from Common Core standards. Khanmigo : Great! Now, let’s think about what we want the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson. Based on the standard, it seems like we want them to find the area of various shapes. Is that correct? Teacher : Yes. Khanmigo : Fantastic! Now, let’s think about the specific action we want the students to take. We want them to “find” the area, but that’s a bit vague. How about we use a more specific verb, like “calculate”? This way, we can observe them doing the calculations. What do you think? Teacher : I would like to observe my students doing the calculations. Khanmigo : Great! Now, are there any tools or references the students would need to calculate the area of these shapes? For example, would they need a formula sheet or a calculator? Teacher : Calculators only. Khanmigo : Perfect! So, here’s a draft of our learning objective: “By the end of the lesson, students will be able to calculate the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons using a calculator.” Does that sound good to you, or are there any changes you’d like to make? Now, if you think this is too much work for your students to get done in one class, we can split learning objectives further down: Teacher : Could you break down this learning objective into five lessons? Khanmigo : Absolutely! Here’s how we could break it down: “By the end of Lesson 1, students will be able to calculate the area of right triangles using a calculator.” “By the end of Lesson 2, students will be able to calculate the area of other types of triangles using a calculator.” “By the end of Lesson 3, students will be able to calculate the area of special quadrilaterals using a calculator.” “By the end of Lesson 4, students will be able to calculate the area of other polygons using a calculator.” “By the end of Lesson 5, students will apply these techniques to solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the calculation of area.” How does that sound? Would you like to make any changes?

Tips to Ensure Your Student’s Success with Successful Implementation of Learning Objectives

• Set clear learning objectives: Clearly define what your students should be able to accomplish by the end of the learning period.
• Align objectives with curriculum: Ensure that the learning objectives are in line with the curriculum and educational standards.
• Break down objectives into smaller tasks: Divide the learning objectives into manageable tasks to facilitate better understanding and progress.
• Provide regular feedback: Give constructive feedback to students to help them track their progress and make necessary adjustments.
• Foster a supportive learning environment: Create a positive and supportive atmosphere that encourages students to actively engage in achieving the learning objectives.

Get to instructional action in seconds.

Setting learning objectives in the classroom is a fantastic and meaningful way to help students achieve academic success. Clearly defined learning objectives provide direction and focus for both teachers and students. With the help of AI-powered applications like Khanmigo , teachers can tailor their teaching to achieve their goals faster and save time. By setting realistic and achievable objectives, communicating them clearly to students, and tracking progress every step of the way, teachers can help their students reach their full potential and set them up for lifelong success!

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Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence

Learning objectives.

Erin Stapleton-Corcoran, CATE Instructional Designer January 27, 2023

WHAT? Heading link Copy link

Learning Objectives are a description of significant and essential learning that learners have achieved and are reliably able to demonstrate upon completion of an educational activity. A well-written learning objective outlines the knowledge, skills and/or attitudes the learners will gain from the educational activity. (Chatterjee, D., & Corral, J. 2017).

What Should Learning Objectives Do?

• Center on what students should be able to do, know, or demonstrate, rather than what you do as an instructor.
• Break down the learning task into discrete skills components. Learning objectives focus on incremental steps in learning toward a larger learning goal.
• Focus on observable, measurable behavior. This is achieved by pinpointing the specific actions students need to complete to achieve and demonstrate their understanding of course content.

What Are the Three Key Components of a Learning Objective?

• Behavior : describes what the learner will be able to do.     Example:   … create viable solutions to the classification problem ..                         or                         … write measurable learning objectives
• Condition : describes the tools, situations, settings, or restrictions under which the behavior will occur.     Example:  … Using the TensorFlow platform, students will be able to…                         or                         … By the end of this module, students will be able to…..
• Standards : Define the criterion of acceptable student outcomes.  Criteria can be described in terms of accuracy (minimum/maximum), productivity level, time, and degree of excellence (Mager 1984).     Example: … with accurate identification of ten classes in Fashion MNIST data.                         or                         … for different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in the cognitive domain

• Learning objective containing all three components :     Example:  … Using TensorFlow software, the student will be able to create viable solutions to a classification problem with accurate identification of ten classes in Fashion MNIST data.                         or                         … By the end of this module, students will be able to craft measurable learning objectives for different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in the cognitive domain.

Note: While it is optimal to include all three components in a learning objective, it is not necessary or always feasible to include conditions or criterion in each learning objective.

Learning Objectives, Course Goals, or Teaching Objectives: What Term Should You Use?

The term learning objectives is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms course goals , learning outcomes , or teaching objectives .

Course goals are broad statements of what you want students to learn. Course goals, sometimes referred to as course-level learning objectives, may use verbs associated with outcomes that are not readily observable and do not lend themselves easily to measurement (e.g., know, understand, value, appreciate). Examples of statements that can be considered course goals are: “Understand the process of scientific inquiry” and “Appreciate the intangible benefits of art in society.” Course goals can be integrated into the “course description” of a syllabus, providing students with broader context such as relevance, connection to real life, and motivational or aspirational drivers for taking a particular course.

Learning outcomes are used to describe what a student knows or is able to do as a result of completing a learning experience, whether at the course, module/unit, or assignment level. Learning outcomes are intended to be more synonymous with learning objectives than course goals or teaching objectives.

Teaching objectives are statements written from an instructor’s perspective, providing the content, context, and direction of instruction. Teaching objectives are very helpful in creating lesson plans for your course.

The terms goals, objectives, and outcomes often are used interchangeably. Although all are related to the teaching and learning taking place in a course, the emphasis differs as to the scope and scale of the learning. This teaching guide will focus on writing learning objectives.

WHY? Heading link Copy link

Well-designed learning objectives benefit both students and instructors in a number of ways..

Learning objectives can give students a clear picture of what to expect and what’s expected of them.

Learning objectives can communicate what is important to their learning. Without learning objectives it can be difficult for students to know what they are supposed to be learning and where they should be paying particular attention. Well-written learning objectives can facilitate efficient and more effective study methods by students.

Well-designed learning objectives can help students learn new materials in such a way that they can flexibly and appropriately use it in a variety of contexts, both in the short term and down the road.  This is known as  “transfer,” which is a key indicator of deep learning (Barnett & Ceci, 2002).

Learning objectives can help students build metacognitive skills. Metacognition is the “the process of reflecting on and directing one’s own thinking” (National Research Council, 2001). Self-directed learning consists of assessing the learning objectives, taking stock of one’s own knowledge and skills, planning one’s approach to learn the material, monitoring one’s progress, and adjusting learning strategies as needed (Hammond and Collins 1991)

Instructors:

Learning objectives help instructors select appropriate instructional materials and organize course content. The use of well-defined, actionable learning objectives leverages your ability to assess texts or activities for their relevance and suitability.

Learning objectives help instructors build assessments that are aligned with the learning activities or instructional materials included in the course.  Alignment is the degree to which learning objectives, assessments, and learning activities and instructional materials work together to achieve desired learning goals. Well-articulated learning objectives make clear that you are assessing materials that were covered in the course and make the creation of assessment items easier for you. Check your learning objectives for alignment with assessments, and if they are not well aligned, revise the objectives as needed.

Learning objectives and course alignment Heading link Copy link

Learning objectives and course alignment.

Articulating learning objectives is an essential step in ensuring course alignment of three key components:

• Learning Objectives articulate the knowledge and skills you want students to acquire by the end of the course.
• Assessments allow the instructor to check the degree to which the students are meeting the learning objectives.
• Learning activities and instructional materials are chosen to foster student learning toward meeting the objectives.

Please review the Backward Design Teaching Guide to learn more about alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and learning activities/instructional materials.

The three key components.

HOW DO YOU CRAFT EFFECTIVE LEARNING OBJECTIVES? Heading link Copy link

 identifying knowledge, skills, and changes in attitude.

Next, identify knowledge or skills that students should learn, or changes in attitudes you are hoping to see,by the end of the course, module, or learning activity.

Now would be the time to review your course-level objectives or broader learning goals and craft weekly or modular-level learning objectives that align with your course objectives  or goals.

Choosing Action Verbs

Then, choose an action verb to reflect an observable, measurable outcome or behavior that aligns with the desired knowledge or skills identified above.

Learning taxonomies can be a useful tool for identifying action verbs that create specific and measurable learning objectives. Bloom’s Taxonomy Of Educational Objectives is a framework for classifying learning objectives (1956).  Bloom identified three domains of educational activities or learning: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Bloom then assigned to the cognitive domain a system of learning made up of six levels of learning: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. A full discussion of Bloom’s Taxonomy is available in the CATE Teaching Guide , but referring to the Bloom’s Taxonomy Verb Chart on its own is a great starting point to brainstorm action verbs that align with the learning you want to facilitate in your courses.

An alternative to Bloom’s is Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning (2003; revised 2013). Like Bloom’s taxonomy, Fink’s is composed of six categories of learning, which are:

• Foundational knowledge
• Application
• Integration
• The human dimension
• Learning how to learn

However, unlike Bloom’s taxonomy, Fink’s is non-hierarchical, with each element interacting with one another to “create significant learning,” or an impact a course continues to have on students a couple of years after it is over. Each kind of learning can stimulate any of the other kinds of learning. For a concise list of action verbs aligned to Fink’s six categories of learning, consult the document Fink’s Taxonomy Learning Objectives .

Tips for Writing Effective Learning Objectives Heading link Copy link

Tips for writing effective learning objectives.

When crafting learning objectives, avoid using verbs such as “learn,” “become,” “know,” or “understand.” As discussed earlier in this teaching guide, course-level objectives or learning goals may include verbs not readily observable and which do not lend themselves easily to measurement, but learning objectives at the unit, module, or lesson level should reflect more measurable and observable actions or behaviors.

Make sure that each learning objective includes only one action verb and one specific aspect of expected performance or behavior. For example, a learning objective that includes the two-verb phrase “… draft and revise an essay…” should be broken down into two learning objectives specific to each action verb or should be drafted in a way that better reflects the entire essay crafting process rather than granular components of the writing assignment.

Specify the condition in which the performance or behavior will occur.

Example: In this learning objective: “After reviewing CATE’s learning objectives teaching guide, you will be able to craft measurable and observable learning objectives,” the condition is “After reviewing CATE’s learning objectives teaching guide.”

In summary, you should make sure that each learning objective answers the following questions:

• how much or how well

Making Sure Your Learning Objectives are SMART

The mnemonic SMART — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based — serves as a guide when crafting effective learning objectives.

The mnemonic SMART

Making Sure your Learning Objectives are SMART Heading link Copy link

The learning objective should be well-defined and clear. Make sure the learning objective is specific to the lesson and is specifically stated. Avoid using verbs that are vague and cannot be observed, such as appreciate, know, or believe.  Be specific about how a student will demonstrate their learning.

Learning objective example lacking specificity : By the end of this session, the student will be able to study Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Learning objectivity revised for specificity : By the end of this session, the student will be able to cite examples in support of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

The learning objective should both describe what a student will do, as well as exactly how the learning will be measured and evaluated.

Example of an unmeasurable learning objective : By the end of the lesson, learners will know the causes of the Second World War.

Learning objective revised for measurability : By the end of the lesson, students will be able to recount a timeline of the events leading up to the Second World War.

Can the objective be accomplished in the proposed time frame with the available resources and support? Do the students have the prior learning necessary to accomplish the objective? Unrealistic expectations or goals for the completion of a learning objective are self-defeating for both the student and the instructor.

Example of an unachievable learning objective : By the end of the lesson, students will be able to research the European Union.

Revised learning objective : By the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe the organization of the European Union.

Does the objective address the overall program goal(s)? Will the objective have an impact on the goal(s)? Ensuring that all learning objectives are relevant to a specific lesson entails careful course design.

Mapping out your course is a great way to make sure that all course objectives are relevant to the lesson and that learning materials, activities, and assessments all work together. See CATE’s course map template for more information on getting started on your own course map.

Time-Based or Time-Bound

A learning objective should include a specific time by which it will be completed, such as by the end of a lesson, module, or course.

It is important to allow enough time in the lesson, module, or course to complete the steps needed to achieve the objective (Skrbic and Burrows, 2015).

Learning objective checklist Heading link Copy link

Learning objective checklist.

• Do your learning objectives align with the overall course goals or course-level objectives?
• Do your learning objectives refer to what students should achieve, rather than what you, the instructor, will do?
• Does each learning objective target just one specific aspect of expected student outcomes?
• Does each learning objective use only one action verb?
• Is each learning objective measurable or observable?
• Is each learning objective concise, devoid of jargon, and focused on only the most important descriptive details?
• Does each learning objective align with assessments, learning materials, and instructional activities?

Learning objective examples across the disciplines Heading link Copy link

Learning objective examples across the disciplines.

• By the end of this course, students should be able to solve problems using matrix techniques and algorithms. (Math)
• By the end of this module, students should be able to use wave mechanics in 1 dimension to describe continuous degrees of freedom such as position and momentum for a quantum system. (Physics)
• By the end of this module, students should be able to evaluate the progress made to date on identifying exosolar planets, particularly those with the potential to have Earth-like surface conditions. (Biology)
• By the end of this lesson, students will be able to apply the volume displacement method to find the volume of an object. (Chemistry)
• By the end of this week, students should be able to apply backtracking search algorithms to constraint satisfaction problems. (Computer science)

Humanities and Social Sciences

• By the end of this course, students should be able to describe the major stylistic characteristics from each of the periods in the music of the Western European tradition. (Music appreciation)
• By the end of this course, students should be able to critically evaluate both primary and secondary sources related to contemporary African political history. (History)
• By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct ethnographic research informed by an anthropological perspective. (Anthropology)
• By the end of this course, students should be able to identify different rhetorical strategies and appeals in the writing of others. (Composition)
• By the end of this session, students should be able to explain how a clinical psychologist could demonstrate a developmental perspective while assessing children or adolescents. (Psychology)
• By the end of the course, students should be able to harmonize melodies by composing four-part textures that are consistent with the conventions of four-part chorale-style writing. (Music Composition)
• By the end of this course, students should be able to analyze music using a core vocabulary of 19th-century harmonic techniques, identifying them and explaining their use in context. (Music Analysis)
• By the end of this week, students should be able to articulate a clear and comprehensive architectural concept which is verified during design development. (Architecture)
• By the end of this week, students should be able to describe their painting submission in relation to historical and contemporary contexts. (Painting)
• By the end of this module, students should be able to identify the essential components of a Bach chorale in terms of its formal structure and its melodic and harmonic language. (Music History)
• By the end of this course, students should be able to visually communicate abstract concepts using drawing and design. (Drawing)

Business and Education

• By the end of this workshop, you should be able to review Bloom’s taxonomy as a guide to write learning objectives at different hierarchies. (Education)
• By the end of this module, students will be able to solve linear optimization problems that fit an investor’s goals and constraints. (Business Management)
• By the end of this module, you will be able to assess the strengths and limitations of basic operations management models for a given business problem. (Business Management)

Additional Considerations Heading link Copy link

Additional considerations.

Class size has an impact on the effectiveness of your learning objectives and guides how you craft your learning objectives. According to a study conducted by Taft, Kesten, and El-Banna, instructors of large classes (more than 40 students) are more likely to emphasize learning foundational and factual knowledge and are less likely to stress developing oral and written communication skills. On the other hand, instructors of small classes (fewer than 15 students) are more likely to emphasize mastery of complex knowledge and student skill development (2019).

Studies have also shown that instructors in small and medium classes are more likely to involve students in hands-on projects and real-life activities, assign projects that require original or creative thinking, form teams or discussion groups to facilitate learning, and ask students to help each other understand concepts or ideas (Benton and Pallett 2013). As you are crafting your learning objectives for your course, keep in mind that class size may have some impact on the learning activities and assessments that work best, which will then impact course learning objectives. You may want to consider implementing group work or team-based learning in your larger size courses to facilitate more student collaboration.

Course Modality

The course modality – on-campus, online synchronous, online asynchronous, hybrid, synchronous distributed – used in a course does not have a direct or immediate impact on how you craft your learning objectives. However, course modality does impact how you will assess student learning, what instructional materials and learning activities are most effective for the course modality, and which edtech tools you would like to use in your course. When crafting learning objectives, think through how you will implement learning activities and assess learning as this will impact your learning objectives as you align your objectives/assessments/learning activities and instructional materials. Please review the collection of Assessment and Grading Practices Teaching Guides to learn more about different ways to assess student learning in courses of all modalities.

CITING THIS GUIDE Heading link Copy link

Citing this guide.

Stapleton-Corcoran, E. (2023). “Learning Objectives.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://teaching.uic.edu/resources/teaching-guides/learning-principles-and-frameworks/learning-objectives/

REFERENCES Heading link Copy link

Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain . New York, NY: David McKay Company.

Chatterjee, D., & Corral, J. (2017). How to Write Well-Defined Learning Objectives. T he journal of education in perioperative medicine : JEPM , 19(4), E610.

Fink, D.L. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fink, L. D. (2013). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Hammond, M. & Collins, R. (1991). Self-directed learning: Critical practice . London: Kogan Page Limited.

Mager, R.F. (1984). Preparing instructional objectives (Rev. 2nd ed.). Lake Pub. Co.

Taft, S. H., Kesten, K., & El-Banna, M. M. (2019). One Size Does Not Fit All: Toward an Evidence-Based Framework for Determining Online Course Enrollment Sizes in Higher Education. Online Learning , 23 (3).

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Research Methodology: Best Practices for Rigorous, Credible, and Impactful Research

Student resources, learning objectives.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

2.1 Explain why you should care about ethical research.

2.2 Compare differences between two research philosophies: utilitarian and deontological.

2.3 Follow ethical standards in planning the purpose and study.

2.4 Execute ethical research that considers the rights of participants.

2.5 Consider special ethical requirements when conducting research in field settings.

2.6 Follow ethical standards in reporting your results.

2.7 Implement ethical standards when conducting research with online participants.

2.8 Enforce research ethics to prevent misconduct.

2.9 Apply your own ethical beliefs when considering ethical challenges and dilemmas.

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How to Craft a Learning Objective from a Common Core State Standard

• Classroom Strategy
• How to Craft a Learning…

Learning Objectives Guides are digital books that help teachers shift from just reading state standards to quickly creating lesson plans that focus on the required skills and content.

Guides are available for Common Core , Next Generation Science , Literacy , and more for K-12 teachers.

Frequently at DataWORKS, we are asked what it takes to craft a standards-based Learning Objective for use in the classroom. As many of you know, Common Core State Standards are often verbose and complex. This presents the problem of creating a concise Learning Objective without sacrificing clarity. In today’s post, we’ll take a look at how to craft a student-friendly Learning Objective from a Common Core Standard.

First, it is important to make the distinction between a content standard and a Learning Objective.

Content standards (such as Common Core State Standards) describe what students are to be taught over the course of a school year. A Learning Objective is a statement that describes what students will be able to do at the end of a lesson, as a result of instruction. Perhaps most importantly, a Learning Objective defines the purpose of the lesson, giving it direction from the very start. While it may appear to be a small part of the lesson, a well-written Learning Objective lays the foundation for a great lesson.

Within a Learning Objective, we have a Skill, Concept, and (often) Context.

The Skill of a Learning Objective is the measurable verb, or what the students will be doing. The Concept is the topic or big idea of the lesson, usually being a noun. The Context is the restricting condition of the lesson and may not be present – or may be removed for brevity in lower grades. Focusing on these three components can be useful in decreasing the word count (and cognitive load) of the Learning Objective for students.

As you can see, there is a considerable amount of language in the standard that would be inappropriate for a third-grade student. We can, however, extract from the standard the three components of a Learning Objective.

For the Skill, we look to the verb – in this case represent – which is what the students will be doing in this lesson.

Once we know the Skill, we can ask a simple question to identify the Concept: “What will our students represent?” The answer, of course, is fractions. The students will represent fractions.

Finally, we look to see if there is a Context, or circumstance, we are limited to. Once again, we can ask ourselves a simple question: “Where or how will the students represent fractions?” The answer here is on a number line. To meet the expectations of this particular standard, students need only represent fractions on a number line – and nowhere else.

Now that we have identified each individual component, we can piece them together to craft our Learning Objective:

The result is a teachable Learning Objective that provides clear, concise direction for the lesson. For the next 50 minutes, students know exactly what they will be doing. Equally important, teachers will set expectations for the lesson and a goal for student achievement which can be objectively measured.

Having trouble coming up with Learning Objectives for Common Core State Standards? DataWORKS has done the work for you!

Check out our common core learning objectives and essential tools video .shortcode-single-image-wrap.shortcode-single-image-d862e72cf6120a08f9c620cbc5865bd8.enable-bg-rollover .rollover i, .shortcode-single-image-wrap.shortcode-single-image-d862e72cf6120a08f9c620cbc5865bd8.enable-bg-rollover .rollover-video i { background: ; background: -webkit-linear-gradient(); background: linear-gradient(); } .shortcode-single-image-wrap.shortcode-single-image-d862e72cf6120a08f9c620cbc5865bd8 .rollover-icon { font-size: 32px; color: #ffffff; min-width: 44px; min-height: 44px; line-height: 44px; border-radius: 100px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; } .dt-icon-bg-on.shortcode-single-image-wrap.shortcode-single-image-d862e72cf6120a08f9c620cbc5865bd8 .rollover-icon { background: rgba(255,255,255,0.3); -webkit-box-shadow: none; box-shadow: none; } these k-12 guides convert common core state standards into explicit, teachable learning objectives. now teachers can rapidly comprehend, internalize, and implement new common core standards. exclusive bonus: includes lists and definitions of grade-level academic and content vocabulary words and their frequency of use in common core standards - see at a glance the key words students need to know to be successful in meeting standard requirements. attention science, history and technical subject teachers: check out the grades 6-12 literacy objective guides available - now you can support literacy within your own content area and using your own curriculum ....without having to become an english teacher..

Is your school or district crafting Learning Objectives in preparation of implementation of Common Core State Standards? Share your tips or experiences in the comment section below.

Our Ready-To-Teach lessons are a great way to see a common core learning objective already in a lesson. Educeri is our new lesson gallery and you can start a free trial without providing a credit card. P.S. All of our Common Core guides are available as part of the trial.

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Sample Learning Outcomes

Course outcome samples.

Carnegie Melon University, Eberly Center - learning objective samples

This website provides a collection of sample learning objectives across various disciplines, serving as a practical resource for educators seeking inspiration and guidance in creating clear and effective learning outcomes. These examples cover a wide range of subjects and demonstrate how to formulate specific, measurable, and achievable objectives that align with instructional goals. This resource is a valuable tool for instructors looking to enhance their course design and ensure their teaching aligns with intended learning outcomes.

Co-Curricular Outcome Samples

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55 Learning Objectives Examples

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Learning objectives are explicit statements that clearly express what learners should be able to comprehend, perform or experience by the end of a course or instructional period (Adams, 2015).

They are fundamental to the process of educational planning and instructional design, acting as vehicles that drive both teaching and learning strategies.

Importantly, they ensure coherence and a clear focus, differentiating themselves from vague educational goals by generating precise, measurable outcomes of academic progress (Sewagegn, 2020).

I have front-loaded the examples in this article for your convenience, but do scroll past all the examples for some useful frameworks for learning how to write effective learning objectives.

Learning Objectives Examples

Learning Objectives for Internships

For more, see: List of SMART Internship Goals

Learning Objectives for Presentations

For More: See This Detailed List of Communication Objectives Examples

Learning Objectives for Kindergarten

Taxonomies to Assist in Creating Objectives

Various taxonomies are available to educators as guides in formulating potent learning objectives, with three prominent ones provided below.

1. The SMART Framework for Learning Objectives

The SMART framework helps you to construct clear and well-defined learning objectives. It stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (Doran, 1981).

• Specific objectives are ones that are straightforward, detailing the what, why, and how of the learning process. For example, an objective that states “Improve mental multiplication skills” is less specific than “Multiply two-digit numbers mentally within two minutes with 90% accuracy.” When I was learning to write learning objectives at university, I was taught to always explicitly describe the measurable outcome .
• Measurable objectives facilitate tracking progress and evaluating learning outcomes. An objective such as “Write a 500-word essay on the causes of World War II, substantiated with at least three academic sources” is measurable, as both word count and the number of sources can be quantified.
• Achievable objectives reflect realistic expectations based on the learner’s potential and learning environment, fostering motivation and commitment.
• Relevant objectives correspond with overarching educational goals and learner’s needs, such as an objective to “identify and manage common software vulnerabilities” in a cybersecurity course.
• Time-bound objectives specify the duration within which the learning should take place, enhancing management of time and resources in the learning process.

2. Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s taxonomy outlines six cognitive levels of understanding – knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Adams, 2015). Each are presented below:

Each level is demonstrated below:

Here, we can reflect upon the level of learning and cognition expected of the learner, and utilize the Bloom’s taxonomy verbs to cater the learning objectives to that level.

3. Fink’s Taxonomy

Another helpful resource for creating objectives is Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning , which emphasizes different dimensions of learning, including foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn (Marzano, 2010):

• Foundational knowledge refers to the basic information learners must understand to progress with the topic at hand—for instance, understanding color theory before painting a canvas.
• Application gives learners real-world instances for applying the knowledge and skills they’ve cultivated, such as using Adobe Photoshop in a design project after a graphic design lecture.
• Integration enables learners to make interdisciplinary connections between the new knowledge and various fields of study or areas of life—for example, a business student applying economic theory to understand market dynamics in biotechnology.
• Human dimension involves personal and social implications of learning, i.e., how the learners see themselves and interact with others in light of the new knowledge.
• Caring challenges learners to develop new feelings, interests, or values aligned with the course outcomes, like fostering a conservation mindset in an environmental science course.
• Learning how to learn encourages learners to become self-directed and resourceful, enabling them to cultivate learning strategies, skills, and habits that make them lifelong learners, such as using reflective journals or peer reviews (Marzano, 2010).

An example of an objective that uses Fink’s framework could be:

“Learners will conduct a small research project about a famous physicist (foundational knowledge), incorporating class teachings (application) and their own interpretations (integration), then present to the class (human dimension), reflecting on how the physicist’s work affects them personally (caring) and how the project grew their understanding of research methods (learning how to learn).”

Why are Learning Objectives Important?

Effective learning objectives serve to streamline the learning process, creating a clear path for both teachers and learners.

The role of objectives in education mirrors the use of a roadmap on a journey; just as marking out stops and landmarks can facilitate navigation, learning objectives can clarify the trajectory of a course or lesson (Hall, Quinn, & Gollnick, 2018).

On a practical level, imagine teaching a course about climate change. Without explicit learning objectives (like understanding how carbon footprints contribute to global warming), learners could easily veer off track, misinterpreting the main focus.

Learning objectives also act as an anchor during assessments, providing a yardstick against which progress and performance can be gauged (Orr et al., 2022). When students are graduating high school, for example, it’s likely they’ll be assessed on some form of standardized testing to measure if the objectives have been met.

By serving as a guide for content selection and instructional design, learning objectives allow teachers to ensure coursework is suitably designed to meet learners’ needs and the broader course’s objectives (Li et al., 2022). In situations where time is crucial, such as military training or emergency medicine, keeping the focus narrow and relevant is crucial.

Tips and Tricks

1. tips on integrating learning objectives into course design.

Learning objectives serve as a foundation in the designing of a course.

They provide a structured framework that guides the incorporation of different course components, including instructional materials, activities, and assessments (Li et al., 2022).

When designing a photography course, for example, learning objectives guide the selection of appropriate theoretical content (like understanding aperture and shutter speed), practical activities (like a field trip for landscape photography), and the assessment methods (like a portfolio submission).

Just like how research objectives shape the methodology a research study will take, so too will learning objectives shape the teaching methods and assessment methods that will flow-on from the path set out in the overarching learning objectives.

2. Tips on Assessing and Revising your Learning Objectives Regularly

Learning objectives are not set in stone; they demand constant review and refinement.

In the light of feedback from learners, instructors or external bodies (like accreditation agencies), learning outcomes, and advancements in pedagogy, learning objectives may need to be revised (Orr et al., 2022).

Think about a programming course where new frameworks or libraries are regularly introduced; in such cases, the learning objectives would need to be updated to reflect these emerging trends. This provides opportunities for continual enhancement of the course design, thus fostering an environment of progressive learning and teaching (Sewagegn, 2020).

Teachers should revise their learning objectives every time they re-introduce the unit of work to a new cohort of students, taking into account the learnings and feedback you acquired last time you taught the unit.

Learning objectives, when effectively formulated and implemented, serve as key drivers of successful instruction.

They underscore the importance of clarity, directness, and depth in the learning process, fostering a learning environment designed for optimal learner engagement, progress tracking, and educational outcome (Hall, Quinn, & Gollnick, 2018).

With their expansive role in the educational journey, educators are encouraged to invest time and resourceful thought in crafting and continually refining their classroom objectives (Doran, 1981). Moreover, the use of established taxonomies and attention to characteristics like SMARTness in this process can greatly facilitate this endeavor.

As the backbone of well-structured courses, learning objectives deserve the thoughtful consideration and continuous improvement efforts of every dedicated educator. It is our hope that this article has provided insights that will help you bring more clarity, coherence, and effectiveness to your educational planning.

Adams, N. E. (2015). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives.  Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA ,  103 (3), 152. doi: https://doi.org/10.3163%2F1536-5050.103.3.010

Doran, G. T. (1981). There’sa SMART way to write management’s goals and objectives.  Management review ,  70 (11), 35-36.

Hall, G. E., Quinn, L. F., & Gollnick, D. M. (2018).  Introduction to teaching: Making a difference in student learning . Sage Publications.

Li, Y., Rakovic, M., Poh, B. X., Gaševic, D., & Chen, G. (2022). Automatic Classification of Learning Objectives Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.  International Educational Data Mining Society .

Marzano, R. J. (2010).  Designing & teaching learning goals & objectives . Solution Tree Press.

Orr, R. B., Csikari, M. M., Freeman, S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2022). Writing and using learning objectives.  CBE—Life Sciences Education ,  21 (3). Doi: https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.22-04-0073

Sewagegn, A. A. (2020). Learning objective and assessment linkage: its contribution to meaningful student learning.  Universal Journal of Educational Research ,  8 (11), 5044-5052.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 101 Class Group Name Ideas (for School Students)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 19 Top Cognitive Psychology Theories (Explained)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 119 Bloom’s Taxonomy Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ All 6 Levels of Understanding (on Bloom’s Taxonomy)

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Writing and Using Learning Objectives

• Rebecca B. Orr
• Melissa M. Csikari
• Scott Freeman
• Michael C. Rodriguez

*Address correspondence to: Rebecca B. Orr ( E-mail Address: [email protected] ).

Division of Academic Affairs, Collin College, Plano, TX 75074

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HHMI Science Education, BioInteractive, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Learning objectives (LOs) are used to communicate the purpose of instruction. Done well, they convey the expectations that the instructor—and by extension, the academic field—has in terms of what students should know and be able to do after completing a course of study. As a result, they help students better understand course activities and increase student performance on assessments. LOs also serve as the foundation of course design, as they help structure classroom practices and define the focus of assessments. Understanding the research can improve and refine instructor and student use of LOs. This essay describes an online, evidence-based teaching guide published by CBE—Life Sciences Education ( LSE ) at http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives . The guide contains condensed summaries of key research findings organized by recommendations for writing and using LOs, summaries of and links to research articles and other resources, and actionable advice in the form of a checklist for instructors. In addition to describing key features of the guide, we also identify areas that warrant further empirical studies.

INTRODUCTION

Learning objectives (LOs) are statements that communicate the purpose of instruction to students, other instructors, and an academic field ( Mager, 1997 ; Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). They form the basis for developing high-quality assessments for formative and summative purposes. Once LOs and assessments are established, instructional activities can help students master the material. Aligning LOs with assessments and instructional practice is the essence of backward course design ( Fink, 2003 ).

Many terms in the literature describe statements about learning expectations. The terms “course objectives,” “course goals,” “learning objectives,” “learning outcomes,” and “learning goals” are often used interchangeably, creating confusion for instructors and students. To clarify and standardize usage, the term “objective” is defined as a declarative statement that identifies what students are expected to know and do . At the same time, “outcome” refers to the results measured at the end of a unit, course, or program. It is helpful to think of LOs as a tool instructors use for describing intended outcomes, regardless of the process for achieving the outcome ( Mager, 1997 ). The term “goal” is less useful. Although it is often used to express more general expectations, there is no consistent usage in the literature.

At the end of this lesson, students should be able to compare the processes of diffusion, osmosis, and facilitated diffusion, and provide biological examples that illustrate each process.

At the end of this lesson, students should be able to predict the relative rates at which given ions and molecules will cross a plasma membrane in the absence of membrane protein and explain their reasoning.

In terms of content and complexity, LOs should scaffold professional practice, requirements for a program, and individual course goals by communicating the specific content areas and skills considered important by the academic field ( Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). They also promote course articulation by supporting consistency when courses are taught by multiple instructors and furnishing valuable information about course alignment among institutions. As a result, LOs should serve as the basis of unit or module, course, and program design and can be declared in a nested hierarchy of levels. For clarity, we describe a hierarchy of LOs in Table 1 .

a Hereafter, our use of the term “learning objectives” specifically refers to instructional LOs.

This article describes an evidence-based teaching guide that aggregates, summarizes, and provides actionable advice from research findings on LOs. It can be accessed at http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives . The guide has several features intended to help instructors: a landing page that indicates starting points ( Figure 1 ), syntheses of observations from the literature, summaries of and links to selected papers ( Figure 2 ), and an instructor checklist that details recommendations and points to consider. The focus of our guide is to provide recommendations based on the literature for instructors to use when creating, revising, and using instructional LOs in their courses. The Effective Construction section provides evidence-based guidelines for writing effective LOs. The Instructor Use section contains research summaries about using LOs as a foundational element for successful course design, summaries of the research that supports recommended practices for aligning LOs with assessment and classroom instruction, and direction from experts for engaging with colleagues in improving instructor practice with LOs. The Student Use section includes a discussion on how students use LOs and how instructor guidance can improve student use of LOs, along with evidence on the impact of LO use coupled with pretests, transparent teaching methods, and summaries of LO-driven student outcomes in terms of exam scores, depth of learning, and affect (e.g., perception of utility and self-regulated learning). Some of the questions and considerations that serve to organize the guide are highlighted in the following sections.

FIGURE 1. LO guide landing page, which provides readers with an overview of choice points.

FIGURE 2. Screenshots representing summaries of and links to selected papers.

WRITING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Writing LOs effectively is essential, as their wording should provide direction for developing instructional activities and guide the design of assessments. Effective LOs clearly communicate what students should know and be able to do and are written to be behavioral, measurable, and attainable ( Rodriguez and Albano, 2017 ). It is particularly important that each LO is written with enough information to ensure that other knowledgeable individuals can use the LO to measure a learner’s success and arrive at the same conclusions ( Mager, 1997 ). Clear, unambiguous wording encourages consistency across sections and optimizes student use of the stated LOs.

Effective LOs specify a visible performance—what students should be able to do with the content—and may also include conditions and the criteria for acceptable performance ( Mager, 1997 ). When constructing an LO, one should use an action verb to describe what students are expected to know and be able to do with the disciplinary knowledge and skills ( Figure 3 ). Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive skills provides a useful framework for writing LOs that embody the intended complexity and the cognitive demands involved in mastering them ( Bloom, 1956 ; Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001 ). Assessment items and course activities can then be aligned with LOs using the Blooming Biology Tool described by Crowe et al. (2008) . However, LOs should not state the instructional method(s) planned to accomplish the objectives or be written so specifically as to be assessment tasks themselves ( Mager, 1997 ).

FIGURE 3. Components of an LO.

Our Instructor Checklist provides specific recommendations for writing LOs, along with a link to examples of measurable action verbs associated with Bloom’s taxonomy.

COURSE DESIGN: ALIGNING LEARNING OBJECTIVES WITH ASSESSMENT AND CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION

Course designs and redesigns built around clear and measurable LOs result in measurable benefits to students (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and other citations in the Course and Curriculum Design and Outcomes section of this guide). LOs are established as the initial step in backward design ( McTighe and Wiggins, 2012 ). They provide a framework for instructors to 1) design assessments that furnish evidence on the degree of student mastery of knowledge and skills and 2) select teaching and learning activities that are aligned with objectives ( Mager, 1997 ; Rodriguez and Albano, 2017) . Figure 4 depicts depicts integrated course course design, emphasizing the dynamic and reciprocal associations among LOs, assessment, and teaching practice.

FIGURE 4. Components of integrated course design (after Fink, 2003 ).

Used in this way, LOs provide a structure for planning assessments and instruction while giving instructors the freedom to be creative and flexible ( Mager, 1997 ; Reynolds and Kearns, 2017 ). In essence, LOs respond to the question: “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know which road to take and how do you know when you get there?” ( Mager, 1997 , p. 14). When assessments are created, each assessment item or task must be specifically associated with at least one LO and measure student learning progress on that LO. The performance and conditions components of each LO should guide the type of assessment developed ( Mager, 1997 ). Data gathered from assessment results (feedback) can then inform future instruction. The Assessment section of our guide contains summaries of research reporting the results of aligning assessment with LOs and summaries of frameworks that associate assessment items with LOs.

The purpose of instruction is communicated to students most effectively when instructional activities are aligned with associated instructional and course-level LOs (e.g., Chasteen et al. , 2011 , and others within the Instructor Use section of this guide). The literature summarized in the Course and Curriculum Design section of the guide supports the hypothesis that student learning is strongly impacted by what instructors emphasize in the classroom. In the guide’s Student Buy-In and Metacognition section, we present strategies instructors have used to ensure that LOs are transparent and intentionally reinforced to students . When LOs are not reinforced in instruction, students may conclude that LOs are an administrative requirement rather than something developed for their benefit. The guide’s Instructor Checklist contains evidence-based suggestions for increasing student engagement through making LOs highly visible.

Using LOs as the foundation of course planning results in a more student-centered approach, shifting the focus from the content to be covered to the concepts and skills that the student should be able to demonstrate upon successfully completing the course (e.g., Reynolds and Kearns, 2017 , and others within the Active Learning section of this guide). Instead of designing memorization-driven courses that are “a mile wide and an inch deep,” instructors can use LOs to focus a course on the key concepts and skills that prepare students for future success in the field. Group problem solving, discussions, and other class activities that allow students to practice and demonstrate the competencies articulated in LOs can be prioritized over lectures that strive to cover all of the content. The guide’s Active Learning section contains a summary of the literature on the use of LOs to develop activities that promote student engagement, provide opportunities for students to practice performance, and allow instructors to gather feedback on learning progress. The evidence-based teaching guides on Group Work and Peer Instruction provide additional evidence and resources to support these efforts.

ENGAGING WITH COLLEAGUES TO IMPROVE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Momsen et al. (2010) examined Bloom’s level of assessment items and course goals from 50 faculty in 77 introductory biology courses for majors. The authors found that 93% of the assessment items were rated low-level Bloom’s, and 69% of the 250 course goals submitted were rated low-level Bloom’s ( Momsen et al. , 2010 ). A recent survey of 38 instructors of biology for nonmajors found similar results. Heil et al. (unpublished data) reported that 74% of the instructors surveyed write their own LOs, and 95% share their LOs with their students ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). The action verbs used in 66% of these LOs were low-level Bloom’s cognitive skills, assessing knowledge and comprehension ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). Further, an analysis of 1390 LOs from three best-selling biology textbooks for nonscience majors found that 89% were rated Bloom’s cognitive skill level 1 or level 2. Vision & Change competencies, as articulated in the BioSkills Guide ( Clemmons et al. , 2020 ), were only present in 17.7% of instructors’ LOs and 7% of the textbook LOs ( Heil et al. , unpublished data ). These data suggest that, in introductory biology for both majors and nonmajors, most instructors emphasize lower-order cognitive skills that are not aligned with teaching frameworks.

Researchers have documented effective strategies to improve instructors’ writing and use of LOs. The guide’s Engaging with Colleagues section contains summaries demonstrating that instructor engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning can improve through professional development in collaborative groups—instructors can benefit by engaging in a collegial community of practice as they implement changes in their teaching practices (e.g., Richlin and Cox, 2004 , and others within the Engaging with Colleagues section of the guide). Collaboration among institutions can create common course-level LOs that promote horizontal and vertical course alignment, which can streamline articulation agreements and transfer pathways between institutions ( Kiser et al. , 2022 ). Departmental efforts to map LOs across program curricula can close gaps in programmatic efforts to convey field-expected criteria and develop student skills throughout a program ( Ezell et al. , 2019 ). The guide contains summaries of research-based recommendations that encourage departmental support for course redesign efforts (e.g., Pepper et al. , 2012 , and others within the Engaging with Colleagues section of the guide).

HOW DO LEARNING OBJECTIVES IMPACT STUDENTS?

When instructors publish well-written LOs aligned with classroom instruction and assessments, they establish clear goalposts for students ( Mager, 1997 ). Using LOs to guide their studies, students should no longer have to ask “Do we have to know …?” or “Will this be on the test?” The Student Use section of the guide contains summaries of research on the impact of LOs from the student perspective.

USING LEARNING OBJECTIVES TO GUIDE STUDENT LEARNING

Researchers have shown that students support the use of LOs to design class activities and assessments. In the Guiding Learning section of the guide, we present evidence documenting how students use LOs and how instructors can train students to use them more effectively ( Brooks et al. , 2014 , and other citations within this section of the guide). However, several questions remain about the impact of LOs on students. For example, using LOs may improve students’ ability to self-regulate, which in turn may be particularly helpful in supporting the success of underprepared students ( Simon and Taylor, 2009 ; Osueke et al. , 2018 ). But this hypothesis remains untested.

Does the use of LOs lead to increased engagement with the content and/or instructor by underprepared and/or underserved students?

Does LO use have a disproportionate and positive impact on the ability of underprepared and/or underresourced students to self-direct their learning?

Is there a significant impact on underserved students’ academic performance and persistence with transparent LOs in place?

In general, how can instructors help students realize the benefits of well-written LOs? Research indicates that many students never receive instruction on using LOs ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). However, when students receive explicit instruction on LO use, they benefit ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). Examples include teaching students how to turn LOs into questions and how to answer and use those questions for self-assessment ( Osueke et al. , 2018 ). Using LOs for self-assessment allows students to take advantage of retrieval practice, a strategy that has a positive effect on learning and memory by helping students identify what they have and have not learned ( Bjork and Bjork, 2011 ; Brame and Biel, 2015 ). Some students, however, may avoid assessment strategies that identify what they do not understand or know because they find difficulty uncomfortable ( Orr and Foster, 2013 ; Dye and Stanton, 2017 ).

What are the best practices to help students use LOs in self-assessment strategies?

How can instructors motivate students to go outside their comfort zones for learning and use LOs in self-assessment strategies?

How can instructors help students better understand the performance, conditions, and criteria required by the LOs to demonstrate successful learning?

How might this differ for learners at different institutions, where academic preparedness and/or readiness levels may vary greatly?

CAPITALIZING ON THE PRETEST EFFECT

How broadly applicable—in terms of discipline and course setting—is the benefit of converting LOs to pretest questions?

Is the benefit of operationalizing LOs to create pretests sustained when converting higher-level Bloom’s LOs into pretest questions?

Does the practice of using LOs to create pretest questions narrow students’ focus such that the breadth/scope of their learning is overly limited/restricted? This is particularly concerning if students underestimate the depth of learning required by the stated LOs ( Brooks et al. , 2014 ).

Could this practice help instructors teach students to use LOs to self-assess with greater confidence and persistence?

STUDENT OUTCOMES

The guide concludes with research summaries regarding the specific benefits to students associated with the use of LOs. Specifically, 1) alignment of LOs and assessment items is associated with higher exam scores (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and others within the Outcomes section of the guide); 2) exam items designed to measure student mastery of LOs can support higher-level Bloom’s cognitive skills (e.g., Armbruster et al. , 2009 , and others within the Outcomes section of the guide); and 3) students adjust their learning approach based on course design and have been shown to employ a deeper approach to learning in courses in which assessment and class instruction are aligned with LOs ( Wang et al. , 2013 ).

CHALLENGES IN MEASURING THE IMPACT OF LEARNING OBJECTIVES

It is difficult to find literature in which researchers measured the impact of LOs alone on student performance due to their almost-necessary conflation with approaches to assessment and classroom practices. We argue that measuring the impact of LOs independently of changes in classroom instruction or assessment would be inadvisable, considering the role that LOs play in integrated course design ( Figure 4 ). Consistent with this view, the guide includes summaries of research findings on course redesigns that focus on creating or refining well-defined, well-written LOs; aligning assessment and classroom practice with the LOs; and evaluating student use and/or outcomes ( Armbruster et al. , 2009 ; Chasteen et al. , 2011 ). We urge instructors to use LOs from this integrated perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

We encourage instructors to use LOs as the basis for course design, align LOs with assessment and instruction, and promote student success by sharing their LOs and providing practice with how best to use them. Instructor skill in using LOs is not static and can be improved and refined with collaborative professional development efforts. Our teaching guide ends with an Instructor Checklist of actions instructors can take to optimize their use of LOs ( http://lse.ascb.org/learning-objectives/instructor-checklist ).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Kristy Wilson for her guidance and support as consulting editor for this effort and Cynthia Brame and Adele Wolfson for their insightful feedback on this paper and the guide. This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant number DUE 201236 2. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Submitted: 8 April 2022 Revised: 20 May 2022 Accepted: 3 June 2022

© 2022 R. B. Orr et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2022 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0).

1.2 Evidence-Based Practice

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Analyze how different theories influence nursing knowledge
• Describe how nursing research has evolved
• Identify the steps for translating evidence-based research into evidence-based practice

This section will explore the world of nursing theory and how it has shaped evidence-based practice (EBP) and the nursing profession as a whole. As nursing evolved from reliance on complete medical direction into independent professional practice, nursing theories were developed by leaders in the field to shape nursing practice into what it is today. This section will guide you through these important aspects, helping you grasp the connections between theory, research, and practice.

Interdisciplinary Theories Used in Nursing

A theory that integrates knowledge and concepts from one or more disciplines to enhance nursing practice, research, and education is known as an interdisciplinary theory . These are an essential part of nursing as they provide a broader perspective and more comprehensive understanding of healthcare issues.

In nursing, interdisciplinary theories are used in various ways. They assist in the development of nursing models and frameworks that guide the delivery of patient care. By incorporating theories from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and biology, nurses can better understand the complex factors influencing health and apply holistic approaches to patient care.

Interdisciplinary theories also facilitate collaboration among healthcare professionals from various disciplines. Nurses frequently work as part of interdisciplinary teams, including physicians, therapists, social workers, and others. By understanding and integrating theories from different fields, nurses can effectively communicate and collaborate with team members, promoting coordinated and holistic patient care.

General Systems Theory

The general systems theory is a conceptual framework that describes how systems function and interact with their environment (American Psychological Association, 2023). General systems theory views the world not as a collection of individual elements operating independently, but as a network of interconnected systems. A system is defined as a set of elements that are interrelated and work together to achieve a common goal. An element can be an object, person, process, or concept. General systems theory emphasizes the interdependence, relationships, and dynamics within and between systems.

General systems theory is highly beneficial in healthcare settings as it provides a holistic perspective and promotes a comprehensive understanding of complex healthcare systems. It encourages healthcare professionals to view the entire system, including patients, healthcare providers, and community resources, as interconnected components. By adopting a systems thinking approach, healthcare teams can analyze the relationships and interdependencies within the system, identify patterns, and address underlying causes of problems.

Adaptation Theory

Roy’s adaptation model , developed by nursing theorist Sister Callista Roy, is a conceptual framework based on the belief that individuals strive to maintain balance and achieve a state of equilibrium in response to changes in their internal and external environments, and aims to promote adaptation for optimal health and well-being (Marudhar & Josefina, 2019).

According to Roy’s adaptation model, adaptation is influenced by both internal and external stimuli. An internal stimulus includes physiological, psychological, and cognitive factors, while an external stimulus encompasses the physical, social, and cultural aspects of the environment.

Roy’s model proposes four major adaptive modes: physiological, self-concept, role function, and interdependence. These adaptive modes represent different aspects of an individual’s life and are interconnected ( Figure 1.4 ). The model also highlights the importance of coping strategy mechanisms and the role of the nursing profession in facilitating adaptive responses.

Nurses using Roy’s adaptation model assess individuals’ adaptive responses, identify stimuli that may disrupt adaptation, and intervene to promote adaptation. Interventions may include modifying the environment, providing education and support, or assisting individuals in developing effective coping strategies. See 1.1 Principles of Nursing Practice for a more detailed description of strategies that nurses can give to their patients to help promote adaptation and adapt effective coping strategies.

Developmental Theory

A developmental theory is a framework that aims to explain and understand how individuals grow, change, and develop across various stages of life, emphasizing the interaction between biological, cognitive, social, and emotional factors in shaping human development. Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory and Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory are two of the most important developmental theories that have influenced nursing theory .

Erikson’s psychosocial development theory outlines eight stages of human development, each characterized by a unique psychosocial crisis or challenge (Orenstein & Lewis, 2022). These stages span from infancy to old age and emphasize the importance of successfully resolving these crises for healthy psychosocial development ( Figure 1.5 ). Nursing theories influenced by Erikson’s model recognize the significance of addressing psychosocial aspects of patient care, such as identity, intimacy, and generativity. These theories focus on promoting patients’ psychological well-being, fostering positive relationships, and supporting patients in their developmental journeys. Examples include Jean Watson’s caring science and human caring theory, Imogene King’s theory of goal attainment, and Betty Neuman’s systems model.

On the other hand, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory posits that individuals have a hierarchical structure of needs, ranging from basic physiological needs to self-actualization (Toney-Butler & Thayer, 2023). This theory suggests that individuals must fulfill their basic physiological and safety needs before progressing to higher-level needs such as belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Nursing theories inspired by Maslow’s model prioritize providing holistic care that addresses patients’ physiological, psychological, and social needs. Examples include Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations, Virginia Henderson’s nursing theory, Madeleine Leininger’s culture care theory, and Sister Callista Roy’s adaptation model.

These theories emphasize the importance of creating a supportive and nurturing environment that promotes patients’ well-being and enables them to reach their full potential. Figure 1.6 depicts Maslow’s hierarchy and illustrates the various human needs encompassed by holistic care.

Both Erikson’s and Maslow’s theories have influenced nursing theorists in recognizing the importance of addressing the multidimensional needs of patients. They have contributed to the development of nursing theories that embrace a holistic perspective, acknowledging the influence of psychological, social, and developmental factors on patients’ health and well-being.

Nursing Theory

The nursing theory refers to a set of organized concepts, principles, and relationships that guide and inform nursing practice. It is a systematic and evidence-based framework developed by nursing theorists to describe, explain, predict, and prescribe nursing care. Ultimately, nursing theories shape how nurses interact with their patients.

Framework of Nursing Theory

The framework of nursing theory provides a structured and organized approach to understanding and applying nursing concepts and principles. It serves as the foundation ( Table 1.1 ) upon which nursing theories are built and helps to organize and categorize nursing knowledge.

The framework of nursing theory is dynamic and evolves as new knowledge and evidence emerge. Nursing theories and their frameworks contribute to the development of EBP, improve patient outcomes, and enhance the professional identity and autonomy of the nursing profession. There are two main types of nursing theories: descriptive and prescriptive.

Descriptive Theories

A descriptive theory in nursing, also known as phenomenological theories, focuses on describing and understanding the lived experiences of individuals in the context of health care (Watkins, 2020). These theories aim to provide a deeper understanding of the meaning and significance of various phenomena related to health, illness, and nursing care.

Descriptive nursing theories often employ qualitative research methods to explore and analyze the subjective experiences, perspectives, and perceptions of patients, families, and healthcare providers. They seek to uncover the essence of these experiences and the underlying meanings attributed to them. These theories may explore topics such as the experience of chronic illness, the process of decision-making in health care, the impact of cultural beliefs on health behaviors, or the challenges faced by nurses in providing end-of-life care. They delve into the lived experiences of individuals to gain insights into the complexity and nuances of healthcare phenomena.

Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality is an example of a descriptive nursing theory . This theory focuses on describing the impact of cultural beliefs, values, and practices on health and nursing care (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2019). It explores how individuals from different cultural backgrounds experience and perceive health, illness, and health care, highlighting the importance of cultural competence in nursing practice.

Prescriptive Theories

A prescriptive theory in nursing provides guidance and direction for nursing practice by offering recommendations, interventions, or guidelines to achieve desired outcomes (Watkins, 2020). These theories focus on prescribing actions or strategies that nurses can implement to promote health, prevent illness, and facilitate healing. One example of a prescriptive nursing theory is Watson’s theory of human caring . Watson’s theory emphasizes the significance of caring in nursing practice (Watson Caring Science Institute, 2023). It prescribes that nurses should demonstrate genuine caring attitudes, compassion, and empathy toward patients. Nurses then integrate caring behaviors into their interactions, creating a healing environment that nurtures the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of patients.

Concepts of Nursing Theories

The nursing metaparadigm refers to the four foundational concepts that are central to the discipline of nursing (Deliktas et. al, 2019). These concepts are person, environment, health, and nursing. They form the overarching framework that guides nursing theory, research, and practice ( Figure 1.7 ). The nursing metaparadigm guides nurses in understanding the interconnectedness of the person, environment, health, and nursing, and serves as a foundation for delivering patient-centered and evidence-based care.

The person refers to the individual, family, group, or community receiving nursing care. It recognizes that each person is unique, with physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions. Nurses support the concept of person by considering the patient’s beliefs, values, and preferences when developing a plan of care.

Environment

The environment encompasses the physical, social, cultural, and economic settings in which the person exists. It includes both the immediate healthcare setting and the broader societal and environmental factors that can influence health outcomes. Nurses support the concept of environment by recognizing the impact of the environment on the patient’s well-being and working to create a supportive, safe, and healing environment.

Health encompasses the physical, mental, and social well-being of the person. It goes beyond the absence of illness and emphasizes optimal functioning and quality of life. Nurses support the concept of health by providing education and preventive care, managing symptoms, and facilitating the person’s overall well-being.

Nursing is the art and science of providing care to individuals, families, communities, and populations. It involves the application of knowledge, skills, and compassion in promoting and maintaining health, preventing illness, and supporting individuals in their healing processes. Nursing is characterized by utilizing a unique body of knowledge, ethical principle s, and commitment to provide holistic care.

Evolution of Nursing Research

Nursing research has undergone significant evolution over time, transitioning from a tradition-based practice to a scientifically rigorous discipline. Initially, nursing relied on personal experience and tradition, but beginning in the nineteenth century, the need for evidence-based practice became evident (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). The term evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to the integration of the best available research information, clinical expertise, and patient preferences or values to guide healthcare decision-making and improve patient outcomes ( American Nurses Association (ANA) , 2023). With the establishment of research organizations and journals, nursing research gained recognition and contributed to the improvement of patient care. The adoption of different kinds of research methodologies allowed for more robust investigations into nursing education, practice improvement, and patient outcomes. The emergence of EBP ( Table 1.2 ) further integrated research findings into nursing practice, ensuring that decisions are based on the best available evidence. Nursing research has expanded its focus to encompass diverse topics such as chronic illness management, mental health, and healthcare disparities. Technological advancements and interdisciplinary collaborations continue to shape the evolution of nursing research, further advancing the field and its impact on patient care.

Protection of Human Rights in Nursing Research

The protection of human rights is of utmost importance in nursing research to ensure the ethical treatment of participants and uphold their dignity, privacy, and well-being (Burke, 2023c). Several principles and guidelines are in place to safeguard human rights during the research process:

• Informed consent: Obtaining informed consent is a fundamental requirement in nursing research. Participants must be provided with comprehensive information about the study, including its purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, and their right to withdraw at any time. Informed consent ensures that individuals can make voluntary and autonomous decisions about their participation.
• Confidentiality and privacy: The ethical and legal duty to safeguard and protect sensitive and private information from unauthorized disclosure or access, ensuring it remains secure from others is known as confidentiality . Respecting the confidentiality and privacy of research participants is crucial. Nurses must take measures to protect participants’ identities and ensure that data are handled securely. Confidentiality allows individuals to share sensitive information without fear of it being disclosed to unauthorized individuals.
• Beneficence and nonmaleficence: Nursing researchers have an ethical obligation to promote the well-being of participants (beneficence) and minimize any potential harm (nonmaleficence). This includes carefully designing research protocols, minimizing risks, and monitoring participants’ welfare throughout the study.
• Research ethics committees: Institutional review boards or research ethics committees play a vital role in safeguarding human rights in nursing research. These committees review research protocols to ensure that ethical principles are upheld, participants’ rights are protected, and potential risks are minimized.
• At-risk populations: Special considerations must be given when conducting research involving at-risk populations. The term at-risk population refers to a group of individuals who are at higher risk of experiencing adverse health, social, or economic outcomes due to various factors such as limited access to resources, socioeconomic disparities, or health conditions. This includes children, older adults, individuals with cognitive impairments, or those with limited decision-making capacity. Extra safeguards are necessary to protect the rights and welfare of these individuals.
• Ethical guidelines and standards : Nursing research adheres to ethical guidelines and standards and national regulatory bodies’ guidelines. These documents provide ethical frameworks and principles that guide researchers in conducting ethical and responsible research.

By upholding the protection of human rights in nursing research, nurses contribute to the integrity, validity, and ethical conduct of research. Ensuring participants’ autonomy, privacy, confidentiality, and overall well-being enhances the trustworthiness of research findings and upholds the ethical principles central to the nursing profession.

Link to Learning

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers free, comprehensive training on human research protections on their website. This training is mandatory for researchers who wish to participate in studies involving human subjects that are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) . Certificates can be printed for each lesson to demonstrate completion of the course.

Methodology of Nursing Research

Nursing research methodology uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods ( Figure 1.8 ). The quantitative research refers to a systematic and empirical approach that involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of numerical data to answer research questions and explore phenomena related to health care. Quantitative research provides numerical data and statistical analysis, allowing for objective measurements, generalizations, and statistical significance. It helps identify trends, assess treatment effectiveness, and inform evidence-based practice.

On the other hand, qualitative research in nursing refers to a systematic and subjective approach that focuses on understanding and interpreting human experiences, meanings, and social phenomena in the context of health care. Qualitative research explores the subjective experiences, perspectives, and meanings behind healthcare phenomena through in-depth interviews, observations, and narratives. It provides rich, contextual insights into patients’ lived experiences, healthcare provider interactions, and social determinants of health. By combining both approaches, nurses can obtain a holistic view of patient care, integrating objective data with the humanistic aspects of health care (Curtis et al., 2016).

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is a methodical investigation that utilizes statistical analysis and objective measurements to generate numerical findings. Statistical analysis techniques are used to summarize the data, draw conclusions, and test hypotheses. Quantitative research aims to identify patterns, relationships, and associations between variables ( Table 1.3 ). The results of quantitative research are presented using statistical tables, charts, and statistical measures such as means, percentages, correlations, or regression analyses.

In quantitative nursing research, researchers use data collection instruments, such as surveys, questionnaires, or structured observations, to gather data from a sample or population. The collected data are typically in the form of numerical values or categorical responses. An example of quantitative research would be a hospital giving surveys to patients upon discharge, asking them to rate their experience on a numerical scale of 0 to 10, and then evaluating the responses to see which areas most need improvement.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a methodological approach that emphasizes exploring the depth, complexity, and richness of individuals’ perspectives and the social context in which they occur.

In qualitative nursing research, researchers use various data collection methods, such as interviews, focus groups, observations, or document analysis, to gather non-numerical data. The data collected often consist of words, narratives, descriptions, and images that provide a detailed understanding of the participants’ experiences, beliefs, and perceptions ( Table 1.4 ).

The results of qualitative research are typically presented through rich descriptions, quotes, and narratives that capture the essence of the participants’ experiences. An example of a simple qualitative research study may be “the effect of having a designated nursing preceptor on the perceived satisfaction of new nurses.” Qualitative research in nursing enables a deeper understanding of the subjective aspects of health care, such as patients’ lived experiences, cultural beliefs, and social interactions. It explores the complexities and context in which healthcare phenomena occur, allowing for the exploration of multiple perspectives and uncovering novel insights. It also helps generate hypotheses and inform the development of quantitative research studies.

Understanding the Parts of a Research Article

Understanding the parts of an article is crucial for interpreting and extracting valuable information from scholarly literature. Each section of the article serves a specific purpose and provides essential insights for critical appraisal (Carey et al., 2020). Here’s a step-by-step look at how to interpret and analyze each component:

• Abstract: The abstract serves as a concise summary of the entire article. Pay attention to the research question, key findings, and implications. It provides a quick overview of the study’s relevance and helps determine if the article aligns with your information needs.
• Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for the research. Evaluate the background information provided and the clarity of the research question. Consider how well the authors justify the need for the study and their ability to connect it with existing literature.
• Methods: Scrutinize the methods section to understand how the study was conducted. Assess the appropriateness of the study design, sample size, data collection methods, and statistical analyses. This section should provide sufficient details to allow for replication and assess the validity of the findings.
• Results: Thoroughly analyze the results section to grasp the main findings. Examine any statistical analyses, figures, or qualitative descriptions presented. Consider the clarity of the results and the extent to which they support the research question. Assess whether the data analysis methods are appropriate and the results are accurately reported.
• Discussion: The discussion section is where authors interpret the findings and relate them to existing knowledge. Evaluate the authors’ ability to critically analyze the results, address any limitations, and consider alternative explanations. Look for implications for nursing practice, education, or future research that are supported by the findings.
• Conclusion: The conclusion summarizes the main points of the study. Assess whether the conclusions align with the results and discussion. Consider the authors’ ability to synthesize the findings and provide a concise summary of the study’s contributions.
• References: Review the reference list to identify the sources cited in the article. Assess the credibility and relevance of the references to determine if the authors have relied on reputable sources to support their claims.

Translating Research into Practice

Translating research findings to clinical nursing practice is a crucial process that involves applying evidence-based knowledge to improve patient care and outcomes It begins with critically appraising the research to assess its quality and validity (Titler, 2018). Nurses then consider the relevance and generalizability of the findings to their specific patient population and clinical setting. By integrating research findings with their clinical expertise, nurses can develop strategies for implementation , such as creating guidelines or protocols. Ongoing evaluation and monitoring of the implemented practices help nurses assess their impact on patient outcomes. Lifelong learning and staying up to date with current research ensure nurses remain informed and continue to enhance the quality of care they provide.

Steps of Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence-based practice (EBP) refers to the integration of the best available research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient preferences or values to guide healthcare decision-making and improve patient outcomes (ANA, 2023). According to the ANA, there are five key steps in implementing EBP: ask a clinical question, acquire the evidence, appraise the evidence, apply the evidence, and assess outcomes.

Ask a Clinical Question

The first step in implementing EBP is to formulate clear and focused clinical questions that address specific patient care issues. By framing questions in this format, nurses can identify the specific information needed to guide their practice.

Acquire the Evidence

Once the clinical questions are defined, nurses conduct a thorough search for the best available evidence to answer those questions. This involves accessing reputable databases, journals, and other reliable sources to find relevant research studies, systematic reviews, or clinical guidelines that address the identified clinical issues.

Appraise the Evidence

In this step, nurses critically appraise the quality and validity of the evidence gathered. They assess the methodology, study design, sample size, data analysis, and overall strength of the research. They decide if the information is applicable to the patient. This critical appraisal helps determine the credibility and applicability of the evidence to the clinical context.

When you have gathered all of the necessary evidence, the next step is to evaluate it for quality and validity. But how do you know what evidence is strongest and most applicable to your clinical question?

In the steps of EBP, the hierarchy of evidence refers to a ranking system that classifies different types of research studies based on their reliability and validity. The hierarchy helps healthcare professionals determine the strength and quality of evidence when making clinical decisions. The commonly recognized hierarchy includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses at the top, followed by randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, case series, and expert opinions at the bottom. The hierarchy of evidence serves as a guide, with studies higher up being considered more rigorous and providing stronger evidence to inform healthcare practices ( Figure 1.9 ).

Nursing and other healthcare professions also frequently use Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt’s levels of evidence ( Figure 1.10 ). Instead of a hierarchy, Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt list seven levels of evidence based on their methodological quality (2023).

Apply the Evidence

The next step involves implementing evidence-based interventions or changes in practice based on nursing knowledge and new expertise. Nurses integrate the findings from the new evidence with their clinical expertise and knowledge of individual patient values and preferences. They consider factors such as patient preferences, available resources, and feasibility of implementation when making decisions about patient care.

Assess Outcomes

The final stage of implementing evidence-based practices involves evaluating their impact on patient outcomes. Nurses collect data, monitor outcomes, and assess the effectiveness of the implemented interventions. This can help determine if the treatment will be effective for other patients as well. This ongoing evaluation helps identify areas for improvement and supports the continuous cycle of EBP implementation.

Clinical Safety and Procedures (QSEN)

Qsen competency: evidence-based practice (ebp).

Definition : Provide optimal patient care while integrating best current evidence and expertise with patient/family values and preference.

Knowledge : The nurse will describe reliable sources for locating clinical practice guidelines and evidence, and describe how the strength of evidence influences patient care.

Skill : Provide patient-centered care utilizing current evidence. The nurse will:

• Create individualized care plans based on EBP and patient values.
• Examine evidence reports and research relative to area of expertise.
• Locate evidence related to clinical practice guidelines and topics.
• Engage in the integration of new EBP in the work environment.
• Consult with experts before deviating from EBP.

Attitude : The nurse will recognize the importance of reading professional journals and improving patient care based on new evidence.

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The Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment (MACCHE) invites you to an upcoming webinar.

Child's Play: Teaching Planet Protective Eating Patterns to Children  July 10, 2024 12 noon - 1:00 pm ET via Zoom

Promoting more plant-based foods in our children's diets is healthier for them, the family, and the planet. Climate change is already here, as evidenced by the trend of hotter summers - 2023 was Earth's hottest since global records began in 1880 and 2024 is projected to continue this trend. Adding more plant-based foods has the potential to reduce your carbon footprint and improve human health by decreasing obesity and chronic diseases. Modeling healthy eating habits for our kids and starting them on healthy diets at a young age can have a positive effect on their diet choices later in life.

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In this webinar, Meryl Fury, MS, RN, a public health nurse and expert in plant-based diets, will teach participants how to educate and empower children about what they can do to help protect the planet. She will explain the importance of modeling healthy behaviors for children and share ways to influence children's eating patterns and empower them to think critically about their food choices.

Learning objectives

• Educate and empower children about what they can do to help protect the planet 
• Model behaviors for children that support them in protecting the planet
• Influence children's eating patterns and empower them to think critically about their food choices

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Influence of Teaching Strategies on Reading Comprehension of Learners with Learning Disabilities in Selected Public Primary Schools in Kyuso Sub-County, Kenya.

• Purity Kebebe Wakati
• Dr. Jessina Muthee
• Dr. Tom Abuom
• Jun 26, 2024

1 Purity Kebebe Wakati, 2 Dr. Jessina Muthee, 3 Dr. Tom Abuom

1 Department of Special Needs Education, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 0538-01200, Kitale, Kenya

2 Department of Special Needs Education, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

3 Department of Early Childhood and Special Needs Education, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51244/IJRSI.2024.1105079

Received: 24 May 2024; Revised: 08 June 2024; Accepted: 13 June 2024; Published: 26 June 2024

This study evaluated the influence of teaching strategies on reading comprehension of learners with learning disabilities in selected public primary schools in Kyuso Sub-County, Kenya. The choice of this locality was based on the fact that it is home to most learners with learning disabilities in the entire County and the performance of these learners in reading comprehension has continuously been poor. The study area also has a mixed demography with some public primary schools located in wealthy areas while majority are in poor areas. The study was guided by Bandura’s Social Learning Theory as advanced in 1977. The study employed quasi-experimental study design. The target population for this study was 420 consisting of 20 class five teachers and 400 class five learners with learning disabilities within the available 20 public primary schools in Kitui County Kenya. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. Primary data was collected by use of structured questionnaires. Data was grouped, coded, cleaned and analyzed descriptively using SPSS version 21.0 to generate frequencies and percentages. The collected data were presented in tables created with SPSS and figures created with Microsoft Excel 2010. The study found that common teaching strategies had a negative effect on reading comprehension test scores of students with learning disabilities, while learners-centered strategies improved these learners test scores in reading comprehension. The study therefore concluded that learners with learning disabilities underperformed in reading comprehension due to the use of traditional teaching strategies which are teacher centered. The study recommends that learners-centered instructional methods be employed to improve reading comprehension among learners in Kyuso Sub-County in selected public primary schools.

Keywords: reading comprehension, learning disabilities, Public primary school, strategies, teaching strategies, assessment and academic achievement.

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Around the world, learners with learning disabilities have been shown to lag behind their counterparts with no learning disabilities in all spheres of education especially in reading comprehension. These learners struggle with basic psychological processes necessary for understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations (Denton & Otaiba, 2011). Such learners require appropriate education which can only be offered through effective teaching strategies at all levels of education.

Many children (and adults) have some type of special needs disability. The four major types of disabilities include physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional, and sensory impaired disorders. As Council for Exceptional Children (2023) holds, common learning disabilities include dyslexia, dysgraphia, perceptual disabilities, and developmental aphasia. It is estimated that approximately 6-8% of school-age children have some sort of LD. Some experts believe that lack of and differences in screening protocols have resulted in LD being under reported.

Abdul(2015) estimated the percentage of incidence of students who are categorized as Learning Disabled in schools of Kerala, along with estimating studying prevalence of students categorized by schools as mentally Retarded (MR), Visually Impaired (VI), Autism, ADHD and Orthopedically Impaired and investigated perceived difficulties of schools in facilitating the inclusive education of these children. Results showed that there was variation among schools in prevalence of students with LD and other impairments. In a school of average size of 850, LD and other categories of SEN have near 40 students. In general, teachers categorize five per cent of students as belonging to SEN categories; half of them being learning disabled (2.23%) and half of them belonging to MR, VI, Autism, ADHD, HI, and OI (2.53%).

Teaching of reading comprehension to learners with learning disabilities has long been a challenge for various educators. Indeed, providing adaptations to reading strategies intended for use with students with learning disabilities is an important way to accomplish the goal of accommodating the learning needs of learners with learning disabilities in reading comprehension (Denton & Otaiba, 2011). According to Denton and Otaiba (2011) appropriate teaching of reading comprehension to students with learning disabilities is especially urgent due to the fact that students who do not have an adequate reading comprehension skills are more likely to have difficulties in other academic areas, drop out of school, commit a crime, or commit suicide.

The skills of phonics and fluency are important to emphasize in kindergarten through third grade. These skills lay an important foundation for reading at all other grade levels (Tolman, 2005). With the skills of phonics and fluency in mind, several researchers have studied the most effective research-based strategies for students with learning disabilities in kindergarten through third grade. Cahill and Gregory (2011) stress the importance of using reading passages at the student’s instructional level in order to build reading comprehension. In the USA, the National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000) reviewed studies in the area of reading and concluded that phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension are the major areas of teaching reading that need to be addressed in the classroom. Since students with learning disabilities are likely to have a deficit in the area of reading comprehension (Torgesen, 2002), it is especially imperative that they be instructed using appropriate strategies.

Highlighting the importance of comprehension instruction, the NRP (2000) found research evidence for the following reading comprehension strategies; comprehension monitoring in which the reader learns how to be aware or conscious of his or her understanding during reading and learns procedures to deal with problems in understanding as they arise, cooperative learning in which readers work together to learn strategies in the context of reading, graphic and semantic organizers, which allow the reader to represent graphically the meanings and relationships of the ideas that underlie the words in the text, story structure from which the reader learns to ask and answer who, what, where, when, and why questions about the plot and, in some cases, maps out the time line, characters, and events in stories.

NRP (2000) further reported that other reading comprehension strategies include question answering in which the reader answers questions posed by the teacher and is given feedback on the correctness, question generation in which the reader asks himself or herself why, when, where, why, what will happen, how, and who questions, summarization in which the reader attempts to identify and write the main or most important ideas that integrate or unite the other ideas or meanings of the text into a coherent whole and multiple strategy teaching in which the reader uses several of the procedures in interaction with the teacher over the text.

Evidence show that teaching reading in specific domains, such as science (Barton, Heidema, & Jordan, 2002; Greenleaf, Brown, & Litman, 2004) and social studies (Mosborg, 2002) can improve student understanding and learning. In spite of this evidence, teachers are often reluctant to provide explicit reading comprehension teaching in their classrooms. Teachers point to lack of instructional time and pressure to cover content as barriers to reading comprehension (Deshler, Schumaker, Lenz, Bulgren, Hock, Knight, et al., 2001).

Researchers who study literacy consistently name strategy teaching as a high-leverage instructional practice for students particularly those who struggle with comprehension (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004). Numerous comprehension literature has reached this conclusion as well (Block & Duffy, 2008; Dole, Nokes, & Drits, 2009). However, researchers believe that although teachers and students often use the terminology of strategy instruction to refer to reading comprehension methods instructional, it is rarely used or seen in typical classroom practice (Dennis, 2010).

Sedita (2005) asserts that one of the oldest findings in educational research is the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The author adds that word knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension and determines how well students will be able to comprehend the texts they read in class. Carlo, Snow, August and White (2011), also found that English language learners who experienced slow vocabulary development were less able to comprehend texts at the grade level than their English-only peers. Wolley (2010) reports that a particular problem for students with poor comprehension is that they have difficulty learning new vocabulary. Wallace (2008) points out that difficulty in reading at the appropriate grade level is perhaps due to the lack of sufficient vocabulary and instructional strategies. Although these studies have extensively explored reading comprehension and strategies for teaching at international level, hardly any relevant study has been done locally in the Kenyan context.

Badriyah, Amrin and Anni (2021) studied the effect of teaching strategies and students’ interest in reading comprehension and findings showed that the mean score of reading comprehension achievement after the students were taught using INSERT strategy was 17.60 and after the students were taught using K-W-L strategy was 16.15. From the two strategies were used to examined the students’ achievement in reading comprehension, INSERT was to be most effective strategy. Malik, Muhammad and Muhammad (2019) assessed the effect of teaching reading strategies on the students’ reading comprehension and findings indicate that teaching reading strategies have a positive impact on the reading comprehension of students at the higher secondary level.

Husni and Nina (2018) in Nigeria examined the impact of teaching strategies and reading habits on students’ reading comprehension and showed that Teams Games Tournaments (TGT) and Student Team Achievement Divisions (STAD) are effective in improving students’ reading comprehension where F ratio (28.846) ˃ F table (3.99), but on the other side, students’ reading habit, both high and low, cannot affect students’ reading comprehension.

According to National Reading Strategy (NRS, 2008), some teachers in South Africa have inadequate understanding of teaching literacy, reading and writing. Many teachers simply don’t know how to teach reading. Too often, teachers know only one method of teaching reading, which may not suit the learning style of all learners. Teachers don’t know how to stimulate reading inside and outside the classroom. For years, many teachers believed that they did not have to “teach” reading, but simply had to “facilitate” the process so that learners would teach themselves to read (National Reading Strategy, 2008). Studies by Barton et al. (2002), Greenleaf, et al., (2004), and Mosborg, (2002) also show that teachers lacked adequate skills to transfer knowledge to learners.

Grace (2010) conducted a study on nature and prevalence of learning disabilities among standard three primary school pupils in Starehe Division of Nairobi Province, Kenya and revealed that there could be pupils with LD majority of whom had a high level of difficulty in the tests administered in English and Math (100% and 63.3% failure respectfully). The common types of errors noted in English included; poor visual-motor coordination, difficulty in copying accurately, spacing of letters and words, letter and word reversals, poor handwriting, repetition of sentences, omission of some words and letters, overprinting to correct mistakes, grammatical mistakes (punctuations, spellings and capitalization), inadequate expression of ideas and vocabulary, poor organizational skills, unreadable letters and words, non-attempt or slowness in completing work. While in Math, most pupils totally failed in items that tested their skills in spatial order and relationships, division, time and money.

Uwezo (2011) has released an assessment for teaching and learning in Kenyan the region indicating low level of learning in the institutions. The children, the report says, are not reading and 1 out of 3 pupils lacks basic literacy and numeracy skill while 2 out of 10 class 7 pupils do not have class 2 competencies. The report further   estimates that only around 50% of children in grade 4 are able to read at grade 2 level, identifying significant delays in the acquisition of reading competency among children in Kenyan primary schools.  Indeed, studies have established that significant number of learners complete primary school cycle without having achieved the basic levels of reading comprehension (Commeyras & Iyenga, 2007; Uwezo, 2011). As a result, a large number of children are going through Kenyan primary school system without adequate mastery of reading skills which is a real concern to the nation if we have to achieve our vision 2030 and our sustainable development goals.

Reading in early years of schooling should, among other things, aim at reading for pleasure through learners’ exposure to a variety of reading materials, to help learners develop a word band of vocabulary and expose them to new ideas and sentence structures that are used later to communicate both verbally and in the written form (Gathumbi, 2008).

Bunyi (2008) laments that for the last three decades, Kenyan newspapers have carried articles that decry the poor English skills of primary, secondary and even college students. In spite of the crucial role reading plays in literacy development, reading is not taught as a subject in our Kenyan schools but as one of the four skills within the English Language. Runo (2010) points out that so much emphasis is placed on passing examinations in Kenya such that, quite a number of learners may be disadvantaged especially if they are poor readers. A number of learners may become reading disabled due to lack of appropriate instructional methods. KCPE results for the last two years in Nairobi indicate that most of the candidates perform poorly in English and the reason could be that they cannot read which affects performance in other subjects and overall performance. It is however not clear whether it is poor strategies of teaching reading comprehension that is contributing or playing a key role in this dismal performance.

One of the most important skills for children is reading comprehension a skill in which learners with learning disabilities are expected to excel in. Teaching learners with learning disabilities require that teachers utilize specialized teaching strategies specifically tailored to cater for unique academic needs of these learners in specialized settings. As already shown, studies have shown the utilization of particular teaching strategies to teach learners reading comprehension, for instance Marima (2014) revealed teachers use two teaching approaches that is phonics and whole word strategies to teach early childhood classes reading. This study does not focus on learners with reading comprehension and deals with ECD whereas the present study dealt with upper primary school learners with LDs. Winfred (2019) in her study established the use of small reading groups which was said to be a more effective teaching strategy reading skills. The strategies of focus by the reviewed study were limited and did not look at self-monitoring, reciprocal teaching, peer assisted learning or concept-oriented instructions as strategies for teaching reading comprehension nor their effects on reading comprehension among learners with LDs.

Bunyi (2008) laments that for the last three decades, Kenyan newspapers have carried articles that decry the poor English skills of primary, secondary and even college students. In spite of the crucial role reading plays in literacy development, reading is not taught as a subject in our Kenyan schools but as one of the four skills within the English Language. Runo (2010) points out  that so much emphasis is placed on passing examinations in Kenya such that, quite a number of learners may be disadvantaged especially if they are poor readers. A number of learners may become reading disabled due to lack of appropriate instructional methods. KCPE results for the last two years in Nairobi indicate that most of the candidates perform poorly in English and the reason could be that they cannot read which affects performance in other subjects and overall performance. It is however not clear whether it is poor strategies of teaching reading comprehension that is contributing or playing a key role in this dismal performance. Therefore, there exist a gap in literature on teaching comprehension strategies used by teachers for learners with LDs in the African region, Kenya and even Kyuso Sub-County, Kitui County that this study sought to address.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

World over, teachers are tasked by governments and parents with the responsibility of educating learners in preparation for future job placements at the end of their education. This process is meant to equip learners with knowledge of all subject contents that address socioeconomic aspects of their lives and offer skills they need to survive economically as individuals once they complete their academic journey. To do this, teachers offer instructions using various strategies to ensure that learners understand and grasp concepts being taught in class. One of the most important skills for children is reading comprehension a skill in which learners with learning disabilities are expected to excel in. Teaching learners with learning disabilities require that teachers utilize specialized teaching strategies specifically tailored to cater for unique academic needs of these learners in specialized settings. As already shown, studies have shown the utilization of particular teaching strategies to teach learners reading comprehension, for instance Marima (2014) revealed teachers use two teaching approaches that is phonics and whole word strategies to teach early childhood classes reading. This study does not focus on learners with reading comprehension and deals with ECD whereas the present study dealt with upper primary school learners with LDs. Winfred (2019) in her study established the use of small reading groups which was said to be a more effective teaching strategy reading skills. The strategies of focus by the reviewed study were limited and did not look at self-monitoring, reciprocal teaching, peer assisted learning or concept-oriented instructions as strategies for teaching reading comprehension nor their effects on reading comprehension among learners with LDs. In Kyuso Sub-County, learners with learning disabilities are found in general classrooms in most public primary schools in Kenya, hence lack specialized instructions that they require to succeed in reading comprehension. This puts learners with learning disabilities at a disadvantage as the strategies employed favour their counterparts with no learning disabilities. To compound the situation, in Kyuso Sub-County Kenya, learners with LDs seriously lag behind their counterparts without learning disabilities in reading comprehension. Therefore, the current study sought to assess teaching strategies being used in public primary schools to teach learners with learning disabilities reading comprehension in Kyuso Sub-County.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY.

To evaluate the influence of teaching strategies employed on reading comprehension among learners with Learning Disabilities in selected public primary schools in Kyuso Sub-County.

3.1 Research Design.

This study adopted quasi experimental study design. The design was used to collect quantitative data (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). The design was chosen as it allowed the researcher to study a large population with only a portion of the population participating. Therefore, using this design, the researcher to assess the teaching strategies being used to teach learners with learning disabilities reading comprehension in public primary schools in Kyuso Sub-County.

3.2 Target Populatio n

The target population for this study was 420 consisting of 20 class five teachers and 400 class five learners with learning disabilities within the available 20 public primary schools in Kitui County Kenya. These groups were selected to participate in this study as they had the much-needed information and were more knowledgeable on the subject matter under investigation. Class five learners were selected because they had been taught and assessed numerously on reading comprehension and they had three years to their final KCPE exams hence assessing them was deemed necessary to find out their level of reading comprehension level in order to find ways of improving teaching strategies to be employed in the subsequent classes and years.

3.3 Sampling Technique and Sample Size

3.3.1 Sampling Technique

Purposive and simple random sampling technique was used to select the required research participants from each of the two target groups of teachers and class five pupils. Simple random sampling provided each possible participant with an equal chance of being selected and participating in this study. Each individual was chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual had the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process. To select the 10 public primary schools out of the available 20, plain papers were torn into 20 pieces, and numbers 1 to 10 were written in 10 papers leaving 10 pieces blank. All the torn 20 pieces were folded then placed in a bucket. The researcher visited each of the 20 schools seek for permission to conduct the study from the head teachers. After permission was given the researcher then shook the bucket and asked the head teachers to pick a piece of paper and only those who chose papers with numbers 1 to 10 were allowed to participate in the study. Class 5 teachers (20) from the chosen schools (2 from each school) were purposively selected to participate in the study by virtue of belonging to the sampled schools. Afterwards, to identify the needed sample of 200 class five learners with learning disabilities, a learning disability test was administered (see appendix 1) and only learners who scored less than 35% were considered to have LDs and included in the experiment. To each sampled subject, a research instrument was provided by the researcher and field assistants.

3.3.2 Sample Size

For this study an appropriate formula was used to calculate the required sample size from the target population. Sample size calculation formula proposed by Rodeo, (2005) who argued that a good representative sample should constitute at least 20% of the entire population where a population is small and 10% where the population is large was used.

3.4 Data Collection Techniques

Quantitative methods were used in collecting quantitative data in this study through structured questionnaires and administered` tests. Various instruments were used for data collection; these included teaching reading comprehension questionnaire for teachers which was necessary for capturing quantitative data relevant for statistical tests and also the teachers were well learned to answer the set questions and had ample time to fill in this tool. Other tools  that were used include; learning disability test for pupils and reading comprehension questionnaires for pupils these were needed to first separate learners with learning disabilities from the inclusive classrooms then amongst these learners with learning disabilities a further identification of learners with reading comprehension was necessary as they were the main target group of this study. Data in this study was processed whereby they were entered into the scientific package for social sciences [SPSS] software version 21.0 to generate table format for further analysis. Once the data was processed, in order to remove the remaining or possible errors, tabulated data were matched with information in the instruments in order to ascertain that it was an accurate representation of the collected data. The analysis was done to answer the questions and objectives that guide this study. The analyzed results were in form of frequency and percentages as well as ANOVA which were presented using tables generated using SPSS version 21.0. The analyzed data were presented based on the study objective.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 General and Demographic Information

4.1.1 Demographic Characteristics Respondents

The study had a 100 percent return rate as all the 220 tools were collected during fieldwork. The study gathered various information from class 5 teachers concerning their demographic characteristics which included gender, age, teaching experience, level of education as well as extent to which initial teacher training focused on teaching of early literacy skills. Findings are as follows;

4.1.2 Distribution of Teachers by Gender

Information was collected on teachers’ gender is presented in table 1 that follows.

Table 1: Distribution of Teachers by Gender

The data presented in table 1 established that 50 percent of the class 5 teachers were male while the remaining 50% were females. This data therefore implied that results presented by this study were reflective of all English teachers irrespective of their gender.

4.1.3 Distribution of Teachers by Age

More information gathered from teachers with respect to their age is presented in table 2.

Table 2 Distribution of Teachers by Age

As data in table 2 indicated, 20% of the teachers were aged between 16-25 years, 30% were aged 26-35 years, 35% were aged 36-45 years and the remaining 15% were aged 55 years and above. The findings implied that class 5 English teachers in the study area were mainly comprised of a mixture of young teacher (teachers aged under 35) and aged teachers (teachers aged under 35) also teaching the subject.

4.1.4 Distribution of Teachers by Teaching Experience

The study also gathered data on teachers teaching experience and the findings are presented in table 4.3 below.

Table 3: Distribution of Teachers by Teaching Experience

As shown in table 3, 20% of class 5 English teachers had taught the subject for a year, a quarter had taught for a period of between 2-5 years, a quarter had taught English for 6-10 years while 30% had taught English as a subject for a period of 11 years and above. The findings implied that most class 5 teachers had enough teaching experience as most of them had over 5 years’ worth of teaching experience.

4.1.5 Distribution of Teachers by Level of Education

Information was also gathered from class 5 English teachers on their levels of education and results presented in table 4.

Table 4: Distribution of Teachers by Level of Education

The study findings presented in table 4 revealed that 70% of class 5 English teachers in the study area had college level of education while 30% had university level of education. Therefore, these outcomes implied that there were fewer degree holders compared to diploma/certificate holders amongst the class 5 English teachers.

4.1.6 Learning Disability Test Scores

Class 5 learners were given learning disability tests in order to identify learners with learning disabilities among the 400 pupils and the findings are presented in table 5

Table 5: Learning Disability Test Scores

From the 400 pupils who took part in the learning disability test as shown in table 4.6, 42.5% of the learners scored 20% and below in the test, 7.5% scored between 21-35%, 22.5% scored 36-50% and 27.5% scored 51-65%. From the findings, half of the pupils scored 35% marks and below suggesting that half of class 5 pupils had learning disabilities. These were the 200 learners included in the study. In disagreement with these outcomes, a study by Cevriye (2012) revealed that that less than a quarter of learners had reading problems.

4.2 Influence of Teaching Strategies on Performance of Learners with Learning Disabilities Reading Comprehension

Lastly, teachers were asked to indicate how teaching strategies employed generally influenced reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities in reading comprehension and findings presented in table 6

Table 6: Influence of Teaching Strategies on Performance of Learners with Learning Disabilities Reading Comprehension

Study results presented in table 6 established that most teachers strongly disagreed that traditional teaching methods had a positive influence on learners with learning disabilities reading comprehension. 40% of the teachers strongly disagreed that lecture methods positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. Half of the teachers strongly disagreed that group teaching positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. A half of the teachers agreed that self-monitoring positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. Three quarters of the teachers agreed that reciprocal teaching positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. All the teachers agreed that peer assisted teaching positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. Majority of teachers agreed that concept-oriented teaching instructions positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities and also strongly agreed that collaborative teaching strategy positively improved reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. This implied that in the study area, some teaching strategies employed by English teachers in public primary schools improved learners with LDs test scores whereas others affected the scores of these learners negatively. These results are in line with those of Yali (2010) conducted a case study to explore the role of reading in L2 vocabulary acquisition, and the effect of different vocabulary instructional techniques on the vocabulary learning of ESL students of different levels in Chinese universities and established that though both instructional treatments resulted in significant gains in learners’ receptive vocabulary knowledge, a combination of the incidental and intentional learning teaching led to greater vocabulary gains and better retention. Therefore, focused teaching strategies result in better performance among learners.

4.3 Analysis of Variance on Post-test Teaching Strategies Normally Used and Reading Comprehension Performance among Learners with LDs

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also used to assess the relationship between post-test instructional strategies used during field work and reading comprehension test scores recorded afterwards by learners with learning disabilities and findings presented in Table 7

Table 7: Analysis of Variance on Post-test Teaching Strategies Normally Used and Reading Comprehension Performance among Learners with LDs

Findings presented in Table 7 revealed that there was a statistical significant relationship between guided reading and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, there was a statistical significant relationship between reciprocal teaching and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, a statistical significant relationship between whole-class teaching and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, a statistical significant relationship between small-group instructions and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, a statistical significant relationship between individual instructions and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, a statistical significant relationship between concept-oriented instructions and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05, a statistical significant relationship between peer-assisted instructions and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05 as well as a statistical significant relationship between self-monitoring instructions and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-value of p=0.000 was found to be lower than p=0.05. These findings therefore implied that the adoption of these instructional methods by teachers while dealing with learners with learning disabilities would improve reading comprehension test scores among these learners within public primary schools of Kyuso Sub-county. This is supported by post-test reading comprehension test scores of learners with LDs presented in section 4.3 in this chapter.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of teaching strategies employed on reading comprehension among learners with LD in public primary schools in Kyuso Sub-County. The study concluded that the traditional methods of teaching used by teachers in teaching reading comprehension were responsible for the low-test scores in reading comprehension amongst learners with learning disabilities where adoption of learner centered strategies improves reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities. Lastly, the study concludes that there was a statistically significant relationship between post-test instruction strategies and reading comprehension among learners with learning disabilities as the p-values of p=0.000 were lower than p=0.05.

5.1 Recommendations

This study recommends that;

• English teachers focus on teaching learners with learning disabilities all aspects of reading comprehension including repeating syllables, mispronouncing words, repeating words, substituting endings, omitting syllables, substituting letters, omitting letters, inserting foreign letters, reading slowly as well as none recognition of letters as it was found that these aspects were rarely being taught.
• There is need to adopt learner centered strategies in teaching reading comprehension among learners with LDs as the study proved that these strategies are able to improve reading comprehension scores among these learners.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

On behalf of all the co-authors I declare that authors have no conflict of interest with the manuscript.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Purity Kebebe Wakati is currently enrolled for a Master’s Degree in Special Needs Education at Kenyatta University. She holds a BED Arts in Special Education from Maseno University. She has worked as a teacher in a special unit in Karen, Nairobi, a secondary teacher of Kiswahili and Geography for the last 13 years. She is now working as a teacher of Kiswahili and Geography at St Brigids Girl’s High School, Kiminini in Transzoia County.

Dr. Jessina Jessica Muthee is a senior lecturer in Kenyatta university. she is a specialist in the area of learning disability and psycho-educational assessment. Her area of research interest includes, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysphaxia ,attention deficit hyperactive disorder, cognitive psychology , psychometry. And abnormal psychology.

Dr. Tom Abuom (PhD) is a Lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood & Special Needs Education (Speech & Language Pathology Program)-Kenyatta University (Nairobi-Kenya). Area of specialization: Speech and Language Pathology; Clinical Linguistics; Neurolinguistics & Aphasiology. His research interests are in the area of Communication Disorders in Geriatric Population and Aphasia.

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