Target Business Goals with Measurable Learning Objectives

Any eLearning design and development project begins with agoal—and with effective, measurable learning objectives that will lead learnersto achieve the goal. “If you don’t know where you are and where your learnersneed to be, you can’t figure out how to get them there,” Julie Dirksen of Usable Learning, a Guild Master and consultant,wrote in Design for How People Learn, which has a detailed chapter on writinglearning objectives.

It’s not enough for an instructional designer (ID) to knowthat there’s a performance gap that training is expected to bridge, or thatmanagers want their employees to learn specific information. To write effectivelearning objectives, the ID also needs to understand why the learners need thatskill or knowledge, how it will be applied, and how successful mastery and useof the information will be measured. Five questions that an ID must be able toanswer before writing learning objectives are:

1. What is the problem? A managerrequests training. The ID’s first question should be, “Why?” Withoutunderstanding what performance gap or problem the manager is trying to resolveor what knowledge learners need and why, the ID cannot even determine whethertraining would help. In many cases, training or eLearning is not the best wayto resolve the problem.
2. What doessuccess look like? The overall goal of the learning aid is often verybroad. Goals like “improve communication skills” or “provide training for newmanagers” are not only broad, they offer no indication of what it would mean toachieve the goal. Dirksen notes, “Not all journeys are about the destination.”Sometimes “success” is simply enjoying time spent learning. This, too, isimportant for the ID to know.
3. What are the consequences of failure?Knowing what would happen if the learners did not master the skill or informationhelps the ID understand the urgency of the training and the level of competenceneeded. It also helps IDs figure out what tools and job aids might work in aparticular situation. If the consequence of failure is catastrophic—a pilot notknowing how to land an aircraft if the automatic systems fail—then training isneeded to ensure that people don’t die. If the consequence of failure is minor—anincorrectly filled out, rarely used form is bounced back to the employee forrevision—a better solution might be a job aid where that employee can look upinstructions for filling out the form.
4. What dothe learners already know? Audience analysis is a key element of design; acourse that begins by covering information that learners know in their sleep orteaches tasks that they have successfully performed on the job for years willnot accomplish its goals because learners will be annoyed or offended and tuneout all instruction. Alternatively, a course that starts at a level well beyondlearners’ knowledge will frustrate them and lead to similar disengagement.
5. Whatspecific goals feed into the overarching goal or solution? The learningobjectives, based on these smaller, more focused goals, can lay out a path fromlearners’ current level of skill or knowledge to the desired level.

Writing clear, measurable learning objectives

Armed with the answers to the above five questions, IDs canwrite their learning objectives. Dirksen advises being very specific and usingwhat she calls “doing” words—verbs that represent observable actions.“Understand” is not observable. “Describe,” “define,” and “explain” are betterbut not great. “This is a hedge,” Dirksen wrote. “Besides, you don’t actuallycare if they can define it—you want to know if they can do it.”The learning objectives should be explicit and concrete enough to measure. Twoquestions that Dirksen suggests an ID ask about a learning objective are:

1. Is this something the learner would actually doin the real world?
2. Can I tell when they’ve done it?

One guideline that many IDs use when creating learningobjectives is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Each of the six building blocks suggests a list of verbs. Theseverbs can form the kernel of a measurable learning objective; Bloom’s DigitalTaxonomy, in Figure 1, adapts those verbs for eLearning. Bloom’s Taxonomy isoften shown as a continuum, from lower-order thinking skills to higher-order skills. The six blocks are:

1. Remember: Recognize and recall learnedinformation
2. Understand: Extrapolate meaning from learnedinformation
3. Apply: Use learned information in aproduct, process, presentation, etc.
4. Analyze: Break concepts into parts anddetermine how the parts relate to one another or to a structure
5. Evaluate: Make judgements based oncriteria and standards
6. Create: Put elements together to form anew, coherent pattern or structure

Figure 1: Bloom’s Digital Taxonomyinfographic by Lee Watanabe-Crockett, from the Global Digital Citizen Foundation 

Functions of learning objectives

Not all learning objectives are useful in the same way orintended for the same audience. In 2006, Will Thalheimer, president of Work-Learning Research, published a “New Taxonomy for Learning Objectives,” which delineates four types of learningobjectives, each with a specific function. These are:

1. Focusing objective: Guide learners’attention to the most important aspects of the learning material
2. Performance objective: Provide learnerswith a quick understanding of the competencies covered in the learning material
3. Instructional design objective: Guide thedesign and development of learning and instruction
4. Instructional evaluation objective: Guidethe evaluation of instruction

The first two are learner-focused; they are generallypresented to learners at the beginning of a course of instruction. Theydistinguish between what learners should pay attention to (focusing) and whatthey’ll ultimately need to do with the new knowledge or skill (performance).The latter two are not aimed at the learners: They guide IDs and others indesigning, developing, and evaluating the eLearning.

It’s customary to tell learners what the focusing andperformance objectives are; often, eLearning opens with a screen listing theselearning objectives. Dirksen points out that a list is far from the only—orbest—way to accomplish it, and suggests presenting learners with a challenge ora mission or introducing a scenario instead. Thalheimer points to research thatfinds that “pre-questions” are at least as powerful as learning objectives indirecting learners’ attention to the most important material.

Don’t forget about the gaps

After writing the learning objectives, Dirksen suggestsrevisiting the question of “gaps” or reasons that employees are not currentlymeeting the stated objectives. Gaps might occur due to missing knowledge orskills; these are easily filled by instructional materials. But instructionalone cannot fill gaps in motivation, gaps created by habit or environmentalfactors, or those that result from poor communication. Teaching people toperform a skill in a software package that they don’t have, or instructing themto do something that violates accepted practice or cultural norms, is notlikely to bridge the gap. Determining whether learning objectives andidentified gaps align serves as a final check on whether training—or some otherjob aid, tool, or strategy—will effectively solve the business problem.

Armed with a set of measurable learning objectives, an IDcan progress to the next stages of designing and developing eLearning, such asdetermining the instructional approach and storyboardingor wireframingthe course or tools. “Each Phase of ADDIE Encompasses Core Tasks for IDs” offers one model for progressingthrough the design and development stages.

Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy associates verbs with the Bloom’sTaxonomy stages, emphasizing actions that are appropriate in an eLearningenvironment.