Communicate with Confidence/Project Report

              Learning Objectives
What do you want in the end? This is a logical
place to start planning a presentation. Writing clear
learning objectives which state your intended outcome or
results will help you work out where you're going. The more
you use learning objectives the easier they are to write and
the more you benefit in planning. Objectives become your
detailed travel itinerary for programs of any length.
Contrary to popular belief, writing learning objectives is a
skill anyone can develop. To discover the what, why and
how of learning objectives, read on!
What are learning objectives?
* sometimes called educational or instructional
objectives
* describes what learners will know, feel or do differently
at end of presentation
* action oriented
* lets people know what is to happen
* useful to presenters who care about the learners
* describes observable behaviour where possible
Why should von state them?
* assist you in planning your presentation
* help you decide a logical sequence for your
presentation
* give clues to choice of techniques: for example, lecture
or demonstration
* indicate the amount of time you'll need
» guide your evaluation of learner progress and instructor
effectiveness
How do von state learning objectives?
Start by asking what you want the learners to
know, do or feel differently as a result of your presentation.
With this fact sheet, for example, we intend to assist people
to write objectives, people need the ability to write
descriptions of observable behaviour, to identify parts of an
objective and to list reasons for writing objectives.
Intended outcome ^
learning objectives are action oriented. Consider
the words you use to describe an action.
Acceptable performance
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Once you decide what participants will be able to
do, consider how well they should do it. You can define the
acceptable level of performance in several ways, for
example, percentage of correct answers, frequency of doing
something, or number of times learners do it within a set
time.
Conditions
Under what conditions do you expect learners to
display the intended behaviour? Ask yourself, what aids will
you allow learners to use, or not use? Examples include:
Given a list of.....
Given a standard set of tools
Without the aid of references...
Putting it together
Once you have all three elements, you've written
your learning objective. Two examples are:
* Given a list of bank transactions, participants will
identify debits and credits with 80 percent accuracy.
* Using resource materials, participants will write an agenda
which contains a minimum of three elements within ten
minutes.
A common problem
Broad objectives are often listed as learning
objectives, for example, to make people more farm safety
conscious or to appreciate the benefits of farm record
keeping. As learning objectives, these lack the specifics
that make them useful in planning a presentation and
measuring results. You can break these down, however to
more specific objectives. Ask yourself how people will
achieve them.
Example: How will people become farm safety conscious?
They'll be able to:
* identify dangerous situations on the farm
* purchase clothing for protection from pesticides
* compare methods of repairing machinery
action words
to name
to write
to identify
to compare
to list
non- descriptive words Summary
to be aware of
to understand
to feel
to know
to appreciate
Learning objectives become easier to write with practice.
Soon you'll find they're your best friend in planning a
presentation