Learning objectives. They are, or should be, the backbone of all the learning projects you'll work on. We know that the more realistic and relevant a learning activity is, the more likely that the learners will engage with it and that they will develop and apply skills that they actually need on the job. Accurate learning objectives are where the design of these learning activities starts.
There are various methods you can use to create effective learning objectives.
Here's a method you can use to create more effective learning objectives that is nice and easy to apply.
First you'll need to clarify what people need to do on the job (actions) rather than focusing on what they need to know only. This works because knowing is implicit in doing and doing or applying knowledge on the job is what drives performance and results. Management doesn't care as much as about whether people know the product specs as they do about whether or not sales are up this quarter.
Second you'll need to make sure the words you use accurately describe the actions you're after. You'll encounter start with 'identify' or 'describe'. Most people don't spend their day identifying or describing. Some do; but, if you took every learning objective starting with 'identify' and looked at what that person had to do on the job (actions again) there is probably another verb that could be used instead.
We've compiled a list of alternative verbs you can use instead of identify to get you thinking about what your learners really have to do. Since identify is part of knowing, we've called this list of verbs 'knowledge'.
- Find some learing objectives that start with 'identify'.
- Talk with someone who is doing the job these learning objectives apply to.
- Find an alternative to the verb 'identify' from the list of knowledge verbs above.
- Post a comment with your before and after.