Page 89 - Making Instruction Work

chap 7 3/14/97 1:21 PM Page 75

course objectives 75

3. An objective describes the key conditions under which
the performance occurs on the job; i.e., the tools, equip-
ment, environment, and circumstances that will influ-
ence the performance.

4. An objective describes the standard of acceptable perfor-
mance; it tells how well someone must perform before
being considered competent on that objective.

Each objective, then, will describe the (a) do what, (b) with
what, and (c) how well:
a. what someone should be able to do,
b. the conditions under which the doing will occur, and
c. the criteria by which the performance will be judged.

How Many Objectives?

You will need as many objectives as it takes to describe the
important things you want students to be able to do. There will
be one objective to describe each of the tasks you want stu-
dents to be able to perform and one to describe each of the key
skills they will need to learn before being ready to practice
those tasks.
(There will be no objectives describing course content or the
intended instructional process. To write objectives about any-
thing but meaningful outcomes would swamp you in an
unmanageable quagmire and would defeat the purpose of the
objective. Objectives describe the ends. Items such as instruc-
tional content and practice material are means to the ends and
go into the instruction rather than into the objectives.)
Each objective will be written in enough detail so that
another professional instructor could turn out students who
could do what you want them to do at the proficiency levels
you prescribe.