Page 93 - Making Instruction Work

chap 7 3/14/97 1:21 PM Page 79

course objectives 79

Objective #3: Given: A Model XXX System, standard tool
kit, spares kit, and at least one symptom of a
common malfunction.

Performance: Return the system to normal
operation.
Criteria: The system functions within
specs. There is no cosmetic or
structural damage to system or to
immediate area. No more than
one unnecessary spare was used.
No complaints were filed by client
personnel.

Objective #4: Given a patient of any weight, be able to start
an IV using no more than two needle punc-
tures.

Goofing Off with Objectives

If it were not for the obfuscators, the preparation and use of
objectives would be relatively simple. We would simply say
what we want students to be able to do and then get on with
developing instruction that teaches them to do it.
Unfortunately, there is a gaggle of folks who like to make
things harder than they are, who like to hang all sorts of dan-
glies on the dashboard of their instruction. “Oh,” you hear
them saying as they look over your perfectly wonderful objec-
tives, “now that you have written your classroom objectives,
you must write course objectives, and then school objectives,
and then the county objectives.” Huh? They can’t be serious!
But yes, they actually do try to propagate the fiction that it is
actually meaningful to say that a shovel is not only a shovel,
but also a spade, a digger, a scooper, and a dirt-remover. I’ve