How to create measurable learning objectives in e-Learning
Planning is essential. Not only in life, but also when designing an e-learning training action. As you probably know, it is in this first stage where the definition of the objectives to be achieved during the planning of the course has to be carried out. A good approach to these objectives will help you to evaluate the performance of the participants and the quality of your project. Therefore, in this post we will explain the requirements that must be met in order to achieve online success. Don’t wait any longer and pay attention!
What types of learning objectives are available?
If you are looking for maximum effectiveness in your e-Learning course, you have to take into account that the objectives you are going to set must be specific, achievable, realistic, limited in time and measurable. Despite these characteristics, we can distinguish two clearly differentiated groups according to their level of concreteness:
- General objectives. Those that refer to the skills that participants should acquire or develop during the course.
- Specific objectives. These are derived from the previous ones, as we can consider them to be the intermediate steps to overcome the general ones. In other words, they are the specific guidelines that each participant must carry out in each thematic unit.
How to formulate measurable objectives for your course?
- Identify the competences and attitudes that you want your participants to acquire or develop.
- Take into account the conditions. By studying the training environment you will have all the information you need to implement the competences and obtain the necessary resources.
- Establish levels of performance. To do this, you have to establish the performance values to be achieved by the participants with respect to a target.
A goal can be converted into competences. That is, what is expected from each learner, taking into account their degree of commitment and their relationship with the environment. Therefore, three basic rules are established to achieve effective results:
- Focus on objective actions. Set goals that have tangible metrics and concrete behaviours that you expect from your students. Use action verbs (apply, design, identify…) that can be quantitatively evaluated and help you to measure these goals. Avoid using verbs that may create some kind of ambiguity, such as know, understand, know how…
- Describe competences and outcomes. Your learning objectives should be about outcomes, not about the tasks to be carried out during the course. In other words, you do not have to explain what the content of the training action is, but what the learners will achieve.
- Specify a single competence for each objective. This is a section that should not go unnoticed, since it will allow you to know what skills each participant has acquired during the training.
As you have seen, the development of measurable learning objectives is essential for the success of your project, a clear and efficient way to analyse the effectiveness of your e-learning course!