Defining Project Goals

At a project’s outset, it’s tempting to immediately dive into its most exciting and novel components. Perhaps you’re excited to leverage AI in an interactive scenario or create a dynamic piece of content to free up synchronous time in your class. That enthusiasm is laudable, but before beginning down a specific development path, it’s important to take a step back and assess the project from the perspective of your goals for student outcomes.

Clear goals not only provide direction for the project but also help maintain focus throughout the design and development phases. This step ensures the project aligns with course objectives, enhances the learning experience, and delivers measurable value to students.

Purpose

The primary purpose of this step is to articulate the purpose of the interactive content within the broader context of the course or program. By identifying specific learning outcomes, you establish a clear framework for evaluating the content’s effectiveness. Without well-defined goals, it’s easy for projects to lose focus, resulting in content that fails to meet student needs or course expectations.

These goals are often implicit in our individual instruction. But when collaborating on a design project with multiple partners, it’s necessary to explicitly document them so that everyone involved is on the same page.

Key Considerations

1. Desired Learning Outcomes
   Begin by defining what you want students to achieve after engaging with the content. Are they expected to acquire specific knowledge, master a skill, or apply concepts to real-world scenarios? For example:

   • Will students analyze financial statements, perform scientific experiments, or engage in role-play scenarios?

   • Should they be able to synthesize information, collaborate effectively, or demonstrate critical thinking?

2. Skills and Knowledge Demonstration
   Specify how students will demonstrate their learning. Will they complete assessments, produce deliverables, or engage in practical applications? This step bridges the gap between abstract goals and measurable performance, ensuring outcomes are actionable and student-centered.

3. Measurable Success Metrics
   Define how the success of the interactive content will be evaluated. Metrics may include student assessment results, engagement levels, or qualitative feedback. Consider:

   • Will students’ quiz scores or project submissions reflect their understanding?

   • Can feedback surveys or analytics provide insights into how the content supports learning?

Approach

When working with learning designers, collaborate to translate your course objectives into interactive content goals. For example:

• If a goal is to teach negotiation strategies, the learning outcome might be, “Students will demonstrate effective negotiation tactics by completing a scenario-based simulation.”

• If the content focuses on data visualization, an outcome could be, “Students will create interactive dashboards using provided datasets.”

As you define these goals, think about how they connect to other course materials and assessments, ensuring seamless integration.

Output

By the end of this step, you should have a concise, actionable list of specific learning goals tied directly to student outcomes. These goals will serve as a guide for the next steps in the process, from determining the format of the content to evaluating its effectiveness. For example:

• 1. Goal: Improve understanding of supply chain logistics.

  2. Outcome: Students will optimize a supply chain model in an interactive simulation.

Why This Step Matters

Clear goals ensure the project’s success by providing a shared vision for all stakeholders. They help focus creative efforts, align the team’s work with educational objectives, and lay the groundwork for assessing the content’s impact on learning.