In Practice: Clarity of Objectives

From the Rubric

• Incomplete: Objectives do not include demonstrable learning outcomes. 

• Aligned: Objectives consistently include demonstrable learning outcomes. 

• Exemplary: Objectives are written in language that is student-centered. 

How to Implement

Write learning objectives that clearly indicate how students will demonstrate their learning using an observable, measurable verb. Too often, verbs that aren't observable like "understand" and "learn" are used in objectives. See these examples:

• Not measureable: "Students will understand accounting systems."

• Measureable: "Students will explain how an accounting system works." 

At SDCCD, your student learning objectives should be found on the official Course Outline of Record for your course in Curricunet. Those learning objectives should be written using observable, measurable verbs already. If they aren't, then use those course level objectives to craft the more granular module-level objectives for each week, and makes those ones measurable.

Additional Resources

• @ONE Byte-sized Canvas Video: Uh-oh Your Cognitive Overload is Showing

• A2: Clarity of Objectives from Course Design Resources

• The ABCD Module Guideline for Writing Objectives

• UCF Objective Builder Tool

CISC 190

In Prof. Tasha Frankie's CISC 190 course, she includes the following learning objective at the start of one of her modules, making it clear to students that everything included in the module will support students' achievement of the objective.

• In this module you will learn how to write a method with parameters and a returned value.