We are implementing an LMS and will be using PowerPoint and Articulate Presenter to create our online learning content. Courses will be self-paced, self-directed and will contain an assessment at the end.

I’ve been working on an authoring guide for our subject matter experts (I work for a non profit and our SMEs are members of our organization). As I’m writing this authoring guide, I came to the section ISD and writing learning objectives (using the A-B-C-D learning objective format) and found that I’m having paralysis of educational theory analysis.

Everything I’ve revisited in education theory books states that learning objectives need to be measurable and observable.

How do you write an observable learning objective for a self-directed online course? By nature of the learning activity, you will not ever observe a behavior in person (only measure the results in the assessment at the end).

Is it even possible to write learning objectives like this for an online course or do I just stick with training my SMEs to write measurable learning objectives and then provide them with a list of verbs that can be measured using the various online testing we have available (multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, etc)?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hello Sarmstro,
I have a few years experience in designing self-paced e-learning modules, so I want to share my thoughts on this. It is quite possible to write learning objectives that are effective in this medium.

First, I suggest that you replace the terms measurable and observable with performance-based. With this in mind, you can use verbs that relate to three performance dimensions - find, use, remember - as in Merrill's Component Display Theory.

I've successfully used verbs such as recognize, identify, define, calculate, and analyze to reference various facts, concepts, procedures and principles related to the learning content.

You can then write Level 2 assessment questions from these performance-based learning objectives, so that the learner can demonstrate their new knowledge by correctly answering the multiple-choice, fill in the blank, matching, etc.

I also think its quite possible to write learning objectives that reference Level 3 performance, that is something that the learner should be expected to do after completing the online learning module. For example, a tutorial demonstration with instructions should lead to correct performance of the task.

Hope this helps,
Lee

I agree with the previous post - by changing the verbs you will achieve your goal. For us, we use a combination of online tests and performance based evaluations (on the job observations by manager). This has been working well for our field based organization.

I know I might be accused of blasphemy for this, but for some of my online courses, I do not list measurable learning objectives, because I find that very few people actually read them. I still have them and use them to guide the content, but do not open the course with a list of them. Instead, I give the user a summary/outline of the course and its relevancy.

I also remember reading recently that when listing learning objectives it is more acceptable these days to use non-measurable terms such as "understand."

Keep in mind that most e-learning programs can address only a certain, usually fairly low level, of basic proficiency in something. If the learning is delivered ONLY as e-learning, at best, the learner can gain an awareness of the knowledge/skill and possibly begin to build an understanding. But unless the e-learning is teaching something that is actually done online (e.g., an e-learning program that teaches you how to create documents in MS Word), you really can't come close to measuring whether or not a learner has truly understood how to use/apply the new skill/knowledge with e-learning alone.

I would stick with one main desired outcome and stay clear of any "ISDiefied" objectives. As someone else mentioned - learners rarely if every pay attention to our "terminal" and "enabling" objectives. Give the learner a clear, realistic end goal and a purpose for going through the e-learning and leave it at that... and ensure that everyone understands that the expectation cannot be higher than "the learner will have the opportunity to read about X and answer review questions about X"...

Read/watch/listen and regurgitate (the typical paradigm for e-learning) is not a complete learning cycle (far from it), and therefore, any terminal performance-based measureable/observable objectives are usually moot.

You can show me how to use a fire extinguisher in a cute little on-line interactive animation, and I can click all the right places on the screen... but that doesn't mean I can put out a real fire with a real fire extinguisher.