Objectives provide the reader with three kinds of information.

Objectives tell us who.

Objectives are written from the point of view of the learner and not the instructor or the course. It is very easy to forget and to plan what the course will do or what the instructor will do. Every objective begins with word “Learners will be able to...” Usually we do not write out these words because it becomes very boring for the reader.

However it is likely a good idea for you to write these words out for a while so that you are reminded that the focus of all learning and all lesson planning is on the LEARNER.

Objectives tell us what.

They tell us what content, what skills, or what attitudes will be learned.

Objectives tell us how.

The verbs in the objective tell how the content, skills, or attitudes will be learned (discussions, listing, writing, creating, analyzing).

Objectives also provide guidelines and directions for assessment of the learning

Student learning must be assessed based on the objectives. The verbs provide the guidelines.