How to write learning objectives

Some teachers I know struggle with writing learning objectives. Having mentored numerous trainees in the past, it is surprising how many of them just don't get it and end up writing lists of tasks instead.

I remember being taught about learning objectives in my training and it made sense to me and it's never been something I have struggled with.

Somewhere along the line, I fell across Bloom's Rose:

In the centre of the "rose" there are the 6 different levels from Bloom's taxonomy. Then moving outwards, there are various key trigger words that you can use to construct your objectives at each level. Finally on the outer part, there are possible activities you can set your students in order to help meet the objective you have written.

If you have ever struggled with objectives, then I recommend the next time you are stuck, use Bloom's rose. It's a great tool for your toolkit.

Happy new year!

Objective Led Learning

I was a joint leader in an 'objective led learning' working group a little while ago. We were tasked with researching and trying different techniques then creating a handout for the rest of the staff.

Everybody came up with some great ideas and we produced a really helpful handout.

I suggest you try post-it note objectives with controlled assessment or coursework based lessons. This is personal favourite of mine that I picked up during my training year. Or getting the students to RAG the objectives at the start and then again at the end of the lesson to use as an assessment tool to show progression is a handy technique.

Which are your favourites?

You can download the handout here.