Having clear goals and objectives is the most important thing before starting a course. First you get your students to understand what the will be learning in class and also you get to follow the list that you prepared and you don't get lost.
Michael,
Right you are about the value of clear and concise goals and objectives. They are the road map that will be followed to arrive at the successful conclusion of the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Goals and objectives for an instructor to have to lead a class are essential in order to cover necessary information that the course is designed to instruct. This allows an instructor to be guided through what they consider to be a successful completion of the course, and without such set criteria the instructor could end up teaching at a lower level that is not both pushing the students to learn, but also the instructor.
Austin,
Thank you for these well expressed comments about the need for clear goals and objectives. As you say we all need to have clear goals and objectives and to communicate them to our students. This sets the stage for the course to proceed with minimum misunderstanding and confusion. This helps to keep the students in a forward focus mind set leading to enhanced course success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Clear goals and objectives are mandatory to successful academic and even real life endeavors. Laying the roadmap and following through the clearly defined goals is the most direct path to achieving the objectives of making it to the ultimate destination called "success."
We, the educators, want our students to succeed. Not giving them the needed tools to achieve (like a well develop course goals and objectives) is like setting them up for a rocky and bumpy road to success. It's a disservice to the academy. It's time consuming, futile and expensive in this very competitive, productivity driven global economics. Time is gold. I don't want my students to be wandering around the course which will most likely lead them to a longer and difficult path to success and very high probability of getting lost along the way.
This is the map, take it with you and use it along the way. I know that you will make it to your destination without getting sidetracked along the way. You will not get lost either because you have the map as your guide. That’s what I can see on my vantage point when it comes to the discussion of the importance of clear goals and objectives
Finally, developing clear goals and objectives, again, is a must have tool and skill to a successful career and life so to speak.
Renee,
Well said because there seems to always be more content than there is time to teach as well as learn it. It is a matter of sorting through the essential information and selecting that which will most impact the career development of students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Natural progression and flow. How can anyone function properly without these two things. During most courses, there is more information then time, so infomation must be reviewed, and lesson plan developed in order to implement the instructors lessions and on what we hope to have learned once the class is completed.
Michael,
Great to hear because your comments reinforce the value of having something, in this case a well developed syllabus that you can be ready for your first class and that in fact you will survive meeting your students for the first time. I wish you continued teaching success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I too am a new instructor and found that having a syllabus with clear concise goals, does make things much easier. Not to mention, it culled much of the anxiety that come from day one class one.
Clear goals and objectives allows the student to know what is expected of them. They know what areas in the text cover the material in those objectives and how knowing the material helps to meet any goals.
Scott,
Love your enthusiasm for teaching and expanding your instructional expertise. You were provided some good resources to get you started and now you can take it to the next level. I wish you continued teaching success and may you have the opportunity to continue to impact the lives of your students and help them prepare for their career field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This is my first semester teaching, and the materials handed to me from the previous instructor were incredibly helpful; however I can already see how developing AND communicating clear goals and objectives on the first day will greatly benefit the class (myself included).
My wheels are already spinning on how this next go-round could improve the students' experience.
Dawn,
Truly the power of a well developed syllabus for both you and your students. This gets everyone started off on the right foot in terms of course expectations.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As someone who is new to teaching, the existing syllabus was my "bible," and without it, I would not have been able to successfully develop my lesson plans or labs. It was also helpful in guiding my students back to the expectations when they started to veer off the path.
Melanie,
They in a sense are both. I list the course goals in the syllabus and go over them with my students as I get a new course underway. Goals are directional indicators, meaning where the course is going to go during the next few weeks. So I remind my students frequently of what our current goal is and what we are doing to accomplish it. This way I can list the objectives for that goal on Blackboard and/or on the chalk board to remind them of the steps we will be following for that goal.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
What a great idea! Love it.
I know what objectives are. Are the goals part of the syllabus or more the daily/weekdown of the learning?
Leslie,
They are essential if the students are going to understand where the course is going and what they will accomplish in the process. This gets everyone on the same page and with the same understanding and from there on it is personal growth and career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Clear goals and objectives help keep the instructor on track. It is easy to bounce around and lose sight of the goals and objectives. If the goals and objectives are on the board, they tell the students what they can expect and help both the students and the instructors asses whether or not the class met those expectations.
I write my daily goals for the week on the side board so all students can be prepared, as well as, if the student should be absent they know what lesson to do. It is important for the student to be prepared as much as the teacher.
Violet,
By having such a guide you will be able to stay on target in terms of assignments, projects and announcements that your students need to know about in order to complete the course requirements. With so many distractions in our teaching lives it is easy to overlook something without a list or guide.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
