Developing Clear Goals and Objectives
What is it important to have clear goals and objectives for your course?
Hi Angelica,
Good strategy for keep reminding your students of the value of acquiring the "soft skills", meaning being on time every day and working well with others. They need both the soft skills as well as field knowledge in order to be successful.
Gary
At the beginning of the course and I set out to do it and spend a lot of time on it; but there are factors that tend to bring down the process, such as student absences, one-on-one time with students to bring them up to speed and reinforcing issues to be certain the basic understanding is there. I do have to do a re-evaluation and redefine--or slightly tweak--the goals and objectives at mid-quarter to make certain we're all where we're supposed to be. I am conscious of this weekly.
Reply
I agree...what motivates a student? Some may love school- but many of my students see it as a means to an end- show them how the in class objectives are in sync with their primary needs and wants and then you will have a student with a clear understanding of the positive relationship between class goals and meeting their life goals.
It gives your students an idea of what will be expected of them.
make sure they are successful in life and be a good person
Gives the students an opportunity to be ready for class and they will know how the class will progress and what they should know at the end of the course.
Clear goals and objectives also inform the student as to "what is coming" In some many classes they can also inform the student to deficiencies in their skill foundation and give them something to work on prior to building upon that foundation in the current course.
Providing clear goals and objectives provides an opportunity for students to be successful in the classroom setting. It allows students to be focused and clear about the expectations. This will help provide direction for students and they can set and align their own personal, academic, career goals with course expectations.
It is important to have clear goals so that you know what information you should be teaching in class and to be able to measure if the students are learning. If you don't have goals, then the class would be structureless.
It is the best way for the students to stay up on assignments and know where they stand as the class progresses.
It lessons any confusion that the student might feel. The have clear goal and objectives presented early in the classroom instruction sets a firm foundation for the success of the students and the instructor.
It gives the students an idea of what is expected and can help them set their own goals.
This tells you the instructor what you are going to do and it tells the students what they are going to learn and what they need to do. Students like structure. If they are aware from day one what the class is goin gto be about and what the instructure expects then they can acheive their goal. As an instrucutre I know what I am going to do when I walk into the class. Everyone is on the same page and it creates a more relaxed learning atmosphere.
Do goals change during the course? Yes, Maybe a concept was not conveyed well enough so the insturcutor needs to go back and re-teach the topic. Be flexible not regimented.
Hi Agnes,
Good points. Thanks for sharing them with us. In my other life I train people to work with students with disabilities. The two areas of greatest growth are ADHD and autism. The more strategies we can develop and share with each other the more effective we will be in meeting the learning needs of our students especially since so many more ADHD and autistic students are going to college.
Gary
Writing clear goals and objectives will help reduce any confusion that will surface once the class begins. I find there are always students who don't understand the expectation of the course even though the goals and objectives are clearly written. I find it very helpful to review these with the class on the first day - open up for feedback and questions from the class. Sometimes additional questions are brought forth once we begin discussing the goals and objectives.
It eliminates any ambiguity surrounding what will be covered and what is expected from students in terms of performance.
Without goals it is impossible to set a plan for success. It's a way of "keeping score"!
Having clear goals and objectives helps keep your students on tract. They will know what to expect and what is expected from them, it can help to minimize any confusion about where this course is going to take them. It is also a foundation for them so they can set up their own personal goals for the course.
This is really a two part question. 1- It's important to have clear goals and objectives as an instructor. 2- It's important to set clear goals and objectives for my students.
If I don't set goals for myself, I usually fail. Because online classroom environments are so flexible for both students and instructors, it's easy to fall behind. Setting goals like when I need to have feedback to students completed, or grades posted, helps me stay on task. If I set clear goals and objectives for my students, they are much more likely to achieve success. My mentor once said to me, if you don't show the student what the target looks like, how can you expect them to hit the target? If you don't act as a role model by setting goals yourself, and don't encourage your students to achieve their own goals, they won't.
