The foundational elements of any course, whether online or otherwise, are the learning objectives. Learning objectives specify a behavior, skill, or action that a student can demonstrate if they have achieved mastery of your course content. What do you want students to be able to do once they complete your course? 

Think of course objectives as milestones or stepping stones your students follow as they navigate your course. Course objectives form the roots of the class. Everything in the course — from readings and writing assignments to exams and projects — should work together to ensure students master the course objectives.

Why do you need learning objectives? Your students won’t be motivated or even know what the course is about without clear objectives. Also, learning objectives help course creators plan, outline, and effectively deliver their course content. 

Let’s take a closer look at what learning objectives are, how to write them, and learning objective examples.  

What are learning objectives?

Objectives are brief, straightforward statements that describe what learners will be able to accomplish by the end of the course or learning activity. Objectives define the specific knowledge, skills, and values students should be able to exhibit by the end of the learning experience. 

The learning objectives concept can be applied to an individual module, a specific lesson, a given assignment, or any other aspect of the course.

Furthermore, learning objectives should be student-centric. Focus on what the student gets out of the course, not how or what you will teach. Your objectives need to describe what participants should be able to know or do as a result of the provided learning experience.

How to write learning objectives

There are three things you should definitely do when writing learning objectives: review Bloom’s Taxonomy, be as specific and realistic as possible, and use action verbs.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Using a taxonomy that explains different levels of learning can be helpful for selecting the right action verbs for your learning objectives. This will prevent you from choosing lower order actions when you really want students to demonstrate higher order thinking. 

A basic understanding of Bloom’s Taxonomy is helpful as you begin writing learning objectives. The major concept is that objectives can be arranged in a hierarchy that moves from less to more complex levels of knowledge. 

Bloom’s Taxonomy is broken into six knowledge dimensions: Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating; and range from lower order thinking skills to higher order thinking skills. Here’s what those levels mean:

• Remember: Bloom originally listed this as “knowledge,” and it’s a pretty clear first step on the path to learning. In this objective, the goal is to help the learner recall information, such as a new vocabulary word. Action verbs associated with this level include describe, repeat, outline, locate, match, name, and recognize.
• Understand: Knowing is not the same as comprehension. Learners can memorize a list of vocabulary words, but if they don’t understand their meanings, it won’t do them any good. Action verbs associated with this level include defend, explain, translate, discuss, express, and illustrate.
• Apply: In this step, learners put their newfound knowledge to work. Continuing with our vocabulary example, a learner should be able to correctly put the vocabulary word in a sentence. Action verbs associated with this level include choose, produce, organize, generalize, and complete.
• Analyze: Learners should now be able to identify their new information. For instance, they should be able to describe the grammatical characteristics of their new vocabulary word (is it a noun or a verb?), as well as its declensions and conjugations. Action verbs associated with this level include classify, compare, identify, diagram, infer, and distinguish.
• Evaluate: Is it correct or not? Self-evaluation is an important part of any learning process. Without it, learners are simply parroting information. This is the stage that builds critical thinking so that a learner can explain and justify their choices. Action verbs associated with this level include appraise, defend, justify, measure, test, assess, and critique.
• Create: Finally, learners should be able to incorporate their new information into the knowledge base they already possess. Learning new vocabulary words is only useful if they can be combined with a larger vocabulary pool and combined in new and interesting ways. Action verbs associated with this level include combine, design, develop, transform, make, formulate, and generate.

Be specific yet realistic 

As you draft your learning objectives, keep in mind the constraint of time. Consider what a student will have time to actually do during the duration of your course. Ensure your objective is achievable in the allotted time frame. 

Also, be sure you are being as clear as possible with your objectives. Vague objectives will confuse your students and make progression through the course difficult. A bad objective might be “expand the learner’s vocabulary.” The learner won’t know if you mean by one word or a hundred, which means they won’t know how difficult the lesson is likely to be and won’t be able to plan accordingly. Instead, say “the learner will demonstrate proper use of twenty new vocabulary words a week.” This gives both you and the learner a clear and specific goal.

In the above example, you’ll notice that the objective is only one sentence. This is ideal so that your objectives are concise. Simple language is direct and engaging, and short learning objectives help students focus on what will be expected of them.

Use action verbs 

As we explored earlier, Bloom’s Taxonomy offers excellent examples of action verbs to use in your course objectives. Avoid words like know, understand, and learn. Instead, use words like hypothesize, represent, and examine. Your learning objectives need to be written in such a way that they are measurable through an assessment.

Learning objective examples 

Learning objectives follow a simple formula: subject + action verb + object. The following examples use this formula and a dimension of Bloom’s Taxonomy. They will give you a general idea of some ways to apply the concepts we’ve already covered.

• Example A using Apply in Bloom’s Taxonomy: Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to calculate a personalized budget with considerations for investing, saving, and debt management.  
• Example B using Understand in Bloom’s Taxonomy: At the end of this course, students will be able to explain and interpret psychology principles for sales professionals.
• Example C using Create in Bloom’s Taxonomy: Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to design a four-page website using HTML and CSS principles.

Establish learning objectives for better learning outcomes 

Learning objectives are a vital part of course creation. They position your course and its benefits clearly for potential students. Plus, they help you focus on the most important parts of your course: what students will be able to do if they complete your course. 

Using concepts like Bloom’s Taxonomy will help you create clear, concise objectives that accurately reflect the outcomes of your course. In turn, you’ll improve the overall learning experience and outcomes. 

If you’re struggling with a course plan, write the learning objectives first. You could even use the LearnDash AI Course Builder to kick off the course outline. Then, build beautiful courses with LearnDash LMS. Try the demo to see it in action!