Part II: Writing Measurable Learning Objectives

In April’s Newsletter, we explored the purpose of writing measurable learning objectives. But what makes a learning objective measurable? How do you write a learning objective that clearly communicates the direction of the curriculum content, defines faculty and learner responsibilities, and enables the evaluation of the learners and the curriculum?

Learning objectives should be written as a result of the identified educational needs. These needs are defined as the changes in knowledge, competence or performance that need to take place in order to address educational deficits and close professional practice gaps. Therefore, choose wording that describes the observable action that you would expect to see the learner “doing” upon completion of the learning activity. Most learning objectives in educational programs are in the cognitive domain. Verbs that express behaviors on each of the six levels in Bloom’s Taxonomy are listed below. They can help you recognize (and give attention to) the higher intellectual levels in your planning. Verbs applicable to the Levels in the Cognitive Domain are listed in the following table (Note: Depending on the use, some verbs may apply to more than one level.)

When writing learning objectives, remember to only include one action in each objective. In order to be measurable, each action needs to be in a separate learning objective. This becomes particularly important when learners evaluate learning objectives. For example, a poorly written learning objective, such as “define the healthcare protocol for the treatment and prevention of Stage III and IV pressure ulcers and apply to your own practice,” is asking the learner to accomplish multiple things. As a result of the educational activity, we want the learner to:

1. define the healthcare protocol for the treatment of Stage III and IV pressure ulcers;
2. define the healthcare protocol for the prevention of Stage III and IV pressure ulcers;
3. apply this knowledge to their own practice.

During this activity’s evaluation, the learner may feel that the activity appropriately discussed the protocol for pressure ulcer treatment but hardly touched upon the protocol for preventing pressure ulcers. The learner can’t effectively evaluate this learning object because it is a poorly written.

Here are some quick tips for writing learning objectives:

• Start with a measurable verb followed by a description of the action that the learner will take.
• For the sake of clarity, a learning objective may also need to specify the conditions in which the action will occur (e.g. specific information to clarify clinical focus and/or patient characteristics).
• Be careful when using verbs such as describe, explain, review, or summarize. They imply that the learner will communicate verbally with someone. These verbs should be used in the context of communicating with the patient, and not used to describe something that a faculty member would do (i.e., explain a concept at a live CME activity).

References:

1. American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). Guide to writing learning objectives. Available at: http://www.aafp.org/online/etc/medialib/aafp_org/documents/cme/cmefacultydevelopment/
   learningobjectives.Par.0001.File.tmp/LearningObjectivesGuidelines.pdf.
2.  Accessed May 2011.
3. Anderson LW, et al. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.; 2001.

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