Goals and Objectives

Goals and Objectives

1. Goals are general statements of the program's purposes.

   • They should usually focus on what the program hopes to accomplish in the future, and what the students should be able to do when they leave the program.
     • They can serve as one basis for developing more precise and observable objectives.
       • Goals should never be viewed as permanent, that is, they shoul never become set in cement.

2. Instructional Objectives will be defined as specific statements that describe the particular knowledge, behaviors, and/ or skills thet the learner will be expected to know or perform at the end of a course or program.

   • Direct assessment of the objectives at the end of a course will provide evidence that the instructional objectives, and by extension the program goals, have been achieved, or have not been achieved.

3. Three components necessary for the formulation of good objectives:

   • Performance: An objective always says what a learner is expected to be able to do.
   • Conditions: An objective always describes the important conditions (if any) under which the performance is to occur.
   • Criteria: Wherever possible, an objective describes the criterio of acceptable performance by describing how well the learner must perform in order to be considered acceptable.

4. Benefits that can be derived from the use of objectives

   • Objectives help teachers to convert the perceived needs of the students into teaching points.
   • They help teachers to clarify and organize their teaching points.
   • They help teachers to decide o what they want the students to be able to do at the end of instruction.
   • They help teachers to decide on the appropriate level of specificity for the teaching activities that will be used.