Developing learning goals

Learning goals are the desired outcomes of instructional design - the objectives needed for a successful learning experience. These goals focus on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that the learning experience is attempting to facilitate, and should be relevant and achievable for the learners.

Creating these goals should be a process that uses our understanding of the leaner’s needs, our knowledge of the curriculum or study, and the specific goals of the particular learning experience. Not every learner will necessarily have the same goal for the same learning experience, and it takes experience and forethought to ensure that learning goals are both achievable and effective

Finally, it's important to regularly review and evaluate the learning goals to make sure they're still relevant and being met. If not, instructional strategies should be adjusted accordingly.

✏️ Activity: Types of Learning Goals

Write a list of all of the different kinds of things that might be a learning goal for a particular lesson, project, activity, or learning experience.

This would cover all of the different kinds of things you might be trying to achieve, make happen, or encourage through your instructional design.

Group the items on your list in ways that make sense for you - are there common themes or patterns?

Review the groups you have made, do you use different teaching and learning strategies depending on the goal you are designing for?

For the purposes of this module, we will group learning goals into four main types:

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Attitudes
• Values

Reflection Questions

What do these four kinds of learning goals mean to you?

What sort of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values are your lessons aimed at developing?