Although the noun forms of the three words ''aim'', ''objective'' and ''
goal
A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...
'' are often used
synonymously, professionals in organised
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
define the educational ''aims'' and ''objectives'' more narrowly and consider them to be distinct from each other: aims are concerned with purpose whereas objectives are concerned with achievement.
Usually an educational objective relates to gaining an ability, a skill, some knowledge, a new attitude etc. rather than having merely completed a given task. Since the achievement of objectives usually takes place during the course and the aims look forward into the student's career and life beyond the course one can expect the aims of a course to be relatively more long term than the objectives of that same course.
Sometimes an aim sets a goal for the teacher to achieve in relation to the learners, sometimes course aims explicitly list long-term goals for the learner and at other times there is a joint goal for the teacher and learner to achieve together. While the aim may be phrased as a goal for the teacher within the scope of the course it can also imply goals for the learner beyond the duration of the course. In a statement of an aim the third person
singular
Singular may refer to:
* Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms
* Singular homology
* SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS)
* Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
form of the verb with the
subject ''course, programme or module'' is often used as an impersonal way of referring to the teaching staff and their goals. Similarly the learner is often referred to in the
third person
Third person, or third-person, may refer to:
* Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'')
** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person
* Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...
singular even when they are the intended reader.
Course objectives
An objective is a (relatively) shorter term goal which successful learners will achieve within the scope of the course itself. Objectives are often worded in course documentation in a way that explains to learners what they should try to achieve as they learn.
Learning outcomes
The term learning outcome is used in many educational organisations, in particular in
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
where learning outcomes are statements about what students should be able to do by the end of a teaching session. Learning outcomes are then aligned to
educational assessment
Educational assessment or educational evaluation is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Assessment data can be o ...
s, with the teaching and learning activities linking the two, a structure known as
constructive alignment Constructive alignment is a principle used for devising teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks, that directly address the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) in a way not typically achieved in traditional lectures, tutorial classes and ...
. Writing good learning outcomes can also make use of the
SMART criteria
S.M.A.R.T. is a mnemonic acronym, giving criteria to guide in the setting of goals and objectives that are assumed to give better results, for example in project management, employee-performance management and personal development. The term was f ...
and action verbs from
Bloom's taxonomy.
In some organisations the term learning outcome is used in the part of a course description where aims are normally found.
Outcomes Versus Objectives? What's the Difference? Daniel Pittaway
/ref> One can equate aims to ''intended'' learning outcomes and objectives to ''measured'' learning outcomes. A third category of learning outcome is the ''unintended'' learning outcome which would include beneficial outcomes that were neither planned nor sought but are simply observed.
See also
*Educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in ...
*Instructional scaffolding
Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning ...
*Mastery learning
Mastery learning (or, as it was initially called, "learning for mastery"; also known as "mastery-based learning") is an instructional strategy and educational philosophy, first formally proposed by Benjamin Bloom in 1968. Mastery learning maintai ...
*Model of hierarchical complexity
The model of hierarchical complexity (MHC) is a framework for scoring how complex a behavior is, such as verbal reasoning or other cognitive tasks. It quantifies the order of hierarchical complexity of a task based on mathematical principles of how ...
*Outline of educational aims
Educational aim is a goal of the educational experience or process. This page lists the generic educational aims which one might encounter in educational theory, research or practice, including new concepts in published literature. The discussion ...
*Rubric (academic)
In US education terminology, rubric is "a scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students' constructed responses". Put simply, it is a set of criteria for grading assignments. Rubrics usually contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions ...
* Structure of observed learning outcome
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Educational Aims And Objectives
Curricula