Writing Learning Objectives
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Questions to Ask Yourself
What do you want participants to be able to do back at their institutions as a direct result of attending
this session (workshop, course, seminar, etc.)?
What does our audience need to know or be able to do to bridge the gap between where they are today
and where we want them to be tomorrow?
If participants could learn only three things in this session, what would those three things be? What
would be your three take-home messages?
Steps for Writing an Objective
1. Write each objective beginning with the phrase “After participating in this session, attendees should be able
to . . . .”
2. Choose a verb that matches the desired level of knowledge or skill (see information on Bloom’s Taxonomy
below).
Verbs should indicate specific, measurable, and observable behaviors.
3. Review each objective to make sure it is an outcome.
Double check that you have not created a list of learning activity descriptions or agenda items (for
example, “The participants should complete a simulation on how to perform the XYZ procedure”).
Your objectives should describe what participants should be able to know or do as a result of a
learning experience.
4. Examples:
Poorly defined learning objective: After participating in this session, attendees should be able to
explain change management.
Well-defined learning objective: After participating in the session, attendees should be able to
describe the three essential elements of change management.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy, created by Benjamin Bloom, is a hierarchical classification of the different levels of thinking