Learning objectives in e-learning: how to use them effectively!

Learning objectives give your online training a clear direction. The more closely the learning objectives match the learning needs of your customer or student, the more likely they are to be motivated to to complete your training.

As an expert in your field, it can be difficult to break down your knowledge and go back to the beginning. What steps did you take in your learning process before reaching the level where you are now? Consider what was valuable to you and what knowledge and skills you (still) have the most use for.

This way, you can put yourself in the current situation of your student.

After all, you were also once at the point where they are now. What would have helped you the most in your learning process at that time? Take that as a starting point for developing your learning goals.

In this blog, we'll delve deeper into how to choose learning goals and how to use them effectively in your e-learning.

‍Learning objectives - what are they exactly?‍

A well-written learning goal must be clear, concise, and actionable. It should tell the student exactly what they need to achieve, how their ability will be measured, and what materials they have at their disposal.‍

Action words‍

It's important to use the right “action words” when formulating a learning goal. For example, if you add words like “understand” or “contain” to your learning goal, the outcomes are difficult to measure.

But when you use action words like “define”, “explain”, “demonstrate”, the outcome suddenly becomes a lot more measurable.

SMART learning goals for e-learning

A useful mnemonic to remember is to make the learning objectives SMART (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, Time-Bound). ‍

From small to large ‍

Also, consciously keep the learning objectives small. Or develop an overarching learning goal that you then split into smaller (and therefore more manageable) learning objectives. This prevents the student from feeling overwhelmed (and maybe even giving up).

‍Bloom's Taxonomy‍

Bloom's taxonomy provides a clear structure in learning objectives. You can also include this structure in your online training. This way, you can be sure you're starting at the beginning and don't overload or overwhelm your students with too big steps.

Keep it short and simple

Do not measure more than one topic per learning objective. Keep learning objectives short and to the point. Also, make sure that the learning objectives are realistic and achievable. This provides an overview for the student and a sense of feasibility: if I follow these steps and achieve these realistic goals, I will succeed in this online training and will have acquired these new knowledge/skills.‍

Materials are available‍

Provide your student with all the materials they need to achieve their goal. For example, do you use a step-by-step plan yourself? Then share this step-by-step plan with the student in the online learning environment.

Or if there are other resources, tools, checklists, etc. that you find valuable, add them to the training.

The more tools you offer the student, the greater the chance that they will achieve the learning goals.

Also, keep in mind that your students have different preferences when it comes to collecting and remembering information. So choose different formats: checklists, videos, podcasts, workbooks, etc.‍

Assessment is in line with learning objectives‍

A convenient way to set learning objectives is to invert the order intuitively; instead of developing the learning objectives first, you can also develop your assessment first and reason back from there.

If your online training trains students to develop a certain skill, create an assessment to measure that skill. Then you analyse which steps (and therefore learning objectives) precede this. What steps does the student need to take to successfully complete the assessment?‍

Assessment criteria are transparent and clear

One of the most common mistakes in developing online training is the lack of transparency of assessment criteria. As a student, you want to know exactly what steps you can take to achieve the assessment goal. So make sure you set clear assessment criteria that closely match the learning objectives.

Conclusion

In short, developing learning objectives can seem quite overwhelming if you have no experience with it. Nevertheless, you have this knowledge in-house! Go back to the beginning and reflect on the steps you took to get to where you are today. Then take your student through this journey.

Need more inspiration? Download the e-Learning Essentials e-book!