I knew I would
learn a lot during this course but I was far from suspecting that after about a
quarter of century of teaching experience I would still learn about a new way
of writing learning objectives and yet, that was the case. As a result, I cannot but be thankful once again
to the University of Oregon and its staff who designed this course. As explained in the Pennsylvania State
University site (Penn State Learning Design Community Hub, Mon, 12/17/2007),
‘The
ABCD method of writing objectives is an excellent starting point for writing
objectives (Heinich, et al., 1996). In this system, "A" is for
audience, "B" is for behavior, "C" for conditions and
"D" for degree of mastery needed.’
I definitely
welcome the A.B.C.D. method as it has
opened my mind to the fact that up until now, I have always limited myself to
the A and B
when writing my objectives and neglecting C
and D . In a way, then,
I can say that my objectives have been truncated and now I understand how much
this method can help establish a realistic relationship between what you expect
the students to learn and how much you want them to learn. I know that using
this method will help me design better assessment materials so I’ll do my best
to master it.
Hello Colomba,
ReplyDeleteI join you in thanking Robert and UO for such a wonderful course. Being a life-long learner is what one needs to avoid lagging behind. I've found the ABCD model so powerful and so handy to better design lessons and to enable my students learn smoothly.
I don't know why you didn't mention Search Engines in your post. I hope you didn't miss that point. It's one of the fruits of this week.
All the best.
Abdelghani.
Hi Abdelghani,
DeleteWhat you are saying about ‘ABCD’ is so true and I also agree that the ‘Search Engine’ discussions were also very enriching. That is in fact the reason why I devoted a whole post to it; It is entitled ‘The world of search engines’. Please, have a look at it and tell me what you think.
All the best,
Colomba
Hi Colomba: Nice point that the ABCD framework does indeed increase your familiarity with objectives. I've never found a perfect objective system, and it really depends on your needs which system is "best." I generally find ABCD to be a nice one for remembering the 4 elements due to the mnemonics involved. I am pleased that you liked the system.
ReplyDelete~Robert
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. The mnemonics elements will always remind you of the essential components of a good objective but I learned that one should not always take things for granted and one needs to really be careful when writing learning objectives. Thank you, once again!
Colomba