C10: BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

Definition of Terms
GOALS
➢ The final outcome of what is achieved at the end of the teaching–learning process.
➢ Commonly referred to as learning outcomes.
➢ Global and broad in nature
➢ Long term targets for both learner and the teacher.
➢ These are the desired outcomes of learning
➢ Multi-dimensional

OBJECTIVES
➢ A behavior describing the performance that learners should be able to exhibit to be
considered competent
➢ Short term and should be achieved at the end of one teaching session, or shortly
after several teaching sessions.
➢ Are statements that are specific, short term behaviors
➢ According to Mager (1997), an objective describes a performance that learners
should be able to exhibit before they are considered competent.
➢ Unidimensional

TEACHING PLAN
- Is a blueprint to achieve the goal and the objectives that have been developed.
- The plan should clearly and concisely identify the order of these various parts of
the education process.

Why educators develop goals/objectives:

 Help educators make appropriate instructional decisions
 Assist learners to know what they need and expected to know
 Assist educators in organizing instructional content for learners functioning at various
levels of ability

Types of Objectives
A. Educational/Instructional Objectives:
- Used to identify the intended outcomes of the education process.
- Content-oriented, teacher-centered outcomes of the education process in reference to
an aspect of a program or a total program of study
- That guide the design of curriculum units

B. Behavioral/Learning Objectives:
- Action-oriented
- Learner-centered outcomes of the teaching/learning process rather than teacher
centered
- Short term outcome focused rather than process focused
- Describe precisely what the learner will be able to do following the instruction.

C. Instructional Objectives:
- Describe teaching activities and resources used to facilitate effective learning

Responsibility for Establishing Goals and Objectives

• Setting of goals and objectives must be a mutual decision-making process between the
teacher and the learner.
• Both parties must “buy into” and participate in establishing predetermined objectives and
goals prior to initiating the teaching/learning process.
• Blending what the learner wants to learn and what the teacher has assessed the learner
needs to know provides for a mutually accountable, respectful, and fulfilling educational
experience.
The Debate about Using Behavioral
Objectives
Arguments Against (Disadvantages)

• superfluous • stifles creativity

• reductionistic • interferes with freedom to learn
• time-consuming • impossible to be inclusive
• pedagogic

Arguments for (Advantages)

• Keeps teaching learner-centered • ensures that process is deliberate

• communicates plan to others • tailors teaching to learner’s needs
• helps learners stay on track • focuses attention on learner
• organizes educational approach • orients teacher and learner to outcome

Three Major Advantages to Writing Objectives

• Provides basis for selection and design of instructional content, methods, and
materials
• Provides learner with means to organize efforts toward accomplishing objectives
• Allows for determination as to the extent that objectives have been accomplished

Writing Behavioral Objectives and Goals

- Well written behavioral objectives give learner very clear statements about what is
expected of them and assist teachers in being able to measure learner progress toward
achieving outcomes of learning.
- According to Mager (1997), the format for writing concise and useful behavioral
objectives includes the following three important characteristics:
1. PERFORMANCE
- Describes what the learner is expected to be able to do to demonstrate the kinds of
behaviors the teacher will accept as evidence that objectives have been achieved.

2. CONDITION
- Describes the situation under which behavior will be observed or the performance will
be expected to occur.

3. CRITERION
- Describes how well or with what accuracy, or within what time frame the learner
must be able to perform the behavior so as to be considered competent.

The Four Step Approach

To link a behavioral objective together, the following three steps are recommended:
1. Identify the testing situation (condition).
2. State the learner and the learner’s behavior (performance).
3. State the performance level (criterion).
4. State how well the learner will perform the criterion.
The ABCD Rule - Proposed by Smaldino, Lowther, and Russel (2012)
• A—Audience (who)
• B—Behavior (what)
• C—Condition (under which circumstances)
• D—Degree (how well, to what extent, within what time frame)

For example : the following behavioral Objectives includes these four elements :
“After a 20-minute teaching session on relaxation techniques (C- Condition), Mrs. Smith
(A- Audience) will be able to identify (B- Behavior) three distinct techniques for lowering
her stress level (D-Degree).

The four-part method of objective writing

Samples of written objectives

Common MistakesWhen Writing Objectives

• Describing what the instructor will do rather than what the learner will do
• Including more than one expected behavior in a single objective (avoid using and to
connect two verbs – e.g, the learner will select and prepare)
• Forgetting to identify all dour components of condition, performance, criterion and
who the learner is.
• Using terms for performance that are open to many interpretations, are not action
oriented, and are difficult to measure
• Writing objectives that are unattainable and unrealistic given the ability level of the
learner.
• Writing objectives that do not relate to the stated goal
 • Cluttering objectives by including unnecessary information
• Being too general so as not to specify clearly the expected behavior to be achieved

Taxonomy of Objectives
- Taxonomy is a mechanism used to categorize things according to how they are related
to one another
- Behavior is defined according to type (domain category) and level of complexity
(simple to complex).

Three Types of Learning Domains (domain category)

1. Cognitive—the “thinking” domain
2. Affective—the “feeling” domain
3. Psychomotor—the “skills” domain

Writing SMART Objectives

• S—Specific → be specific about what is to be achieved
• M—Measurable → Quantify or qualify objectives by including numeric, costs, or
percentage amounts or the degree/ level of mastery expected.
• A—Achievable → write attainable objectives
• R—Realistic → Resources (i.e., personnel, facilities, equipment) must be available and
accessible to achieve objectives
• T—Timely → State when the objectives will be achieved (i.e., within a week, a month, by
the day patient discharge, before a new staff member completes orientation)

Complexity of Domain Levels

Objectives in each domain are classified in a taxonomic form of hierarchy into low
(most simple), medium (moderately difficult), and high (most complex) levels of
behavior.
Cognitive Levels
Knowledge → Evaluation
Psychomotor
Perception → Origination
Affective Levels
Receiving → Characterization

Teaching in the Cognitive Domain

- Known as the “Thinking domain”
- Learning in this domain involves acquisition of information based on the learner’s
intellectual abilities and thinking processes.
- Methods most often used to stimulate learning in the cognitive domain include:
o Lecture
o One-to-one discussion
o Computer-assisted instruction
- Cognitive-domain learning is the traditional focus of most teaching
- Cognitive knowledge is an essential prerequisite for learning affective and
psychomotor skills
• Levels of Cognitive Domain (from lower to higher order)
1. Knowledge – ability of the learner to memorize, recall define, recognize or identify
specific, information, such as facts rules, principles, conditions, and terms, presented
during instruction.
2. Comprehension – ability of the learner to demonstrate an understanding of what is
being communicated by recognizing if in a translated form.
3. Application – ability of the learner to use ideas, principles, abstractions, or theories
in specific situations, such as figuring, writing, reading, or handling equipment.
4. Analysis – ability of the learner to recognize and structure information by breaking
it down into its separate parts and specifying the relationship between the parts.
5. Synthesis- ability of the learner to put together parts into a unified whole by
creating a unique product that is written, oral, or in picture form.
6. Evaluation – ability of the learner to judge the value of something by applying
appropriate criteria.

Massed Practice – Learning information all at once on one day. Is much less effective in
remembering facts.
- Commonly identified as “cramming”, might allow the recall of information for a short
period of time, but evidence strongly supports that distributed practice is very
important in forging memories that last for years.
Distributed Practice – Learning information over successive periods of time.

Teaching in the Affective Domain

- Learning in this domain involves an increasing internalization or commitment to
feelings; affective learning involves the degree to which feelings or attitudes are
incorporated into one’s personality or value system
- Known as the “feeling domain”
- Methods most often used to stimulate learning in the affective domain include:
o Group discussion
o Role-playing
o Role-modeling
o Simulation gaming
o Questioning
- Nurse educators are encouraged to attend to the needs of the whole person by
recognizing that learning is subjective and values driven
- More time in teaching needs to focus on exploring and clarifying learner feelings,
emotions, and attitudes
• Levels of Affective Domain (from lower to higher order)
1. Receiving – Ability of the learner to show awareness of an idea or fact or a
consciousness of a situation or event in the environment. This level represents a
willingness to selectively attend to or focus on data or to receive a stimulus.
2. Responding- ability of the learner to respond to an experience, at first obediently
and later willingly and with satisfaction.
3. Valuing – ability of the learner to regard or accept the worth of a theory, idea, or
event, demonstrating sufficient commitment or preference to an experience that is
perceived as having value.
4. Organization – ability of the learner to organize, classify, and prioritize values by
integrating a new value into a general set of values; to determine interrelationships
of values; and to establish some values as dominant and pervasive.
5. Characterization- ability of the learner to display adherence to a total philosophy or
worldview, showing firm commitment to the values by generalizing certain
experiences into a value system.

Teaching in the Psychomotor Domain

- Learning in this domain involves acquiring fine and gross motor abilities with
increasing complexity of neuromuscular coordination.
- Methods most often used to stimulate learning in the psychomotor domain
include:
o Demonstration
o Return demonstration
o Simulation gaming
o Self-instruction
- Psychomotor skill development is very egocentric and requires learner
concentration
- Asking questions that demand a cognitive or affective response during
psychomotor learning interferes with psychomotor performance
- The ability to perform a skill is not equivalent to learning a skill (performance is
transitory; learning is more permanent)
- “Practice makes perfect” – repetition leads to perfection and reinforcement of
behavior

• Levels of Psychomotor domain (from lower to higher order)

1. Perception- ability of the learner to show sensory awareness of objects or cues
associated with some tasks to be performed.
2. Set level – ability of the learner to exhibit readiness to take a certain kind of actions
as evidenced by expressions of willingness, sensory attending, or body language
favorable to performing a motor act.
3. Guided response – ability of the learner to exert effort via overt actions under the
guidance of an instructor to imitate an observed behavior with conscious awareness
of effort.
4. Mechanism level – ability of the learner to repeatedly perform steps of a desired
skill with a certain degree of confidence, indicating mastery to the extent that some
or all aspects of the process become habitual.
5. Complex overt response – ability of the learner to automatically perform a
complex motor act with independence and high degree of skill, without hesitation and
with minimum expenditure of time and energy; performance of an entire sequence of
a complex behavior without the need to attend to details.
6. Adaptation – ability of the learner to modify or adapt a motor process to suit the
individual or various situations, indicating mastery of highly developed movements
that can be suited to a variety of conditions.
7. Origination level – ability of the learner to create new motor acts, such as novel
ways of manipulating objects or materials, as a result of an understanding of skill and
a developed ability to perform skills.
Factors Influencing Psychomotor Skill Acquisition
The amount of practice required to learn a new skill varies with the individual, depending
upon such things as:
- readiness to learn - environmental stimuli
- motivation to learn - anxiety level
- past experience - developmental stage
- health status - practice session length

Development of Teaching Plans

• Predetermined goals and objectives serve as a basis for developing a teaching plan.
• Mutually agreed upon goals and objectives clarify what the learner is to learn and what
the teacher is to teach.

Reasons to Construct Teaching Plans

1. Ensures a logical approach to teaching and keeps instruction on target.
2. Communicates in writing an action plan for the learner, teacher, and other providers.
3. Serves as a legal document that indicates a plan is in place and the extent of progress
toward implementation.

Basic Elements of a Teaching Plan

• Purpose
• Goal statement
• Objectives (sub-objectives)
• Content outline
• Methods of teaching
• Time allotment
• Resources for instruction
• Evaluation

The Major Criterion for Judging a Teaching Plan

Internal consistency exists when you can answer “yes” to the following questions:
- Does the plan facilitate a relationship between its parts?
- Do all 8 elements of the plan “hang together”?
- Is the identified domain of learning in each objective reflected in the purpose and goal, as
well as across the plan, all the way through to the end process of evaluation?

Use of Learning Contracts

Learning Contract
- A written (formal) or verbal (informal) agreement between the teacher and the
learner that delineates specific teaching and learning activities that are to occur
within a certain time frame.

Purpose of a Learning Contract

• To encourage learner’s active participation
• To improve teacher–client communication
• Are an increasingly popular approach to teaching and learning.
• Serve as an alternative and innovative technique that embodies the principles of adult
learning.
• Can be used with any audience of adult learners.
• Empower the learner by emphasizing self-direction, mutual negotiation, and mutual
evaluation of competency.
• Stress shared accountability between the teacher and the learner.
Components of the Learning Contract
Four major components
1. Content—specifies the precise behavioral objectives to be achieved.
2. Evaluation—specifies criteria used to evaluate achievement of objectives, such as skills
checklists, care standards or protocols, and agency policies and procedures of care that
identify these levels of competency expected of the learner.
3. Performance expectations—specify conditions by which learning will be achieved.
4. Time frame—specifies length of time needed for successful achievement of objectives.

The Concept of Learning Curve

Learning Curve
- A graphic depiction of changes in psychomotor performance at different stages of
practice during a specified time period
• Six stages of the theoretical learning curve
1. Negligible progress
2. Increasing gains
3. Decreasing gains
4. Plateau
5. Renewed gains
6. Approach to limit
• The irregularity of individual learning curves

State of the Evidence

• Educational literature has plenty of evidence establishing the value and utility of behavioral
objectives.
• Taxonomic hierarchy for categorizing behaviors has also been established. • Body of
evidence on teaching plans is available.
• Educational literature has new research on learning contracts, psychomotor skill
acquisition, learning curve concept.

Summary
• Assessment of the learner is a prerequisite to formulating objectives.
• Writing clear and concise behavioral objectives is fundamental to the education process.
• Goals and objectives serve as a guide to planning, implementation, and evaluation of
teaching and learning.

References:
▪ Bastable, Susan. Nurse as an Educator. Principles of Teaching and Learning for
Nursing Practice. Massachussetts: Jones and Barlett. 5th edition © 2019