What Will You Consider the Purpose If Instructional Objectives in Curriculum

Development

By

Mary, Ogwa, Odah

Registration Number:

School:

Course title: PDE 104

April 2016

What Will You Consider the Purpose If Instructional Objectives in Curriculum

Development
Teachers vary in the degree of precision with which they see the objectives they are
pursuing in their teaching work. To make these objectives more explicit and to define them more
clearly demands additional work from each teacher, an effort which ought to be rewarded by
improved results. However, the teacher cannot hope for satisfactory results if the objectives
sought are not related to the other aspects of instruction. Learning objectives serve several
instructional purposes, including the basis for lesson planning, the bane of many of those
learning to be teachers. First and foremost, such objectives clarify the intent of instruction for the
teacher. By stating his objectives in behavioral terms, the teacher exercises a type of professional
discipline that will aid him in focusing his attention upon that which is really the purpose of all
instruction -- learning. Because learning cannot be seen directly, objectives provide a basis for
making the best possible inferences about whether learning has occurred.
By formulating clear objectives of instruction, the teacher stands a better chance of
devising instructional strategies that will effectively lead his students to learn what he intends to
have them learn. But, the usefulness of learning objectives learning objectives does not stop
there. They also serve to clarify the purposes and intent of instruction for all who have an interest
in the outcomes of instruction. Students, parents of students, principals, supervisors, school
boards, college deans, and members of society at large all have some interest in instructional
outcomes. Such constituents often complain that educators speak in a curious dialect known as
pedagogese in response to inquiries for information, and may even claim that this is intended to
deceive them.

Imagine, if you will, the plight of the parents of a third grade student who was given the
homework assignment, "By tomorrow, know the continents." When he asked his parents for help
they were understandably stupefied. What is knowing the continents? Is it naming them? Is it
ordering them from largest to smallest? Is it labeling them on an outline map? Is it naming the
direction each lies from the United States? Assuming that naming the continents was all that was
required, which list of names should be used? Some lists include Europe and Asia as one
continent. Some list Australia separately and some include it in a complex called Oceania.
Judging from the test that the teacher gave, it turned out that what was wanted of the student was
for him to list the names of the continents given in his social studies textbook. But at the
beginning of his instruction he didn't know that, his parents didn't know it and maybe his teacher
didn't even know it.
The most dehumanizing occurrence, however, was that the student didn't know what was
expected until he took the test. He knew then what was expected but it was too late. He had
already failed and he was never given another chance. Then there was a student who failed a
social studies test on Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty . . ." speech. He had been told by
his teacher that he should learn several lines of the speech. The student practiced by saying it
until he could recite it with gusto from memory, with the inflections and intonations he imagined
the great orator must have used. But, then his teacher tested the student's learning by giving him
a copy of the speech, in writing, with blank spaces appearing where certain key words were
omitted. Writing the proper words in the blanks did not give the student much difficulty; he knew
what they should be. But because he didn't realize he would be tested in this manner, the student
had not attempted to learn the way in which the words were spelled. Consequently, he failed the

test because the teacher considered each misspelled word a wrong response. It is hard to imagine
a set of circumstances that would do more to convince a student that he shouldn't try to learn.
A major reason for using learning objectives is to communicate. Any teacher should be
able to communicate to his colleagues, his students, his supervisors, and the public, the intent
and purpose of his instructional programs. In short, the teacher should be able to tell all who are
interested what he expects his students to learn from instruction. He should be able to tell them in
a way that will communicate to them in a consistent, orderly, and efficient manner. This means
that the teacher must first see the ends of his own instruction. If he is going to communicate, the
teacher must have something to communicate. It is probable that teachers often fail to
communicate because they do not have the ends, or objectives, of their own instruction in mind.
When pressured, they may state some specific objectives that they may have clearly in mind at
the time they are communicating them. But it frequently happens that the intentions of today are
not the intentions of tomorrow.
It is easy to forget what one meant by an oral statement delivered two or three months
ago, particularly when it may not have been too clear. Therefore, it is desirable to have written
objectives that communicate across time as well as at a point in time. Many writers on the
subject of learning objectives make clear the role of learning objectives in improving
communications. Objectives stated behaviorally communicate better than non-behaviorally
stated objectives. Curriculum developers have used learning objectives in curriculum design, not
simply as a refuge from the cloudy and extensive verbosity that has characterized many
statements of educational intent, but as a means of establishing a base for planning instructional
programs. They are interested in designing programs that result in the learning that they intend to
occur with the students who are engaged in the programs. To design programs, to evaluate them,

and to communicate with others about them, one must know more than the content to be
"covered." Educators who are concerned with improving the quality of instructional programs
must know specifically what the student is to do to indicate he has learned. They realize that
vague terms used to explain learning do not communicate very well in their first use and lose
their meaning, what little they originally possessed, over a period of time.
Therefore, the need for using learning objectives to clarify instruction and to improve
communications about instruction has become more widely accepted. But, do behaviorally stated
objectives really communicate better than the more vague variety? According to Mager, a
behavioral objective is composed of three parts: a statement of conditions, a behavioral verb, and
criteria of performance. All three parts are essential. It is not the purpose of this to expound upon
all of the techniques that are involved in writing quality learning objectives. One of the purposes,
however, is to focus the attention of the reader upon a source of vagueness in the construction of
learning objectives that may make them not much more meaningful than objectives stated in
non-behavioral terms. That source of vagueness grows out of the ambiguity attending the use of
verbs that are not defined behaviorally.
The Curriculum Development Process
The development of an effective curriculum guide is a multi-step, ongoing and cyclical
process. The process progresses from evaluating the existing program, to designing an improved
program, to implementing a new program and back to evaluating the revised program.
Objectives improve communication between the teacher and the students and between the
teachers of a given syllabus
The student must know precisely what is expected of him. He will thus devote his time to
activities which will enable him to attain the course objectives. He will be in a better position to

distinguish what is important from what is less important from among the learning tasks covered
by the course. He will thus avoid dwelling on details of the subject-matter which he considers to
be less relevant. He will not have to guess from the behaviour of his teacher what the latter
considers important and what may be expected to be the subject-matter of the evaluation. The
student must know precisely what is expected of him A teacher who has specified his objectives
may discuss the selection of them with his colleagues. The teachers engaged on teaching a
particular course may consult each other in order to pursue joint objectives.
When the objectives of the various courses of a curriculum have been precisely
formulated it is possible to verify whether the curriculum respects learning sequences, in other
words whether the items of learning which are the purpose of the course objectives are presented
in an orderly progression. It is also easier to avoid duplication or omissions in what is to be
learned. This operation calls for real teamwork so as to ensure that the syllabus is not merely a
juxtaposition of courses but rather an organized whole designed to bring about the integrated and
optimal development of abilities. Every school of librarianship, archives administration or
information science would benefit from regularly going through such a procedure. Sequences
must be respected
Objectives help in the choice of instructional and learning activities
When the teacher chooses one or more instructional or learning activities he must, in
principle, make allowance for a number of parameters, in particular his personal skills, the
discipline being taught, available financial resources, the infrastructure at the disposal of
teachers, the educational standard of the students, their number and their previous training. The
learning objectives themselves are also an important parameter. Once the objectives have been
specified it might be expected that the teacher will try to pair up a pedagogical method and a

learning objective, or a set of objectives, so as to increase the chances of attaining that objective
or set of objectives.
Objectives help in the choice of instructional and learning activities
No instructional method is inherently correct or better than others. There is no point in
wondering whether the lecture, the seminar or the case study are intrinsically valid methods.
They are all valid pedagogical means of attaining certain objectives, subject to other parameters.
For example, the lecture may be the means chosen for outlining a critical point of view, for
presenting a synthesis of different fields of knowledge or for providing information which is not
yet available in written or audio-visual form. The case study method, however, would be more
appropriate for developing judgement or an ability to analyse problems and find solutions that
are compatible with the various factors involved. Moreover, an in-service course provides a
means of learning the skills required for the exercise of a profession such as those related to the
ability to respond to the information needs of a client.
Objectives facilitate the choice of educational material
Once the objectives have been written, the teacher must ask himself what educational
material he will use in order to attain them more effectively. The objectives serve as criteria for
the choice of teaching aids: collections of texts, volumes, films and others. He must, as far as
possible, seek to ensure that the teaching aids are appropriate to the objectives set.
Objectives facilitate the choice of educational material
Certain teachers consider that the objective of a course is to read, either in its entirety or
in part, a volume covering the course content. However, 'to read the course book from cover to
cover' is not an objective. The book is a teaching aid (among others) which may, in some cases,
provide a means of attaining the learning objectives of the course. Thus the reading of a text

setting out the rules for indexing a document cannot in itself be considered as an objective
related to mastery of the rules concerned or, still less, to the application of those rules to
documents. The mere fact that the student reads a text on the rules of indexing does not provide
any assurance that he will have a satisfactory knowledge of those rules any more than it
guarantees his competence to apply them. A distinction must be made between the objective (the
knowledge or application of the rules of indexing) and the use of a particular teaching aid (the
reading of a text).
Objectives provide a means of clarifying the purpose of evaluation
For the students, the most tangible effect of specifying learning objectives is the use made
of those objectives to define more clearly what is being evaluated. For example, the ability to
carry out minor restoration work on certain types of archive documents should be verified not by
a question which merely calls for enumeration of the stages in the procedure to be followed but
rather by a demonstration of the skill required.
Objectives provide a means of clarifying the purpose of evaluation
The evaluation of learning must seek to verify whether objectives have been attained,
otherwise there is a considerable risk that the students will cease to attach importance to the
objectives. However precise and however clear the objectives may be, they will remain a dead
letter for the students if the latter do not perceive these objectives as having a connection with
the instructional activities and with the evaluation of learning. Certain evaluation procedures
which become possible when objectives are defined will be discussed in the text dealing with the
ways in which objectives can be used in teaching. The formulation of precise objectives gives the
teacher greater motivation to acquire the means of attaining those objectives and to evaluate
them.