Writing Successful Learning Objectives

Learning objectives should reflect the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities that learners develop as a result of the accredited CE activity. Bloom's Taxonomy outlines learning domains that should be considered when writing learning objectives.

Helpful hint – Ask yourself “What do I want the learner to be able to do, or know how to do, at the end of the activity?”

• Write the learning objectives in behavioral terms using measurable action verbs that target the specified learning domain.
• Framing learning objectives in this way provides objective measurable indicators of behavioral change and thus the success of the education activity in promoting learner change.
• At least one learning objective is required per one hour of instruction, but no more than three.

Examples

As a result of participating in this activity, learners will be able to:

• Identify the four leading causes of …
• Explain the steps required to …
• Demonstrate select methods employed to …
• Compare the types of …

Measurable action verbs

Target your learning objective for a particular learning domain, see table below for suggestions.