Learning Objectives, Part 2 of 2
How do I evaluate a learning objective?
Peter Dane, D.O., OU-COM Assistant Dean for Curriculum, offers the following insights.
Ask: "Does this statement/objective effectively communicate to the student exactly what s/he is going to be held accountable for?" The answer will confirm whether or not the wording needs to be modified.
Another criterion that helps to evaluate the utility of an objective is the question, "How will mastery of this objective be assessed?" In other words, "How will the instructor know whether or not the student has met the criteria described in the objective?"
What are some examples of learning objectives?
Here are some examples of learning objectives written in general terms and more specific terms:
General: The learner will be able to orally present a new patient case.
More Specific: The learner will be able to orally present a new patient case in an efficient, logical manner, developing chronologically the present illness, summarizing the pertinent positive and negative findings, identifying the differential diagnoses and constructing a plan for further testing and treatment.
General: The learner will be able to interpret lung sounds.
More Specific: The learner will be able to describe and identify on patients, the following abnormal lung sounds and explain the pathophysiology associated with each: ronchi, wheezes, crackles.
General vs. Specific
Learning objectives that are stated in more specific terms are more useful to teachers and learners. They provide more guidance and they make it easier for the teacher to evaluate whether or not the student has accomplished the objective.
How do I know a student accomplished a learning object?
The "more specific" learning objective listed above addressing the presenting of a case enables the instructor to evaluate the student's mastery of the objective after s/he examines the patient & orally presents the case. Having the specific/ explicit criteria in the learning objective that include a chronologically appropriate outline of the present illness, summary of pertinent positives and negatives, etc., makes it easier to determine if the student has accomplished the objective. This, in turn, makes it easier for the instructor to give feedback to the student.
The same line of thinking applies to the "more specific" objective about lung sounds. Since it is more specific it is easier to determine if it has been accomplished by the student.
Next month's OUCOM / CORE Curriculum Bulletin . . .
The April bulletin will focus on the different components of clinical teaching and how they can be used to foster an effective teaching/learning environment for CPC Year 3 and 4 students.