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There are several different approaches one can take to sequencing learning, such as subject expert, general to specific, simple to complex, book, known to unknown, and problem to solution. This post will provide a brief overview of these six sequences

Subject Experts Sequence – Most professors are hired because they are subject matter experts in their field. Whether the subject is history or physics, the subject matter expert has intimate knowledge of the field and thus should instinctively know what should be taught first to provide a foundation for the further learning. The problem that I’ve seen some subject matter experts face is that they know too much and believe everything is important and nearly everything is foundational. Consulting with a curriculum designing can often help the subject matter expert identify levels of learning material.

General to Specific Sequence – I usually recommend this sequence as the introductory lesson to a subject. Provide the learner with an overview of the course or topic and then create lesson plans based on the important components. In each component I believe it is import to provide learners with anchors to the past and lifelines to the future. For example, if the course were in week six, I would introduce the topics and ask students how they believe it relates to the material in the previous five weeks. This may be a brief discussion or you may uncover material that was misunderstood. Next, throw the students a lifeline and let them know how this will relate to the components in the remainder of the course.

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I hope you’ve had a chance to write down a number of learning objectives since you read my last week’s post. Using Bloom’s taxonomy as a guide you should have easily compile more learning objectives then you need.

Generally, a 12-week college or university course should have three or four learning objectives. These objectives should be broad enough to cover all the topics in the course, including assignments and student presentations. You may have created a list of a dozen or so objectives, but that is too many for the typical. I’m sure there are many good ideas in your list and this post will help you pull out the gems to create three or four powerful, measurable learning objectives.

Take a look at your list and underline or circle the critical elements of the course. Do these elements apply to all or most of the assignments, lectures, readings, and class activities? The purpose of this exercise is to clearly identify the elements that focus on the most important elements of the course. Continue reading →

Last week I discussed the differences between learning outcome and learning objectives. That set the stage for creating learning objectives, which takes considerable thought and practice.

I always preface my list of objectives with “Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:” This preface defines my target audience (students), provides a timeframe (completion of the course), and states that the following must be “successfully completed,” which is a measurement.

The preface may be changed depending on the length of learning, such as workshop, or training session, and the word “student” can be replaced with learner, trainee, or employee. Continue reading →

I’ve found that some professors don’t understand the difference between the goals of a course and the objectives of a course. Writing solid, meaningful, and measurable learning objectives is difficult, while writing learning goals, in my opinion, is much easier but not often required.

Let’s start by understanding the difference between the two.

The learning goals describe, at a high level, what the contents of the course will cover. Open up any university or collage course calendar and you will find a list of descriptions of all the courses. These descriptions are the learning goals. Continue reading →