What should be included in the performance characteristic of a well-written behavioral objective

Instructional objectives are derived from instructional goals; they are statement of performance to be demonstrated by each student in the class, which are phrased in measurable and observable terms. They are sometimes referred to as a behavioral objectives or performance objectives or competency objectives. Instructional objectives can be treated as a statement of what the teacher intend to do. They can also be list of topics, concepts to be covered in a course to bring about change in learners behavior. (Manger, R. F. 1984)

Instructional objectives are very useful to the whole process of teaching and learning for the purpose of running academic matters, not only that but also to make teachers to be precise about what to accomplish to make evaluation procedures easy, to make sequencing quite easy, lastly to make students aware of what they are expected to learn in a given lesson. Objectives can be helpful in instructional planning, during the teaching or learning process, and when assessing student progress. Instructional objectives are often either ignored (by both teachers and students) or best occasionally referred to. However, it can be argued that instructional objectives should guide the teaching and learning process from beginning to the end. Most lesson plan forms include a place for the objectives of the lesson to be recorded. However, to write an objective down and then to plan the lesson around the topic of the lesson rather than around the learning outcomes to be reached is missing the point. There is good evidence in the human learning literature that different kinds of outcomes are learned differently. Robert Gagné was one of the first researchers to articulate this; it follows from his research that instructional planning must take into account the kind of learning the students will be engaged in as they seek to reach an objective. Effective teachers learn to categorize their instructional objectives and then develop the teaching and learning activities that will help students do the kind of thinking required for that kind of learning.

It is time to evaluate how does an educator know what to measure? Look at the objectives how does a teacher know what kind of information gathering tools to use (test, rubric, and portfolio)? Study the objectives, any test item, any rating scale or checklist, any technique devised to collect information about student progress must seek to measure the instructional objectives as directly and as simply as possible. Instructional objectives are an extremely valuable teaching tool that guides both teachers and students through the teaching and learning process. (Brown, R. N, 1982)

Behavioral objectives are a vital part of the planning process of all educational activities. Clearly defined objectives provide a sound basis for the selection or design of instructional materials, content and teaching methods.

In addition, stating objectives sharply helps determine if the objective has, in fact, been accomplished and an impact has occurred. Having clear behavioral objectives that state specifically what you want the leaner to be able to do after attending your program is vital to the program as well as the evaluation of its impact. Extension educators struggle to develop evaluation instruments for their programs. Clearly stated objectives are vital to evaluating the outcome(s) of instruction. The followings are the characteristics of Behavioral objectives or Instructional objectives;

The instructional objective must state the audience for the educational activity. Who is the audience for your educational activity? While it may appear the audience is obvious for most instructional activities, a common error may distort or prevent the evaluation of your program. First, one must consider the difference between the target and accessible population or audience. For instance your target may be all youth between 11 and 13 years of age in Typical County; however, your accessible population may be all 11-13 year old 2-H members who attended the County 2-H Camp. If you write your objective in broad terms and follow proper evaluation procedures, you will be held accountable for the behaviors of youth you never served. Your behavioral objective should identify the specific audience you plan to target. A second mistake made by many inexperienced educators is to include teacher or trainer activities as a part of the behavioral objective. Consider the following example: "The trainer will demonstrate the proper steps of delivering a prepared speech." In this example, the activities are focused on what the trainer plans to do and not what the target audience will be able to master. Although it has the appearance of being one, the statement is not a behavioral objective because the audience and its performance are not identified. This statement could be made into a behavioral objective by rewarding the statement to the following: "Upon completion of the lesson, 100% of the participants will be able to list the steps in delivering a prepared speech." The audience is the workshop participants. The learner(s) can be an individual person or a group of individuals. For instance, a learner identified within a behavioral goal could be a student, a classroom, a group of individuals participating in specific track and field activities, or an entire basketball team. Once the learner is defined, the behavior targeted for change must be likely to be repeated over time and must be clearly defined operationally in behavioral terms so that whenever it is performed, it can be observed and measured across repeated occasions. An effective definition of the desired behavior ensures that an outside observer will be able to confirm that the target behavior has occurred. (Bandura, A. 1969)

Each objective must identify the behavior or the performance the learner is expected to do. A behavioral objective should never include the instructional process or procedure as the behavior. It should always describe the intended results rather than the means of achieving those results. The performance must be overt or directly observable. Performances that cannot be directly observed or performances that are mental, invisible, cognitive, or internal are considered covert and should never be used as a behavior unless they are included with another indicator (directly observable) behavior. Behaviors can be written for one of three "domains of learning." The cognitive domain deals with the acquisition of facts, knowledge, information, or concepts. Psychomotor behaviors use the mind in combination with motor skills (physical activities). Affective behaviors have to do with changes in attitudes, values, aesthetics, and appreciation. Thus, it is important when defining the target behavior to avoid words and phrases such as “being disruptive,” “staying on task,” or “enjoying a story” that have not been operationally defined in behavioral terms. These words and phrases can mean different behaviors to different people. For instance, a substitute teacher may define “being disruptive” as a student tapping pencil on the desk loudly enough that it can be heard throughout the room. The teacher however, may only be recording “being disruptive” when the child begins yelling so loudly that it can be heard out in the hallway. Behavior definitions that are not stated clearly enough (operationally in specific behavioral terms), for everyone to interpret in the same way, can confuse both the learner and the individuals monitoring the learner's performance. This confusion is likely to lead to further decrease in the likelihood that a goal will be achieved by the learner. Behavioral objectives written in the "cognitive" domain can be further divided into six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956) includes: Knowledge: remembering of previously learned material; recall (facts or whole theories); bringing to mind. Comprehension: grasping the meaning of material; interpreting (explaining or summarizing); predicting outcome and effects (estimating future trends). Application: ability to use learned material in a new situation; apply rules, laws, methods, theories. Analysis: breaking down into parts; understanding organization, clarifying, concluding. Synthesis: ability to put parts together to form a new whole; unique communication; set of abstract relations. Evaluation: ability to judge value for purpose; base on criteria; support judgment with reason, (no guessing). Examples, Good and Bad, of Including Behaviors in Objectives. You must include Observable behaviors in Objectives as; the participants will understand the difference between soil texture and soil porosity. Understand is a covert activity. How will you know the participants understand? Rewrite with an observable behavior. For example: Each participant will be able to list in writing the major differences between Soil texture and soil porosity. Each participant in the program will develop a written conservation plan for his farm. The behavior is directly observable. You will be able to examine each conservation plan. The youth will develop an appreciation for parliamentary law. Develop an appreciation is a covert activity. How will you know they appreciate parliamentary law? Rewrite with an observable behavior. For example: Participants will demonstrate an appreciation of parliamentary law by correctly using the principles in each business meeting. The instructor will demonstrate the steps in completing a 1954 income tax form. This is not a behavioral objective. It is a statement of what the instructor will do. You can make it a behavioral objective by rewriting in the following manner: Upon completion of the training, participants will correctly list the steps in completing a 1954 income tax form.  (Bloom, B. S. et al. 1956)

Each behavioral objective must describe the conditions under which the performance is to occur. Conditions may include what the learner will be allowed to use, what the learner will be denied, under what conditions the learner is expected to perform the behavior, or specific skills that should be excluded. The definition of the behavior should also identify elements of the teaching or learning context that are important for determining the conditions in which a behavior is to occur. The circumstances, requests, materials, and instructions that are identified in the behavioral objective as important elements in the context in which a behavior should be performed must be sufficiently detailed to allow a teaching or learning context to be provided repeatedly. The specific environmental cues that are present when a behavior is expected to occur must be described in enough detail to ensure there will be clear and consensual understanding of exactly what such cues include. Frequently the statement of an objective begins with condition statements, such as the following: Given a map of the United States …, Given independent study time …, After reading this paragraph about … Examples of Adding Conditions to an Objective will be what can the learner use: Given a maximum of six references, each participant will prepare four to six minutes extemporaneous speech, what the learner denied without the use of any reference materials, the president will conduct the meeting using Roberts Rules of Order,  Under what conditions is the learner expected to perform: Given a small engine with one problem, a set of diagnostic equipment, and a repair manual, the youth will diagnose and repair the small engine in less than 60 minutes. Specific skills that should be excluded: Without restarting the computer, each participant will successfully change the display setting of their computer. (Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. 1990).

Each objective must describe the degree to which the behavior must be performed to constitute an acceptable performance. It is not always necessary or practical to include the degree in an objective; however, the more information included in an objective the better it will communicate the desired outcome. The degree can include criterion such as speed, accuracy and quality. Behavioral objectives must be written in such a way that the aim is for the individual learner to remain positively motivated to continue working on the long-term goal by experiencing success on the smaller-scope behavioral objectives. If a behavioral objective is too broad, complex, and difficult, a learner may stop trying to perform the behavior. Behavioral objectives are intended to provide feedback for successful performance over time, and this progress can reinforce the learner with positive feedback. The learner's motivation also may decrease if behavioral objectives are too easy. The person working on a behavioral objective that is easily accomplished can become bored with the learning opportunity. Or it may take a long time to achieve the stated goal because there are too many objectives that must be met, which makes the goal seem unobtainable to the learner. The final information necessary in an effective behavioral objective must be statements of the criteria for acceptable performance of the targeted behavior. This statement must define the minimal performance necessary to consider a behavioral response correct and sets a standard for evaluation purposes. There are a number of ways in which to evaluate a response: accuracy (number of items correct), frequency of occurrence (number of behaviors performed), duration (behavior occurring within a time period), or latency (time taken until a response occurs). Another consideration in determining criteria for successful accomplishment of behavioral objectives involves how many times a learner must meet a criterion before the behavior is considered learned. Information about the criteria for evaluating a correct response will guide the ways in which learner performance of the behavioral objective will be measured. (Sulzer-Azaroff, B., & Mayer, G. R. 1977).

Instructional objectives should be time bound; the criteria for successful accomplishment of each behavioral objective are raised until the learner is able to accomplish the long-term goal that has been identified.  May begin by writing behavioral goals and objectives for only two students in class who are receiving grade “C” on three assignments. Each subsequent behavioral objective will include criteria that increase in complexity until is providing support to all of  students who need individualized behavioral goals and objectives and can show that student performance is increasing using evaluation data for each student. Individuals designing behavioral objectives must balance the number of objectives within each long-term goal as well as the level of difficulty involved in each behavioral objective to help ensure the learner will continue working on a long-term goal. Developing effective behavioral objectives can be challenging. Individuals who write behavioral objectives must monitor progress closely and make modifications as needed over time to help ensure that motivation on the part of the learner remains high. The criteria identified for judging success are effective for evaluating progress, and progress toward the overall goal is being made in a timely manner. In preparation of instructional objectives teacher should consider time, where by aims and goals are to be attained for some length of time for limit. For instance in period of 40 minutes a teachers should make sure he or she covers the concept prepared within a given time, so as to draw learners’ attention. (Alberto and Troutman, 1999)

Behavioral objectives use observable terms like recite, identify, pick out, apply, add and subtract, write down and so on. for instance by end of the lesson the student will be able to correct, pick out and write down lists of the common and proper nouns, adverbs ,adjectives from an appropriate passage. The purpose of using observable terms is to measure the behavior of the students. (Martin, G., & Pear, J. 1996).

 Behavioral objectives covering the unit or lessons of the course, means that instructional objectives must be prepared by the teacher before entering the class in each period to each subject in order to make evaluation easily, for example by the end of the lesson the student will be able correctly to calculate the area of circle by using radii and pie. (Martin, G. & Pear, J. 1996).

 Alberto and Troutman (1999) suggest writing each element of a behavioral objective as a guideline or format, as the following example illustrates:

• Goal: Cindy writes effective behavioral goals and objectives for all students needs (additional academic support in her math class).
• Condition: Cindy identifies a student who is not succeeding on a math assignment in her class.
• Behavior: Cindy writes a behavioral goal for that student, breaking the goal down into behavioral objectives that facilitate or assist the student in being successful.
• Criteria: Cindy writes a behavioral goal that includes two or more behavioral objectives for two general education students who receive a C or lower on three consecutive assignments in her class with 100% accuracy for three months.

Generally, for a curriculum or course  usually  draw up aims and goals which  hoped student to achieve by the end of period of instruction in any unity or lesson, teachers must have an even clearly and more precise idea of what they plan to achieve through instruction in terms of changing student behavior. Instructional objectives are often classified according to the kind or level of learning that is required in order to reach them. There are numerous taxonomies of instructional objectives; the most common taxonomy was developed by Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues. The first level of the taxonomy divides objectives into three categories: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Simply put, cognitive objectives focus on the mind; affective objectives focus on emotions or affect; and psychomotor objectives focus on the body. Cognitive objectives call for outcomes of mental activity such as memorizing, reading, problem solving, analyzing, synthesizing, and drawing conclusions. Bloom and others further categorize cognitive objectives into various levels from the simplest cognitive tasks to the most complex cognitive task. These categories can be helpful when trying to order objectives so they are sequentially appropriate. This helps to ensure that prerequisite outcomes are accomplished first. Affective objectives focus on emotions. Whenever a person seeks to learn to react in an appropriate way emotionally, there is some thinking going on. What distinguishes affective objectives from cognitive objectives is the fact that the goal of affective objectives is some kind of affective behavior or the product of an affect like an attitude. The goal of cognitive objectives, on the other hand, is some kind of cognitive response or the product of a cognitive response. Psychomotor objectives focus on the body and the goal of these objectives is the control or manipulation of the muscular skeletal system or some part of it like dancing, writing, tumbling, passing a ball, and drawing. All skills requiring fine or gross motor coordination fall into the psychomotor category. To learn a motor skill requires some cognition. However, the ultimate goal is not the cognitive aspects of the skill such as memorizing the steps to take. (Bloom, B. S. et al. 1956)

 REFERENCES

Alberto, P. A. & Troutman, A. C. (1999). Applied behavior analysis for teachers. New Jersey:

 Merrill.

Bandura, A. (1969). Principles of behavior modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

Bloom, B. S. et al. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives book 1: Cognitive domain. New

York: David McKay Company, Inc.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Maag,J. W. (2004). Behavior management: From theoretical implications to practical

applications. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning.

Mager, R. F. (1984). Preparing instructional objectives. Belmont, California: David S. Lake

                        Publishers.

Martin, G., & Pear, J. (1996). Behavior modification: What it is and how to do it. Upper Saddle                                         River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Sulzer-Azaroff, B., & Mayer, G. R. (1977). Applying behavior-analysis procedures with children

                                                            and youth. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

When Should behavioral objectives be used in a care plan for health promotion?

What are the three determinants of learning?

What is a single most important goal of the nurse as educator quizlet?

What is the primary goal of patient education for the nurse educator quizlet?