Goal setting is a common practice among successful learners.
Goals allow us to see progress that is made, enhance
motivation, provide structure and focus attention, and
serve an informational function. Goal setting also provides
a logical “rule of thumb” for attacking a
problem. In research and practice goal setting has been
shown to be an influential and valuable means for improving
performance. The expected and anticipated fulfillment
gained by reaching or making progress toward a goal
provides motivation to continue until the goal is reached
or exceeded (Harris, Reid, Graham, in press).
Properties of Goals
To use goal setting, it is important to consider the
properties of effective goals. There are three critical
properties of goals:
1. Specificity – Goals should be well defined
and set clear standards. This provides the student with
a thorough understanding of what is expected. This will
also make it easier for them to gauge their progress.
2. Difficulty – This refers to how challenging
the goal is for the individual. It is important to set
goal at a moderate level of difficulty for the student.
Goals should be set at a level of difficulty so that
the student has to put forth effort and utilize resources,
but are still attainable. Setting goals that can be
achieved with little or no effort will not increase
a students’ motivation; setting goals that are
too difficult will be overwhelming for students.
3. Proximity – Proximal goals are goals
that can be completed in the near future. Distal goals
are goals set to be completed only in the future (i.e.
long-term goals). Proximal goals produce greater performance
because they are more immediately attainable. Distal
goals should be broken down into to several proximal
goals set to reach that long-term goal.
