Instructional objectives are expressions of what a student should be able to do as a result of instruction in your course. Objectives should be sufficiently specific so you and your students know what is expected and will be able to recognize when it has been achieved. Use these questions to guide your goal setting:

• What skills and levels of knowledge can you expect of students who register for the class? What level of performance can you expect from them?
• In what ways will students be "different" when they finish the course?
• What should students be able to do with the knowledge and skills gained in the course?
• What do students need to know in order to do the things they should be able to do when they finish the course?
• What kinds of tasks should students perform to help them acquire the knowledge they need to achieve their learning goals?
• How will you measure students' level of "difference" when the course is finished?
• How will you know they can do what they should be able to do?

Once you have answered these questions, formulate goal statements for your course. These statements should provide a clear guide to the concepts covered in the course and a good framework from which to plan the rest of the course.

In what ways can you gather information that would tell you how well each student or the class as a whole achieved the instructional goals of the course?

• Multiple choice exams?
• Essay exams?
• Project assignments?
• Weekly quizzes?
• Writing assignments?
• Oral reports?
• Others?

Evaluation methods should be appropriate to the objectives and need to be planned when you design the course. For help deciding which assessment method is best suited to your objectives, see Evaluating Teaching and Learning.[internal link]

Once you have mapped out the course objectives and determined how you will assess student performance, you are ready to ask what kinds of learning experiences seem appropriate for students to master the course goals and objectives. Some strategies you can use to help students achieve the goals include:

• Continuous series of lectures and readings, with one or two midterms
• Sequence of reading, reflective writing and discussions for each topic
• Field or lab observations, followed by readings and discussions
• Lectures, followed by field or lab work
• Assigned readings, followed by mini-tests (individual or collaborative), followed by a collaborative application project
• A developmental series: build knowledge/skills; work on small application projects; work on larger, more complex projects
• Contract for grades: E.g., read text and pass exams = C; also do research = B; also do extended project = A

We talk a lot about "active learning" in higher education and, at least intuitively, most of us have some idea of what it means to be actively involved in the learning process. But, just to be sure that everybody understands what we mean by the term, here are some general characteristics commonly associated with active learning:

• Students are involved in more than listening
• Less emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more on developing students' skills
• Students are involved in higher-order thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
• Students are engaged in activities (reading, writing, discussing)
• Greater emphasis is placed students' exploration of their own attitudes and values

A wide variety of instructional strategies for promoting active learning have been proven to enhance students' motivation, develop students' thinking skills, and improve students' performance. See Teaching Strategies [internal link] for a list of alternative activities and assignments, then choose the instructional approaches that best fit the course objectives you've chosen for your class.