Although the noun forms of the three words ''aim'', ''objective'' and ''

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

'' are often used

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

ously, professionals in organised

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

define the educational ''aims'' and ''objectives'' more narrowly and consider them to be distinct from each other: aims are concerned with purpose whereas objectives are concerned with achievement. Usually an educational objective relates to gaining an ability, a skill, some knowledge, a new attitude etc. rather than having merely completed a given task. Since the achievement of objectives usually takes place during the course and the aims look forward into the student's career and life beyond the course one can expect the aims of a course to be relatively more long term than the objectives of that same course. Course objectives are a relatively shorter term goal which successful learners will achieve within the scope of the course itself. Objectives are often worded in course documentation in a way that explains to learners what they should try to achieve as they learn.

Learning outcomes

The term learning outcome is used in many educational organisations, in particular in

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

where learning outcomes are statements about what students should be able to do by the end of a teaching session. Learning outcomes are then aligned to

educational assessment Educational assessment or educational evaluation is the systematic process of documenting and using empirical data on the knowledge, skill, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Ass ...

s, with the teaching and learning activities linking the two, a structure known as

constructive alignment Constructive alignment is a principle used for devising teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks, that directly address the intended learning outcomes (ILOs) in a way not typically achieved in traditional lectures, tutorial classes and ...

. Writing good learning outcomes can also make use of the

SMART criteria S.M.A.R.T. (or SMART) is an acronym used as a mnemonic device to establish criteria for effective Goal setting, goal-setting and objective development. This framework is commonly applied in various fields, including project management, employee per ...

. Types of learning outcomes taxonomy include: *

Bloom's taxonomy Bloom's taxonomy is a framework for categorizing Educational aims and objectives, educational goals, developed by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom in 1956. It was first introduced in the publication ''Taxonomy of Educational Obje ...

* Structure of observed learning outcome (SOLO) * DIKW pyramid *

Model of hierarchical complexity The model of hierarchical complexity (MHC) is a framework for scoring how complex a behavior is, such as verbal reasoning or other cognitive tasks. It quantifies the order of hierarchical complexity of a task based on mathematical principles of how ...

In some organisations the term learning outcome is used in the part of a course description where aims are normally found. One can equate aims to ''intended'' learning outcomes and objectives to ''measured'' learning outcomes. A third category of learning outcome is the ''unintended'' learning outcome which would include beneficial outcomes that were neither planned nor sought but are simply observed.

Critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

can be more challenging to formalize and assess through learning outcomes. The effect of different

teaching method A teaching method is a set of principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly by the subject matter to be taught, partly by the relative expertise of the learners, and partly by constrai ...

s on outcomes of learning was found to be generally small or insignificant. Some outcomes of learning can be quickly forgotten.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Educational Aims And Objectives Curricula

Learning outcomes

See also

References