Although the noun forms of the three words ''aim'', ''objective'' and ''
goal
A goal 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 a purpose or ...
'' are often used
synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly 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 al ...
ously, professionals in organised
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
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.
Sometimes an aim sets a goal for the teacher to achieve in relation to the learners, sometimes course aims explicitly list long-term goals for the learner and at other times there is a joint goal for the teacher and learner to achieve together. While the aim may be phrased as a goal for the teacher within the scope of the course it can also imply goals for the learner beyond the duration of the course. In a statement of an aim the third person
singular
Singular may refer to:
* Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms
* Singular homology
* SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS)
* Singular or sounder, a group of boar ...
form of the verb with the
subject ''course, programme or module'' is often used as an impersonal way of referring to the teaching staff and their goals. Similarly the learner is often referred to in the
third person singular even when they are the intended reader.
Course objectives
An objective is 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
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
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, attitudes, aptitude and beliefs to refine programs and improve student learning. Assessment data can be o ...
s, with the teaching and learning activities linking the two, a structure known as
constructive alignment. Writing good learning outcomes can also make use of the
SMART criteria and action verbs from
Bloom's taxonomy.
In some organisations the term learning outcome is used in the part of a course description where aims are normally found.
Outcomes Versus Objectives? What's the Difference? Daniel Pittaway
/ref> 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.
See also
*Educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in ...
* Instructional scaffolding
* Mastery learning
* Model of hierarchical complexity
* Outline of educational aims
* Rubric (academic)
* Structure of observed learning outcome
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Educational Aims And Objectives
Curricula