Are students tired of Objectives slides?

Last courses I built we turned the objectives slide into a hub menu.

theme were told what was going to be learnt in the course and then guided to the sections where that learning was.  Most users probably don't even realise it is an objectives slide.

Hi, Chris:

Here's a link to a recent post of Tom Kuhlmann that discusses different ways (visually) to treat objectives. At the end of the post, you'll see links to others related to learning objectives.

How can you make the objectives seem important to the learner? For instance, do they help solve a problem the learner has? Maybe they help the learner "get" something that he/she wants?

In any case, I generally try to put the learning objectives in some type of context ( a specific work problem they help solve, etc.) so they are at least somewhat meaningful to the learner.

What's the course about by the way? That would help us help you. --Daniel

I dislike objective slides and I try to avoid putting in the course. The most common version of this slide is a cut and paste of the objectives as written by the instructional designer. These objectives are often highly technical and full of jargon. I don't see a problem with having a quick overview of what the course is going to cover. When I see courses like this I expect to see: here is what I'm going to tell you; now I tell you; here is what I told you. Why not just tell me, or better yet show me, or even better let me practice it.

Donald Clark had a funny post on it here http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.ca/2006/09/gagnes-nine-dull-commandments.html

and a more balanced view here http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.ca/2012/04/gagne-1916-2002-universal-recipe-for.html

Sometimes including the objectives is necessary but they don't need to be written using the language of Bloom and Mager.  

I don't think objectives need to be as explicit or as scientific as they would be in a learning plan or strategy document.

Most objectives slides are laborious and just skipped by the user (50-70% based on our data).

I try to summarize them as part of the incentive statement for the training:

"You'll sell more consistently when you master effective opening questions to start sales transactions."

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have tried many of these suggestions- including replaing bullet points eith images, wrapping text around images, and using it as a "launch pad" for the learners to tackle whichever objective or objectives interest them.

Has anyone just stopped using these slides? I don't for example see them used in mobile learnings.

Are they a throwback to instructor led classes or does it depend upon the modality and number of of objectioves in the course?

I find objective slides really annoying, so I try to avoid them when I create a course. If the client wants a slide with objectives -same with navigating instructions- I think that the best is what Phil said, to have them in a hub menu or similar.

As Chris said, objectives are usually in the LMS, but not only there, you can find them before you enroll any course in the syllabus, in documents, flyers... 

As Cary saild, many courses have a lot of repetition of the same, saying what you will see, then seeing it, then summarizing it... That's very boring indeed.

I saw Tom Kuhlmann's post about objectives, and for sure they're more visual and less boring to visit, but still... does the student really need to go through them to gain the knowledge that the course promises to give?

I always try to question who these are actually for?

The learner needs to know what their personal/business benefit will be. If that is compelling enough then that is the important "prize", not how they will get there.

Very often people want these left in IF they are coming into "e" from a pure .ppt(x) background. After the first run start their journey of change.

I like to take objectives and turn them into achievements.

While I don't dispute that in certain cases objectives slides just have to be present, my beef with them as a learner is this : Reading them at the beginning makes me remember them for the duration of the course. Stakeholders may find this appealing, but it is just the opposite. After the next couple of slides, I constantly catch myself subconsciously comparing the content to the objectives rather than doing any actual "learning". More often than not, the questions i ask myself in between slides is something like "What does X have to do with the objective, it doesn't make any sense!" as opposed to "Why X this", "how Y that", "What if...", or "AHA!"...

Speaking of "prize", whenever I can, I try to suggest that any objectives present be put at the end of the respective sections, instead of the beginning.

This way they serve more as a reminder of what the section was all about (as well as a gentle tap on the back if you will) rather than set expectations for what they are about to see.

Alex

Hi Phil,

I like your idea! Everyone seems to be in a hurry to click NEXT when it comes to objective slides. It's really nice to see how tactfully you turned the objectives into a hub menu without letting the learner know this. By the way, your purpose of conveying objectives is also achieved.

It is very interesting the conversation generated.

The thing is that in most cases, if not always, is the customer who tells you whether or not they want a slide with the course objectives.

I start to see courses with the objectives slide in the LMS or via a top menu inside the course.

It is almost certain that the majority of students are not reading it...

Without going any further, in the training we are doing to our mechanics there are no goals.

We get to live and treat each chapter as a highly technical training, it is assumed that all students know why are doing this course.

At least, there is e a little explanation on the same Moodle before you start each chapter.

Cheers!

I think this is a good idea. I also read the content of a pptx file (as Bruce said, objectives usually come from them) and then I compare it to the objectives... I do this as an ID, not as a student, in this case I don't read them at all. Having them at the end of each section could provide of a better information than a summary, which is usually redundant and saying to the student: "didn't you hear what has just been said? Listen to it again!"

Instead of having a list of objectives I like the idea of having some sort of assessment at the beginning to determine whether the student needs to take the course or not. Unfortunately I don't get to do these very often because there seems to be a mindset that if we have spent the time and money to build a course we want people to complete it.

From personal experience I know that whenever I have to take a course and am presented with a list of objectives I skip them.

Some kind of tailoring assessment is great if you can do it. Love these as well. Content that doesn't assume I'm an idiot or know nothing about the presentation is always a good thing

For the most part, I think participants care less about objectives than we think. One more screen to skip with a click in a pile of screens to skip with a click makes no never-mind. On the other hand, dry, clinical objectives are a marker of a snooze-fest.

Objectives are important design artifacts. But foisting three part objectives in bullets at the beginning of a training program is missing the point (and lazy but not in a good way.) I usually recommend designers make two columns for their objectives. In one column, the three part Mager-style objective (or whatever structure makes the ISD in you happy.) In the other column, something that is meaningful and targeted for the participant, whether that's a bit of text, a series of questions they will be able to answer, a call to action, an interaction, a story lead-in... Whatever strategy fits the challenge and the audience is a good choice..

Every slide, every image, every word in a program of instruction is an opportunity to create a meaningful moment. Copying and pasting an ISD blueprint marker into a presentation is a missed opportunity for something better. We can do better. My 2c.

The learner is definitely less interested in seeing a list of objectives. Objectives can be where the quiz or assessment question come from, whether that is a test-out option, or a review of the learning at the end of the course.

I've played around with gamification of the learning module. In this case, you could turn each objective into a token for the learner to collect. After each section in your course, the learner would gain a new token. The token would follow the learner through the rest of the course and, when clicked, would open a slide (maybe a lightbox slide) that would show more details. The token could have an accompanying description of the objective they should have learned by completing that section of the course.

Love this.  Somewhere along the way the need for us as IDs to be clear on the objectives of what we're designing morphed into presenting those exact same objectives to the learner.  Almost never a good idea.

Agree 100%.

You can give them the option of reading objectives; I don't like them as a rule. I want the learner emersed in the course quickly from the course intro screen. I try to build a course like am watching a movie and I don't like credits at the beginning. If I want to watch the credits at the end I can or I can leave.

This is a great idea. I use it often and it works.