Objectives 101

What is an objective?

An objective in eLearning is a goal, which will be achieved after a course. This goal should be a cognitive or physical action, which will be discussed and made obtainable by the completion of the course. Your objective should be action orientated in nature and the results should be measureable.

How do you create an objective?

An objective is essentially three components that when combined create a clear path to your goal. An objective should include:

• An Action/Concept/Performance/Description – The Action/Concept/Performance/Description, which is the primary focus for your training.

• Rate/Deadline – The rate of increase/decrease as a result of the action or deadline for which the action needs to take place.

• Result or End Criteria – The result that drives the reason for the training.

The compliance team has asked your training team to create a course, which will demonstrate to learners how to be OSHA compliant in Personal Protective Equipment in the manufacturing plant by the end of the year.  Let us use this information to create a first draft objective.

Pieces:

• Your action/concept/description is OSHA compliance.
• The rate or deadline is by the end of the year.
• The result or end criteria is to be able to demonstrate proper use of Personal Protective Equipment.

Whole:

By the end of this course, you should be able to demonstrate proper use of Personal Protective Equipment for the manufacturing plant as part of the OSHA Compliance initiative for 2014.

What should you take into consideration when drafting an objective?

• Ask for information on the root cause for requesting training.  This information is usually a gap (identified or unidentified) which can help drive your objective(s).
• Speak candidly with the requestor/SME/manager about attainability of the goals, measures, rate and deadline.
• Use action words wisely. Telling someone you want them to understand a process does not mean competence or demonstration. I like to use Bloom's Taxonomy ofLearning Domains when choosing the verb to be used in an objective.
• Objectives may not always remain concrete through the whole creation process.  Take time during development and review to reevaluate current content.

Smaller Chunks?

Have you ever started building or even worse taking a course only to find out it’s a million pages long and suppose to take eight hours? EIGHT HOURS! (Ok I might be exaggerating)....

Wait! 

Stop! 

Isn’t there a better solution? Why isn’t the material presented in smaller chunks? Isn’t there lessons within lessons that will help me reach the bigger picture. What if there was a technique in eLearning that I could utilize? 

There is…Chunking.

Chunking has been around since 1956 solves the age-old problem of presenting material in manageable sections. Just think about your telephone number. Do you spill out the numbers one at a time or give them to people using the area code + first three numbers + last four numbers? More than likely you’re doing the latter because it is scientifically proven and placed into practice that chunking content down allows for easier delivery and retention. Now imagine your course as a telephone number, each section building off the previous (area code + first three + last four) and eventually reaching the same unified goal (your telephone number).

So, how do you chunk? 

While most great stories start with outlines and courses start with story boarding, why not combine the two into a power couple. Using a storyboard to gather images, media and content place breaks into the content by using divider pages. Keep in mind that content hierarchy should drive creation. Each time there is a natural break in process, lesson, topic or screen insert the divider as a way to signify where content can be broken down. You can even chunk content at a page level by grouping items on the screen to be discussed.

My favorite way to storyboard when I know I’ll be chunking the content is to insert a hierarchy smart art at the beginning of a PowerPoint. This acts as a guide and outline.  Each time a new shape is added it will denote a new course or page depending on how deeply you can dive into content right away.

To further help with the chunking process use the following tips:

• Take advantage of chunking’s cousins grouping and organizing.
•  Unify content with a template, character or image to show continuation on
  one topic.
• Use concise wording. 
• Insert knowledge checks before a new topic is presented. 
• If content doesn’t fit, it probably doesn’t belong. 
• Weed through the content to determine real world value versus data dumping. 
• Practice makes perfect.

Resource:

http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/Learning-Technologies-Blog/2014/05/Content-Chunking-Is-King

Reusing Content

Reusing content is a cheap(er) and easy(er) alternative to creating new content. You can utilize the time and effort someone has taken to create content that provides benefits to learners (hopefully). When content becomes out dated, you can then reshape the content to meet the current standards. To successfully reuse content you will need to:

1. Analyze + 2. Plan + 3. Create + 4. Test

Step 1. Analyze content




As always, you should work with SMEs to determine the current subject matter, workflow, process or other descriptor that ties along with your content. Instead of focusing on things from start to finish, ask your SME….

Can anything be reused?  What is new?  Is it all still relevant? Does it still provide value? 

A few key areas that you should be able to reuse include information about the process in general (unless there was a complete overhaul), learning objectives and your target audience information. When looking at what is new ask yourself, can this information be better served in a document to accompany the course?  Remember recreating elearning isn’t always the answer. Gather as much information about the current process to review the subtle and not so subtle changes that have happened recently. Ask questions about complaints or gaps that have been noticed by management and make a plan of action to address the concerns. An important question to ask is what do you want the course to achieve now? Should they have a knowledge, comprehension or the ability of application when complete?

Step 2. Plan




Now is the time to storyboard or prototype the changes into a conclusive course. You should always keep in mind that updating content into a more deliverable manner would only increase the learner’s retention. Would the learner benefit if I added a visual or video? When planning a reused course you may run into issues with dated content and design. Be sure to update the course into the newest template and when possible provide better multimedia.

Step 3. Create




Using your analysis and storyboard begin creating a course that will advance the initial design.  Try new ideas to see if another format or presentation style would better benefit the learner. Use multimedia when possible to add to the engagement.  Edit previous wording to be concise and clear. While working on the course keep in mind that content might be better suited into chunks.

Step 4. Test


Take your newly created course to the masses. Starting with the SME and moving to a larger test group see if the content gets applause or upheaval. Try adding it into training programs that will provide candid feedback like a new hire orientation process.

That’s it! Now you have a reused course that includes new content, better design and addresses current issues. Be sure to schedule another check point with your SME to see if content has changed.

How do you reuse content?  Leave a comment below of tweet me @jvalley0714