Conducting Goal Analysis Questions and Answers

 

1.   Define educational goal and educational objective, give an example of each.

a.      Educational goals are the level of educational accomplishment, which are acknowledged as reasonable and pleasing for a specific child at a specific time. These goals help a student to know his weaknesses and thus enable him to work on these weaknesses. Goal setting is a powerful way to improve educational performance by helping to focus effort on specific objectives. Effective goals are specific, measurable, and moderately difficult but still attainable. Writing, reflecting, sharing, and planning for goals increase the likelihood of reaching them. Educational goals should be general statements of intent and purpose.

           Examples:

o   I will start working on assignments the day they are assigned.

o   I will turn in every assignment on time.

o   I will be on time for all my classes this semester.

o   I will start my research paper by the end of the week.

                

b.      Educational objective are objective with an outcome statement that captures specifically what knowledge, skills, attitudes learners should be able to exhibit following instruction. Objectives are statements which describe what the learner is expected to achieve as a result of instruction. Educational objectives articulate what we aspire for student learning, help to establish campus priorities and guide decision making related to student development and guide academic programs in the review of how their classes and course requirements interact with the goals to demonstrate educational effectiveness. Educational objectives should be specific, measureable and precise.

      Examples:

o   After the unit, the student will measure one side of a square and correctly calculate the square's perimeter in inches. This example contains all required parts: it is student-centered, contains a condition (after the unit), and adds an actionable verb (will measure) and states the outcome that demonstrates successful completion (calculates perimeter correctly).

o   After the unit, the student will be able to identify and describe a square, circle and triangle.

o   After completing the activities, the student will present his point of view in a 3-minute class presentation.

o   After completing all six steps of the lesson, the student will repair a flat tire by himself.

o   When given a list of 20 words, the learner will be able to identify correctly all the cognitive action verbs.

 

2.   List the differences and similarities between a goal and an objective. The terms "goal" and "objective" often are used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. 

      Generally, a "goal" is used for a vague, long-term ideal, but "objective" is used for short-term, specific outcomes. Goals are typically long-term aims of an organization. Goals are more general and less structured than objectives. Generally, a goal is more of an abstract idea that a person or company works toward achieving." Goals are ongoing procedures that are never completed. Objectives are specific actions that must be taken to achieve desired outcomes. Objectives are generally outlined into steps or actions, and often include deadlines and budget limitations. Both, goals and objectives, play an important part in a person’s life. These determine what the person wants to achieve during his lifetime. Goals and objectives often go hand-in-hand as goals determine the objectives, while objectives without goal is simply following blindly in a direction. They both work to together to help a person achieve what he desires.

 

3.   Describe the relationships among educational goals, human capabilities, objectives, courses, and instruction.

Educational goals are more general and less structured than objectives. Both, goals and objectives, play an important part in a person’s life. These determine what the person wants to achieve during his lifetime. Goals and objectives often go hand-in-hand as goals determine the objectives, while objectives without goal is simply following blindly in a direction. Instruction is a set of events or activities presented in a structured or planned way, through one or more media, with the goal of having learners achieve prespecified behaviors. Human capabilities is a talent or ability that has potential for development or use. Courses are program of study: a program of study or training, especially one that leads to a degree or certificate from an educational institution. They all work to together to help a person achieve what he/she desires.

 

4.   List the five major categories of learned capabilities. Next to each, write its definition with one example. Both Bloom and Gagne believed that it was important to break down humans' learned capabilities into categories or domains. Gagne's taxonomy consists of five categories of learning outcomes - verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, attitudes, and motor skills.

 

Learned Capabilities	Definitions	Examples
Verbal Information	The organized bodies of knowledge that we acquire.	Reciting a poem from memory.
Intellectual Skills	Knowing how to do something.	Remove the old memory chip and insert the new chip into the computer.
Cognitive Strategies	A manner in which learners guide their attending, learning, remembering, and thinking.	Adopting a strategy of asking oneself questions at the end of each paragraph in a textbook.
Attitudes	An acquired internal state that influences the choice of personal action toward some class of things, persons, or events.	Preferring Shakespeare to Milton as a topic for an English composition.
Motor Skills	The ability to do precise, smooth, and accurately timed performances with muscle movements.	Playing a song correctly on the alto saxophone.

 

5.   Briefly describe the major reasons why teachers or instructors or trainers should develop the ability to tell the differences among the types of learning.

As a teacher educator I found that the conditions of learning proposed by Gagne were very beneficial. I saw them as guidelines to follow. I didn't take them to be algorithmic in nature but more heuristic. They seemed to make logical sense and in fact I think they helped me better structure my lesson plans and my teaching. Once again however, even though I viewed the conditions as heuristics, I did feel that I was somewhat of a robot carrying out commands. I always felt as though I was being driven by the conditions. This leads directly to a discussion of the events of instruction. I felt that the events of instruction really helped me the most as a teacher. The events gave me the skeleton on which I could hang my lesson. The events not only provided me with a road map to follow, but also a way to look at my lesson plans in a more holistic nature. I was able to see how the parts of the lesson fit together to achieve the ultimate goal.

 This part of Gagne's theory seemed to be the least rigid to me because you did not have to follow it as rigorously as other parts of the theory. For example, Gagne explains that most lessons should follow the sequence of the events of instruction, but that the order is not absolute. While I appreciated the fact that this was less rigid than other parts of the theory, I always had one important question. If the events of instruction follow the cognitive learning process, then why would it be advisable to change the sequence of the events or to leave events out? Wouldn't this have a great impact of the learning process? Would learning still take place? This leads me to the learning theory upon which Gagne bases his instructional theory. As a teacher early in my career who was very enamored with computers, cognitive information processing theory seemed like a great explanation of the learning process (I am not sure I still feel the same way). However, those who do not understand or agree with cognitive information processing theory might not feel the same. For those people, I believe that Gagne's theory might not work very well for them. Gagne's theory does provide a great deal of valuable information to teachers like myself. I believe it is mostly appealing to those teachers who may be early in their teaching careers and are in need of structure for their lesson plans and a holistic view of their teaching. The theory is very systematic and rigid at most points. It is almost like a cookbook recipe to ensure successful teaching and ultimately learning by the students. However, the systematic nature of the theory may be a turn-off for many teachers, particularly those who like to be creative, don't like rigidity, and who don't believe in a cookbook approach to ensure learning. An additional point to cover is that the theory is not always easy to implement. I am sure I am not alone in my feeling that many times it is difficult to take the goals I had for my students, put them into the correct learning outcome category, and then create objectives using Gagne's standard verbs.

 The final point I would like to cover deals with the learning theory upon which Gagne bases his theory. First of all, if the events of instruction really match up with the learning process, then I do not believe it would be advisable to change the sequence of the events or to leave certain events out of the sequence altogether. Second, cognitive information processing is not acceptable to all teachers. Many teachers would not agree with this idea of how learning takes place. For those who disagree with cognitive information processing, Gagne's theory of instruction would not fit their needs.