EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

INTRODUCATION

What is education? Education is concerned with the modification of behavior. The desired
behavior modification cannot be achieved in a hazardous way. A guided and scaled down approach is
required to bring out desirable behavior modifications. Educational objectives behavior modifications in
a phased manner, ultimately leading to the attainment of entire behavior modification prescribed by the
educational program.

IMPORTANCE AND MEANING

The educational objectives are expressions of what a teacher hopes her students can accomplish
as a result of her teaching. In educative process the learners should be able to demonstrate the possession
of a large quality of facts, concepts, greater ability to manipulate in more complex ways and greater a do
things based upon complex manipulative abilities. Educational objectives are policy statements of
direction and provides foundation of the entire educative structure. These are statements, which express
specifically and in measurable terms, an attitude that will be developed cognitive or psychomotor skills
that the students would be able to do as a result of a prescribed treatment method or mode of instruction.
Educational objectives are broader and they are related to educational system and schools. Relevance to
health needs of society is the essential quality of educational objectives.

DEFINITION

“Educational objectives depict what the student should be able to do at the end of learning
activity that they could not do beforehand. In broad sense, educational objectives spell out what should a
learner be able t do or do better after the successful completion of an educational program that he or she
was unable to do or could not do so well before. As educational objective is focused much more on the
learner’s performance it is also known as learning objective”.
-Sankaranarayana.

“ The result sought by the learner at the end of the educational program, i.e., what the students
should be able to do at the end of a learning period, that they could not do beforehand’ – J J Gilbert

PURPOSES

1. To prepare the nurses for rendering community services through primary health.
2. To prepare nurses for providing care at institutional level.
3. To prepare nurse educators to handle teaching-learning situations in all clinical areas.

DATA NECESSARY FOR FORMULATION OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

 Health needs demands and resources of society.

  Services to the patient (list of tasks).
 Services to the community (list of tasks).
 The profession itself.
 The students.
 Progress in sciences.
 Scientific methods.
 Statement of the school’s philosophy.
 Level of professional competence to be attained.
 The students back ground, level of education.
 Statutory minimum requirements.
 The teaching, physical and clinical resources available.
 Future demands on nursing in terms of advanced technology and increased use of them in
therapeutic services.
 Expected responsibilities for different nursing positions.
 The essential quality is their relevance to the professional tasks of the personnel to be trained.

CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Educational objectives are classified differently. In one classification, educational objectives are
categorized into institutional or general objectives, intermediate or departmental objectives and
instructional or specific objectives.

1. General objectives or institutional objectives:-

These objectives are generally followed by all institutions offering the same educational
program. Institutional objective is usually formulated in consensus with the general curriculum
objectives of the educational program by the curriculum committee of the institute. Well
constructed institutional objectives are the foundation for a relevant educational program. They
are written-down for the attainment of overall aim or objective of a particular educational
program. It is very board and focuses on what the institution is aimed at. For example: students
acquire knowledge and able to provide comprehensive care to the clients in institution and
community; in health and sickness.
2. Intermediate objectives:-
Intermediate objectives are the derivatives of institutional objectives and related to a particular
learning experience or subject matter. They are formulated by the curriculum committee. For
example: student acquire knowledge and able to provide comprehensive care to the patients with
eye, ear and nose conditions or diseases.
3. Instructional objectives:-
Instructional objectives are specific, precise, attainable, measurable and corresponding to each
specific objective for a class or peptic ulcer can be formulated as follows. Student: defines peptic
ulcer, list down the etiology of peptic ulcer, explains the medical management peptic ulcer, and
lists down the nursing diagnosis of a patient with peptic ulcer. Performs nursing care of a patient
 with peptic ulcer and lists down the complications of the ulcer. From the above said examples, it
is clear that the specific or instructional objectives are written in a way to cater the individual
learning needs of the students. Whereas the institutional and intermediate objectives are written
for the entire student body and without any individual consideration. In short, an instructional
objective is a clear and unambiguous description of teacher’s educational expectations for each
student in the class.

In another classification, educational objectives are classified into central objective, contributory
objective and indirect objective.

1. Central objectives: - Central objective is written for every topic or lesson. This is of supreme
importance in any teaching activity. Central objective provides the basis for formulating the
subsequent contributory objectives. If the teacher wishes to teach the students about the lecture
method, she can formulate the central objective as follows; “by the end of the class, students
acquire knowledge regarding lecturing techniques, discriminate the merits and demerits of
lecture and able to proactive it in an effective discriminate the merits and demerits of lecture and
able to proactive it in an effective way by minimizing the demerits”
2. Contributory objectives: - Contributory objectives are synonymous with specific objectives.
They are the derivatives of central objective. The attainment of central objective is possible only
through the attainment of contributory objectives. They have to be written more specifically in
terms of the knowledge, abilities, skills, attitude, appreciation and interest which will develop in
the student as a result of the specific teaching-learning activity. For example, student: Defines
lecture method, lists down the merits of lecture method and list down the demerits of lecture
method are some of the contributory objectives that will assist the teacher in attaining the
central objective while taking a class on lecture method.
3. Indirect objectives: - Indirect or concomitant objectives are the byproducts of the attainment of
other objectives. They have to be written-down in order to bring out certain understandings,
ideals and attitudes along with the attainment of contributory objectives and central objective.
For example: appreciate the value of lecture method. Attainment of this indirect objective along
with other objectives like central objective and contributory objectives will motivate the students
to honor the value of lecture method in the future by practicing it with adequate preparation and
employing suitable techniques.

TYPES OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1. General objectives or Professional functions:

Correspond to the functioning of the types of health personnel trained in the establishment. The
course objectives must be in harmony with the general curriculum objectives of the programme
of the school.
Eg:
 a. Providing preventive and curative care to the individual and the community in health and
sickness.
b. Health education of the public will depend on the population’s general level of education.
2. Intermediate objectives or Professional activities
Arrived at by breaking down professional functions into components (activities) which together
indicate the nature of those functions.
Eg: Planning and carrying out blood sampling session for a group of adults, in community.
These components are professional activities which in turn can be broken down into more
specific acts that are called, into more specific acts that are called, into professional tasks as long
as they can be measured against given criteria. Sometimes, there can be several intermediate
levels rather than a single one. Intermediate objectives reflect the health needs of a population
living in a given context. It acts only a means or working instrument and not an end in itself. It
was drawn up as a basis for choosing instruments of evaluation for measuring the skills of
students.
a. Institutional objectives: The graduate of the new baccalaureate nursing programme will be
prepared to function as a generalist with beginning competencies in a specialized area of
nursing, e.g. The graduate will be prepared to function in a variety of settings and be able to:
 Obtain health histories and make health assessments.
 Provide safe and competent care in emergency situations and acute illnesses.
3. Specific or Instructional Objectives (Professional tasks)
Definition
Instructional objective are descriptions of performance the instruction is expected to produce:
 Defining objectives help to identify the terminal outcomes of instruction in terminal outcomes of
instruction in terms of observable performance of learners.
These outcomes are to be presented in behavioral terms.
a. Professional asks and specific (instructional) educational objectives:
Corresponding to (or derived from) precise professional tasks whose result are observable
and measurable against given criteria.

Qualities

 Relevant
 Logical
 Unequivocal
 Feasible
 Observable
 Measurable

Relevant: It should be free of any superfluous material but cover every point relating to the aim in
view.
 Unequivocal: “loaded words” (words open to a wide range of interpretations) should not be used, to
avoid any possibility of misunderstandings.

For example,

Many Interpretations Fewer Interpretations

To know To write

To discuss To identify

To understand To differentiate

To really To solve

To appreciate. To list

To believe To compare

To have faith in To contrast

Feasible: It must be ensured that what the student is required to do can actually be done, within the
time allowed and with the facilities to handle.

Logical: The objective must be internally consistent.

Observable: unless there is some means of observing progress towards an objectives, it will
observe progress towards an objective, it will be impossible to tell whether the objective has been
achieved.

Measurable: The objective must include an indication of acceptable level of performance on the
part of the student. The existence of a criterion for measurement will make it easier to choose or to
construct a valid evaluation mechanism.

CHARACTERSTICS OF SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

 should be written in behavioral terms (what the students must do )

 should reflect the condition ( under what circumstances)
 should reflect the standard ( with what degree of skill)
 should be reasonable in number of behavioral changes expected out of the teaching unit should
not be too many or too less usually 4-5 behavioral objectives are stated for a unit.
 Should be consistent with unit theme and related to each other and to the unit.
 Should be approximately of some level of generality or specificity.
 Should be distinctive but not completely independent.
 Should be descriptive.
PURPOSE OF SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

State the instructional objectives in clear simple languages have advantages for both teacher and
students. After stating the objective of the teacher will be clear about the purpose of the lesson /unit and
the student will know what exactly are expected to achieve/perform.

Teacher’s viewpoint

 Serves as a guide in selection of important and desirable subject matter.

 Describes behavior in terms of student performance.
 Indicates direction towards which the behavior is to be geared.
 Serves as a basis for evaluation.

Student’s viewpoint

 Students know the worthiness of the programme in terms of cost (time, energy and money).
 Give direction to the students towards in depth study.
 The expected achievement at the end of the course.

The components of task

 Practical skills or conative domain (initiation).

 Communication skills or effective domain (attitudes) feeling (conviction).
 Intellectual skills or cognitive domain (problem-solving).

Elements

 To act/task.
 The content.
 The condition.
 Criteria.
II. The objectives are classified into:
 Teacher centered objectives: For example, to develop teaching skills, to use AV aids.
 Student centered objectives: For example, to understand the subject in-depth.

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Bloom’s and his associates developed a system of classification of objectives called the
taxonomy of educational objective. Taxonomy of educational objectives classifies objectives into three
main domains and each of these is further categorized according to the level of behavior, progressing
from the most simple to highly complex.
COGNITIVE DOMAIN

Taxonomy of educational objectives:-

Objectives Mental process or abilities

1. Knowledge a. Recall
b. Recognize
2. Comprehension a. See relationship
b. Cite example
c. Discriminate
d. Classify
e. Interest
f. Verify
g. Generalize
3. Application a. Reason
b. Formulate
c. Establish infer.
d. Predict
4. Analysis a. Analyze
5. Synthesis a. Synthesize
6. Evaluation a. Evaluate

Levels:-

1. Knowledge: The remembering of previously learned material. It represents the lowest level of
learning outcome in cognitive domain.
a. Knowledge of specifics include:
i) Knowledge of terminology
ii) Knowledge of specific fact
b. Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics
i) Knowledge of conventions
ii) Knowledge of trends and sequence
iii) Knowledge of classification and categories
iv) Knowledge of criteria
v) Knowledge of methodology
c. Knowledge of universal and abstractions in a field
i) Knowledge of principles and generalizations
ii) Knowledge of theories and structures
2. Comprehension: The ability to grasp the meaning of material. The learning outcome goes one
step beyond the simple understanding of material and represents the lowest level of
understanding.
3. Application: The ability to use learned material in new situation, it requires a higher level of
understanding.
 4. Analysis: The ability to breakdown material into its component parts so that it’s organizational
structure. A higher intellectual level as it requires an understanding of both the content and the
structural form of the material.
5. Synthesis: It is the ability to put together to form a new whole learning outcomes in the area and
stress to creates behavior with major emphasis on the formulation of new patterns of structures.
6. Evaluation: The ability to judge the value of material for a given purpose. The judgments are to
be based on definite criteria.

Cognitive objectives and words:-

Objective Associated action verbs

1. Knowledge Define, state, list, name, write, recall, recognize, label, underline,
select, and reproduce, measure.
2. Comprehension Identify, justify, select, indicate, illustrate, represent, name,
formulate, explain, judge, contrast, classify.
3. Application Predict, select, assess, explain, choose, find, show, demonstrate,
construct, compute, use, perform.
4. Analysis Analyze, identify, conclude, differentiate, select, separate, compare,
contrast, justify, resolve, breakdown, criticize.
5. Synthesis Combine, restate, summarize, precise, argue, discuss, organize,
derive, select, relate, generalize, conclude.
6. Evaluation Judge, evaluate, determine, recognize, support, defend, attack,
criticize, identify, avoid, select, choose.

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

Francis M Quinn describes the affective domain and its five levels in the following way. As
feelings, attitudes, values and interests are components of the caring functions; this domain has
particular significance in nursing. ‘Values’ refer to the person’s concept of what he or she considers
desirable and so has a large emotional component. A person’s values may include sincerity, compassion,
respect, etc. ‘Attitudes’ are positive or negative feelings about certain things and consists of both
cognitive and affective aspects.

Levels:-

1. Receiving (attending): At this level learner is sensitive to the existence of something and
progresses form awareness to controlled or selected attention. It is difficult to tell when a learner
is receiving or attending to something, so the best indicator is verbal behavior. Typical verbs
used at this level are asks, chooses, selects, replies etc. For examples, asks right questions by
honoring the dignity of the patient during history collection.
2. Responding: This is concerned with active response by the learner, although commitment is yet
to demonstrate. The range is form reacting to a suggestion through experiencing a feeling of
 satisfaction in responding. Verbs represent this level includes answers, assists, complies,
conforms, helps, etc. For examples, assists the patient in carrying activities of daily living.
3. Valuing: Objectives at this level indicate acceptance and internalization of values or attitudes.
The learner acts out these in everyday life in a consistent way. The verbs used in this level are
initiates, invites, joins, justifies, etc. For example, initiates building of interpersonal relationship
with the patients during clinical postings.
4. Organization: Having internalized the value, the learner will encounter situations in which more
than one value is relevant. This level is concerned with the ability organize values and to arrange
them in appropriate order. Verbs represent this level are alters, arranges, combines, modifies,
etc. For example, combines various interaction skills to nurture interpersonal relationship with
patients.
5. Characterization: This is the highest level and having attained this level the learner has an
internalized value system which has become their philosophy of life. Verbs applicable to this
level are acts, displays, discriminates, listens, etc. For example, displays confidence while caring
patient with myocardial infarction.

Affective domain not only guides in the inculcation of new attitudes but also assists in modifying
the students existing attitudes in a way favorable to the nursing profession. Some more action verbs like
respond, co-operate, react, receive, participate, appreciate, permit, contribute and interact are also used
to represent this domain.

PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN

Psychomotor domain consists of seven levels. According to Francis M Quinn, these seven levels
can be explained as follows.

Levels:-

1. Perception: This basic level is concerned with the perception of sensory cues that guide actions
and ranges from awareness of stimuli to translation into action. Action verbs are choose,
differentiates, distinguishes, identifies, detects, etc. For examples, detects the early signs of
decubitus ulcers.
2. Set: This is concerned with the cognitive, affective and psychomotor readiness act. Typical
verbs are begins, moves, reacts, shows, starts etc. For example, reacts promptly to emergency
situations during trauma care postings.
3. Guided response: These objectives refer to the early stages in skill acquisition where skills are
performed following demonstration b y the teacher. Typical verbs are carries out, makes,
performs, calculates, etc. For example, performs bed making correctly as demonstrated by the
teacher.
4. Mechanism: At this level, the performance has become habitual, but the movements are not so
complex as the next higher level. Verbs used are similar to level 3. For example, calculates the
 volume of fluid required in the first day for a patient admitted with sixty percentage burns and
weighing 50 kilograms.
5. Complex overt response: This level typifies the skilled performance and involves economy of
effort, smoothness of action, accuracy and efficiency, etc. Again verbs are similar to level 3. For
example, performs endotrachial intubation correctly.
6. Adaptation: Here, the skills are internalized to such an extent that the student can adapt them to
cater for special circumstances. Typical verbs are adapts, alters, modifies, reorganize, etc. For
example, modifies sterilization techniques according to the article be sterilized.
7. Origination: This is the highest level and concerns the origination of new movement patterns to
suit particular circumstances. Typical verbs are composes, creates, designs, originates, etc. For
example, designs a splint to restrain the forearm of a child who is on IV infusion.

QUALITIES OF AN EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE

An educational objective should be relevant, feasible and achievable, measurable, unequivocal,

observable and logical. If an educational objective fails to meet any one of these qualities, it is regarded
as invaluable or poor objective.

1. Relevant: Educational objectives should have a direct relationship with the aims of learning, in
other words educational objectives should be based on the needs o the learner.
2. Feasible and achievable: Students should be able to do what is envisaged by the objectives,
within the allotted time and available resources.
3. Measurable: In addition to communicating the expected behavior modification, there should be a
provision in the objective to evaluate the end result, i.e., the extent of behavior modification
occurred as a result of the teaching-learning activity.
4. Observable: The qualities of measurable and observable are closely related. In the statement of
objectives there should be some means to observe the progress towards the achievement of
desired behavioral modifications as stipulated by the objective.
5. Unequivocal: Equivocal words bear more than one or two meanings. Equivocal words should be
avoided while framing objectives in order to provide a uniform direction in achieving learning
aims by avoiding ambiguity. The words like to write, to solve, etc are unequivocal. As
unequivocal words are very clear there is only less chance for misinterpretation.
6. Logical: The objectives which are written-down must be agreeable or reasonable in relation to
the teaching-learning activities, i.e., objectives should be internally consistent with the
educational activities.

COMPONENTS OF A BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVE

When written in behavioral terms an objective will include three components namely condition
of performance, student behavior and performance criteria or standard.
 Condition of performance indicates the conditions or contexts under which the students will
perform the behavior. A statement of objective will always begin with a condition of performance. For
example, after attending the demonstration on intramuscular injection students will able to perform
intramuscular injection correctly. Here, ‘after attending the demonstration on intramuscular injection’
denotes the condition of performance.

Student behavior describes the behavior that the teacher wants the student to perform, i.e., the
knowledge to be gained and the action or skill the student is able to do. In the above mentioned example,
‘student will be able to perform intramuscular injection’ stands for student behavior.

Performance criteria or standard specifies the level of performance that the teacher will accept as
successful attainment of the objective or describes how well the behavior is to be done in comparison
with predetermined standard or criteria. In the previously mentioned example, the word ‘correctly’
represents the standard or criteria.

ADVANTAGES OF WRITING BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

The advantages include

a. Provides an opportunity for the teacher to examine the content which she is going to teach and
motivates her to present the content in a student friendly manner.
b. Helps the teacher to determine whether or not he had actually taught what is intended to teach.
c. The use of behaviorally stated objectives motivates the teacher to consistently evaluate a
student’s performance; this will ultimately helps her to individualize instruction in a better way.
d. Justifies the selection of content, learning experiences and teaching-learning methods.
e. Behavioral objectives can be written for cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains. This will
allow nurse educators to frame objectives in a realistic way suitable to the aims of nursing
education.

STRENGTHS OF BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

Morrison and Ridley clearly described the strengths and weaknesses of behavioral objective. The
strengths of behavioral objectives are

a. They are performance based measurable and observable.

b. They are easily communicated to teachers and students.
c. They facilitate organization by specifying goals and outcomes.
d. They clarify thinking and planning and resolve ambiguities.
e. They are ‘teacher-proof’ and clear to anxious teachers.
f. They are highly prescriptive.
g. They make clear assessment and evaluation criteria.
h. They specify behaviors.

WEAKNESSES OF BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES

 The weaknesses of behavioral objectives are

a. They are highly instrumental, regarding education as instrumentally rather than intrinsically
worthwhile.
b. They render students and teachers passive recipients of curricula rather than participants in a
process of negotiation.
c. They only cover the trivial, concrete and observable aspects of education, thereby neglecting
long term, unobservable, measurable deeper-seated aims and elements.
d. Education becomes technicist, tending towards low level training rather than higher level
thinking.
e. Because they are ‘teacher-proof’ they build out teachers’ autonomy.
f. They lead to predictability rather than open -endedness, discovery, serendipity, creativity and
spontaneity.
g. The process of education is overtaken by outcome dependence.
h. They replace the significance of understanding with it as products and facts, supporting a
rationalist rather than an empirical view of knowledge.
i. They mistakenly ‘parcel up’ and atomize knowledge.

CONCLUSION

Educational objectives are those desired changes in behavior as a result of specific teaching-
learning activity or specific teacher-learner activities. Behavior is what the student should know or able
to do after the teaching- learning activity. Educational objectives should be relevant, feasible and
achievable, measurable, unequivocal, observable and logical. Objectives are stated in four different
forms namely teacher centered, subject matter centered, learner centered and behavior centered.
Knowledge regarding the strengths and weaknesses of behavioral objectives will assist the nurse
educator in framing objectives in a realistic way suitable to the aims of nursing education.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. B. Sankaranarayan, B. Sindhu; Learning and teaching nursing; Third edition; Brainfill

publications; Page number: 44 – 53.

2. K. P. Neeraja; Text book of Nursing Education; 2003 edition; Jaypee publications; Page number:
158 – 169.

3. B.T. Basavanthappa; Nursing Education: 2003 edition; Jaypee publications, New Delhi; Page
number: 59-70.

4. J. C. Aggarwal; Innovations in Education; Page number: 107-113.

5. www.currentnursing.com

6. www.wikepedia.com
 A SEMINAR ON
NURSING
EDUCATION
TOPIC:-

EDUCATIONAL
OBJECTIVES

Submitted to; Submitted by;

Mrs. Lakshmi, Mr. Joseph Jeswin,
Lecturer, Ist year MSc
nursing, KRSMCON.
KRSMCON.
Submitted On;

24-06-2010.