Smart Objective

This workshop on objective setting has been designed to assist you to develop a clear learning objective which forms part of Assessment item 3. Make sure that you check the requirements of the course by reading carefully the Course Information book. If you do not understand the requirements please ask your lecturer. The Smart Objective Setting workshop has been designed flexibly so that you can complete it either as an external student (any time any where), or as an internal student during a tutorial setting.

If you are an external student you may need to post your objective on the discussion board in order to seek some feedback. Smart is an obvious acronym which can help you remember the important components of objective setting, which will ensure that you do have a smart objective by the time you finish this workshop. • Specific – An objective should specify clearly what you want to achieve. • Measurable – A learning objective should be about developing new knowledge and must be measurable in terms of what you will learn. Achievable – You must ensure that the learning objectives that you set, can be achieved both in terms of your role and the amount of time that you have.

You must ensure that the learning objectives that you set are realistic in terms of the resources that you have as a student. • Timeframe – Identifying some timeframes that indicate when you want to achieve your learning objectives will assist you in planning for success. Before moving on it is vital that you understand that the process of setting a learning objective is first and foremost about determining what you need to know or what you do not know enough about.

That is why we call them Learning Objectives (LO). • It is not about recycling previous knowledge, • Or going over areas that you should have previously covered in other courses. • It is about considering areas that you are not familiar with, • Or areas where you know that you have a specific knowledge deficit. • For example; in specialist practice settings there might be some clinical skills or specific knowledge that you will need in order to operate as an effective student. If you can identify these required skills or knowledge areas this will make a good starting point for your learning objective. If you do find that you have a knowledge deficit in a particular area that was previously covered as part of your program you should obviously address this need by setting some learning objectives for yourself. However you can not submit this learning objective for this piece of assessment, as we would consider that this should have been prior knowledge. 1. Consider for a moment the areas that you are unsure about, or particular areas where you know you have a knowledge deficit.