By Star Boe, Senior Instructional Design Specialist Objectives can go by many names. Learning Objectives, Outcomes, Learning Outcomes, Student Learning Objectives (SLO), Student Learning Outcomes (also SLO) are just some of the terms you will hear. While some educators feel strongly about one term over another, I am going to just proceed with the generic term "objectives." Let me explain what I mean when I use the term objective. Dictionary.com defines objective as "something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target." The connection to effort and intention go well with the expectations we have for students as they engage with our material. However, I don't like the connection that is drawn to "goal." Instructors often start with a goal. Goals are broad and often aspirational, such as: Students will appreciate art from a wide variety of time periods, styles, and techniques. Students will acquire an
Almost all disciplines have long-standing traditions within their field that are the most widely accepted methods of conveying information to students. In a few specific traditional lecture courses, particularly Art History lectures, there is usually little room for discussion. Instead, there is one room, one projector, and an onslaught of slides and images all shown in the dark which only helps to create a comfortable environment for students to drift off and wake up suddenly when the light switch is abruptly flipped at the end of class. In addition to this issue, there have been many concerns as to how those images are chosen, how the information is presented, and which parts of the art history timeline are given more attention than others. This seems to be of importance for many areas of study, however these issues came to light for me through teaching Art History. Hip Pendant Representing an Iyoba Queen (‘Queen Mother’). 16th century. Nigeria, Court of Benin, Edo culture. (Metrop