Chapter 2
Designing Courses for Health Professionals
Part I
Guidebook
CONTENTS
Chapter
1. Defining Competency Based Goals
2. Developing Learning Objectives
3. Linking Evaluation with Objectives
4. Using Evaluation to Design Instructional Activities
5. Planning Sessions
CHAPTER 2
DEVELOPING LEARNING OBJECTIVES
A. Define Learning Objectives
B. Describe Student Entry Level Performance
C. Prepare Skill/Knowledge Requirements
A. Define Learning Objectives
Definition Learning Objective
You now have (in your JOB DESCRIPTION) a list of tasks for which you plan to prepare students to carry out after training. Since, in most cases, you will not observe your students on the job, how will you know based on student performance in your course, how well they have learned the job-related tasks?
An important step for the course designer is to define the learning objective: what students will do in the course to demonstrate whether they can carry out the tasks on the job. Objectives articulate instructional intent. We expect that instruction will enable students to meet the objectives.
This is similar to explaining to a traveler how to get to a certain location when he has never been there. You not only need to give clear directions, but you need to describe the destination well enough so the traveler will know when he/she has arrived.
What do emergency medical personnel need to learn to do in order to effectively care for victims of a radiation accident? In the answer to this question lie the competency-based objectives which will provide a framework for your instruction.
Figure 2: The Learning Ladder
Chapter Purpose
Overview
The purpose of this chapter is to guide you in developing learning objectives based on the tasks in the JOB DESCRIPTION.
Think of the learning process as a ladder. The JOB DESCRIPTION is a list of the tasks the trained students perform on the job. These tasks have been listed in Chapter 1. What the course must do is to make it possible for the student to move up the ladder, to the point where he/she performs the tasks on the job. This is point G on the ladder in Figure 2.
Next two additional points on the ladder must be specified. ENTRY LEVEL PERFORMANCE describes what the student knows and is able to do at the beginning of the course. So ENTRY LEVEL PERFORMANCE becomes Point A on the Ladder.
Point F or DESIRED STUDENT PERFORMANCE, describes the highest level of performance expected of students regarding a particular task while still in the classroom. This is the basis for the end of course instructional objectives. It will not always be possible for students to demonstrate in the classroom that they have mastered the on-the-job performance requirements for a particular task. The reason is that there may not be patients, equipment, etc. available. So in the classroom STUDENT PERFORMANCE may not be the same though it should be close to DESIRED JOB PERFORMANCE.
Once we have determined ON THE JOB PERFORMANCE (G), the beginning and endpoints of instruction (A & F), the other rungs on the ladder are no longer arbitrary and can be rationally planned. Points A, F, & G also define the endpoints of evaluation as we shall discuss in Chapter 3.
Figure 3: The Learning Ladder Showing Desired Student Performance (Learning Objectives) And On-The-Job Performance
Competency based objectives to be achieved by the end of the course are entered on the left hand side of Form 3 below. An example is included pp. 17 – 19 below. Note that what is expected of students when they enter the course is a separate section (See page 20). For each objective (or clusters of objectives) evaluation activities are developed. Evaluation is the way of determining to what extent students have met the objectives (See Chapter 3).
Form 3: Instructional Objectives/Evaluation
Learning Objective When given…
The Student will be able to: Evaluation Activity for each Objective
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Entry Level Performance
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The Student will be able to…
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Evaluation Activity
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EXAMPLE
Form 3: Instructional Objectives/Evaluation
Learning Objective When given…
The Student will be able to: Evaluation Activity for each Objective
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Task 1: Participate in contingency planning for pre-hospital and hospital based emergency response as well as population protection in the event of a radiation accident. |
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Modify standard hospital plan for managing emergency care to the specific needs of radiation casualties. |
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Task 2: Maintain nuclear preparedness through drills in implementing contingency plans for pre-hospital and hospital care of radiation casualties |
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Task 3: Protect emergency personnel against exposure to radiation |
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Wear appropriate protective clothing |
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Use a self-reading dosimeter to monitor personal cumulative exposure to radiation |
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Limit time of exposure to radiation |
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Task 4: Detect measures and asses the potential consequences of acute exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation |
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Differentiate between incidents of external radiation and contamination with nucleotides |
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Measure exposure to ionizing radiation using survey meters and personal dosimeters |
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Assess the potential effect on health of measured levels of radiation |
Learning Objective When given…
The Student will be able to: Evaluation Activity for each Objective
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Task 7: Implement treatment for both medical and radiological emergencies |
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Set priorities for emergency intervention that reflect both medical and radiological considerations. |
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Initiate when indicted, prompt treatment for internal contamination. |
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Use surgical techniques that minimize the probability of self-cross contamination. Carry out measures for systematic decontamination |
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Initiate supportive intervention for nausea, vomiting and other possible manifestations of acute radiation syndrome |
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Task 8: Supplement medical records by radiological documentation. |
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Log information concerning exposure levels, medical consequences and interventions for radiation related problems. |
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Start an acute radiation syndrome patient floor chart, when appropriate. |
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Complete forms as required by hospital and public health authorities. |
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Task 9: Communicate with victims of radiation, professional associates and the general public. |
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Reduce anxiety and fear associated with radiological injury. |
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Transmit radiological information needed by medical associates and non-medical counterparts to function effectively. |
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Participate in informing the public about health related aspects of a radiation accident. |
B. Describe Student Entry Level Performance
GUIDELINES:To specify Entry Level Performance:
Specify Entry Level Performance
Are there skills or knowledge students must be able to display at the beginning of the course? Must students be able to write, read, or compute at certain levels to enroll in the course? If so, add Entry Level Performance requirements as noted in Figure 4 above.
EXAMPLE
Figure 5:
Entry Level Performance
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Completion of the pre-requisite test at least one week prior to the beginning of the course is required. Applicants whose knowledge and/or skills are screened as inadequate may be offered remedial lessons prior to or during the course. |
In developing Entry Level requirements, follow the same procedures as in developing Desired Job and Student Performance requirements. Use Form 3 to list Entry Level requirements.
A Note About Entry Level Requirements:
1. Entry Level requirements are most important when the course you are planning is based on successful completion of other courses. (Biochemistry, for example, will require knowledge of General Chemistry.)
2. If you think several Entry Level skills are necessary and that many students will have difficulty displaying the required behaviors, perhaps you should consider:
- Making the Entry Level requirements part of the Checkpoints or Progress Tests shown in Figures 6 and 7 below.
- Organizing remedial instruction to train students in Entry Level areas.
3. Sometimes you may not need to describe Student Entry Level:
- When you don’t assume special skill or knowledge.
- When you have all the information you need about the student from other tests or selection procedures.
Figure 5: The Learning Ladder Displaying Checkpoints
C. Think about Skills and Knowledge Required
Now that “end-of-course” performance (”G” and “F” on the Learning Ladder) and Entry Level requirements (if required) are defined, the next step is to identify checkpoints, the skills and knowledge students must acquire to move from entry levels to end-of-course levels. See Figure 6.
To do this, you think about skills and knowledge for each learning objective.
This analysis will help:
1. Identify the specific skills and knowledge to be taught during the course to assure students move from point “A” to “B” and eventually to “F” and “G.”
2. Identify specific skills and knowledge to be tested during the course to measure the learning progress of the students or what are called CHECKPOINTS.
What students must be able to do to perform the learning task.
DEFINITION Skills:
Thinking or “mental” skills:
Skills which are mainly intellectual in that they involve thinking more than they do motor or physical action. For example, planning, interpreting data or information, problem solving, de-cision-making, etc.
Doing or “physical” skills:
Skills which, while they require thinking, involve using the hands or physical action. For example, changing bandages, giving injec-tions, assembling or repairing instruments, etc.
Communicating or “interpersonal” skills:
Skills which deal mainly in interacting with others, including affecting attitudes, social skills. Includes also speaking and writing skills involved in communicating with others.
DEFINITION Knowledge: What students need to know to perform the task.
Examples:
- Names of things (parts of the body, names of medicines, names of instruments.
- How things function (how the heart functions, how mosquitoes breed, how the health department functions).
- Important ideas (the idea of prevention, the idea of infection).
GUIDELINES:To develop a listing of skill and knowledge requirements:
Develop a List of Skill, Knowledge Requirements 1. List the specific skills involved in accomplishing each learning objective, whether they are:
- Thinking
- Doing or
- Communicating
2. List only those specific terms, facts and concepts necessary to do the job. Do not list facts and theories that are ‘nice’ to know but which the student does not need to know.
3. The knowledge and skills needed for a particular learning objective should be written PARALLEL TO that learning objective. Then the reader will know what skills and knowledge are required for each learning objective.
You may have noticed that each step in the course development process is slightly more specific and precise than the step which preceded. This is especially important in the specification of skill knowledge requirements. Be specific and precise. And list all the essential skills and knowledge which you can identify. It is much better to put in too much on the side of precision and detail than too little. If later on you find skills and knowledge items are duplicated or unnecessary, they can be edited out, but if you overlooked essential skills and knowledge your course will be weakened.
Review and Self Check
Make sure that you have completed these steps:
- 1. ( ) Described Desired job and Student Performance for each task.
- 2. ( ) Described Entry Level Performance.
- 3. ( ) Identified the skills knowledge needed to carry out the learning objectives
