Cause for Confusion

I registered in the Library Juice Academy's Demo course on Instructional Design recently.  I felt like it would complement previous classes that I participated in at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in the Adult Teaching and Learning Program (ATL).

The opening content gave me pause.  The instructor defined goals, objectives and outcomes, acknowledging that the terms are typically used interchangeably and arguably incorrectly.  Goals are overarching and broad.  A goal is set for an entire course or perhaps a program of study.  Objectives are more specific and apply to the instructor.  In other words, what the instructor intends to convey in each section.  Outcomes apply to students and communicate what the student will have learned by the end of each section of content (University of Connecticut, n.d.).  Outcomes must be measurable. 

In ATL, we concentrated on learning outcomes and the individual learning steps that would help the student achieve the desired outcome, in much the same manner.  By the end of the _____ (time), student (who) will ______ (Bloom's Taxonomy) ______ (skill).  Here is an example of a learning step from an online course on library research skills that my colleague Diane Zerr and I created. 

Analyse (Bloom's Taxonomy) and critically appraise articles, capturing key messages from the resources (skill)

Reference given in course: 

University of Connecticut. (n.d.). Assessment primer: Goals, objectives and outcomes.  Retrieved from http://assessment.uconn.edu/primer/goals1.html