When you’re writing or revising a course learning objective, it can be difficult to tell whether it’s clear, measurable, and aligned with what students actually need to do. This job aid walks you through a simple way to test and strengthen your objectives using the SMART framework.
As you review your objective, use each section to check for specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, and timing. If any area feels unclear or incomplete, you can revise your objective using the prompts and examples provided.
Need a helpful place to focus? Prioritize what students will do. Objectives that describe observable actions are easier to assess and more useful for guiding instruction. Use this infographic as a quick check when drafting new objectives or refining existing ones.
Let’s work through an example so you can see the process of revising an objective to create a SMART objective.
Original objective
Demonstrate understanding of the potential effects of a patient’s characteristics.
SMART questions to consider
Ask these questions about each of your course learning objectives. If the answer is “No” to any of these, revise as necessary.
No?
What details or descriptions are needed?
Example
Demonstrate understanding of the potential effects of characteristics of a patient on their health and illness.
No?
Qualify or quantify the details.
Example
Demonstrate understanding of the potential effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of a patient on their health and illness.
No?
How will they execute this?
Example
Describe the potential effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of a patient on their health and illness.
Note: You cannot measure understanding or knowledge, you can only measure through action taken.
No?
Why is this important for the student to do? What skill is this building?
Example
Describe the potential effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of a patient on their health and illness to develop patient-centered care practices.
No?
“By the end of this course…” is typically written above all objectives to fulfill this.
Example
By the end of the course, students will be able to describe the potential effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of a patient on their health and illness to develop patient-centered care practices.
Revised objective
By the end of the course students will be able to describe the potential effects of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of a patient on their health and illness to develop patient-centered care practices.
