It’s easy to confuse learning activities with learning objectives. Explore the examples below to learn more about the distinction between activity (the work students do) and objective (the knowledge or skills students gain).
Quick definitions
Learning activities
What your students do in a course. These are the tasks or assessments you assign to help students practice and demonstrate learning.
Example
Discussions, projects, quizzes, labs
Learning objectives
Describe what your students will be able to do by the end of instruction.
Example
Strong objectives are:
- Observable (you can see or measure it)
- Specific (clear task + context)
- Aligned to how students will be assessed
Examples of learning activities vs. learning objectives
Example 1: Assessment as objective
When you write an objective, avoid naming the assessment. A quiz is how students demonstrate learning. The objective should describe the skill they gain. In this case, students are learning to correctly identify APA citations.
- Learning activity: Students complete multiple-choice and short-answer quizzes over APA citation styles.
- Learning objective: Identify the correct APA citation style for a given journal, video, book, or interview resource.
Example 2: Mixing participation with learning
Participation alone is likely not your learning goal, instead, you might use a discussion or other form of participation as the activity. Your objectives should describe what students can do as a result, such as building and supporting an evidence-based argument.
- Learning activity: Students participate in small group discussions to debate over controversial topics in community health.
- Learning objective: Justify a personal position on a controversial community health issue citing outside research and anecdotal experience.
Example 3: Assignments vs. skills
Be careful not to frame assignments as the objectives. Your objective should capture the transferable skill students develop, such as integrating technology into instruction.
- Learning activity: Students design an earth and space science lesson plan that utilizes an educational technology tool during instruction.
- Learning objective: Integrate a contemporary educational technology into Earth Science curriculum for an elementary student population.
Example 4: Format instead of learning
The format, such as a video, presentation, or paper, is not likely not the learning goal (although, depending on your subject matter, that could be the case!). The objective should describe the understanding students must demonstrate. In this case, students must explain economic relationships.
- Learning activity: Students create a short video presentation discussing the elasticity of supply and demand.
- Learning objective: Explain the relationship between elasticity, the cost of taxes, and pricing power.
Example 5: Family health education
If your objective closely mirrors an activity, you may still be describing the task rather than the learning. Make sure your objective highlights the underlying skills, such as analyzing needs and tailoring instruction, not just completing the session.
- Learning activity: Students deliver a 30-minute to one-hour family health education session with a volunteer family of their choice.
- Learning objective: Deliver health education to a family, based on observed behaviors and future trends.
References
- This page was adapted from Weber State’s “Learning Objective vs. Learning Activity” page in their ID Series: Learning Objectives course.
