Goals in Learning

Goal (What)

A goal is a description of what the learner will know or be able to do when they are done learning.

Examples of Goals

Chemistry. Describe molarity. Balance a chemical equation.

Tennis. Explain how to serve. Serve with speed and precision.

Meetings. Explain how to run effective meetings. Run effective and enjoyable meetings as measured by the judgments of the attendees.

Rationale for Goals

Here are some reasons why skill with goal setting is worthwhile.

  1. Make learning super motivating for the learner.

  2. Make learning super valuable for the learner; what they learn is super useful.

  3. Eliminate busy work and stuff not relevant to goal attainment.

  4. Makes learning closed-ended. That is, the learner knows when to stop.

Concerns

  1. Goal-based learning is uncommon.

  2. Hitting well-crafted learning goals is not easy.

Setting Goals (How To)

Principles

  1. Goals need to be measurable.

    1. Most of the time, we don’t write the details of this measurement down.

  2. There are two kinds of learning goals:

    1. Knowledge Goal: Know or describe something (e.g., “Define molarity.”)
    2. Performance Goal: Do something well (e.g., “Balance chemical equations”)

  3. Goals need to be sequenced into a natural order that progresses the learner through the stages of learning: beginner ⟹ intermediate ⟹ advanced.

  4. Anything that can be learned can be broken down into goals and subgoals.

Framework

  1. Figure out the best conditions that can apply for the learner given their context (surrounding circumstances).

  2. Write down one or more knowledge goals and performance goals.

    1. Sometimes, one of these goals is omitted.
    2. Sometimes, one of these goals is broken down into subgoals.

  3. Figure out a path for the learner to hit the goals.

  4. If there are issues with learning (confusion, feeling overwhelmed, unhealthy stress, etc.), change the learning goals so that these issues lessen or extinguish.

    1. Typically this involves breaking a goal down into subgoals.

Tips

  1. Effective goal setting in the context of learning breaks the learning down into small easy-to-take steps so that the learner can walk the path easily.

  2. Effective goal setting results in the learner constantly getting rewards as they take each small step.

Checklist for Goals