Re-evaluating Learning Objectives

In times of significant or extended disruption, revisiting, prioritizing, and even reducing the number of learning objectives or the depth to which we expect students to master them can benefit our students, and ourselves as instructors. Counter-intuitively, maintaining normal expectations during traumatic events or severe disruptions can further decrease learning by undermining students’ confidence in their ability to succeed and leading them to disengage. While cutting learning objectives is never an easy task, you might ask yourself the following questions:

  • For courses that meet major or minor requirements, which learning objectives are most central to students’ success in future courses for which this course is a prerequisite? What level of mastery or familiarity with those objectives is absolutely essential to prepare students for those future courses?
  • Which learning objectives will be most valuable to students in their lives or careers?
  • Which learning objectives (if any) might help students make sense of the disruption they are currently experiencing?

Once you have prioritized your course learning objectives, you might explore these questions about upcoming activities, assignments, and assessments:

  • What can you and your students realistically accomplish during this time period, given the nature of the disruption and any associated infrastructure, cognitive, and emotional challenges?
  • Are there any upcoming assignments or activities that are more peripheral to your course learning objectives that can be quickly eliminated or reduced?
  • What other alterations could you make to the pace, quantity, or scope of work outlined in your original syllabus, guided by your answers to the questions above?

The key goal is to build a plan that will help students get the support they need to meet your most essential course learning objectives and focus your (and their) efforts on maximizing those outcomes. If time allows or conditions improve, learning objectives cut or scaled back due to disruption can always be resurrected later in the term.