Writing Aims and Objectives

What are the differences between aims & objectives?

Writing useful and appropriate aims and objectives isn’t an easy task, made more difficult by the imprecise definition of the terms and vague distinctions between the two.

We can think of aims as broad general statements of what students are expected to learn.

Aims are often more appropriate for courses than for subjects. An aim for a course may be, “Students should acquire skills of economic analysis and reasoning” or, “Students should develop the ability to think creatively and independently about new engineering problems”. A course may have a number of broad, often esoteric, aims. Aims may include abstract concepts such as ‘professional qualities’ or ‘appreciation of the classics’, learning that may be difficult to measure but which is nevertheless important.

Objectives are usually more specific statements of the learning which will occur, generally within a subject, lecture or task. Objectives are not statements of content or topics, nor are they statements of the intended teaching strategies; rather, they are statements of what a student is expected to know and be able to do upon completion of the learning exercise. An objective for a subject may be, “The student should comprehend the relations among fundamental concepts in Newtonian mechanics” or, “The student should understand the principle of equilibrium in Keynesian macroeconomics”. The best objectives will neither be too vague nor overly precise. There is a skill in maintaining this balance.

There are a range of approaches for defining objectives.

One approach is to limit objectives to statements of behavioural objectives; that is, if the objective has been achieved, there must be a clearly observable outcome. Generally, however, objectives need not focus solely on observable behaviour. When we teach, we aim to develop understandings and attitudes that may be difficult to measure.

Competency based objectives represent another approach to expressing learning outcomes. This manner of stating objectives adds a further two elements to the previously mentioned essential parts of an aim or objective statement: a measurable performance standard, and the conditions under which the objective is to be achieved. To illustrate this using the introductory example, using a competency based approach the objective would become “repair within ten minutes using the correct tools a dripping tap which requires a new washer“.

An approach to writing learning objectives relevant to the nature of a particular subject or course should be chosen

A Brief Summery

So, an aim is a general statement of intent. It tries to summarise, in broad terms, the activity which is about to take place. Aims are written in general terms. Once you have established your aims it is them important to break these down into small, achievable chunks. These are called objectives.

An objective is a description of an intended outcome, written in specific terms. It describes:

• What you will do.
  
• By when.
  
• Using what (resources, equipment, facilities).
  
• To what standard.
  

Objectives need to be SMART!

Specific.
- You know exactly what it is you have to do (not just ‘find out about‘).
Measurable.
- You know when you’ve got there or you have done it.
Achievable.

- It is possible to do them in the time and with the resources available.
Realistic.
- It is possible to do them, they are not based on fantasy.
Time bounded.
- You set a time limit on them (otherwise you might never get around to it).

Examples of Verbs used for “aims” and “objectives”

It’s not a very scientific categorising. Some verbs, of course, can be used for both objectives and aims depending on objectives and aims of your thesis.

Recommended reading

Bloom, B.S. (ed.) Taxonomy of educational objectives David McKay: New York, 1956.

Ramsden, P. Using aims and objectives Research working paper, 89.4. Melbourne: Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, 1989.

Murray, R. How to write a thesis, Open University Press, 2002

I read this article from By Richard James for educators. Words in dark blue are his original work. Words in light blue were added by PHE’s Work.