Objectives Guidelines

On this page:

Introduction
Guide to Developing Objectives
Examples of How
Examples of What

Introduction

Objectives will clearly and concisely communicate what an attendee is expected to know and/or do at the conclusion of an activity. Objectives must be included in the brochure so the attendees may evaluate the relevance of attending a CME activity. The planning committee and the speaker develop objectives to focus on the mission of CME.

Guide to Developing Objectives

The three essential elements of learning objectives are a statement of who (the learner), how (the action verb), and what (the content).

Who	How	What
The learner will be able	To name	The three elements in the management of perennial rhinitis
The participants will be able	To identify	The psychosocial factors important in the development of the child abuse syndrome
The physician will be able	To explain	The dangers of using hexachlorophene in skin prophylaxis of the newborn
The healthcare provider will be able	To perform	CPR

Examples of How

To apply
To arrange
To assess
To categorize
To classify
To contrast
To construct
To create
To describe
To defend
To diagram
To discuss

To discriminate
To distinguish
To employ
To evaluate
To explain
To formulate
To illustrate
To integrate
To interpret
To list
To name
To organize

To predict
To prepare
To recall
To recognize
To relate
To review
To report
To sort
To solve problems
To translate
To update

Examples of What

Consider adding performance standards to your learning objectives. Wording that describes acceptable standards might include:

in a fifteen-minute time period
with no mistakes
with 98% accuracy
getting 22 out of 25 correct

Define the criteria or conditions under which the learning is to be demonstrated. Wording that describes learning conditions might include:

Given a problem of the following type...
Without the use of any reference materials...
Using a specific instrument.