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A Is For ACTOR: Smart

The SMART framework provides guidelines for writing effective goals for students. According to the framework, goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound. Specific goals clearly define the intended outcome. Measurable goals can be assessed to determine if they are met or not met. Achievable goals challenge students appropriately. Results-focused goals measure outcomes rather than activities. Time-bound goals include a deadline. The ABC framework outlines components for writing learning objectives. The A stands for actor and identifies who the target is, such as students. The B stands for behavior and refers to observable and measurable actions like distinguish. The C stands for conditions that specify contexts for performing tasks. The D stands for

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Joy Cabansag
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117 views3 pages

A Is For ACTOR: Smart

The SMART framework provides guidelines for writing effective goals for students. According to the framework, goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound. Specific goals clearly define the intended outcome. Measurable goals can be assessed to determine if they are met or not met. Achievable goals challenge students appropriately. Results-focused goals measure outcomes rather than activities. Time-bound goals include a deadline. The ABC framework outlines components for writing learning objectives. The A stands for actor and identifies who the target is, such as students. The B stands for behavior and refers to observable and measurable actions like distinguish. The C stands for conditions that specify contexts for performing tasks. The D stands for

Uploaded by

Joy Cabansag
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SMART

Specific: When writing goals for students, they need to be specific. This means that the goal
should be well defined so that everybody on the educational team knows exactly the intended
outcome for the goal
Measurable: Writing a goal that is measurable is essential. A goal that is measurable means that
data can be taken on the goal to provide evidence of it being met or not met.
Achievable: Goals for students should also be achievable. This means that the goal will
challenge the student, so that it is worthwhile to work on, but that it is also a realistic task for
the student to accomplish
Results-focused: Results-focused means that the goal is measuring an outcome, not an activity
or exercise.
Time-bound: A goal should always indicate a timed deadline for its outcome.
ABC

A(udience) Who is the target audience? (e.g., "ENGL397 students will be able to...")
B(ehavior) What is the work to be accomplished by the learner? (e.g., "distinguish")
Should be both observable and measurable behaviors
Should refer to action verbs that describe behaviors
C(ondition) What are the conditions/constraints in which the learners will be expected to
perform these tasks? (e.g., "At the end of the session")
D(egree) How will the behavior need to be performed (e.g., "between primary and secondary
sources")

A is for ACTOR

Every learning objective should state something that the learner should do.
Sometimes, your objective may refer to the “actor” in general terms such as “the
learner” or “you.” Other times, you may identify the actor by his or her job role,
such as “the customer service representative” or “the press operator.” Regardless,
remember that each learning objective states something that the actor must be
able to do after the training. This is the “WHO?” of your objective.
Note: In courses with multiple learning objectives, it’s fine to begin a list of
objectives with something like “the learner must:” written only one time. In other
cases, you can leave the actor implicit and not state this directly, but be certain to
keep the actor in mind when writing the objective. Remember that your goal is to
help real people perform necessary tasks on their real jobs.

B is for BEHAVIOR

Every learning objective should state something that the learner must do—a
behavior of some sort. And these behaviors should duplicate or closely resemble
the task the employee will have to perform on the job. So, for example, if your
training is designed to teach a machine operator to operate a machine, the
behavior in your learning objective would be something like “operate the machine”
and not something like “explain the steps of operating the machine.”

Ideally, the behaviors of your learning objectives will mirror the real tasks the
workers will actually perform on the job. That’s the point of workforce training, after
all–to teach people to perform their job tasks.

A final note–be careful not to write objectives about employees “knowing” or


“understanding,” because (1) in most cases, people don’t get paid to simply “know”
or “understand” on the job, (2) it’s impossible to observe if someone knows or
understands, and (3) reasonable third parties can disagree if an employee knows or
understands. Yes, we do use knowledge on the job, but we use it to make decisions
or perform tasks–focus your objectives on the things we do with knowledge on the
job.

Note: People sometimes refer to this as the “observable verb” step because
behaviors must be stated as a verb that you can observe: define, state, build,
construct, change, etc.

C for CONDITIONS
Many times, the learner will have to perform the learning objective’s behavior
within a set of given conditions. For example, you might say “given a list of words,
circle the ones that are part of a given machine,” or “given a wrench, tighten this
bolt,” or “given a schematic diagram, correctly identify the machines in a work area.”
This is the “HOW?” of your objective.

Note: There may be times when a condition is not necessary, but always check to
see if it’s appropriate to add one.

D for DEGREE

This part of the learning objective explains the criteria for performing the task well
enough. Examples here include “in less than ten minutes,” or “with 90% accuracy,”
or “90 times an hour.” This is the “HOW WELL?” of your objective.

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