For instructional designers, one of the first undertakings of the design phase is to analyze objectives of instruction. Through this analysis, the designer should aim to create clear and explicitly stated objectives for learners so successful outcomes can be determined.

What elements need to be included when writing objectives?

Three key elements of well conceived learning objectives are...
1. Objective Learner
To identify the level of prior knowledge that the learner must possess to be successful with instruction.
2. Objective Noun
To identify what the instruction is to teach the learner.
3. Objective Verb
What the learner should be able to do once they have completed the lesson content.

Activity:
Read “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”
Who is the speaker?
How is the speaker different from the author, Maya Angelou?
1. While reading “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” identify images and ideas in the poem.
2. Pair and discuss- The poem's message and imagery- support with text evidence.
3. Small group discussion-The poem's message- support with text evidence.

Student Learning Objectives:

Students will read lyric poetry and discuss the difference between the speaker and the author.

Students will identify literary imagery and meaning in the lyric poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me.”

Students will make claims supported with text-evidence from the poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me.”

Student Can Do's:

Student can identify the difference between the speaker and the author.

Student can identify imagery in lyric poetry.

Student can use text-evidence to support their ideas.

Well thought out learning objectives are quintessential to successful instructional design projects. When instructional designers and teachers do not know what learners should be able to do by the end of the lesson, they cannot measure if the lesson was successful. This can result in inefficient or evan counterproductive instructional design products and needed revisions or alterations to lesson contents or presentation will not be made. For this reason lesson objectives need to be well thought out prior to completing the instructional design.

For learners to successfully achieve learning objectives, sequence of instructional tasks must be considered. As an instructional designer you must consider how you are building your learner's knowledge with instruction. This is just as important as considering the learners prior knowledge before instruction begins. As you develop your instructional design material you must consider what knowledge the student or learner needs to gain while completing the instruction to be successful with learning outcomes.

This relates to the ADDIE design model in how it describes the process of constructing instructional design. The A in the acronym ADDIE stands for analysis and this step must come before design and development can begin. Without proper analysis the instructional design and development’s functionality can not be measured.

As you can see in this revised version of Bloom's taxonomy, each phase of the taxonomy pyramid is linked and affects one another. Instructional designers must consider many aspects of the learner and learning when creating instructional design materials. For this reason it is important for conscientious instructional designers to consider all aspects of Bloom's taxonomy when creating instructional design materials.