This post will help you make sense of and take steps for Anthology ECP standards 1.1-1.3. These relate to the foundation of any course, the goals, which is what all of your course should directly link to and flow out from.
You will find a video showing some examples of how I met these standards in my own course at the end of the page.
Tip: You can find some definitions to help you at the end of the page.
1.1 Goals and objectives are clearly written and appropriate for the course level
5 points (Compulsory)
This compulsory standard has a lot going on in it, but it comes back to one core practice: take the large goals (competencies), likely already established by your institution, and translate these into actionable steps for your students (objectives).
I’ve worked with a lot of faculty who have been demoralized to find out the competencies established for their course do not qualify as "clearly written." Not to worry! You are going to take steps to remedy this by using module/unit level goals (objectives). For some courses that will involve breaking very large goals down into smaller, actionable pieces. For other courses, this may just mean translating them into more student friendly language and explaining how students are going to tackle that goal in the current module/unit. In other words, you do the translation for your students into something they can clearly put into action, by focusing on what you want them to do.
Then ensure that what you are asking them to do is appropriate for their course level. For instance, it is appropriate for lower course levels to have a greater number of less complex goals, such as recall or define, but higher course levels should have a greater number of more complex ones, such as create or analyze. The actions you are asking them to take towards those goals should clearly lead to mastering that goal.
Steps to take
Ensure you are using the exact competencies set by your institution. Note: You are not allowed to rewrite your course outcomes/competencies because these are tied to accreditation. They are generally set by curriculum committees.
Are those objectives written in a way that is immediately clear what you expect a student to do? If not, write new objectives, or edit existing ones, so they focus on what you want students to do.
Check verbs in your objectives to make sure they match the level of difficulty you can expect of the course level.
Associated best practice: Review your learning objectives to make sure they directly relate (align to) and support course outcomes/competencies.
Tip: A great way to complete these steps is with course mapping.
1.2 Goals and objectives are easily located within the course visible in a variety of areas (e.g., within the syllabus and each individual learning unit)
4 points
I like to include these in a few areas, including in the syllabus, in a course overview module, and at the start of learning modules/units. The key here is not to just ensure these are located in lots of locations, but to do the work on standards 1.1 and 1.3 to ensure the goals are actually useful at directing students to the types of actions you want them to take.
I have had many faculty members point out that their students don't read these or have any interest in them. I like to ask this question in response: Are your goals written in a student-facing way that describes what they should do? Students are very, very interested in what you want them to do.
They want to know what your expectations are and what steps they need to take. Once you have goals that help them quickly understand your expectations, those goals become a central part of the overview for a learning module/unit. As a wonderful bonus, you won't just be fulfilling an ECP standard, but also providing an essential orientating and motivating component for your students they will quickly learn to rely on.
Steps to take
Complete the steps explained in standard 1.1 and 1.3 first!
Use module/unit level objectives as a way to quickly orient your students as you explain what they will be doing in each module/unit of your course.
Once your objectives are finalized, also include them in your syllabus, and/or your “Start Here” module (which is described in standard 4.2).
1.3 Goals and objectives are written in measurable outcomes (e.g., learners know what they are expected to be able to do)
4 points
The key here is the word "measurable" and making sure there is some sort of clear action students take. A common objective that is NOT measurable includes the word "understand." We have all seen those (possibly written them!), but we aren't really able to measure someone's understanding. When you think of this from a student's point of view, it sounds much more intimidating to try to prove to you. There is no clear end to the process of understanding for them, and as a result no clear goal post they can work towards (and therefore no clear way you can measure if they meet a goal post). If you changed this to something like "recall" you have something that can be measured, and a student knows the action they need to take.
The verbs you use in a course goal matter. They must allow for action and then the rest of your goal should be explicit about the context and scope of the action.
Steps to take
Complete the steps explained in standard 1.1 first!
Make sure each objective can be properly measured with an assessment.
Exemplary in Action (Visual Examples)
These standards are too big to go over all aspects, but this video will show you some visual examples of how I met these standards (4:58 in length).
Definitions
Outcomes / Competencies refers to the course or program level goals in your course. These are usually large goals that take multiple weeks and course activities to build student mastery. Another common name for them is competency.
Goals / objectives are the smaller steps and actions students take to build mastery in outcomes/competencies. These are usually targeted at one unit of instruction, such as a week-long module.
Alignment in this context means that smaller module-level objectives are directly related to, and lead to the mastery of, larger course-level outcomes.
Click here to continue on to Course Design: Content Composition and Structure (ECP 1.4-1.7).