Reading log 1

Learning objectives and their connection with long-time learning

The different kind of objectives within a lesson serve an important purpose-they help set and clarify what students are expected to learn, and how we instructors can observe whether learning has taken place. These two chapters suggest that objectives are crucial because if we can devise well-written, refined objectives, then learning is much more likely to happen. However, learning objectives and teaching objectives need to be established with an aim to help the students, and not from the teacher’s perspective alone.

The ECRIF approach to creating an objective, designing a flow of activities and staging all the components of a lesson, proposes a shift in which teaching and planning are “flipped” from a teacher-centered point of view to a student-centered point of view.

What I found really interesting about it was that no matter the topic or context we are teaching, the ECRIF approach can help us to visualize more readily if learning has happened because of its observation focus, which is  placed on the students at all times. For example, the authors chose the skill of juggling to discuss and elaborate this approach. I cannot think of many things that are more complex, difficult to do, and frustrating than these kinds of practical abilities. And I suspect that many people feel the same, too. Nonetheless, establishing a viable set of objectives, choosing appropriate techniques to teach a skill and practice it, and observing and reflecting on the outcomes, will sure make a difference in terms of what teachers and students can achieve together.

Questions to consider: How to apply this to framework to the context of fixed lessons and syllabi?