OBJECTIVES

The A.B.C.D. Method

The ABCD method of writing objectives is an excellent starting point for writing objectives (Heinich, et al., 1996). In this system, "A" is for audience, "B" is for behavior, "C" for conditions and "D" for degree of mastery needed.

1. Audience – Who? Who are your learners?
   
2. Behavior – What? What do you expect them to be able to do? This should be an overt, observable behavior, even if the actual behavior is covert or mental in nature. If you can't see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, you can't be sure your audience really learned it.
   
3. Condition – How? Under what circumstances or context will the learning occur? What will the student be given or already be expected to know to accomplish the learning?
   
4. Degree – How much? How much will be accomplished, how well will the behavior need to be performed, and to what level? Do you want total mastery (100%), do you want them to respond correctly 80% of the time, etc. A common (and totally non-scientific) setting is 80% of the time.

Examples of Well-Written Objectives

Below are some example objectives which include Audience (A), Behavior (B), Condition (C) and Degree of Mastery (D). Note, many objectives actually put the condition first.

Key

Audience (A)- Red
Behavior (B)- Green
Condition (C)- Blue
Degree of Mastery (D)- Gray

(C) Given a paragraph in a newspaper article,
(A) the student
(B) will be able to accurately identify the grammatical subject of each sentence and explain his or her decision
(D) for all sentences given.

(C) Given a foreign language sentence written in the past or present tense,
(A) the student
(B) will be able to rewrite the sentence in future tense
(C) with no grammatical errors

(C) Given a current-events topic
(A) the student
(B) will be able to write grammatically-correct, well-crafted opinion essay of three-five pages
(D) over two to three days.

(C) Given a section of text
(A) the students
(B) will be able to write out three important facts about George Washington
(D) with no errors.

(C) Using a Venn Diagram
(A) the students
(B) will be able to compare and contrast the Union soldiers and the Confederate soldiers of the Civil War
(D) with  5 facts for each.

(C) Given a Map
(A) the students
(B) will be able to label the oceans and continents
(D) with 100% accuracy.