Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature

James Marken; Gary Morrison

doi:10.30935/cedtech/6088

James Marken ¹, Gary Morrison ² ^*

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CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 1-14

https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

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Abstract

While the concept of objectives is widely used in many applied fields of instruction, the systematic derivation and application of objectives for learning and instruction is a key feature of systematic instructional design. However, the treatment of objectives and the terminology surrounding them is sometimes nebulously employed. This article takes a historical look at the terminology around objectives used in the research literature to track changes over time. Data base searchers were conducted using Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, and ERIC to identify various terms using nine different objective related terms. Searches were limited to peer-reviewed sources, and restricted by date to include only the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s respectively. Results show that terms with more concrete definitions, such as behavioral objectives, have fallen off markedly, while terms with more operational definitions, such as educational objectives or learning objectives, have gained in currency. Implications for the field of instructional design are discussed.

Keywords: Objectives, Instructional design, Behavioral objective, Cognitive objective, Performance objective

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Citation

Marken, J., & Morrison, G. (2013). Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

Marken, J., and Morrison, G. (2013). Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature. Contemporary Educational Technology, 4(1), pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

Marken J, Morrison G. Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2013;4(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

Marken, James, and Gary Morrison. "Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature". Contemporary Educational Technology 2013 4 no. 1 (2013): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

Marken, James et al. "Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature". Contemporary Educational Technology, vol. 4, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088

Marken J, Morrison G. Objectives over Time: A Look at Four Decades of Objectives in the Educational Research Literature. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2013;4(1):1-14. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6088