Learning objectives and their effects on learning and assessment preparation: insights from an undergraduate psychology course

Abstract

Recent recommendations have been made to ensure that assessments are aligned with prescribed learning objectives. However, little is known about their usefulness to student and academic groups. Focus groups were conducted with students and academics who studied or taught on a UK undergraduate psychology degree; participants were asked about their perspectives on the purposes of assessments, whether they test the skills they think students should be gaining, and how they use learning objectives in relation to this. Participants were also asked to complete a task matching assessment types to common learning objectives. Results suggested that despite best intentions, both groups still perceive traditional examinations as a test of memory, and students use surface and strategic learning approaches in response. Furthermore, whilst academics use learning objectives to structure teaching, students incorporate learning objectives into strategic and surface level assessment preparations. Results from the matching task suggested that a high proportion of learning objective verbs could cover both surface and deep learning approaches. Consequently, it is argued that students may use learning objectives to develop strategic approaches to learning and assessment preparation, leading to a mismatch between the academic’s intended learning approach and the student’s used learning approach.

Keywords:

• Assessment
• learning objectives
• memory
• surface learning
• strategic learning

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by an institutional Education and Student Experience Small Grant Scheme. The authors would also like to thank Luke Holden for transcribing the focus group data.