ABCD Objectives

Objectives

ABCD Objectives

Well-written objectives follow the ABCD model:

  • Audience answers the question "Who?" In a course setting, it is generally implied that the audience is the student.
  • Behavior (Action) is the verb in your objective. What will students actually do? The behavior in your objective should lead directly to some form of assessment.
  • Condition (under which the student will perform the behavior.)
  • Degree (Criterion that you will evaluate students' performance.)

Examples: 
Here are some good and bad examples of objectives with the audience, behavior, condition, and degree highlighted:

  Vague Objectives     Well-Defined Objectives
  • Students will understand the times table.
  • By the end of this week, students will recite the times tables from 1 through 12 from memory with at least 90% accuracy.
  • Learn the differences between small businesses and high-growth ventures.
  • By midnight Sunday of week 3 (Central Time), students will compare and identify at least three differences between small businesses and high-growth ventures with examples in the discussion forum. 

Practice

Now that you know about ABCD objectives, try identifying the behavior (action), condition, and degree (criterion) in the activity below.