What’s the difference between an objective and outcome? I’ve spent the last few weeks looking at different academic documents that use the terms interchangeably. I’ve also noticed that teachers and other academics also use them differently. Researchers tend to use outcomes more often to describe final results of some action, while teachers use objectives to describe to goal of a class or lesson. Why does this matter?

In the end, it really doesn’t matter which word you use as long as it’s consistent. Here’s my take on the matter. Our terms stem from a behaviorist perspective. We want to be able to say that a certain stimulus empirically yields a response or result. Each lesson is like an experiment. We’ve grown from limiting things to observable reactions caused by stimuli and focused more on the process of changing behavior. Hence, all the other learning theories that have emerged over the years. Many people have ideas on how the process of learning works, but we still measure it based on some observable behavior (cognitive skill, attitude, or physical ability).

Why is there so much confusion about the terms and terminology? I think it’s because of the word “goal”. When you play a game, you have a goal and specific actions you must accomplish to fulfill the goal. Generally, the goal is not specifically stated but understood. For example, I’m playing L.A. Noire and the goal is to find the source of the morphine as a vice detective. Before I can do to that, I must investigate numerous scenes and points of interest. To me the gaming industry has always been consistent. The goal is the outcome and the steps are the objectives. Some games even state the objectives, which change according to your progress. They help keep you on track toward the goal.

How does that translate to a lesson? I don’t think it’s any different. I recently read that objectives can be viewed in three ways.

1. Performance Objective
2. Terminal Objective
3. Lesson Objective

The performance objective is the original statement that contains the components of the terminal and lesson objectives. The original statement is broken into two components to communicate information to two separate audiences. The terminal objective states to the student what they can expect in the end, while the lesson objective states to the teacher/instructional design what the students will need to do in order to reach the end result. Student’s see the lesson objectives as actual activity instructions and terminal objectives as lesson objectives in some courses today. The terminal objective centered around the goal, while the lesson objective is focused on the activity. They both contain the word objective.

I’ve also found the term “learning outcome” used to state end result of a class as well. I think we should keep it simple and take out the word “learning” and leave it as “outcome”. As a result, you will have outcomes (terminal objectives) and objectives (lesson objectives) for each experience.

As we move toward personalized learning, we need be sure our outcomes and objectives are clearly defined. I personally like the ABCD Model.