Performance Objective Generator (Google Sheets)
Instructional design begins with a performance objective, a concrete idea of what learners should know, do, or feel at the end of a planned instructional experience. The performance objective is made up of four components: audience, behavior, condition(s), and criterion or degree. The audience component describes who the learners are. The behavior component describes what learners will be doing when demonstrating ideal performance. The criterion component measures how well the learners must perform in order to be acceptable. The condition component describes the important conditions, if any, under which the performance is to occur and may include necessary tools, equipment, or special circumstances.
The ABCD’s of performance objectives, a mnemonic aid that instructional designers often use, specifies four main things:
- Audience – Who are the learners? Who is this aimed at?
- Behavior – What observable behavior do you expect them to be able to do? 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.
- Condition – Under what circumstances will the learning occur? What will the student be given or already be expected to know to accomplish the learning?
- Degree – Must a specific set of criteria be met? Do you want total mastery (100%), do you want them to respond correctly 80% of the time, etc.
Instructional designers sometimes find it difficult to articulate a performance objective. Here is a tool that can help Performance-Objective-Generator