Hello David.
 I have been having a similar dilemma with learning objectives for
informal learning activities. My understanding has always been that in a
formal lesson, the learning objective needs to be measurable, and ties
into the assessment and state/national standards for that lesson. So, an
objective like, "Visitor will appreciate the importance of...." is not
really an objective you can measure -- how do you measure appreciation?
I would re-write this "Visitor can list reasons why X is important to
him/her (or his/her culture)." or something like that.
In an informal setting, I begin to wonder if this kind of formal
learning objective even makes sense. But I think it does. When I was at
the Seattle Art Museum a few years ago, they began training their
volunteer docents to use assessments (which means there has to be formal
objectives that drives them) with their "informal learning" school tours
of the galleries to great success.

I am interested in this research on free-choice learning outcomes. If
you could send me any references, I would appreciate it.

Susan Edwards
Writer/Editor, Web
J. Paul Getty Trust
310.440.7510
[log in to unmask]

Date:    Wed, 5 Mar 2003 15:19:45 -0600
From:    "David T. Schaller"
Subject: Informal learning objectives

I'd like to hear how museum professionals are currently setting
learning
objectives for informal learning experiences.  I've seen (and written)
a
motley variety of objectives--some owe a lot to classroom lesson plans
and
are awfully specific and ambitious for informal settings ("Visitor
will
demonstrate knowledge/competence/expertise in X") and others more of
the
"lite" variety ("Visitor will appreciate the importance of subject X
in
situation Y").

In light of recent research on free-choice learning outcomes, I'm
trying to
figure out how to craft learning goals that have some semblance to
what
people are actually likely to learn from an informal experience. Any
thoughts on this matter, or even better, examples, would be very
welcome!

Cheers,
Dave
________________________________________________________________
David T. Schaller                               [log in to unmask]
Principal                                  http://www.eduweb.com
Educational Web Adventures                          651-641-7566

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