Learning Objectives: "Perfect is the Enemy of Good!"

To deal with the lack of basic health care in the Middle East competency based training is the need of the hour (MCI, 1997). Use of learning objectives (LOs) in alignment with assessment ensures competency in the must know areas. In this paper the authors discuss the use of LOs in the enhancement of teaching-learning process. It is organized into seven sections that deal with the advantages, potential disadvantages, and strategies to overcome the problems with LOs as a tool. In particular, the philosophical and technical objections to the use of LOs are dealt with in detail by appropriate examples. They discuss the link between LOs and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, Miller’s pyramid, and the need to make LOs developmental and congruent with assessment. The methodology for determining appropriate LOs is discussed in detail. Lastly the ABCD, Mager’s and Kern’s methods of writing objectives and limitations of each are discussed. The authors conclude that LOs are an important tool for competency based training and the current inability to come up with “perfect” LOs should not be a barrier to at least reach “good.” Like all other educational tools, LOs have to be improved incrementally based on student feedback recognizing that students are the best teachers of their “teachers.”