The ID Toolbox
← All tools

Learning Objective Checker

Paste your objectives and see which of them could actually be assessed. It finds the verbs that name a state of mind rather than a behavior, explains why each one cannot be tested, and offers observable verbs that usually mean the same thing. It also notes what is missing: the condition, the standard, and objectives that are really two.

Free · No account · Your files never upload

Paste your objectives, one per line
Cannot be assessed2the verb names a state of mind
Objectives4
Placed on Bloom2 of 4the rest use verbs not on the list

By the end of this course, learners will understand the heat illness prevention policy

verb: understandaudience
  • Problem"understand" describes a state of mind rather than something a learner does. Nothing a learner does looks like understanding. It is the single most common verb in objectives and the least useful.
  • NoteNo condition is stated. Often right to leave out, but worth a moment: does it matter whether they have the job aid in front of them?
  • NoteNo standard is stated, so there is nothing to assess against. If the answer is simply 'correctly', it is usually better to say so.
Try insteadexplain, describe, apply, predict, give an example ofa start By the end of this course, learners will explain the heat illness prevention policy

Learners will be aware of the reporting requirements

verb: be awareaudience
  • Problem"be aware" describes a state of mind rather than something a learner does. Awareness is invisible. Almost every awareness objective is really a remember or apply objective.
  • NoteNo condition is stated. Often right to leave out, but worth a moment: does it matter whether they have the job aid in front of them?
  • NoteNo standard is stated, so there is nothing to assess against. If the answer is simply 'correctly', it is usually better to say so.
Try insteadidentify, state, recognize, reporta start Learners will identify of the reporting requirements

Given a completed incident form, the learner will identify all three reportable conditions correctly

verb: identifyRememberaudience · condition · standard

Describe the shade rule and apply the acclimatization schedule

verb: describeUnderstandbehavior only
  • Worth a lookThis looks like two objectives joined by 'and'. They will be taught and assessed separately, so they are easier to work with written separately.
  • NoteNo condition is stated. Often right to leave out, but worth a moment: does it matter whether they have the job aid in front of them?
  • NoteNo standard is stated, so there is nothing to assess against. If the answer is simply 'correctly', it is usually better to say so.
Observable verbs, by level

A missing condition or standard is reported as a note rather than a fault, because leaving them out is often right. A verb nobody can observe is a different matter: it cannot be taught to, assessed, or defended in a review, and no amount of surrounding detail fixes it.

What this does

Reads each objective, finds the verb it turns on, and says whether anybody could watch a learner do it. Where the verb names a state of mind, it explains why and offers observable verbs that usually carry the same intent.

The only question that really matters

Not which level of Bloom the verb sits at. Whether it is observable. “Understand the policy” and “state the three conditions the policy requires” describe the same intent, and only one of them can be taught to, assessed, or defended in a review. Understand is the most common verb in learning objectives and the least useful one, and everything else this reports is secondary to that.

Why a missing standard is only a note

The ABCD frame asks for an audience, a behavior, a condition and a degree. Only the behavior is genuinely required. Leaving out the condition is frequently right, and objectives that specify a standard for its own sake read like paperwork. They are reported as absent rather than as faults, because a checker that flags four things on every line gets ignored.

What it will not do

It cannot tell you whether the objective is worth having. An objective can be perfectly measurable and still describe something nobody needs to do, which is a question for the Does This Need To Be A Course? check rather than this one. The rewrites it offers are a starting point: choosing between explain and apply is a decision about what the learner actually needs to do, and no tool can make it.

Related tools