IV. Participant will demonstrate knowledge of the components of the TRIM process

TRIM Process - Determine Objectives

Upon the determination of inservice outcomes (awareness, knowledge or skill implementation), the next task facing the inservice planners is to develop the content of the inservice offering.

One Defining training objectives is the first step in this development. Performance objectives are the foundation upon which the rest of the training will be built. Objectives should define expectations for the training session and also be the basis of evaluation.

An instructional objective contains the following elements:

the performance statement describes the final outcome of instruction in terms of behavior or knowledge gained. The statement will be partially based on the outcome level (awareness, knowledge, or skill).- At the awareness level, the statement might indicate familiarity with terminology and general information. The knowledge level would indicate more advanced knowledge of the topic.

We will focus on objectives for outcomes at the skill level.
At this level, the performance statement will typically specify an action verb indicating what the learner is doing or producing:
"Write verbatim or paraphrase..."
"List..."
AND the object of the action:
"...the main points"
"...the five components" .
the statement of conditions prescribes the conditions under which the learner will perform the behavior. The statement may include: materials used in the task, how the performance is accomplished (from memory, from notes), time elements and location of the performance:
"Using a map of..."
"Given six responses to a situation..."
"Within 30 minutes...".
the criterion measure specifies an acceptable standard of performance by which the final behavior may be judged.
"...nine out of ten components correctly."
"...without any spelling errors."

Training objectives play an important role in the inservice process. Writing training objectives requires the inservice planners be able to identify the specific behaviors they desire to see teachers demonstrate upon completion of the inservice training session. The training objectives should be formulated in some consistent format for continuity and clarity throughout the session.

The objective format will contain the following elements, Who, What, How, How well.

Who - the Trainee;
What (The performance statement) - will demonstrate the ability to define training outcomes;
How (The statement of conditions) - given a thirty minute lecture and written exercise;
How well (The criterion measure) - trainee will correctly match 80% of the outcome statements.

Click icon to build an objective.

Developing good objectives during the planning stages will help in selecting appropriate workshop activities, allocating the time and other resources properly, and developing meaningful evaluations. In addition, presenting the trainees with a list of the workshop objectives will give them a good preview of what they will be learning and what preparation will be necessary for the training (Jesien, 1984). Some examples of training objectives are:

Teachers will describe purposes for parent involvement in classroom activities.
Teachers will identify student learning styles.
Participants will administer the Student Assessment Scale.

To view a Planning form with specific training objectives (who and what) necessary to meet the anticipated outcome, click icon at right for pdf format or click following link for Word format. It should be noted that the objectives are stated from the point of view of the participating teacher, trainee, etc. This plan, when completed, will provide a clear statement of what the learner will do.

The third column is where training activities are specified, which is where the 'How' is defined. This will be covered in step 4: Developing Training Activities. The final column indicates the criteria established for successful completion of the training activities and answers the 'How well' question. This is covered in step 5: Evaluation.