Goal Setting Process

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Introduction

Goal Setting Process

Exercise

Designing Goal Setting Activity

Practice

Goal Setting Process

What is goal setting?

Goal setting is simply an activity to establish specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-targeted objectives.

Why is goal setting important in learning?

First of all, goals and setting goals for learning has been noted as one of the central construct for learner motivation Setting goals can increase learner's cognitive and affective reactions to performance outcomes because goals specify the requirements for success. By setting goals, learners can also promote their monitoring and evaluating process for their performance or learning process in general. In sum, setting goals for learning has potential to increase learner motivation as well as their overall learning performance.

What are the types of goals?

In this lesson, we will focus on tasks goals and process goals.

Goal Type	Description	Example
Task Goal	Goals you want your learners to complete as a result of your instruction	Write an essay about the economic advantages of the World War II to the U.S.
Process Goal	Goals that reflect the processes that the learners need to accomplish to achieve the task outcome	Conduct research on economic advantages of WWII both offline and online, Store collected data in a word file, analyze the data based on the categories, Create an outline for the essay on MS Word

You can see that process goals are the steps that you need to accomplish the task goals and they are mostly related to the strategies or resources to implement. Now you get an idea of what tasks and process goals are.

Tips for goal setting

There are some general tips for effective goal setting practice. It is called SMART.

Goals need to be:

S: Specific, Goals need to be clear and specific about what is expected, why it is important, who needs to be involved and so on
M: Measurable, Goals need to include criteria to measure its progress toward success
A: Attainable, Goals need to be realistic and attainable
R: Relevant, Goals need to be relevant. Is it necessary for you? At this moment? Are you the right person?
T: Time-bound, Goals need to be time-bound so that you can work on accomplishing them within the time frame. This helps your commitment

Step	Action	Details
1. Specific	Choose an action verb.	SMART goals always start with an action verb. Action verbs reflect observable actions. For example: Write Use Create State
2. Measurable	Decide criteria for measuring progress	If you cannot measure the progress toward the goal, you cannot manage it. Examples of measurable criteria are: Read five chapters of 100 page book Write three essays of 1000 words
3. Attainable	Determine whether the goal is realistic	If the goal is not realistic and attainable, it will be a short-cut to another failure. When you set up the SMART goal, consider the following criteria: Your attitude Ability or skills Resources
4. Relevant	Determine whether your goal is aligned with initial objective and needs	SMART goals should always be aligned with the initial objective and needs. When you set up the SMART goal, ask yourself: Does accomplishing this goal beneficial for me? Does this goal fulfill my needs?
5. Time-bound	Choose a time frame you want to accomplish the goal by	SMART goals should always have a time frame. When you set up the SMART goal, include specific time frames. For example: By May 4th By end of the Spring 2012 semester By 8 am on May 6th

Now let's look at the examples of goals again from the section above.

The task goal: Write an essay about the economic advantages of the World War II

The process goal: Conduct research on economic advantages of WWII both offline and online / Create an outline for the essay on MS Word and so on

Mini practice activity

Based on the tips for effective goal setting, above goals are not enough to meet those five criteria.
Now for next one or two minutes, I want you to revise each goal to address the SMART criteria. Make sure you sign after your answer.

(In order to write your own answer, please click the "edit" link and go into the editing mode. When you are in the editing mode, you can type your answers in where now "Type your answer here" is. At the end of your answer, do not forget to add four tildes (~), which will create your signature for you. Once you type in your answer, do not forget to click "Save page" button underneath the editing box)

• [Revise] Write an essay about the economic advantages of the World War II
  

- Write an essay with minimum 500 words less than 5 pages about the economic advantages of the World War II in the U.S. by May 4th. Yeolhuh (talk) 01:00, 20 April 2012 (UTC)
Type your answer here
Type your answer here

• [Revise] Conduct research on economic advantages of WWII both offline and online
  

Type your answer here
Type your answer here
Type your answer here

• [Revise] Create an outline for the essay on MS Word
  

Type your answer here
Type your answer here
Type your answer here

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References

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