The Medical Journal of Basrah University

Abstract

In medical education, the curriculum passes through at least four stages between vision and learning of students namely: “intended” to “planned” to “implemented” to the “learned” curriculum. The most important safeguard for keeping these formats compatible is the quality of the aims and objectives. This editorial describes the hierarchy of the educational objectives, their importance, types, sources, and qualities and best ways to formulate effective learning objectives that link learning and outcomes to the vision and consequent aims. Also, the article highlights the common misjudgements and misuses of the learning objectives which may produce different and certainly poorer outcomes than those planned for.