- The goals of any task, as explained by the teacher, guide the student towards what is important.
- Without such guidance, it is easy for students to get confused about what the point of a particular exercise was.
- Novices often have difficulty seeing the forest for the trees. We can help our students see the central ideas by making our learning goals and expectations for them explicit. Documenting our learning goals can also be helpful for students when they are studying.
- Example: "By the end of this lecture you should be able to..."
- See this and related tips as a Tip Sheet: http://csteachingtips.org/tips-for-lecturing