The objectives describe specifically what needs to happen in order to accomplish the program goal. This includes who the participants in the program are and what they will do. It also includes products of the program, such as documents, databases, stand-alone programs, and so on. It is typical for a program to have more than one objective.

Think about these questions in relation to your program:

• Who are the participants and what will they do during the program?
  
  
• What will be the products of the program?

You might answer these questions like this:

We will train graduate students to be research mentors. We want them to learn how to communicate effectively with undergraduate students and to think about what it means to each of them individually to be a mentor.

You can then summarize the answer into program objectives.

EXAMPLE

Below is an example of program objectives. Both objectives state the participants and what they will do during the program. Their accomplishments are the products of the program.

1. To train graduate students as research mentors to communicate effectively with their undergraduate students

 

2. To guide these mentors to develop a personal mentoring philosophy

WRITE YOUR OWN OBJECTIVES

In your Evaluation Planning Tool write your program objectives in column 2.

Do you need more information? Check out the RESOURCES menu at the right.