Examining the progress made toward reaching the targeted learning outcomes is necessary to determine the difference between learning goals and learning achievement. The following steps will assist you in locating the gap and filling it:  

1. Set learning objectives: Decide exactly what you hope to accomplish with your studies. Make sure that your objectives are SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
2. Analyze your present level of knowledge or abilities in connection to your learning objectives to assess your current learning achievement. This can be accomplished by self-evaluation, introspection, or input from peers, teachers, and mentors.
3. Compare your present knowledge or skills to the targeted learning goals to identify your areas for growth. Determine the areas or gaps where you fall short of your objectives. These deficiencies may be connected to particular talents, skills, or knowledge.
4. Examine the causes of the discrepancy: Consider the causes of your failure to meet your learning objectives. Take into account elements like insufficient study time, inappropriate learning techniques, a lack of resources, or issues with comprehension.
5. Create a plan of action: Make a plan to close the gap between your learning objectives and accomplishments based on your analysis. Your goals should be broken down into smaller, more doable activities or milestones. Choose the resources, methods, and tactics you should use to improve your learning.
6. Reach out to mentors, teachers, or subject matter experts who can offer advice and help in areas where you are having difficulty. To help you close the gap, they can provide advice, suggest resources, or present more educational possibilities.
7. Track your progress: Be sure to keep tabs on how well you’re doing with respect to your learning objectives. Keep track of the accomplishments, the areas that still require work, and any difficulties or setbacks that occurred.
8. Adapt and adjust as necessary: Constantly evaluate your learning strategy and make the necessary changes. If you discover that some tactics are ineffective, look into substitutes or enlist help from others to get through the difficulties.
9. Reflect and acknowledge accomplishments: Give yourself some time to consider your successes and the advancements you have made. Celebrating your accomplishments since doing so will inspire you to keep studying and fill up the gaps that remain.

Keep in mind that learning is a continual process and that gaps between your goals an accomplishments are common. You can achieve your learning goals by recognizing these gaps and taking the necessary steps to close them. To descript the actual example of the gaps, the author conducted the interview with students who took the course and their reflection on it. The following is the script of the interview.  

Q: What are the overall comments on the course?

She thinks the strength of this course is its flexibility and fluidity. Interestingly enough, when the author asked any recommendation for improving this course, the students mentioned that the course could have been more strict. It could have been more concise with the date. For example, when the course starts, it is important to get the list of the date and follow these dates exactly. She said “watching a movie every week and putting an analysis message in the discussion board is not that bad. I don’t think the difficulty is high to be honest. I think the problem is shifting the date and requirement of the assignment.”

Q: Any recommendations for this course?  

She said “Our assignment is to read and watch videos. The professor does encourages students to respond to every posts. Her quizzes is pretty effective. The quizzes forced me to read and understand the materials. The quiz was very personalized question. Thus, students cannot find answers easily from other resources. She put multiple proms with specific scenarios.”

It is crucial to ask something that students cannot easily search up. Students know how to cheat the system or easy way out, they will definitely take advantage of it.  

Q: What change would you make before and after this course?   

She said “something written I can read be able to learn from that piece of article. It goes a bit more in depth in my opinion. The course did not focus on as much as reading articles compared to videos.”

There is a certain gap between this student’s expectation and the actual course. 

For some students who want to take an easy course, this might be a better option. We all have different expectations.

In a way, it is hard to create a video for students who are not good at creating videos without any guidance. If the professor were to have a video requirement in the future, it is important for students to have a small and quick tutorial on how to create a video.  

“This semester did not include OER. It would have been better to write an essay only. Creating an OER publication is something that students are not familiar with. I don’t think it is something that student can put it on their resume. Teaching how to write a critical essay could have been better. Helping students write a critical analysis essay or analyzing different movies critically could be useful.”

Q: What do you think about her instruction style?  

“I think it is a bit too flexible. It is a good thing. In the meantime, I think you need to maintain a certain degree of rigidity. For example, every discussion board is on time, all the discussion board dates are corresponding to the date on the syllabus. Clarity is a number one thing that she could improve. Clarity and structure. I think this kind of course that has very flexible and broad topics, you can do a lot with them. Then, you should have more structure with it.”

Q: What part of the course help you learning the most?  

“Essay writing at some points…maybe the video. I am not sure to be honest. In general, I like to have a personal essay analysis. I think that is an integral part of the cultural class. Having students to be able to demonstrate those skills.”

What are the specific things you think the course can be improved in terms of curriculum, instruction, and assessment?  

“Curriculum: make sure to put too many movies during the class time because movie takes up too much time. Something students can watch at home. I feel like class time can be used for more learning and more discussion based rather than just watching a movie. Even lectures and guess speakers, anything more interactive can be useful. That is just my personal preference.  

Instruction: I think it is crucial to make sure that the consistent assignment date and how to complete it 

We do a discussion board, a quiz, and a presentation for each week assessment by each group. I think it is a bit too much sometimes.”