Learning Objectives Revisited

Learning Objectives Revisited

As we covered in Module 2, a central design decision is establishing the intended objectives of the learning experience. While written from the perspective of the learner, objectives serve important functions for you as the designer, including helping you to select and organize instructional activities and resources, and providing guideposts for evaluating learning outcomes. When deciding upon your learning objectives, it is necessary to consider the desired complexity and learner mastery for a given topic within the subject area. Let's now revisit learning objectives by focusing on classifying learning outcomes in two ways: (1) levels of learning and (2) levels of proficiency.

Levels of Learning

One of the most widely known levels of learning classification frameworks is Bloom's taxonomy Links to an external site.. Devised in 1956, Bloom's taxonomy was developed for test makers to classify what was intended for students to learn as a result of instruction. Bloom's taxonomy provides a basic model for categorizing the levels of learning for topics in the curriculum, and serves as a guide for designers and instructors of what you are asking your learners to do. A recent revision of the taxonomy by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) Links to an external site. is depicted in the figure below: 

Taxonomy Final.jpg

The following offers a description of each level, and associated action verbs for each level that help to define your objectives:

  • Remember

    • At this level, your learners should know specific facts, recall methods and procedures, know basic concepts, and know principles. This level represents the lowest level of learning outcomes.
    • Action verbs for this level: Define, list, state, identify, label, and name.

  • Understand

    • At this level, your learner should be able to grasp the meaning of your concepts, explain or summarize, or predict possible effects or outcomes. This level still requires process knowledge on a low level such that the knowledge can be reproduced or communicated without verbatim repetition.
    • Action verbs for this level: Explain, predict, interpret, infer, summarize, convert, translate, give an example, or account for.

  • Apply

    • At this level, your learners should be able to apply rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, and theories. This level requires a higher level of understanding.
    • Action verbs for this level: How could x be used to y? How would you show, make use of, modify, demonstrate, solve, or apply x to conditions y?

  • Analyze

    • At this level, your learners should be able to recognize unstated assumptions, recognizes logical fallacies in reasoning, distinguish between facts and inferences, evaluate the given data, and analyze the structure of a work (art, music, or writing).
    • Action verbs for this level: Differentiate, compare / contrast, distinguish x from y, how does x affect or relate to y.

  • Evaluate

    • At this level, your learners should be able to judge the value of information (novel, poem, research report, etc.) for a given purpose. You need to define a criterion for your learners to judge.
    • Action verbs for this level: Justify, appraise, evaluate, judge x according to given criteria.

  • Create

    • At this level, your learners need to produce a well-organized paper or a well-organized speech, write a creative short story (or poem or music), or solve a complex problem. This is the highest level of learning outcomes. 
    • Action verbs for this level: Design, construct, develop, formulate, imagine, create, change, write a short story and label

Levels of Proficiency

Another way to classify learner achievement is by measuring the level of proficiency of your learners. Gery (1991) offers a proficiency scale based six-levels of skills and knowledge outcomes:

  1. Familiarization: The learners are able to recall or recognize information.
  2. Comprehension: The learners are able to explain or describe information or recognize examples.
  3. Conscious Effort: The learners are able to try to apply information consciously by receiving help.
  4. Conscious Action: The learners are able to apply information consciously with less help.
  5. Proficiency: The learners are able to apply information without receiving any help.
  6. Unconscious Competence: The learners are able to apply information without even thinking about it.

Levels of Learning and Proficiency

level proficiency.jpg

As depicted in the chart above, Dirksen (2011) combines the levels of learning and proficiency on an axis as a means of reflecting the needed time, practice, and skill development to reach the targeted levels of mastery and complexity. As suggested by Dirksen's chart, the higher you go on either axis (i.e. to Create and Unconscious Competence), the more time, practice, and skill development is needed within the learning experience. These topics are the focus of the next part of this module.