When designing a course, before deciding what content to cover in a course instructors need to articulate the course learning objectives. Every class at Grand Valley is required to have a set of student learning objectives that provide the class with a strong internal structure. 

These course objectives will fit into your larger Course Design, so it's important you think about how the three elements of course design fit together. To recall, those three elements are:

1. Student Leaning Objectives
2. Assessments
3. Instructional/Learning Activities 

Clear learning objectives support student learning. In fact, clearly articulating learning objectives can:

• Help students differentiate among types of knowledge
• Ensure students are practices the skills you want them to learn
• Confirm your course balances independent learning and guidance
• Helps students transfer what they learn to other contexts

For more information about the educational value of learning objectives, look to Carnegie Mellon University's guide from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation. 

Bloom's Taxonomy, Revisited

Benjamin Bloom's (1956) work on educational objectives made it easier for educators to determine action verbs for learning objectives, using what is called Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy is a continuum of student-centered categories for educational objectives that describe the knowledge and intellectual engagement we want from students. The taxonomy outlines three learning domains: Cognitive, Psychomotor, and Affective. The Cognitive domain focuses on knowledge and thinking skills, and tends to be referenced the most by educational developers. The Psychomotor domain encompasses physical skills and motor abilities, and the Affective domain considers emotional learning (including interests, attitudes, and values). The graphic to the right outlines the 6 levels of the Cognitive domain, from foundational to complex. However, if you want your students to develop psychomotor or affective skills, we recommend reviewing Bloom's full taxonomy. 

With a slight revision to the taxonomies and the addition of action verbs from Anderson et al. (2001), Bloom's Taxonomy continues to be highly respected and used globally by educators. The graphic on the right shows the Cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy with accompanying diverse verbs to describe what you expect students to be able to do upon completing the course. These verbs can also be used in your assignment descriptions. The important thing to keep in mind is the more complex cognitive gain, the more scaffolding is required.

(1) Be student-centered and describe what students will learn and be able to do by the end of the course.

Ideally, when writing learning objectives we are thinking beyond just what topics to cover, or what skills we want to teach. We ultimately want to articulate what we want students to be able to do at the end of the course. When writing the objectives try to complete the following sentence: "By the end of this class, students should be able to..."

• Poor example: "Learn about common historical myths"
• Better example: "Articulate common myths about Mexican immigration"

(2) Be actionable and use strong verbs.

Use strong action verbs to describe what concrete behaviors and actions you expect from students. Doing so makes it easier for your measure their learning and clearly communicate your expectations for students. This is the perfect time to refer to the actionable verbs listed above!

• Poor example: "Think about contributions of early analytic thought."
• Better example: "Assess the contributions of early analytic thought to a variety of trends in contemporary practice and thought"

(3) Break down the task and focus on a specific cognitive process.

Some tasks may seem simple to instructors because we are familiar with the skills required for success, when in fact the task actually requires many component skills. Consider the examples below:

• Poor example: "Write a research paper."
• Better example: "Conduct secondary research using a library database."

"Write a research paper" may be something you want students to do by the end of the class, but the task itself requires mastery of many skills, like "conducting secondary research using a library database," or "synthesizing arguments."

(4) Be measurable.

Keep in mind how you plan to assess student's learning. How will you know that they have achieved an objective? What kinds of assignments will help them show what they have learned? 

• Poor example: "Gain an appreciation for how psychologists think and act as scientists."
• Better example: "Identify major psychological theories."

Articles

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An Overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212–218.

Books

Anderson, L., Kratthwohl, D., Airasian, P., & Cruikshank, K. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (1st ed.). Longman.

Bloom, B. S., Engelhard, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Vol. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. David McKay Company.

Fink, D. L. (2013). ‪Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. Jossey-Bass.

Webpages

Design and Teach a Course: Articulate Your Learning Objectives, from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University 

Taxonomies of Learning - from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University 

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy Question Starters, from the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Illinois State University 

A Primer on Writing Effective Learning-Centered Course Goals, Robert Noyd, Center for Educational Excellence, US Air Force Academy

Bloom's Taxonomy Revised, from Leslie Owen Wilson, Ed.D.