A Conceptual Framework For Assessing Student Learning Based on Three
Domains of Learning:
Cognition, Behaviors, and Affect
The North Central Accreditation Commission on Institutions of Higher Education suggests
that ALL assessment of student learning be based on the conceptual framework
established in the communication field as a model for communication competence:
"Evaluators recommend that every academic department or other academic unit
determine the extent to which it actually contributes to the incremental learning of its
students within three domains: cognitive (knowledge acquisition), behavioral (skills
acquisitions), and affective (attitudinal development)." (Cecelia Lopez, 1995)
Accordingly, communication departments should:
"build upon or redesign existing activities and identify comprehensive measures or
quality indicators of student achievement in these areas:
Cognitive Learning: Knowledge Acquisition
The cognitive domain of learning is concerned with knowledge and understanding. At the
lowest level, this domain focuses on specific facts. At the middle level, the cognitive
domain focuses on principles and generalizations. At the highest level of cognitive
learning, the focus is on synthesis and evaluation based on learning that has already
taken place at the lower levels. This domain of learning encompasses the content of a
field.
EXAMPLE
Some examples of direct measures of cognitive learning would be: pre and
posttesting in a general education program using a measure of critical thinking such as
the WatsonGlasser Critical Thinking Test; in a department of music, facultyjuried
exams on studio instruction; comprehensive written exams in bachelors, masters, and
doctoral programs, and the writing of and defense of the thesis or dissertation. In any
major, a paperandpencil test of the cognitive content essential to the discipline
could be pre and postadministered at the beginning and end of the student's tenure in
the program, as an entrance test of freshmen and an exit test of graduating seniors.
Behavioral Learning: Skills Acquisition
The behavioral domain of learning is concerned with psychomotor skills. Skills are
viewed as the ability of an individual to perform certain behaviors. Skills can be learned
and possessed by the learner, then they can be demonstrated through performance as
observable behaviors. This domain encompasses the ability to perform as a function of
cognitive learning.
Inferences about cognition and affect can be made through observing behaviors.
EXAMPLE
Examples typically associated with this domain include oral communication skills such
as interpersonal, group interaction, and presentational skills; leadership; managerial
skills; written communication abilities demonstrated in essay writing, etc.; or problem
solving skills. Examples of measures of incremental behavioral learning include
facultyjuried recitals in music or dance and pre and post standardized measures of
general skill acquisition for specific content areas such as mathematical reasoning (e.g.
Academic Profile).
Affective Learning: Attitudinal Development
The affective domain of learning is concerned with the attitudes and feelings of the
learner in regard to knowledge and behaviors acquired in the other two domains. In most
learning environments, affective learning is incidental to both cognitive and behavioral
learning. This domain encompasses attitudes toward what has been learned cognitively and
motivation to perform learned behaviors.
EXAMPLE
Most exemplary of this domain are selfreport instruments and surveys. These types of
tools are the most common type of measures used to evaluate the attitudinal development of
students. They do not evidence cognitive learning, but the information yielded is useful
in determining change and growth in what students perceive or others perceive students
have learned. Examples of these measures include: student satisfaction and attitude
surveys, alumni surveys, and employer surveys. The Student Goals Exploration Survey and
the Cooperative Institutional Research Program Question, which measures attitudes and
opinions of students entering graduate programs are typical examples.
