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:
a) Cognitive
outcomes (general and specific knowledge)
b) Skills
outcomes (basic, higher order, and occupational)
c) Attitudes/values
outcomes (personal goals, attitudes, motivational factors)
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.
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.
AFFECTIVE LEAR
NING: 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.EXAMPLES OF THE
THREE DOMAINS OF LEARNING COGNITION, BEHAVIORS, AND AFFECT
COGNITIVE LEARNING:
KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION
Some examples of direct measures of cognitive
learning would be: pre‑ and post‑testing in a general
education program using a measure of critical thinking such as the
Watson‑Glasser Critical Thinking Test; in a department of music,
faculty‑juried 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 paper‑and‑pencil test of the cognitive
content essential to the discipline could be pre‑ and
post‑administered 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
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
faculty‑juried 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
Most exemplary of this domain are
self‑report 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.
