‘Learning’ in humans can be defined as “a relatively permanent cognitive, behavioural or psychomotor change which is not merely a result of the natural human growth process”. Students’ learning outcomes refer to the change (cognitive, behavioural or psychomotor) that you would like to bring in your students through an appropriate teaching and learning process. In other words, students’ learning outcomes define ‘what you would like your students to become after the learning process?’ or ‘what you would like your students to be able to do or accomplish as a result of the learning process?’.
The importance of defining students’ learning outcomes, before beginning any sort of teaching, cannot be overemphasized. Learning outcomes are the foundation upon which the whole teaching and learning structure should be built. Teaching, without prior definition of students’ learning outcomes, is like starting a journey without knowing the destination. Often, our curricula comprise different topics which the teachers have to ‘cover’ during the course of a term or semester, where the focus primarily lies upon the teacher and the teaching topics rather than the learner and the learning outcomes. Defining students’ learning outcomes shift the focus from the teacher to the learner, from the teaching process to the product of teaching, and from the subject matter to the terminal student behaviour. Furthermore, the selection of the appropriate instructional material, instructional strategy as well as the students’ assessment strategy and examination questions, all, depend upon the envisaged students’ learning outcomes.
Educationists have defined three main domains of students’ learning outcomes, viz. cognitive, behavioural and psychomotor. Cognitive domain is concerned primarily with learning of information and different ways and processes of dealing with, manipulating and using that information. Behavioural (also called Affective) domain is concerned with learning of values, beliefs and attitudes. Psychomotor domain is all about learning of skilful physical movements, tasks or activities.
The primary concern in higher education is the cognitive domain, although the behavioural domain is not any less important. Bloom (1956) has defined six different levels of learning outcomes within the cognitive domain. ‘Basic knowledge’ is the lowest level of learning outcomes where student is merely able to remember and re-call facts or identity and repeat the information provided, without necessarily understanding or comprehending the information. This is what we call ‘rote learning’. The verbs associated with this level of learning include: define, spell, list down, name, state, etc. ‘Comprehension’ is the next level where the student, because of having understood a learning material, is able to restate the material in his/her own words, summarize, explain, discuss, re-order or extrapolate ideas. The verbs associated with this level include: explain (in your own word), summarize, interpret, paraphrase, re-state, discuss, review, extrapolate, abstract, etc. The next is the ‘Application’ level where the student is able to apply his/her knowledge to solve a problem, or execute a proper procedure in a unique situation (i.e. not identical to that encountered in the classroom instructions). The verbs associated with this level include: apply, operate, calculate, solve, repair, prepare, carry out, demonstrate, sketch, draw, employ, etc. The next learning outcome level is ‘Analysis’ where the student is able to examine a concept/ problem/ situation (similar but not identical to that discussed in the class), break it down into its parts and discuss the relationships among the parts. The verbs associated with this level include: analyze, classify, distinguish, compare, breakdown, discriminate, contrast, etc. The ‘Analysis’ level outcomes hone the students’ analytical skills which help him/her sort out causes of real-world problems. The next level is ‘Synthesis’ where the student is able to put information/ ideas/ things/ items etc. together in a unique or novel way. This level of outcomes sharpens the students’ creative abilities. The verbs associated with this level include: compose, build, construct, propose, plan, organize, design, produce, create, formulate, theorize, systematize, manage, etc. The next level is ‘Evaluation’ where the student is able to make quantitative or qualitative judgments, critique or justify a solution to a problem or evaluate more than one solutions to a problem and justify the preference of one over the other. This level of outcomes helps students to make better, thoughtful and more educated choices in real life. The verbs associated with this level include: evaluate, assess, appraise, test, judge, select, choose, critique, justify, etc.
While ‘training’ makes humans able to do well mostly in technical situations, ‘education’ enables them to successfully encounter non-technical and social-life situations as well. This is where the ‘behavioral’ or ‘affective’ domain of students’ learning outcomes comes in. This domain has been further divided into five levels (Krathwohl, Bloom & Masia, 1964). The first level is called receiving (i.e. ‘awareness & tolerance’) whereby the student becomes aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, beliefs, values or phenomena and becomes willing to tolerate them. The second level is called responding (i.e. commitment & compliance) whereby the student becomes committed to some extent to the ideas, beliefs, values or phenomena by actively responding to them. The third level is known as valuing whereby the student becomes willing to be perceived as valuing certain ideas, beliefs, values or phenomena. The fourth level is known as organization (i.e. integration and internalization) whereby the student becomes able to relate the value of new ideas, beliefs and values to those already held by him/her and bring these into a harmonious and internally consistent philosophy. The fifth level is known as characterization by value-set as a result of which the student begins to act consistently in accordance with the values he or she has internalized.
The third domain of learning outcomes is the ‘psychomotor’ domain which is further divided into six levels. The lowest level is that of reflex movements including involuntary flexion, extension, stretching, postural adjustments, etc. The next level is that of learning basic physical abilities including walking, running, pushing, twisting, gripping, grasping, and manipulation. The third level is about basic perceptual abilities and involves learning to use senses such as hearing, seeing or touching to guide skill efforts. The fourth level is about developing advanced physical abilities involving endurance, strength, vigor or agility. The fifth level is about developing complex or skillful physical activities such as drawing, painting, dancing, etc. The sixth level is about learning non-discursive communication whereby the student is able to communicate emotions and feelings through skillful bodily postures, facial expressions or choreography.
For the natural sciences, engineering and technology subjects, it is mainly the cognitive learning outcomes which are more important. In case of humanities and social science subjects, it is primarily the behavioral learning outcomes which are of more importance and in case of arts, crafts and sports, it’s the psychomotor learning outcomes which are the primary consideration. Cognitive learning outcomes aim mainly at producing better scientists, engineers and technologists; psychomotor learning outcomes aim at making better artists, sportsmen and craftsmen while behavioral learning outcomes aim at making humans better human beings and more civilized members of a society.
Defining appropriate students’ learning outcomes is a sine qua non for better education. Without well-defined learning outcomes, all teaching and learning efforts will be like the journey of a vagrant with no destination in mind.
