What Are Learning Objectives and Outcomes?

What exactly are learning objectives and outcomes? You may have already noticed them at the beginning of each new section in this course. Learning objectives and learning outcomes are goals that specify what someone will be capable of—or what someone will learn—as a result of a learning experience. Learning objectives and outcomes represent the goals for what you’re supposed to get out of this course and indicate what is going to be on the test. The learning objectives and outcomes will be about what you should know or do.

These learning skills can be divided into three main categories or domains: the cognitive domain (what you should know), the affective domain (what you should care about), and the psychomotor domain (what you should be able to do).

The Cognitive Domain of Learning

The cognitive domain of learning is divided into six main learning-skill levels, or learning-skill stages, that are arranged hierarchically—moving from the simplest of functions like remembering and understanding, to more complex learning skills, like applying and analyzing, to the most complex skills—evaluating and creating. The lower levels are more straightforward and fundamental, and the higher levels are more sophisticated.^[1] See Figure 1, below.

Figure 1. The new version of Bloom’s Taxonomy

The following table describes the six main skill sets within the cognitive domain.

You can explore these concepts further in the two videos, below. The first is from the Center for Learning Success at the Louisiana State University. It discusses Bloom’s taxonomy learning levels with regard to student success in college.

You can view the transcript for “Bloom’s Taxonomy” here (opens in new window).

This next video, Bloom’s Taxonomy Featuring Harry Potter Movies, is a culturally based way of understanding and applying Bloom’s taxonomy.

You can view the transcript for “Bloom’s Taxonomy feat Harry Potter” here (opens in new window).

The Power of Thought

From Bloom’s taxonomy of learning skills, you can see that thought and thinking can be understood as patterns—systems and schemes within the mind. There is order and structure in the way we think and in the way we process and internalize information.

As we look at patterns of thought, we can also think about the power of thought. As a result of many amazing and potent research and discoveries, the scientific community is learning a great deal about how plastic, malleable, and constantly changing the brain is. For example, the act of thinking—just thinking—can affect not only the way your brain works but also its physical shape and structure. The following video explores some of these discoveries, which relate to all the thinking and thoughts involved in college success.

You can view the transcript for “The Scientific Power of Thought” here (opens in new window).