WHAT TO ASSESS

BOOK NAME
Topic 2
WHAT TO ASSESS

WHAT TO ASSESS

WHAT TO ASSESS

STRUCTURE

Introduction
2.1 Identifying behaviours to be assessed
2.1.1 The pathway to designing curriculum
2.1.2 Three types of learning
2.2 Assessing cognitive learning outcomes
2.3 Assessing affective learning outcomes
2.4Assessing the psychomotor learning outcomes
2.5 The ABCD of instructional objectives
2.5.1 The dos and the donts of Instructional Objectives
2.5.2 Steps for stating instructional objectives
2.6 Alignment between objectives, instructions and assessment
2.7 Important trends in what is to be assessed
2.8 Summary

WHAT TO ASSESS

What to Assess?

TOPIC

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this topic, you should be able

to:
1.Identify the behaviour which needs to be
assessed.
2.Explain the designing of a curriculum.
3.Illustrate the three types of learning.
4.Analyse how to assess the cognitive,
affective, psychomotor types of domain
in learning
5.Breakdown the ABCD of learning
objectives
6. Differentiate between the trends in
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INTRODUCTIO N

Educational assessment is a process to gather information, which enables

us to understand whether the target subject have attained the learning
objectives.
Specification of Learning Objectives and Outcomes can make a teachers way to
teaching much more effective.
The shift of approach nowadays is towards the overall development of a pupil.
The teaching and learning are all through the perspective of a pupil as he is the one
who gets appraised for his performance.
The chapter below throws light on this aspect of learning.
We learn about the need for identifying behaviour to be assessed and the
classification of behaviour into cognitive, affective and psychomotor type.
We also study the way to write down the learning outcomes, the Dos and the
Donts.
Finally we see the trends in educational assessment.

2.1

IDENTIFYING BEHAVIOURS TO BE ASSESSED

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The right way of teaching brings out the desired outcome from the students.

The desired learning outcome could be knowledge, skills, application of knowledge or

attitude.

Assessment is of the utmost importance in the process of learning. A sound assessment is the
one wherein the assessment methods are closely and directly related to the intended learning
objectives.

Instructional goals and objectives are instrumental for teaching process as well as assessment
process in education.

There are primarily three important reasons:

a) To communicate the intention of the instruction to the subject reading or studying it.
b) To aid the process of learning and teaching.
c) To outline the guideline for assessing the student learning.

Instructional objectives emphasise and lay an outline of the performance desired from the
students at the end of learning, either a chapter or a book or a passage.

A list of properly stated instructional goals and objectives definitely describes the intended
learning outcomes in terms of performance.

In a simple form, it is the description of what a particular student is expected to learn at the
end of teachers classes or his /her set of instructions.

In other words, it is concerned with the focus on learning objectives rather than the learning
experience and is concerned with the understanding of the student about a subject .

2.1.1

THE PATHWAY TO DESIGNING CURRICULUM

Behavioural Psychology has been the backbone of conceptualisation and designing of the tests
sine 1920s till recently.

According to behavioural psychology, learning is a hierarchial phenomenon. Behavioural

psychology lays emphasis on development of lower level skills to acquire the higher-order
skills.

Hence, learning outcomes are often defined in small steps or decomposed form in order to get
the higher level of specification in learning outcomes.

The example of application of behavioural psychologists approach to education can be stating

the task to be done, teaching the students about the ways to do the task and finally assess the
student by subjecting them to the test on the task.

This is also an example of criterion reference mastery tests mentioned in the previous
chapter.

Behavioural psychologist approach gauges only the external observable behaviour rather than
the thinking power.
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The theory revolves around the basis that all behaviours are learned through associating the
events with consequences.

But the questions like What about the problem solving abilities one has? , which were not

answered by the behavioural psychological approach spearheaded the need to discover a more
comprehensive approach or cognitive approach towards learning and development.

Cognitive researchers are of the opinion that learning of the most basic skills also requires a
complete involvement of student in various ways of comprehension, analysis and application.

The cognitive perspective of learning has brought in a change in the assessment. It focuses on

learning outcomes which are more general in nature like comprehension, problem solving
skills, decision making etc.

So in a journey of designing a curriculum or finding ways to design the learning outcomes the

perspective has had a paradigm shift from very specific approach of applying behavioural
psychology to the more general approach called as cognitive approach.

Thus, behaviours to be assessed, during education, were not limited to the observable
behaviour but assessment of an overall mental capacity of a person.

Practically, an intermediate approach is required to be devised to form the guidelines of

assessment.

2.1.2

THREE TYPES OF LEARNING

In the year 1948, Convention of the American Psychological Association, which is

a group of college examiners, brought forth how the classification of educational
goals is useful for evaluation of students performance.

Dr.Benjamin Bloom, educational psychologist, in the year 1956 fathered the

phenomenon called Blooms taxonomy which was primarily meant to classify
the educational objectives that could be set by teachers for students, into three
domains, Cognitive domain which refers to the know function of the body
(head), the Affective Domain which refers to the feeling function of the body
(heart) and the psychomotor which refers to the doing function of the body
(legs/hands).

Blooms taxonomy of Educational objectives is fundamental and essential to

design educational, learning and training processes and curriculum as it
emphasises on the other aspects of learning like comprehension, knowledge,
analysing, application and synthesis rather than being rote learning which was
the earliest form of education.

The classification of educational goals or learning is divided into 3 categories:

a) Cognitive learning: It deals with the ability to acquire knowledge, intellectual

skills etc.
b) Affective learning: It deals with the attitudes, interests of a person.
c) Psychomotor learning: It is related to perpetual skills of a human being.

Each of the categories was further divided into isubcategories as represented in

the diagram below.

ASSESSING COGNITIVE LEARNING

OUTCOMES

2.2
Blooms

Figure 1.1 Subcategories of Cognitive

domain

taxonomy is of
immense importance to the teachers as it lets the teacher ask herself what she/he
is asking the students to do and for what purpose.
Assessing cognitive learning outcome necessarily means understanding the level
of performance in the areas mentioned above. All teachers should know how to
construct the lessons by using these domains and make teaching effective.

Cognitive
domain

Knowledge Comprehensi
on

Application

10

Analysis

Evaluation

Synthesis

Here we learn more about the cognitive taxonomy. The verbs used are explained
in the diagram below.
Knowledge:-Knowing about study material and retrieving the same
Words Utilized :- Know, Identify, define ,recall,memorise, repeat,recognise,acquire etc.
Comprehension:- The ability to grasp
Verbs Utilized:- Restate,recognise, explain, Express ,Discuss ,
describe,illustrate,interpret,represent etc.
Application:- The ability to apply the knowledge to some situation
Verbs used:-Apply, relate,calculate, show,exhibit,demonstrate etc
Analysis:-The ability to categorize and breakdown the complex
structure
Verbs used: Analysed, Compare, Probe,Investigate
Synthesis:- The ability to put parts in a way to make a new whole
Verbs used:- Compose, Assemble,Create, Prepare, Combine,originate ,derive
Evaluation:- The ability to check or judge
Words Utilized :- Judge, Assess,Compare, Decide,Appraise,Validate

Figure 1.2 Blooms taxonomy

2.3

ASSESSING AFFECTIVE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Affective
Domain of
learning
(Feelings)

Recieving
Pursue ,
Attend,perceive,Fe
el, Sense,capture

Organization
Examine,Clari
fy,
Systemise,Cr
eate
,Integrate

Characterizati
on
Internalise,Revie
w,
Conclude,Resolv
e ,Judge

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Responding
Conform,
Allow,Cooperat
e,
Contribute,
Enjoy, Satisy

Valuing
Believe,
Seek,Justify,Res
pect, Search,
Persuade

Figure 1.3 Verbs used in affective

learning outcomes

The above diagram represents the sub categories of how the verbs can be used for
the affective learning outcomes.

Assessing the Affective learning outcome

o

Receiving means the ability of the learner to sense the stimuli

Responding refers to how actively the learner is acknowledging the stimuli and
showing participation

Valuing means the learners attitude or commitment to the program

Organising means how effectively he arranges the values and beliefs

Characterisation refers to the Internalisation of values taught

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Write a short note on the three types of learning.

2.4

ASSESSING THE PSYCHOMOTOR LEARNING OUTCOMES

Psychomotor Learning outcome refers to the functions like reflex action, and
imperative movements. This also means natural responses.

These are the objectives concerned with the physical movements where there is a
coordination of the body and mind to encode information and used to express the
concepts.
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The Assessment of the Psychomotor Learning Outcome

o Reflex

Movements:

Objectives

here

refer

to

the

involuntary

and

instantaneous response to the stimuli

o Fundamental movements: Objectives here refer to the gross movements like
running, walking, jogging etc.
o Perceptual Abilities: Related to the ability to take in the information and react
to it
o Physical Abilities: Outcomes in this context should describe the strength of a
person, his endurance, agility and dexterity
o Skilled Movements: Objectives here , should exemplify the skills required
for dance, sports, or the different forms of art

ACTIVITY
Recall some verbs from Blooms taxonomy and segregate them according to
knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

2.5

THE ABCD OF INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

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Let us take a quick look at the method of identifying the instructional objective
which can be the most effective for teaching and assessment.

Whenever listing the instructional objectives one must ask the following questions
which can serve as a criteria:

A) Whether all the outcomes of the subject are well covered in the objectives?
B) Whether the objectives are in coherence with the standards set by the
educational bodies for which the course or teaching program is conducted?
C) Whether the educational objectives suit the targeted audience of a particular age
group, whether it is in the interest of the students, whether those conform to the
principle of retention and principle of transfer?
D) Whether the objectives are realistic in terms of student capabilities?

Thus, ABCD of instructional objectives refers to

its completeness, the

appropriateness, the soundness, and feasibility.

2.5.1

THE DOS AND DONTS

The Dos
The Donts
a) Whenever stating the learning
a) Whenever stating the learning
outcome state these in terms of how
outcome do not state using
the student is expected to perform
teachers performance
E.g. : The students would be able to E.g. : The teacher will teach the
define the concept
concept

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Table 1.1: The dos and donts of instructional objectives

2.5.2

STEPS FOR STATING INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

The Dos
It is a two step process:
a) Stating the General Instructional Objectives
b) Stating the Specific Instructional Objectives

Figure 1.4 How to

state the learning
objectives and
outcomes
Stating the general
instructional objectives
State each general objective as the
desired learning outcome
Use verbs like knows etc at the
beginning at every statement
State each objective to represent
one outcome, and a definable
domain of outcome
Reducing or minimizing the
overlapping of the objectives

Stating the Specific learning Outcome

Classify the general specific objectives with the specific outcome desired from
the student.
Use verbs to begin any outcome
Specific Learning Outcome should be relevant to the genral objectives
Ensure inclusion of number of specific learning outcomes to make the general
objectives a more illustrative
Add a third level of specificity if required

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2.6

ALIGNMENT BETWEEN
OBJECTIVES,INSTRUCTIONS & ASSESSMENT

The learning objectives are the foundational stones over which lays the framework
of instruction and assessment.

Learning objectives aid the teacher to explain what the expected performance of a
student is, after the sequential instructions classes so as to further help
assessment. This defines the intent for what the teacher is teaching the student.

The more aligned the statement of objectives is to the intended performance we

can have precision in instructions and assessment.

2.7

IMPORTANT TRENDS IN WHAT IS TO BE

ASSESSED

Figure 1.5 Trends in assessment

More Emphasis on
enhancing the skills and
abilities

Proect
based
assignme
nts for
learning
and
teaching

More student
involvement and
participation in the
learning by role plays
etc

Enabling personal
development thorugh
various arts form and
sports

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Reduce the number of

subjects in public
examinations

Group learning to
promote collaborative
learning as also
assessment

These are the few new trends in what needs to be assessed.

As seen in the figure above it started from more stress on the skills and abilities,
lots of project based activities and mostly group activities. The assessment
revolves around the overall personality development through various arts and
sports.
Instructional goals and learning outcomes are central to teaching, learning and
assessment of a student performance. We cannot generalise the learning or
Courses
and
curriculum
exclusivelyviz.
state
what is expected
from the
student
simplify
it by
the two approaches
behavioural
psychologist
approach
orthan
letting
the students
decide
or derive the output on their own.
cognitive
approach
respectively.
The
of approach
is from
merethe
teacher
oriented objectives
to student
Butshift
finding
a mid-way
between
two approaches
will definitely
makelearning
sure
outcome.
that the overall development or progress is being assessed.

In this chapter we studied how important it is to identify the behaviour to be

assessed.
We also came to know how to prepare the instructional objectives.
A) By stating the General Instructional objectives.
B) Defining each general objective with more specific learning outcome

2.8

SUMMARY

We also learnt about the various types of domains of learning and the
various verbs used while defining the objectives.

The thrust was also on the important points to be looked after when writing
learning objectives.

We now understand the various trends in the assessment and that precision in
writing educational objectives will always yield the intended outcome.
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KEY TERMS
Cognitive Assessment
Affective assessment
Psychomotor assessment
Learning Objectives and outcome
Behavioural Psychology
Blooms taxonomy

EXERCISES
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Summarise the meaning of learning outcome.
2. Explain Blooms taxonomy.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. State how to write educational objective.
2 Describe cognitive, affective and psychomotor assessment.
3. Discuss the new trend in assessment.

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