Lecture 5 - Domains of Learning / Writing Learning Objectives

The writing of learning goals/objectives is a key step in the planning of e-learning process. It is a clear indicator as to whether the learning instruction is successful or a failure. By establishing clear goals and objectives, the learners will know what is expected of them and thereafter, learn accordingly.

The three domains of learning (that guides the writing of learning objectives) are cognitive, affective and psychomotor. I think that affective learning outcomes are most important towards achieving effective learning. Without the motivation and interest in the topic, there will not be productive results in the cognitive and psychomotor domains of learning. By engaging the emotions of learners, they will be motivated to carry out productive tasks and reflections essential in effective learning.

However, I also believe that the type of objective to be formulated should be dependent on the subject of learning. If the subject of learning is related to nationalism, the learning objectives should be skewed towards the affective domain. If the subject of learning is related to repairing a bicycle, learning objectives should be obtained from the psychomotor domain.

In using the cognitive domain as a guide to formulating objectives, we must know the 7 different levels of cognitive outcomes. The lowest level to highest level of cognitive outcomes are as follow: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. We will write objectives in accordance to these levels of cognition, but we must take note not to create too many learning objectives from the one same level.