How to Write Learning Objectives Using Bloom’s Taxonomy

One of the frameworks I use in designing materials as an instructional designer is Bloom’s Taxonomy. As a learning and development professional, it can, oftentimes, be challenging to make sure that your materials are both aligned with the goals of the project and, at the same time, effective in helping the learners. This is why it is important to take time to understand the needs of the learners and, consequently, identify the specific objectives of the material. With this, you can make sure to meet the goals of both the project and the learners.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a framework introduced by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 together with Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl. This provides a hierarchical classification of the different levels of human cognition. It is divided into 6 levels namely: Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

However, In 2001, a team of scholars introduced the revised version of this framework by renaming categories and labelling these categories as action words instead. Furthermore, they also identified “Creating” as the highest level of cognitive function instead of “Evaluation”.

How to write learning objectives

1. Define the goal of material or the course, in general.

2. Identify the appropriate category of cognitive function.

3. Determine the right and measurable action word to use.

Example:

Course: Empathy and Acknowledgement Fundamentals for Customer Service Representatives

Goal: To ensure that each employee demonstrates empathy and acknowledgement skills in dealing with customers

Cognitive Function/s: Understand and Apply

Example Objectives:

At the end of this course, the learners will be able to:

a. Explain the importance of empathy and acknowledgement skills handling customer concerns; and

b. Demonstrate empathy and acknowledgement skills through a mock call simulation.