Domain Testing: Divide and Conquer - Testing Education

Reiser and Dempsey’s (2002) definition of instructional design is,
“Instructional design is a system of procedures for developing education and
training programs in a consistent and reliable fashion. Instructional design is a
complex process that is creative, active, and iterative” (p. 17).
Learning Theory: “A learning theory, therefore, comprises a set of constructs
linking observed changes in performance with what is thought to bring about those
changes” (Dick et al., 2001, p. 11).
Driscoll (2000) commented about what the focus of any learning theory
should be, saying, “Learning requires experience, but just what experiences are
essential and how these experiences are presumed to bring about learning constitute
the focus of every learning theory” (p. 11).
3.02 Learning Outcomes
Why do we learn? We learn to achieve some desired outcome, perhaps to attain
some new skills. There are different kinds of outcomes or skills that one can
achieve or aim to achieve via the process of learning. The performance of a learner
indicates the kind of outcomes that have been achieved due to learning.
Krathwohn, Benjamin and Masia (1956) stated almost five decades ago that
all instructional objectives, and hence learning outcomes, fall under three domains:
• Cognitive – tasks that require intellect, recollection of learned information,
combining old ideas to synthesize new ones, etc.
• Affective – deals with emotions, attitudes, etc.
• Psychomotor – tasks requiring muscular movement, etc.
Later in the literature, these three domains were expanded upon and spread
out across five different skills or learning outcomes. The following five learning
outcomes are described in the literature (Bloom, Hastings & Madaus, 1971; Dick &
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