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Improving Learning and Performance through Assessment
The Classification of Learning Skills
for Educational Enrichment and Assessment
Affective Domain
Psychomotor Domain
Internalizing
Valuing
Organizing
Responding
Receiving
Using tools
Using the body
Body development
Wellness
ASSESSMENT
Cognitive Domain
Social Domain
Processing Information
Constructing Understanding
Applying Knowledge
Solving Problems
Conducting Research
ASSESSMENT
Leading
Relating Culturally
Relating with Others
Communicating
Managing
The Classification of Learning Skills for Educational Enrichment and Assessment (CLS) represents a
15-year research effort by a team of process educators who created this resource to assist with the holistic
development of their students. Used by both faculty and students, the CLS is a valuable tool which helps
to identify key processes and skills fundamental to learning. It also provides the framework for making
quality assessments of performance and serves as a guide for improving assessment and self-assessment
skills.
Faculty who teach using active learning formats will find this resource especially useful when measuring,
assessing, and improving student performance. Students can use the CLS to identify the most important
skills required to perform at the level of a skilled practitioner in various content areas.
What is a Learning Skill?
Learning skills are discrete entities that are embedded in everyday behavior and operate in conjunction
with specialized knowledge. They can be consciously improved and refined. Once they are, the rate
and effectiveness of overall learning increases. They can be identified at an early stage of a learner’s
development. No matter what the person’s age or experience, learning skills can be improved to higher
levels of performance through self-assessment, self-discipline, or guidance by a mentor. This growth in
learning skill development is usually triggered by a learning challenge of some kind and is facilitated by
actions built on a shared language between mentor and mentee.
Development of the Classification
Initial work on The Classification of Learning Skills focused on the cognitive domain, looking primarily
at critical thinking and problem solving skills. Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
served as a resource during the construction of the cognitive domain. Efforts to build the social domain
coincided with research projects such as the SCANS Report (
Secretary’s Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills
), which pointed out the need to help students develop communication, teamwork, and
management skills. Daniel Goleman’s seminal work on emotional intelligence profoundly informed the
work on the affective domain learning skills. The CLS was further expanded when levels for learner
performance were identified and terms such as “enhanced learner” and “self-grower” were introduced.