There are many categories of learning, each of which fall under three major domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. See the chart below to see how assessment tools match learning domains.
| Domain | Mode | SLO Verb Examples | Assessment Tools |
| Cognitive | Thought/Thinking | Recalling, Describing, Comparing, Analyzing, Synthesizing, Designing | Test, Performance Assignment, Discussion Survey, Quiz |
| Psychomotor | Actions, Doing | Typing, Copying, Following, Presenting, Articulating, Automating | Performance Assignment, Self & Peer Assessment |
| Affective | Emotions, Feeling | Demonstrate Awareness, Respond, Value, Indicate Satisfaction or Motivation | Discussion, Survey, Attendance |
Performance Assessments: These tools focus on students' tasks or products/artifacts of those tasks. They can simulate real life application of skills and can support learning and assessment in authentic contexts.
Pros: Can align well with learning outcomes; capture higher-order thinking skills; can reflect authentic contexts
Cons: Results may be difficult to generalize; take time to create, administer, and score
Tests/Quizzes: These tools are primarily presented in multiple choice format and strive for objectivity.
Pros: Collects quantitative data quickly; can be validated and highly reliable; can be used to compare groups of students or as pre-post ; can be locally developed, graded, and scored OR can reduce staff time on task if not locally developed
Cons: Can be standards focused as opposed to authentically assessing student abilities or performance; may oversimplify tasks at hand; maybe difficult to construct and interpret if developed locally
Self Reporting: These tools (including surveys, focus groups, and interviews) can ask students to estimate their learning or identify how they feel about their learning experiences.
Pros: Capture student perceptions
Cons: Do not assess actual learning
What is the Purpose? For example: Are we trying to demonstrate accountability to an outside entity? Or, are we conducting assessment for an internal formative purpose?
What are Stakeholder Expectations and Needs? Who is the audience for the assessment results and do they prefer (or require) qualitative or quantitative data?
What Will We Gain from the Assessment? Will the assessment tool help to establish a baseline, reveal new information, provide a snapshot of how a program or class is meeting expectations?
What is the Cost? What are the associated time, financial, and personnel costs?