The learning objectives you select should clearly and concisely express the performative outcomes of your course. Keep in mind that effective learning objectives use action verbs that tie to Bloom's Taxonomy, and they result in actions that are measurable and tie directly to the course unit or the entire course.

Here's a process for writing learning objectives:

1. Identify what you want the student to be able to do
2. Identify the level of knowledge on Bloom's Taxonomy
3. Select a verb that ties to a measurable, observable action
4. Add criteria to refine the outcome so that it has qualitative or quantitative specifics

Keep in mind that some authors have critiqued the over-adherence to Bloom's Taxonomy, especially the levels of learning. Even if you have issues with Bloom's Taxonomy, it's a useful tool because it helps you ensure that you are focusing on clear, measurable outcomes and the activities that help provide evidence of learning.

Let's review Bloom's Taxonomy. As you may remember, Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchy that helps you describe, map, and measure knowledge in the cognitive domain.

We start with learning objectives. Bloom's Taxonomy is a pyramid, and the base is the most foundational, and it has to do with remembering. So, we can start with learning objectives that have to do with remembering. For example, we can say, "List the ingredients in Rattlesnake Chili".

As you can see in the following diagram, we move up from the base of the pyramid to tasks of increasing complexity. Each task has affiliated verbs, which will make the assessment and the determination of whether or not an individual achieved the learning objective much easier.

The top of the pyramid is CREATING. It is at the top of the pyramid, and at the pinnacle of the hierarchy because it brings together the lower-domain cognitive activities and requires both synthesis and analysis. The learning objective for a course that will ascend as high as the sixth level will be easier than it may seem at first. The key is to consider an activity that will allow you as the instructor to properly evaluate or assess. For example, creating the corresponding activity could be to "develop a project" or "invent a new type of magazine".