Learning is a latent variable; we must observe and measure it indirectly using some form of assessment. What are we observing through these assessments if not learning? That depends on the purpose of the assessment. This is where learning objectives enter the picture. I see learning objectives and assessments intertwined. Any educational endeavors should have an objective. Learning objectives are things that, after the educational endeavor, educators want students know and can do. Learning objectives can be facts or skills, or more preferably they are things students can do with their knowledge. Why use of knowledge? Well, memorization is a terrible way to learn and with what reliable data we do have in education research, using knowledge to predict and explain is better at helping students to build an explanatory framework of how the world works (Crandell et al., 2020; Houchlei et al., 2021). If this use of knowledge is structured to promote expert-like reasoning, students are engaging in three-dimensional learning.
In an assessment aligned with the three dimensions, the assessment has the potential to elicit evidence of student engagement with those three dimensions (Laverty et al., 2016). Therefore, we hope to observe knowledge in use. Many questions remain, such as what knowledge, how is it being used to what end? But nevertheless, this is a proxy for learning, students’ ability to use knowledge to predict, explain, describe, model, etc. How do students learn to use their knowledge, or rather, how do students enter and leave a course gaining such abilities?