behavior

1. an organism’s activities in response to external or internal stimuli, including objectively observable activities, introspectively observable activities (see covert behavior), and nonconscious processes.
2. more restrictively, any action or function that can be objectively observed or measured in response to controlled stimuli. Historically, behaviorists contrasted objective behavior with mental activities, which were considered subjective and thus unsuitable for scientific study. See behaviorism. —behavioral adj.

American Psychological Association

Behaviors are the outward expression of inward attitudes and values. Where knowledge reflects what a learner knows, skills reflect what a learner can do, and attitudes reflect what a learner values and believes, behaviors reflect how a learner lives out those values in the world. Behaviors are not isolated actions. Instead, they are the visible, consistent pattern of how a learner engages with content, with others, and with their vocation in all of their thoughts, words, and deeds.

When we think about behaviors in a competency-based education model, the definition expands and takes on particular significance. Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) describe the highest levels of affective learning as a process of internalization that moves from receiving and responding to new ideas, through valuing them, toward organizing those values into a coherent personal framework, and finally toward characterization, which is defined as behaving consistently with one’s internalized values across all situations and contexts. For those preparing to serve in WELS public ministry, this is not simply a pedagogical ideal. It is a vocational calling. Our called workers are not merely expected to hold a strong personal faith; they are called to demonstrate and embody that faith through servant leadership, modeling for their students what it means to live as a child of God in a fallen world. Competency-based education is well-suited to assess behaviors precisely because it looks beyond what learners know and believe to ask how consistently and authentically those beliefs are lived out in their calling.

Student Outcomes Focusing on Behaviors

Each course in our program has a range of outcomes that assess knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. The following two statements are examples of behaviors-focused outcomes:

The learner will live as an example, embracing the roles and relationships God has laid out in this life.

The learner will adopt and maintain a professional rehearsal attitude during individual and group exercises, exhibiting focused participation, timely preparation, respectful listening, and constructive peer interaction in rehearsal contexts.

Note that each of these outcomes focuses not on the professor’s behaviors, but instead encourages the learner to consider their behaviors. It is important that our outcomes are centered on the learner, because the program is designed to evaluate and record learners’ achievements, not the faculty who teach the courses.

Assessment Strategies

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to assessment. There are, indeed, many ways to engage learners with assessments of their behaviors. Our instructional designer and subject-matter expert work together to craft reflective, authentic assessments for attitude outcomes that encourage learners to connect course materials, their identities as Christian educators, and the real or imagined classrooms where they serve.

For example, the outcome that asks learners to adopt and maintain a professional rehearsal attitude during individual and group exercises, exhibiting focused participation, timely preparation, respectful listening, and constructive peer interaction in rehearsal contexts, is captured in attending, observing, and reflecting on a choir practice. After attending a choir practice as an observer, learners are asked to share their reflection on the experience by answering the following questions:

Reflection Journal Prompts

Professional Rehearsal Attitude

What rehearsal behaviors (such as preparation, attentiveness, respect, or following conductor cues) did you notice? How might you model these as a teacher or musician?

Sight Singing in Ensemble Context

Did you observe sight singing or other strategies for learning new music? How did the choir approach unfamiliar passages?

Aural Skills and Expression

How did strong listening skills (pitch accuracy, rhythm, balance, tuning, etc.) support expressive performance?

Musical Literacy and Teaching

What did you see that shows musical literacy in action (notation, rhythm, dynamics, phrasing)? How might you bring these observations into your own classroom or teaching practice?

The Choir Observation and Reflection assignment does not require learners to actively participate in a choir as singers. Instead, learners observe a choir and in doing so both see behaviors  we expect of our called workers, e.g., “focused participation, timely preparation, respectful listening, and constructive peer interaction.” They also need to demonstrate those same skills to both respectfully observe the practice and share their reflections with their professor.