The mission of "Communication Education" is to publish the best research on communication and learning. Researchers study the communication-learning interface in many ways, but a common approach is to explore how instructor and student communication can lead to better learning outcomes. Although scholars have long classified learning into three domains--cognitive, affective, and behavioral--it is not often that behavioral learning is investigated in instructional communication research. Thus, the focus of most of the research in instructional communication is on cognitive and affective learning. This forum explores the study of affective learning by addressing two critical questions that define the field's exploration of the topic: (1) What is affective learning?; and (2) How should we measure affective learning in instructional communication research? This forum initiates conversation on this topic. The essay presented is one of seven in this forum on the topic of affective learning. Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia (1964) argue for five specific levels of affective learning. However, most discussions of affective learning either discuss all five levels together or simply evaluate levels 2 and 3. What has been failed to focus on, in the field of communication, is the aspect of affective learning referred to as the characterization of values or value set that persists over time and that pervades all aspects of life. The time has come for definitions of affective learning in instructional communication to evolve. The value of the instructional communication area would be significantly increased if scholars are able to demonstrate that instructional communication variables lead to long-term changes in students. Thus, the authors propose in this essay a definition of affective learning as an extension of the definitions put forth by Kearney, Plax, and Wendt-Wasco (1985) and Krathwohl et al. (1964). Affective learning refers to an individual's positive disposition toward a particular subject matter, which changes an individual's operational framework and value system thus guiding decision making and behavioral choices in all aspects of life. [For the other essays in this forum: (1) FORUM: Affective Learning. Students' Affective Learning as Affective Experience: Significance, Reconceptualization, and Future Directions, see EJ1083014; (2) FORUM: Affective Learning. Pursuing and Measuring Affective Learning Objectives, see EJ1083008; (3) FORUM: Affective Learning. Reclaiming Affective Learning, see EJ1083012; (4) FORUM: Affective Learning. The Instructional Communication Affective Learning Paradox, see EJ1082997; (5) FORUM: Affective Learning. Affective Learning from a Cognitive Neuroscientific Perspective, see EJ1082999; and (6) FORUM: Affective Learning. Reconsidering the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Affective Learning, see EJ1083010.]