Taxonomies in Contemporary Higher Education
Introduction
Bloom’s taxonomy is a classification of knowledge a person acquires in a learning process. This article presents a design experience and developing educational tools under the pedagogical framework described by Bloom. Taxonomies are tools used by curriculum designers for presenting information and promoting students learning. Through specific taxonomies, learners should develop comprehension of the material for enhancing knowledge levels. Taxonomies act as guides for instructional designers. They act as key instructions to synchronize instructions, objectives, and assessments, and form arrays of complex cognitive skills. This paper attempts to discuss the influences taxonomies have on …show more content…
They have many differing learning needs. Teaching such diverse learner environments is very challenging. Understanding of the learning styles helps create inclusive classrooms with everyone being able to succeed. The HE student from cultures which teach them to be passive listeners are quiet in the classroom; visual learners are uncomfortable speaking which is a disadvantage if grades are based on classroom participation. Sensitive teachers allow group work and have small and non-threatening environments where students can speak in classroom performance evaluations. But by understanding yourself and the students, it is very rewarding. Determining the six Bloom levels is a good starting point, but to classify an activity within the hierarchy can be tricky. The most common way is to provide a table with six rows, one for each level. The table may contain a column with a definition of the corresponding level. The first difficulty is in determining a level of a tool if it is found similar to some other table where it appears in different verb levels. For example, it is common to find verbs like compare or build in several levels. This problem has no solution since education is a social science rather than an exact science. Another difficulty is due to the terminology of Informatics in a software cycle life phases do not correspond to levels of analysis and synthesis …show more content…
This can stifle originality and creativity in both students and staff. When used rigidly, it creates a danger that a learning outcome is a driver of the classroom interactions which also prevent discussions on questions or ideas which are not clearly related to set outcomes forecast by taxonomies. This can create subtle closed ideas about important learning concepts having esoteric or critical discourses and outcomes. Instead of encouraging the learner’s autonomy encouraging deeper subject engagement learning outcomes can restrict learning while encouraging reductionist approaches and students only aim at satisfying minimum prescribed standards specified in their learning outcome. However good learning wants students to form own understanding and insights by interactions and questions with their teacher, with tight focus on the learning outcomes lead to surface learning and instrumental reasoning. Concern about pre-specifications of learning outcomes creates tensions and realities about complexities on classroom outcomes. (Lumadue,
Introduction
Bloom’s taxonomy is a classification of knowledge a person acquires in a learning process. This article presents a design experience and developing educational tools under the pedagogical framework described by Bloom. Taxonomies are tools used by curriculum designers for presenting information and promoting students learning. Through specific taxonomies, learners should develop comprehension of the material for enhancing knowledge levels. Taxonomies act as guides for instructional designers. They act as key instructions to synchronize instructions, objectives, and assessments, and form arrays of complex cognitive skills. This paper attempts to discuss the influences taxonomies have on …show more content…
They have many differing learning needs. Teaching such diverse learner environments is very challenging. Understanding of the learning styles helps create inclusive classrooms with everyone being able to succeed. The HE student from cultures which teach them to be passive listeners are quiet in the classroom; visual learners are uncomfortable speaking which is a disadvantage if grades are based on classroom participation. Sensitive teachers allow group work and have small and non-threatening environments where students can speak in classroom performance evaluations. But by understanding yourself and the students, it is very rewarding. Determining the six Bloom levels is a good starting point, but to classify an activity within the hierarchy can be tricky. The most common way is to provide a table with six rows, one for each level. The table may contain a column with a definition of the corresponding level. The first difficulty is in determining a level of a tool if it is found similar to some other table where it appears in different verb levels. For example, it is common to find verbs like compare or build in several levels. This problem has no solution since education is a social science rather than an exact science. Another difficulty is due to the terminology of Informatics in a software cycle life phases do not correspond to levels of analysis and synthesis …show more content…
This can stifle originality and creativity in both students and staff. When used rigidly, it creates a danger that a learning outcome is a driver of the classroom interactions which also prevent discussions on questions or ideas which are not clearly related to set outcomes forecast by taxonomies. This can create subtle closed ideas about important learning concepts having esoteric or critical discourses and outcomes. Instead of encouraging the learner’s autonomy encouraging deeper subject engagement learning outcomes can restrict learning while encouraging reductionist approaches and students only aim at satisfying minimum prescribed standards specified in their learning outcome. However good learning wants students to form own understanding and insights by interactions and questions with their teacher, with tight focus on the learning outcomes lead to surface learning and instrumental reasoning. Concern about pre-specifications of learning outcomes creates tensions and realities about complexities on classroom outcomes. (Lumadue,