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Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many

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Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many

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LINCS | Adult Education and Literacy | U.S. Department of Education

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Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy (TEAL) improves the quality of teaching in adult education by focusing on improving writing for Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. TEAL offers an intensive program of professional development and supports quality instruction in adult education programs through the following:

Professional development and technical assistance.

State teams participate in online professional development and a four-day face-to-face institute on research-based instructional approaches and components of effective teaching with an emphasis on writing instruction. Participating instructors receive ongoing technical assistance for implementing new practices via site visits and distance support.

Materials and strategies for professional development.

TEAL materials, which are adaptable to a variety of program environments and instructional levels, are designed to help instructors learn to integrate practices within the content area of writing instruction. TEAL professional development opportunities provide opportunities for instructors to practice new skills, receive feedback on their performance, and collaborate and problem solve with peers as they incorporate new ideas into their teaching. Click here to access content from the 2011 TEAL Summer Institute.

TEAL Guides

TEAL Math Works! Guide

The Math Works! Guide is a companion piece to the TEAL Just Write! Guide. The Math Works! Guide identifies research-based instructional practices in the content areas of mathematics and numeracy. The Guide synthesizes important practices and competencies represented in current research on math instruction.

TEAL Just Write! Guide

The TEAL Just Write! Guide is a resource for ABE teachers. It is intended to increase familiarity with evidence-based writing instruction and to facilitate the translation of research findings into practices and products that enhance the quality of instruction delivered to adult learners.

Relevant Publications

Three significant publications -all meta-analyses of large-scale research-inform effective practices in writing instruction.

TEAL Fact Sheet

TEAL Glossary

Follow this link to learn more about file formats, file viewers, and support for the visually impaired.

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Teaching Excellence in Adult Literacy (TEAL) improves the quality of teaching in adult education by focusing on improving writing for Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. TEAL offers an intensive program of professional development and supports quality instruction in adult education programs through the following:

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12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom 

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12 Easy Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom 

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Full Speed Ahead: Accelerate Learning with Interactivity

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Full Speed Ahead: Accelerate Learning with Interactivity

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Sue and Vicky's complete presentation, including examples!

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Bhuyan Instructional Technology Designer Victoria Gerstorfer Instructional Technology Designer

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Bhuyan Instructional Technology Designer NJCSI

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Instructional Interactions Instructional Interactions Full Speed Ahead Accelerate Learning

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Rutgers University Victoria Gerstorfer Instructional Technology Designer NJCSI

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Wheel of Fortune Question & Answer Performance

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Start Your Engines! Introductions A few stats... Instructional Interactions Instructional Interactions Full Speed Ahead Accelerate Learning with Interactivity Why are interactions important? Sue Bhuyan Instructional Technology Designer NJCSI, Rutgers University Victoria Gerstorfer Instructional Technology Designer NJCSI, Rutgers University 12.5 seconds 9 seconds 8 seconds Have we lost you yet?

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Ben McNeely
North Carolina State University

© Ben McNeely

I fully realized the digital age when I first spoke to my grandparents over the "talk" feature on AOL Instant Messenger. How cool is it, I thought, to have grandparents that not only have a computer, but know how to use it? What was more striking was that my grandfather, a man who never had much formal technical education, built not one, but two, computers from parts-motherboard, disk drives, hard drives, and so forth-with the help of my cousin. He has high-speed Internet access, sends and receives e-mail, burns CDs, and chats online using IM. He even built a computer for my grandmother, who uses it to check the obituaries daily on the Winston-Salem Journal Web site and does online jigsaw puzzles. She can no longer do real ones, as the pieces are too small for her to see and grasp.

Growing Up with Technology

In kindergarten, I was introduced to the Apple II computer. We were herded into the library and seated in front of a big-screen television. There, the librarian demonstrated the computer and its uses. She even showed us a game: The Oregon Trail-arguably the most popular computer game of our generation. It was simple, informative, and interactive. I can't tell you how many times I got my wagon stuck in the mud or how many teammates I killed off with cholera or malaria.

For my classmates and me, computers were just tools to get things done. Mastery of technological skills was a way to show we were advancing further than our classmates. In middle school, my family bought our first home computer. We also were hooked up to the Internet for the first time. It was a dial-up connection, slow compared to the instantaneous broadband speeds nowadays, but nonetheless, we were surfing the Net.

As a Boy Scout, my troop would participate in scout shows at the local mall. While other troops demonstrated traditional scouting skills, like pitching tents and lashing up towers, my troop set up a computer cluster and took digital pictures of people in the mall. Using Photoshop, we cut their images out of the pictures, placed them on backgrounds of their choosing, and gave them printouts.

My brother, a senior in high school, now uses WebAssign to complete homework problems for chemistry class. A Web-based learning application developed at North Carolina State University (NCSU), WebAssign is used across disciplines as a way for teachers to assess their students and offer supplemental information outside the lecture. He even applied to college using an online application.

As a member of the Net Generation, I have been surrounded by advances in digital technology, almost to the point where I cannot do my work as a journalist without it. In university, I have used assessment tools such as WebAssign and WebCT in classes as supplements to lecture and textbook. But now technology is advancing at such a rate that traditional ways of teaching and learning are not pushing students and teachers to their full potential. By using IT properly in the classroom, teaching and learning are enhanced and given a new dimension. Before curricula can be created to challenge the Net Generation, though, faculty must know how Net Geners learn and interact with each other, with technology, and with life in general. Remember that word- interact.

How the Net Gen Learns

Are you interested in knowing how Net Geners learn? Let me illustrate using my friends, me, and my grandfather.

Learning by Doing

Patrick Clarke, graphics editor for a student newspaper, sits down at a computer and launches Adobe InDesign. He opens a template for the news page and pulls in graphics, pictures, and text. He manipulates the blocks on the virtual newspaper page, moving back and forth between two other Adobe products, Photoshop and Illustrator. By the time the page is sent to the printer for printing, the elements on the page would have been manipulated, edited, and reedited at least a dozen times. Patrick is a creative and dynamic designer, but he is not a design major-he's in computer engineering.

Chris Reynolds is a business major and wants to open a music store when he graduates. In his spare time, he is a DJ musician. He spins and mixes his own beats, using a computer, sound-editing software, turntables, and a keyboard. He teamed up with a friend to make a how-to video on spinning. They used digital video and professional editing software to create the video. Because he is a DJ, he worries about court cases involving the music industry. A recent case where the use of "sampling" was ruled illegal hit him hard, as sampling is widely used by DJs when they create their music.

Jake Seaton is a big arts and entertainment fan. He lives and breathes for music, movies, and anything Hollywood. He can tell you about film and music history and can quote even the most obscure lines from zombie movies (his favorite). He also is up-to-date on the latest in computer and console gaming. He chose a multidisciplinary degree in music journalism and has taken distance-education courses. In high school he won a state architecture award and has taught himself to use Photoshop and InDesign.

These are representatives of the Net Generation. They all use computers in their class work and in their hobbies. They have a wide range of interests, outside their chosen area of study. They are not locked into one thing, although all are highly motivated and pursue their interests with passion. They use the latest in technology, whether cell phones, computers, PDAs, MP3 players, or digital cameras. They expect things to work properly and work fast. They get bored if not challenged properly, but when challenged, they excel in creative and innovative ways. They learn by doing, not by reading the instruction manual or listening to lectures. These are the learners that faculty must reach.

When I first came to NCSU in 2000, I came to a public university dedicated to technology. There were numerous computer labs all over campus, and professors actively used assessment tools like WebAssign and WebCT in their classes. In an experimental psychology class, I used SAS statistical software to crunch data I collected from experiments. I used online message boards to post ideas and criticism in my opinion/editorial writing class.

In my technical document design class, I experienced the best use of technology in a class: hands-on, experimental, and interactive. This course covered the fundamental designs of technical documents: instruction manuals, memos, resumes, and so forth. Taught in a computer lab, the class sat one student to a computer. We learned to use Adobe Pagemaker, the most popular desktop publishing program at the time. With basic exercises from the instructor and trial-and-error assignments with broad guidelines, I learned not only how to use the program but also design fundamentals-by doing the actual design, not by reading it out of a book.

This is how the Net Generation learns: by doing. Many of my peers have emerged as the leaders of my generation. They will go on to become the leaders of our nation in many different roles-politicians, business executives, artisans, scientists, and journalists. Much like how we learn by doing, we lead by doing; that is, by practicing the art and science of our chosen paths.

Human Interaction

Generational differences in learning techniques are apparent in how people of different ages approach technology. It has been said that we, the Net Generation, are closer to our grandparents-the Greatest Generation-in our work ethic and optimism about the future than to our parents' generation. But how we approach problems is totally different.

My grandfather is a tinkerer-he figures out how things work by trial and error. He is very mechanically inclined and has spent his life working on many kinds of machinery. But when it comes to computers, he approaches it one thing at a time, step by step.

Every time I come home from college, he has a new problem for me to fix on his computer. He will fiddle and fiddle with a program until he is befuddled. Usually it is because he missed a step somewhere. If I show him and write down steps, he takes the information I've given him and works it out for himself. Even though the computer's parts are more complex than a carburetor or gear drives, the skills my grandfather used to put it together came from decades of tinkering with machines. He still uses a step-by-step thinking process used in mechanical arts to figure out software and basic functions like e-mail and Internet browsing.

Similarly, Patrick sits down with a new piece of design software and tinkers with its features. "Usually, if it is from a software company I know, I can figure out a new program easily," he said. He has fundamental knowledge about how certain software should work. By tinkering, he can figure out shortcuts and pick up the gist of the program quickly.

Even though Patrick uses step-by-step problem-solving skills, he also is pulling information from his own memory, experience, and base knowledge to master the new program. Patrick has had almost two decades of experience working with computers-almost to the point that it is second nature. My grandfather, on the other hand, has only had about five years of computer experience. Because they have been wired since grade school, Net Geners are likely to grasp technological concepts faster.

But the same "tinkering" practice applies in the classroom: doing hands-on work and working in groups, students get a better grasp of concepts the professor is trying to teach. Using technology only enhances the hands-on experience; it does not-and cannot-replace human interaction. There's that word again.

Interaction, not Isolation

Distance education is the popular option for nontraditional learners. With many traditional industries such as manufacturing and textiles going offshore, 20-year veterans of the workplace are being laid off and going back to school to learn a new trade. Distance education-through Internet and video courses-helps those who have to work a job and go to school at the same time better schedule their learning opportunities. These people are usually older, in their 30s or 40s, and are learning to use technology, like the Internet and computers, while training for a new career. In theory, the Net Generation should learn better through Internet courses because they have been surrounded by computers all their lives and know how to use the technology already.

Just the opposite is true. Net Geners like the social interaction that comes with being in class with their peers. While they may use technology in their daily lives, relationships are a driving force in the learning process.

Jake Seaton, as a part of his multidisciplinary degree, took a video course through distance education-and didn't like it. "I needed the structure of going to class. I would go to my other classes and then come home and have another class to watch on TV," he said. "I didn't like it. At the end of the day, I wanted to be done, not have to work at a class at home."

This is typical among Net Geners: learning through social interaction is important. Feedback from the professor is vital, and working in groups is the norm. Arman Assa, MBA candidate and president of PackMUG-the Mac Users Group at NCSU-said that learning technology has not advanced enough to replace the social interaction in the classroom. "Historically, communal learning has always been the most effective way for educating the student and generating thought-provoking discussion in class. I don't believe technology has reached a point where we can duplicate that effectively on a computer," Assa said. "Some instructors argue that chat rooms, message boards, and instant messaging are good substitutes, but they are by no means replacements for the exchange of tacit knowledge.

"Does this mean that interactive technology is bad for the classroom? No. It means that it should simply augment what is already there," Assa continued. "For instance, one of my human resource classes in the MBA [program] has regular classroom discussion, but the instructor augments it with message board interaction. It was a very effective tool for helping introverts who don't talk in class to join the discussion."

Cut-and-Paste Culture

Technology is everywhere. Net Geners cannot remember a time in their education where a computer was not used for some learning experience. Because of this "tech-savviness," traditional educational practices and ethics are coming into question. Cheating, for example, always a major academic infraction, is on the rise on college campuses-and technology is helping with cheating. Talk to students and any one of them will tell you that cheating is prevalent and part of the culture, especially in technical disciplines. That is, if you use the strict definition of cheating.

NCSU uses WebCT and WebAssign extensively. Since a faculty member cannot directly supervise students and only the answers are recorded in WebAssign, not how the student came up with them, students often work together on their assignments. But students must submit their own answers. In computer engineering, students must write a program and submit it as a part of learning different coding languages. Patrick says these programs are worked over with a fine-tooth comb. "The TAs and instructors run the programs line-by-line to see if any code was copied," he said. "There may be opportunity to cheat, but you will get caught." He adds that there is not much opportunity to cheat during exams.

Plagiarism is the academic infraction of choice. How can it not be, though? Information is easily available from the Internet, especially from sites like Wikipedia. Old term papers are being sold online. Because the Internet provides easy information fast, the temptation to click "copy/paste" and pull in quotes from a Web site without attribution is great. But students still get caught because faculty members can search for familiar phrases or quotes to root out plagiarism.

Cheating is on the rise in universities. Is it because students aren't learning the material? Or is it because their learning and work ethic are so different from their professors that working together to solve a problem is no longer that serious an infraction? Remember that teamwork has been emphasized to Net Geners since the first day of kindergarten. Businesses are also looking for graduates who can work effectively in teams.

Based on the very social nature of Net Geners and the tremendous amount of information available to students these days at the touch of a button, the traditional definition of cheating is changing. How faculty assess students is changing as well. Faculty still give written exams (in English, it is still a certainty), but they must be ever more vigilant to catch the cheating student. Cell phones and text messaging have allowed students to text back and forth between each other, conferring through the airwaves on exam questions. Because of emerging technologies, faculty are having to adapt their classes and how they assess students in order to uphold academic integrity.

Challenges for Higher Education

So what do Net Geners want from learning technology? Interactivity-whether it is with a computer, a professor, or a classmate. They want it; they crave it. Traditional lectures are not fulfilling the learning potential of typical students today. Distance education and online courses don't work well with Net Geners-the social component of learning is required. As technology in the classroom progresses, more and more students are going to demand it be included. This will pose challenges, though.

Funding

First, technology costs money. What else is new? Faculty members can receive grants for using technology in the classroom and developing new learning technologies. This is fine on the department level, but for a university to implement learning technology on a massive scale will take an act of Congress. State legislatures are listening and meeting the basic technological needs for public universities. But it takes bond referendums for state-of-the-art classrooms in order to implement technology on a university level. And bonds are paid by the taxpayers because the referendums are voted upon by the taxpayers. No vote, no bonds. So it goes, I suppose.

Access and Skills

Second, students need to be able to use the technology. In North Carolina, students must pass a computer competency test in the eighth grade before being promoted to high school. They are tested on the most fundamental computer skills: word processing, creating a spreadsheet, using Web browsers, and e-mail. Beyond that, students either pick up skills on their own, take a class outside the primary educational setting-say at a community college or library-or don't learn at all. Users-even Net Geners-will only learn so much when operating a computer. The average student will use a computer for homework, online chatting, checking e-mail, and surfing the Internet. The more advanced users will know how to write a simple Web page, update a ready-made blog site, or download music and movies-perhaps illegally-and burn CDs. But for the most part, users have no knowledge about how to set up a local area network or how to troubleshoot their own computer for minor problems.

On a more fundamental level, there is such a thing as a "digital divide." Technology is expensive, and the only way for some school systems to afford computer labs is if computers are donated. These computers often are refurbished and several years old. While they are useful in teaching fundamental skills, like those tested for in the North Carolina standardized computer test, they will not be able to support the latest technology. Once a computer or software is released on the market, it is usually replaced in 18 months. How can a Pentium II running Windows 95 properly prepare a high school or college student for the working world, which uses Windows XP? It can't. These computers ideally should be relatively up to date and able to provide students with not only fundamental skills but also the chance to learn intermediate and advanced skills as the "cool new thing" rolls out of the factory.

There are students who cannot afford a personal computer in their homes and must rely on technology in their schools or local libraries. There are even students whose first real experience with technology will come when they go to college. How can they possibly survive in the high-tech college world if they don't know the basics?

Colleges need to teach students computer skills beyond fundamentals. Skills such as digital document archiving, Web page design using Dreamweaver or Flash, setting up wireless networks, and using a firewall are quickly becoming the norm, where in the past they were considered advanced knowledge. Even basic upkeep and troubleshooting is still left up to tech-support hotlines, often located halfway around the world. These are the skills students need to know to be competitive. Many colleges offer introductory courses in computer science that are available as electives in many disciplines. Updating the intro course curricula-or even the state standardized tests-will go a long way in fostering computer skills.

While usability has gotten better as operating systems have progressed, you still hear comments like "I can't use a Mac, I use Windows," or "I only know how to word process on my computer, I can't use MS Word on a Mac." Even though the Net Generation learns quickly, the old adage "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" still applies. The inability to move between platforms-and the lack of accelerated fundamental skills-is a major hindrance to learning technology. The workforce is so competitive that the difference in knowing how to set up a simple network and basic computer troubleshooting over knowing just document preparation could mean a job down the road. It will be a challenge to overcome, but it isn't impossible.

Interaction

Third, technology must be relevant and interactive to the coursework. A faculty member who uses PowerPoint in a lecture is not using technology interactively. Students need a practical use for technology, whether to manipulate data or to explore the inner recesses of the human body without cutting up cadavers. Students need to communicate quickly with each other, but in a centralized manner. That is why message boards are great. Members-only message boards allow students and faculty to communicate with each other. Plus, faculty members can use the course lockers during lectures and provide information outside lecture for students to explore at their own pace.

Relevance

Fourth, technology must be used for a practical purpose-that is, taking the fundamentals and technology learned over a semester and applying it to a final project, where creativity and uniqueness is required and rewarded. In my technical document design class, we had to create a useful technical document: write the text and design a technical document using Pagemaker. My group designed an instruction booklet for a video game. Chris Reynolds used his sound-editing software to help a friend with a music project. They wrote a short piece of music, recorded and edited it, and burned it to a CD for the professor to evaluate. Chris was excited because it gave him a chance to "play" with his software. While he doesn't use his music software in his business courses, he is learning skills that could be marketable after college. Plus, his friend got an "A" on the project.

Using technology for some practical purpose, and not for the sake of using technology, must be the clear objective. "Students are often the guinea pigs in 'IT-enabled' classes as faculty test out whether the latest innovations actually help learning," Assa said. "Some faculty, in an effort to use the latest buzzword or receive the next big grant, are testing technology simply for the sake of technology, rather than using technology as a tool for learning, such as paper and pencils. When people focus too much on technology, they lose sight of the true purpose of technology, which is to facilitate learning in the classroom."

The Next Generation

Turn on the TV on Saturday mornings and watch cartoons for an hour. Count how many commercials there are for interactive toys for toddlers and young children. Even babies have "learning centers," with flashing colored lights and music. Whether or not the "Mozart Effect"-the theory that musical stimulation increases IQ scores-exists, parents have latched onto the idea that it does, and toy makers are obliging and capitalizing on their belief.

These new learners are exposed to technology-even on a rudimentary scale-from nearly the womb onward. My mother's kindergarten class uses the computer for learning games that reinforce counting and spelling skills. A quarter of the population has a computer at home, and many more have access to a computer-and the number continues to grow every year.

The next generation of learners will meet and surpass the Net Generation's expectations of educational standards. Those standards will only be met if faculty and administrators today establish the infrastructure of learning technology in the classroom. And not just using PowerPoint in the lecture hall, but understanding how technology can be used to reach the most people in an effective way. It will take great effort on both sides-students and faculty alike-to learn and use technology effectively. But the benefits will be well worth the effort.

About the Author

Ben McNeely is the managing editor of Technician, the student newspaper at North Carolina State University. A senior in English, Ben hosts a talk show on WKNC-FM and also contributes to the yearbook and to the online magazine Americana. As an officer in PackMUG, the Macintosh Users Group at NC State, he was instrumental in bringing Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computer, to campus as a speaker. McNeely, an aspiring journalist and Eagle Scout, is interested in technology's impact on today's society and its implications for the future.

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Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing

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Ben McNeely North Carolina State University © Ben McNeely I fully realized the digital age when I first spoke to my grandparents over the "talk" feature on AOL Instant Messenger. How cool is it, I thought, to have grandparents that not only have a computer, but know how to use it?

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Cite this guide: Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom's Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.

Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information

The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. You're free to share, reproduce, or otherwise use it, as long as you attribute it to the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. For a higher resolution version, visit our Flickr account and look for the "Download this photo" icon.

Background Information

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom with collaborators Max Englehart, Edward Furst, Walter Hill, and David Krathwohl published a framework for categorizing educational goals: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Familiarly known as Bloom's Taxonomy, this framework has been applied by generations of K-12 teachers and college instructors in their teaching.

The framework elaborated by Bloom and his collaborators consisted of six major categories: Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The categories after Knowledge were presented as "skills and abilities," with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills and abilities into practice.

While each category contained subcategories, all lying along a continuum from simple to complex and concrete to abstract, the taxonomy is popularly remembered according to the six main categories.

The Original Taxonomy (1956)

Here are the authors' brief explanations of these main categories in from the appendix of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives ( Handbook One, pp. 201-207):

Knowledge "involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting."

Comprehension "refers to a type of understanding or apprehension such that the individual knows what is being communicated and can make use of the material or idea being communicated without necessarily relating it to other material or seeing its fullest implications."

Application refers to the "use of abstractions in particular and concrete situations."

Analysis represents the "breakdown of a communication into its constituent elements or parts such that the relative hierarchy of ideas is made clear and/or the relations between ideas expressed are made explicit."

Synthesis involves the "putting together of elements and parts so as to form a whole."

Evaluation engenders "judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes."

The 1984 edition of Handbook One is available in the CFT Library in Calhoun 116. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

Barbara Gross Davis, in the "Asking Questions" chapter of Tools for Teaching, also provides examples of questions corresponding to the six categories. This chapter is not available in the online version of the book, but Tools for Teaching is available in the CFT Library. See its ACORN record for call number and availability.

The Revised Taxonomy (2001)

A group of cognitive psychologists, curriculum theorists and instructional researchers, and testing and assessment specialists published in 2001 a revision of Bloom's Taxonomy with the title A Taxonomy for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. This title draws attention away from the somewhat static notion of "educational objectives" (in Bloom's original title) and points to a more dynamic conception of classification.

The authors of the revised taxonomy underscore this dynamism, using verbs and gerunds to label their categories and subcategories (rather than the nouns of the original taxonomy). These "action words" describe the cognitive processes by which thinkers encounter and work with knowledge:

Remember

Understand

Interpreting

Exemplifying

Classifying

Summarizing

Inferring

Comparing

Explaining

Apply

Analyze

Differentiating

Organizing

Attributing

Evaluate

Create

In the revised taxonomy, knowledge is at the basis of these six cognitive processes, but its authors created a separate taxonomy of the types of knowledge used in cognition:

Factual Knowledge

Knowledge of terminology

Knowledge of specific details and elements

Conceptual Knowledge

Knowledge of classifications and categories

Knowledge of principles and generalizations

Knowledge of theories, models, and structures

Procedural Knowledge

Knowledge of subject-specific skills and algorithms

Knowledge of subject-specific techniques and methods

Knowledge of criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures

Metacognitive Knowledge

Strategic Knowledge

Knowledge about cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual and conditional knowledge

Self-knowledge

Mary Forehand from the University of Georgia provides a guide to the revised version giving a brief summary of the revised taxonomy and a helpful table of the six cognitive processes and four types of knowledge.

Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy?

The authors of the revised taxonomy suggest a multi-layered answer to this question, to which the author of this teaching guide has added some clarifying points:

1. Objectives (learning goals) are important to establish in a pedagogical interchange so that teachers and students alike understand the purpose of that interchange.

2. Organizing objectives helps to clarify objectives for themselves and for students.

3. Having an organized set of objectives helps teachers to:

"plan and deliver appropriate instruction";

"design valid assessment tasks and strategies";and

"ensure that instruction and assessment are aligned with the objectives."

Citations are from A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Further Information

Section III of A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, entitled "The Taxonomy in Use," provides over 150 pages of examples of applications of the taxonomy. Although these examples are from the K-12 setting, they are easily adaptable to the university setting.

Section IV, "The Taxonomy in Perspective," provides information about 19 alternative frameworks to Bloom's Taxonomy, and discusses the relationship of these alternative frameworks to the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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by Patricia Armstrong Print Version Cite this guide: Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom's Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/. Background Information | The Original Taxonomy | The Revised Taxonomy | Why Use Bloom's Taxonomy? | Further Information The above graphic is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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Great article on levels of interaction for each type

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There is a difference between the traditional "levels of interactivity" for asynchronous e-learning and interactions. Actually, they are very different.

Levels of interactivity are usually used during the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Proposal stages of business development/sales/contracting to figure out scope and pricing for an e-learning project. Based on my experience, I use four levels of interactivity, while many companies/individuals use only three. My definitions are an amalgam of many other definitions I've come across over the years:

1. Level 1 Interactivity: Passive Learning. Text, graphics, simple audio, simple video, test questions. Learner acts solely as a receiver of information. (Page-Turner)

2. Level 2 Interactivity: Limited Participation, Makes simple response to instructional cues. Liberal use of multimedia. Some exercises. (Drill & Practice)

3. Level 3 Interactivity: Complex Participation. Makes a variety of responses using varied techniques in response to instructional cues. (Complex Branching, Complex Choices)

4. Level 4 Interactivity: Real-Time Participation. Full immersion, simulated job performance /task, real-time feedback. (Real-Time Simulation in Operational Setting)

Interactions, on the other hand, have everything to do with the actual design of the e-learning project to bring about the desired performance change. To focus on the type of interactions we need to design, we need to understand what we are trying to accomplish with the interactions. To do that, we need to take a look at Bloom's taxonomy. Bloom's taxonomy is considered hierarchical (from bottom to top), ordered in terms of increasing complexity of learning, and consists of the categories below:

Creating: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, write

Evaluating: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate

Analyzing: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question

Applying: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

Understanding: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate

Remembering: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state

Click on "Next" is not an interaction. Clicking on an audio file to listen is not interaction. Clicking on a video file to watch is not interaction. Clicking on a "reveal" graphic to see more text is not interaction.

There are two types of interactions: Instructional Interactions, and Performance Interactions.

Instructional Interactions

Instructional interactions are centered around Bloom's level levels of learning such as the "Remembering" and "Understanding" categories (see above). Traditional e-Learning has been about "learning," and "knowing." Well, that's nice, but still does not solve the job skills problem of doing better back the workplace. It's kind of like driver education classes. You "learn" all about the rules of the road, traffic signs, lane markers, and driving laws. That's valuable. It's very valuable. It also falls under "Remembering" and "Understanding." You wouldn't give someone driver's license after only taking a class and passing a written exam would you? What about all the "driving" practice they need? Allen Interactions has a good definition for Instructional Interactions: Interactivity that actively stimulates the learner's mind to do those things that improve ability and readiness to perform effectively. Instructional interactions are not just about "knowing," but about getting the learner "ready to do something."

Performance Interactions

Performance interactions, unlike instructional interactions, focus on Bloom's higher levels of learning centered around Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating. In other words, DOING stuff. It's in the DOING that we help learners bring back to the workplace improved performance. It's what people DO in their jobs that matters, not just what they know. They can "know" all day long, yet what matters at the end of the day is what they "do," how they perform. Performance is DOING something.

Thinking about it in another way, Performance interactions are moving us toward simulations of the workplace. Here, we allow the learner to opportunity to practice, practice, and practice until they reach proficiency.

I also like Allen Interactions approach to this type of interaction. They call it the CCAF model:

Context: Specific, visual, related to application, taps into emotions, personal

Challenge: Purpose, progressive difficulty, real-life, multi-step

Activity: Requires effort, suggest application, elicit meaningful behavior, direct manipulation

Feedback: Intrinsic, delayed judgment, content-rich, honest

Thankfully, we now have the ability and the technology to offer "doing" interactions in out e-learning. I attribute this to the advances in learning technology spurred on by the Game-Based Learning/Serious Games/Simulation movement in our industry.

Comments, jabs, refutes, discussions?

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There is a difference between the traditional "levels of interactivity" for asynchronous e-learning and interactions. Actually, they are very different. Levels of interactivity are usually used during the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Proposal stages of business development/sales/contracting to figure out scope and pricing for an e-learning project.

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Purpose, Action and Progress

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Interactions with people related to work performance occur on a daily basis for most managers. We get work accomplished through these interactions, which happen with varying degrees of success. Some of these performance related discussions leave those involved feeling inspired, focused and prepared to take action. Others leave people feeling befuddled, confused, and wondering what is expected to happen next.

As managers in the new business normal, it is up to us to drive these performance conversations so that they are purposeful and direct performance in a way that gets the intended results. Here is my definition of a successful performance interaction:

A successful performance interaction is one that results in purposeful action and progress and where people follow basic principles of human behavior.

A key part of a successful performance interaction is one that results in purposeful action and progress. So, what does that mean?

To understand that, it helps to first realize that the reason we have interactions with people about performance is to get work done. That means these performance discussions are about getting results. Successful interactions provide the impetus for people to take purposeful actions that lead to progress.

Successful performance interactions result in purposeful action...but not just any action is considered purposeful. Purposeful action is about making decisions and taking actions that are consistent with the attainment of desired individual and organizational outcomes. Purpose is about identifying and pursuing the outcomes needed. Action is about focusing the effort and taking the steps needed to get there.

This happens as people make choices and decisions that spur on action for which they are accountable. As managers, we are responsible for working with our team members to help them establish action steps to take that will get the results needed. We then must follow-up and hold them accountable for commitments they make.

This leads to the part of the performance interaction that addresses progress, which is essential for so many reasons. First, progress is about moving forward or onward toward a destination or goal. It's about action that gets us somewhere we desire to go. Progress helps us reach our individual and organizational goals and to attain the outcomes we seek.

Second, our need to feel a sense of progress cannot be overestimated and it is a driver for future action. The topic of progress is getting an enormous amount of attention from successful business people and thought leaders who recognize the motivational value that progress provides. As we interact with our team members, it is incumbent upon us as managers to help them recognize and celebrate their progress when it has been made, and to press them on for progress that is still needed.

Successful performance interactions with people help us as managers to accomplish work and get results. As we continue to develop our ability to engage in successful discussions about performance, we will improve our own individual performance and future success in the new business normal.

What has been your experience in engaging in discussions with people about performance?

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Performance interactions are about purpose, action and progress. | Starfish Performance Consulting with Terry Crow

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Interactions with people related to work performance occur on a daily basis for most managers. We get work accomplished through these interactions, which happen with varying degrees of success. Some of these performance related discussions leave those involved feeling inspired, focused and prepared to take action.

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5 Simple and Effective eLearning Interactions

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5 Simple and Effective eLearning Interactions

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Why invest in eLearning courses instead of "flat" media like PowerPoints and webinars? The interactivity, of course. Besides the obvious benefits-reduced costs and a increased accessibility-eLearning allows learners to practice safely through a variety of interactions.

I interviewed Sharon Boller, President of Bottom-Line Performance, to compile a list of effective eLearning interactions. This list is a great starting point for structuring content that really helps change attitudes and behaviors.

According to Sharon, the main challenge is to think of an interaction as something that mentally engages the learner- not just stuff they can click on. If you can help people begin the mental exercise of pondering something, you're on the right track.

Let's look at the five interaction types Sharon identified for eLearning.

Scenarios

Scenarios are perhaps the broadest category, and the most commonly used eLearning interaction type. Most eLearning courses will have at least one section with scenarios. Many of the courses we design are entirely scenario-driven. Sharon identified three main types.

"What Would You Do?" Scenarios

Present a scenario, either with a simple paragraph of text or text and an image. Then, ask the question: "What would you do?" Leave a blank field that learners can type into, then let them compare their response to a suggested response after submitting. It's simple and effective to ask people this, you don't need fancy graphic design or programming skills to use this interaction.

Multiple Choice Scenarios (No branching)

Multiple choice questions hold many benefits for eLearning. First off, you can capture the data and easily score it. Multiple choice questions are more realistic than we'd like to think. Sharon pointed out that "life is a series of multiple choice questions." Feel free to make liberal use of scenarios driven by multiple choice questions in your eLearning.

To control the complexity and cost of your scenario, only design for the series of correct responses. Then simply write feedback for the incorrect responses. If learners choose an incorrect option, they see feedback explaining what they should have chosen before moving on. While you lose some of the opportunity for learners to see consequences and learn from mistakes, scenarios like this are much simpler to build from a programming and design standpoint. Try this interaction if you don't have skill or ability to do a branching scenario.

Branching Scenarios

The biggest opportunity for learning from mistakes in eLearning comes from branching scenarios. Let learners go down the wrong path for awhile and see where it gets them; they'll appreciate the ability to see a realistic range of possibilities.

The key to a successful branching scenario is to keep most branches limited to two choices. This will limit the complexity. As you can see from the screenshot above, every decision does not need to be limited to two choices. The trick is to control the length of your scenario as you go, making sure it doesn't creep outside of your scope.

The Building Evacuation course we built for s Fortune 500 client is a branching scenario from start to finish. We kept the course within a tight budget by limiting how far each branch could go; incorrect responses only continued for two more choices before ending. Try this approach when you need to include more than two options, but still want to limit the complexity.

See the course for yourself here.

Q&A... with a "success" meter

Questions and answers are a common feature of eLearning courses, especially in the form of a post-test. Why not include a meter that shows learners how their performance affects their job success, or the success of their organization?

The example below is a sales meter found in the Formulation Type Matters eLearning game we developed for Dow AgroSciences. Players answer customer questions, and their overall sales increase or decrease based on their results.

Other courses we've built include a meter showing learner performance compared to a competitor. Based on their ability to respond to questions, learners gained or lost market share for the company. This interaction allows you to use a simple Q&A approach, but show how the results are tied to the success of the company. Learners like this approach because the feedback is presented in terms of a real-world consequence. Sharon noted that creating any type of consequence besides right or wrong helps make the connection with why learners' actions matter.

Getting Advice from Characters

Use of characters and learning agents is common practice for instructional designers. Giving learners the ability to ask for help from various characters in the course works well as an interaction.

In the Healthy Families course we designed for the Indiana School of Nursing, we scripted out characters who represented different points of view someone might commonly go to. One was a co-worker, one was a boss. While considering options, learners could listen to 30 second sound bytes from a co-worker, listen to a boss share their perception. Learners would consider both pieces of advice... some of it good and some of it less valuable. Use an interaction like this to encourage the mindset of talking to other people or consulting a resource to gain information.

"Day in the Life" Calendars

Whenever possible, learning interactions should help mirror the conditions and decisions learners face on their jobs. Another interaction Sharon liked in the Healthy Families course was the ability to access the "day calendar" for the learner's job role. By simply clicking the calendar and seeing a typical daily schedule, this interaction sets context at the start about why information in the course even matters.

Explorable Environments, Intriguing Visuals

When learners are not choosing their response in an eLearning scenario, they are often exploring an environment. A typical "exploration" interaction involves hovering over various things and learning what they are, and the key is to make the environment relevant, and the visuals compelling. If you have access to a graphic designer but no programmer, you can get a long way by designing a great graphic learners will want to look at and explore, without needing to include advanced programming features.

Summary

Throughout all of these eLearning interactions, Sharon recommends thinking in terms of "choose your own adventure." Continuously putting people in the mindset of "what would you do?", while creating some sort of real-world stake to make people feel vested. While some of these interactions obviously require some programming and design support, you can get started on most of them with even the most basic of authoring tools.

Need some help designing your eLearning course? Contact us.

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5 Simple and Effective eLearning Interactions | Bottom-Line Performance

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Why invest in eLearning courses instead of "flat" media like PowerPoints and webinars? The interactivity, of course. Besides the obvious benefits-reduced costs and a increased accessibility-eLearning allows learners to practice safely through a variety of interactions. I interviewed Sharon Boller, President of Bottom-Line Performance, to compile a list of effective eLearning interactions.

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Just how crazy conflicted are people's attention span? Are people checking their Facebook page, watching television and talking on the phone at the same time?

CreditDonkey set out to find the answer by asking more than 1,200 survey participants to grade their attention spans when performing different activities. And these respondents were apparently pretty honest, acknowledging that their ability to focus has been spread thin.

Admitting There Is a Problem

About 4 in 10 respondents said they use multiple electronic devices simultaneously every single day. And 11% admitted to doing so every waking hour. From texting while doing a Google search on your laptop to scheduling a recording on your DVR while reading Twitter updates, you have so many options for gadgets and so many opportunities to lose your focus on any one thing.

In our survey, respondents told us they are more likely to pay better attention when texting than when they talk on the phone. This wasn't even a question we would have asked a decade ago.

Nearly half of all respondents said their ability to remember short-term information has declined over the past five years. Though some may attribute this to getting older, we have a hunch that technology's more dominant role in everyday life has something to do with it. Only a third said their long-term memory has been affected in the same way.

Dodging the Details

Given the many different avenues for how information can find its way to us, many people have adjusted by overlooking details and focusing mostly on the bigger picture. For instance, two-thirds of respondents said they do not fully read contracts but rather skim through before signing. However, 12% actually admitted they don't read contracts at all before providing their signature.

When asked about their reading habits, about a third of respondents said they stop reading an online article by the time they're halfway through it. Whether they become uninterested or feel they get the gist of the article, they call it quits before getting to the end of it. In fact, 12% said they don't even get halfway and, instead, stop after the first paragraph. It's no wonder the advertisement industry has had to evolve so much in the past few years. With so many ways to shrink our attention spans in recent years, there's a limited amount of time to capture anyone's interest and share information with them.

Men vs. Women

Apparently gender also plays a role in how people view their attention spans. Men rated themselves higher when asked about their level of focus while watching TV and playing sports.

67% of women said their attention spans are "good" while working, compared with 63% of men.

67% of women graded their attention spans as "good" while reading, compared with 59% of men.

51% of women said their attention spans are "good" while texting, compared with 41% of men.

By contrast, men reported better attention spans while: watching TV (43% for men vs. 37% percent for women); exercising (54% vs. 46%); and playing sports (67% vs. 45%).

Almost 49% of women said their ability to remember short-term information declined in the past five years, and 38% said their ability to remember long-term information also declined during that period. By comparison, 41% of men said their short-term memory declined, and 3% said their long-term memory worsened.

How Your Attention Span Is Affected By Age

When looking at how age affected responses, we saw that the younger respondents rated themselves lower when asked about their attention span while working, reading, spending time with family and driving. As age increased, so did people's ratings for themselves in these areas.

Younger respondents also admitted to having buyer's remorse more frequently, as well as more often forgetting details about close friends and family, such as birthdays. Unsurprisingly, more of the older respondents reported experiencing short-term memory loss in the past five year, and fewer of them said they use multiple electronic devices at once. However, more of those older folks said they finish reading online articles once they've started and fully read through contracts before signing them.

Focus Your Attention on These Things, If Nothing Else

Speeding through an article or listening to music while checking your email isn't that big of a deal, but there are some times when having a shorter attention span or choosing to overlook details doesn't work in your favor. When reading contracts, for example, it's never a great idea to sign something you haven't read or have only partially read. Interestingly, 20% of respondents admitted they're not the most focused while they are driving. This is one time you definitely don't want to lose concentration.

In comparing themselves to others, just over a third of all respondents think everyone else has a longer attention span than they have. Thankfully, only a small few, 1.7%, feel they have attention spans shorter than a goldfish. It's easy to get bombarded with information given how much of it surrounds us at a time. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. In fact, as many as 6% claim they've forgotten their own birthday! Though most of us can't attest to that, we can all confirm that the excess of information and ways to consume it have dwindled our attention spans in recent times.

(CreditDonkey conducted the online survey of 1,254 Americans, age 18 and over between August 8 and August 12, 2014. Percentage may not add to 100 due to rounding.)
Jasmine Williams is a contributing writer at CreditDonkey, a credit card comparison and financial education website. Write to Jasmine Williams at jasmine@creditdonkey.com. Our data-driven analysis has been recognized by major news outlets across the country and has helped young adults make savvy financial and lifestyle decisions. (read more)

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Just how crazy conflicted are people's attention span? Are people checking their Facebook page, watching television and talking on the phone at the same time? CreditDonkey set out to find the answer by asking more than 1,200 survey participants to grade their attention spans when performing different activities.

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Being compared to a goldfish is not a good thing. Goldfish are given away in plastic bags in exchange for pocket change at fairs. If your new pet goldfish dies, most people would suggest flushing it down the toilet, or tossing it in the trash. Kinda sad, huh? The story gets even sadder when you consider that in some situations the human mind is inferior to the mind of a common goldfish, at least in regards to attention span.

Despite occasional inferiority to a goldfish, the human brain is a powerful organ capable of completing complex tasks that require enormous amounts of focus. Thus, if your presentation does not inspire your audience to stretch their attention spans beyond the limits of a small fish, it is your fault. Don't place blame on modern lifestyle habits, or technology. Take responsibility for keeping the audience engaged during your presentation. Use these 5 tips to connect with your audience members, and expand their attention spans to the length of your talk.

1. Start strong.

In the study, Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use, researchers determined that the average human span in 2013 was only 8 seconds (the average goldfish can pay attention for 9 seconds). As you can tell by the title of the study, researchers tested the human attention span specifically for web browsing. If you are designing your presentation to share on SlideShare, or other online platforms, you must communicate a compelling message in the first 8 seconds of your presentation, or risk losing your audience.

The 8 second rule can also be valuable for presentations that take place in the real world (as opposed to the Internet). Since everyone has the Internet in their pocket at all times, it is safe to assume that audience members will stop listening to your presentation after 8 dull seconds, and instead scroll through social media, or answer emails, if possible.

To hook viewers within the first 8 seconds, use sophisticated design techniques to create slides that are aesthetically pleasing and interesting to view. Also, carefully craft a title that will resonate with your target audience. If you can use your title to point to the problem that your content will solve for your audience, your odds of gaining and keeping attention will increase dramatically.

The first slides following your title slide should be dynamic in style and content. Don't save your best ideas until the end of the presentation. From the start, convince your audience that your presentation is worth their time
2. Mix it up.
If your audience is still paying attention after the first 8 seconds, you have approximately 4 minutes and 52 seconds until their attention spans are exhausted. The average adult attention span has plummeted from 12 minutes a decade ago to just 5 minutes now, according to a Fortune.com article.

If you can deliver your entire presentation in a total of 5 minutes or less, go for it; your audience will love you.

For everyone else, break your presentation into a series of 5 minute experiences, separated by small breaks. To create a break, you can simply take a breath or two to give the audience a moment of silence before launching into the next section. For longer presentations, or presentations on complex topics, consider giving your audience enough time to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. If possible, limit your presentation to a total of 20 minutes, the maximum amount of time most audiences can actively listen to a presentation.
3. Solve a problem.
Instead of unloading information on audience members, lighten their loads by using your presentation to make their lives better. Craft your material so that your message directly speaks to the audience members. Give solutions, insights, inspiration, or even entertainment. Just don't make your presentation all about you and your ideas.

Before you start writing and designing your presentation, research your audience. Identify a list of ways that your presentation can be custom built for the interests and needs of the audience. Select the most compelling connections between your audience and your message; use these connections as a compass to guide you as you create your presentation. When you deliver your presentation, use the pronoun you more than I.

Even if your ideas are brilliant, you still need to package your ideas in a presentation designed to serve as a resource for the audience; that is the best way to keep the attention on you.
4. Earn Respect.
"Seek respect, not attention. It lasts longer." ― Ziad K. Abdelnour

Having the respect of your audience is one of the best techniques for getting and keeping attention during your presentation. To earn respect as a presenter, take the time to create an exceptional presentation with a meaningful message and stunning visuals.

To get started, do your homework. Review your topic from every angle. Schedule enough time to thoughtfully write and design your presentation. Seek feedback on your content and visuals. Edit. Seek more feedback. Edit again. Practice, and practice more.

The day of your presentation, arrive early to the presentation venue. While presenting, speak with confidence, make eye contact with audience members, and be mindful of your audience members' needs, interests and most importantly, their time.

Take your presentation and your audience seriously, and you will be on the path to gaining respect, and holding attention for the duration of your presentation.
5. Lighten up.
Presentations are notorious for lulling people to sleep. No one will ever claim that they experienced Death By PowerPoint because they felt like dying due to excessive fun during a presentation. Thus, presenters have to rise above traditional presentation styles that bore people to tears to conquer the notoriously short attention span of the average adult. To save your audience from Death by PowerPoint, tell stories, use humor, be unexpected, and interact with the audience when possible. Never use bullet points. And if you are always serious during presentations, try to lighten up. Your audience will be energized by your positive attitude.

Conclusion: The average adult might lose interest easily, but is that really surprising? With seemingly endless options for entertainment and education, it should not be a shock to learn that people choose not to pay attention to things that don't interest them. As a presenter, it is your responsibility to make your presentation a valuable, worthwhile experience for your audience. To be a successful presenter, start by following these 5 tips for conquering short attention spans during presentations.

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How-To Conquer Short Attention Spans | Ethos3 - A Presentation Design Agency

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Being compared to a goldfish is not a good thing. Goldfish are given away in plastic bags in exchange for pocket change at fairs. If your new pet goldfish dies, most people would suggest flushing it down the toilet, or tossing it in the trash. Kinda sad, huh?

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You Now Have A Shorter Attention Span than a Goldfish

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You Now Have A Shorter Attention Span than a Goldfish

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You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish

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A new study from Microsoft Corp. a human attention span is 8 seconds, showing the affect of increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain

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Articulate Storyline

Articulate Engage

Camtasia - recording videos, ability to add quizzes and hotspots (free trial available)

SnagIt -  screenshot of any image on the computer and edit/manipulate them; we use this to create a lot of custom graphics (free trial available)

PollEverywhere - free polling software

Audacity - record and edit sounds; format them to use in presentations (free)