Are some levels of Bloom's taxonomy easier to teach online than others? Are some levels more of a challenge to teach online?
Bloom's taxonomy and the verbs associated with it, are excellent tools when developing objectives, teaching tools and assessment techniques for an online course. The taxonomical vocabulary is an effective way to determine the learning level of the participants. I think that all levels of the Bloom’s taxonomy can be taught through an online course.
The first level is remembering, with an aim to check if students can recall or remember the given information. This is particularly important because if students are unable to remember the basic concepts, they won’t be able to move towards critical thinking described in the Bloom’y s taxonomy. For example, if a student can’t remember the basic formula and definition of an organic compound from the chemistry lesson, he/she can’t move to the second level of understanding where he/she is required to recognize and classify organic and inorganic compounds. Other elements of these levels can be easily taken care of in an online course by including some simple assessment questions (such as fill in the blanks, define the term, classify the given items in categories). I found the free source for creating flash cards :http://www.studyblue.com/teachers/. This can be used to create flash cards online and help students remember and understands the basic concepts.
The third level is application where information has to be used in new and concrete situations to solve a problem and can be taught through exercises which include illustration, interpretation, preparing and solving activities. At this level, dramatization can be an important tool and can be used in online teaching and learning. The website http://www.xtranormal.com/, helps students to make their own stories.
The fourth level requires a student to analyze a situation, examining and breaking information into parts by identifying motives or causes; making inferences and finding evidence to support an idea, differentiating, illustrating,comparing and solving a given problem. This can be included in the form of creating graphs, doing surveys and making reports. When students use the Internet to conduct research for their classes, they can move beyond the basic 'knowledge', or fact-gathering, stage and apply analysis to the information they find.
The fifth level is of higher critical thinking in which, student is expected to judge material based on personal opinion and values. Learners may be involved in a debate, criticism, recommendation, judgment and assessing kind of activities. The discussion board and argument against the peer’s work are some activities those can help students to demonstrate their evaluation skills.
This is highest level critical thinking which involves creating new point of view or the product. Students are required to compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions. Interactive activities, like blog writing, scenario simulation games and case study analysis, can lead to higher levels within Bloom's hierarchy of learning. Students learn better when they are actively engaged in the coursework rather than just being passive listeners. A website called ElectroCity, is an online computer game that enable players to create and manage their own virtual towns and cities.(http://www.electrocity.co.nz/)
I totally agree that it may seem that teaching and asking a predominance of lower-level questions in the assignments or as part of classroom question–a nswer dialogues may fixate student thinking at the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. We won’t be able to develop students' more complex intellectual capabilities. If an instructor does a careful content analysis of instructional objectives, activities, assessments, and other student experiences, then students can strive the higher levels of thinking.
Bloom's taxonomy and the verbs associated with it, are excellent tools when developing objectives, teaching tools and assessment techniques for an online course. The taxonomical vocabulary is an effective way to determine the learning level of the participants. I think that all levels of the Bloom’s taxonomy can be taught through an online course.
The first level is remembering, with an aim to check if students can recall or remember the given information. This is particularly important because if students are unable to remember the basic concepts, they won’t be able to move towards critical thinking described in the Bloom’y s taxonomy. For example, if a student can’t remember the basic formula and definition of an organic compound from the chemistry lesson, he/she can’t move to the second level of understanding where he/she is required to recognize and classify organic and inorganic compounds. Other elements of these levels can be easily taken care of in an online course by including some simple assessment questions (such as fill in the blanks, define the term, classify the given items in categories). I found the free source for creating flash cards :http://www.studyblue.com/teachers/. This can be used to create flash cards online and help students remember and understands the basic concepts.
The third level is application where information has to be used in new and concrete situations to solve a problem and can be taught through exercises which include illustration, interpretation, preparing and solving activities. At this level, dramatization can be an important tool and can be used in online teaching and learning. The website http://www.xtranormal.com/, helps students to make their own stories.
The fourth level requires a student to analyze a situation, examining and breaking information into parts by identifying motives or causes; making inferences and finding evidence to support an idea, differentiating, illustrating,comparing and solving a given problem. This can be included in the form of creating graphs, doing surveys and making reports. When students use the Internet to conduct research for their classes, they can move beyond the basic 'knowledge', or fact-gathering, stage and apply analysis to the information they find.
The fifth level is of higher critical thinking in which, student is expected to judge material based on personal opinion and values. Learners may be involved in a debate, criticism, recommendation, judgment and assessing kind of activities. The discussion board and argument against the peer’s work are some activities those can help students to demonstrate their evaluation skills.
This is highest level critical thinking which involves creating new point of view or the product. Students are required to compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions. Interactive activities, like blog writing, scenario simulation games and case study analysis, can lead to higher levels within Bloom's hierarchy of learning. Students learn better when they are actively engaged in the coursework rather than just being passive listeners. A website called ElectroCity, is an online computer game that enable players to create and manage their own virtual towns and cities.(http://www.electrocity.co.nz/)
I totally agree that it may seem that teaching and asking a predominance of lower-level questions in the assignments or as part of classroom question–a nswer dialogues may fixate student thinking at the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. We won’t be able to develop students' more complex intellectual capabilities. If an instructor does a careful content analysis of instructional objectives, activities, assessments, and other student experiences, then students can strive the higher levels of thinking.
Discussion:
Most tests are not, in themselves, learning experiences. But if, as Savneet points out, a teacher wants to learn how students are achieving and also enhance learning, might he/she find another assessment technique to do both?
I designed the weekly assignments in this course to be learning activities, in which you must apply various theories and strategies to your own course. I agree that assessments should be part of the instruction!-Jodi
Hi Savnett,
I'm having a bit of a problem figuring out how to determine the challenges in preparing assessments before I've written the objectives that they're assessing.
The think that in answer to "Will this test enhance learning?" that - If the objective is clear, and the lecture supports that objective, and the student demonstrates the measurable learning outcome when assessed - then we have a successful learning event. and we have closed some kind of a loop.
On the other hand, my brain is spinning at the moment.
Catherine
No comments:
Post a Comment