Bloom's Taxonomy for Online Learning: A Crash Course (+Template)

Bloom's Taxonomy is a well-established teaching framework to help teachers to meet the requirements of their students . However, do entrepreneurs and course creators utilize the same framework in their businesses? It's certainly our opinion.

If you attended the school system, what was it that made you thrive: numbers or words? Do you remember Maths as well as Science your most favored subjects or did you long to attend English class?

Have you stopped to think about the process that led you to this point? It was when you learned to count and after which you learned to add then you were introduced into Physics and Calculus. You didn't arrive in Grade 1 with a book of Shakespeare in your hands and someone was there to teach you about letters, and how they combine to form the words that appear in the novel you love.

Brains develop slowly, layering concepts on concept, progressively increasing their levels of complexity. From the beginning of kindergarten until the halls of the Ivy League, Educators rely upon the building block principle to spread information. They depend on pedagogical strategies which are the theories and techniques of teaching that help them sow concepts into their students.

In addition to the class, knowing how people learn can assist course developers in designing higher-quality classes. If you have a good grasp of the way the brain creates knowledge, you can strategically build courses that will more effectively provide solutions to learners. This will keep them coming back to you for more and will in turn, encouraging them to recommend the course to friends as well as help your company to grow.

What is Bloom's Taxonomy?

Benjamin Bloom originally published his taxonomy back in 1956. He designed this pedagogical approach to assess the development of cognitive abilities of the students. By creating a hierarchical structure to track a student's depth of comprehension, Bloom created a way to answer the question that all educators ask themselves: are my lessons working?

Bloom's hypothesis was simple: If you are unable to remember an idea, you do not understand the concept; and if you do not understand something, you can't apply the concept. There is no way to differentiate between the correct as well as incorrect responses and debate their benefits of and drawbacks. Any knowledge or depth of argument cannot be achieved without first setting the foundations for remembering and understanding.

To keep this in mind, he developed an enumeration of cognition that which was divided into six stages and assigned each stage nouns to define the skill or level of cognitive ability a person must attain before moving to the next stage.

This spectrum is typically presented as a pyramid to demonstrate the layers' dependence on each other:

• Students cannot be accepted until they have a solid understanding of
• and they can't evaluate before they begin to learn how to analyse.

Bloom referred to this process as scaffolding. The metaphor is effective: as construction workers build tall buildings, they erect scaffolding to support their workspace from the ground up. Similar to this, each level of the taxonomy is built on the foundation of the previous level. In the event that there is cracks in the foundation - a cognitive skill was skipped or inadequately reinforced - the next level up will find itself on shaky ground.

Not every learner will start at square one and begin to climb upwards. A few students may have developed certain skills that allow them to jump in somewhere at the middle, and then begin the climb from there.

What is the significance of the six levels in Bloom's Taxonomy?

Each level of Bloom's Taxonomy comes with a series of verbs to describe the tasks a person is expected to be able complete at that point. Once someone masters the vocabulary at one level, they move on to the next level, and the next level, and so up to.

They also contain learning objectivesthat are particularly useful when thinking about how to apply these to your course outline. As the modules of your course advance you may use greater and more advanced learning objectives because you'll get higher degrees of knowledge from your students.

We've also included apps for instructors as well as educators working in a virtual classroom. If you're looking for activities to practice and tests to help make different lessons more accessible and to complete the levels of your course outline, this is the perfect place to start.

Stage 1  Do not forget

Remembering is simple: this is the simplest way of retaining of information. This is a game of memory, which is why it's at the bottom of the pyramid: it's the most simple, basic building block of learning, and also the most essential, because nothing else can be achieved until you can keep a significant amount of information in your memory.

Students who are proficient at the basics of this subject are expected to be able recall the information they have learned, or to define crucial concepts. They are able to write an outline of important terms, and label a diagram, and they understand enough about the subject matter that they are aware of the words to enter into Google to find further information.

Put it to the test:

• Students can join in an online Scavenger hunt. Ask them to curate the bookmarks or favorite lists of sites relevant to the topic, or locate Facebook groups and social accounts in which this subject is discussed. You can add their insights into a resource guide that they can share with classmates.

Stage 2: Understand

At this point in Bloom's Taxonomy the students have advanced beyond simply remembering facts, and demonstrate a contextual knowledge of the information.

They show this in their ability to explain facts to someone else; they can translate or summarize blogs, news articles as well as other bits of information accurately. They are also able to perform more complex online searches now, using Boolean phrases and digging through journals and academic databases. They can also use their new-found understanding to correctly identify and tag various online resources that support this topic.

Test it: test:

• Make a thread for the subject within your Facebook page or on a community site with students being given the task of contributing meaningfully to the discussion. Through discussing and explaining the issue together, students are able to improve their knowledge and aid one another to move towards the next stage.
• Ask students to create a blog article, record a vlog, make a status update on social and then live-stream on social media to communicate the concept clearly and succinctly to other students. It's not important if they do this live or create the content and present it privately to the group It's all about producing content with a simple description.
• Students are given an article or blog post to readand then ask them to annotate the article with notes to describe how it is related to the topic.

3.  3. Apply

Students who have reached this stage have mastered the ability to absorb the information they have learned and apply it to various situations.

The new skills to tackle a particular issue. When presented with a hypothetical blockage, they may use their data to devise simple solutions. They may be able practice their abilities through a short work or project. These tasks are equivalent to filling-in the-blank assignments, in which students will be provided with a simple framework and they have to utilize their skills to understand the bigger picture. However, they're starting to deepen their knowledge about the matter and they're well in the process of becoming competent to apply these skills with a greater abstraction.

Try it out to the test:

• Provide students with basic issues and request students to develop solutions based on the topic.
• Provide students with a sketch or piece of writing without some words in it, then ask them to complete the gaps using the right terms.
• Students are already able explain the concept. now ask them to come up with an idea for a hypothetical assignment or practice exercise that they could give to someone in order to check their comprehension.

Stage 4 : Analyze

At this stage of Bloom's Taxonomy Students can break information down into small pieces to investigate connections between complicated concepts. It is also the time where students can make judgement on the topic. They will be able to assess information as well as compare and contrast ideas and locate proof to back their claims.

Put it to the test:

• Students are given a information or a list of words then ask them to classify the data. They can rank it by importance, split into different categories, or even create contrast lists and an explanation.
• Ask students to create an argumentative list of pros and cons based on their comprehension of the topic and how they can make it applicable to a particular issue or circumstance.
• Provide students an open-ended thesis statement, and ask them to state the reasoning behind it or provide a answer. This is the most important thing: the students must present evidence for their solution, to prove that they can critically assess the topic.

5 Stage  5: Assess

The stage at this point is at which students are able to attain a new level of independence in their understanding of the subject. They not only know how to explain, apply the information they've been given to them, but they also are able to apply what they've learned and rearrange the pieces into fresh ideas that can be tested through debate, discussion, and measurement.

At this point, you can expect students to be able debate one another over a thesis question. Students can develop fresh ideas or ideas and create tests to assess their efficacy. Students at this stage possess a solid understanding of their subject, that they should be able to draw from their knowledge on the spot in order for spontaneous discussions and deal with ad-hoc issues.

Test it: test:

• Put students into groups and hold a debate over a thesis statement selected by you.
• Ask students to develop a comprehensive project in order to resolve a specific problem. They could even produce an online slide deck or other type of content for demonstrating their idea.
• Ask students to contribute to thread discussions in your community or group site. The group exercise will be to actively participate in discussions and moderate each other's discussions and review the any information posted in comments.
• Give students a task with a problem, and then ask students to create tests to test or solve that problem. Students can present their solutions in a group environment like presenting on a whiteboard. Their ability to present the arguments and justifications for their solution will define the depth of their understanding of the topic.

Stage 6  6: Create

This is it - the training wheels are off The cord is cut and your job has been completed. You've taught your students enough that they are able to go out and apply this knowledge in a multitude of new situations, and create brand new resources to inspire and delight other students. They've reached the top on the Bloom's Taxonomy ladder and are eager to grow and succeed independently. Are you proud? It's a good thing!

Put it to the test:

• Students are asked to create a video or blog post using a unique method of their choice to present the subject in a compelling method.
• Group students into groups to create and record a set of podcast episodes related to the topic. They can work as group to determine what topics should be covered during the podcast series. each episode may build on the one before.
• Have students design, edit, and contribute to a wiki on the topic.

What is Bloom's Taxonomy

Know your students. What kinds of questions do your students engage with? What projects and activities will they be responding to? Do they feel motivated to participate in discussions with their classmates?

Early in a lesson unit you should ask questions from range of Bloom's taxonomy levels to ascertain a baseline of comprehension for your students. Be attentive to the answers and level of engagement - students will engage less in the higher areas they're not familiar with. This will reveal the depths of their understanding. You can now develop strategies to assist them move up to higher levels.

Determine the cognitive goals of your course. Is this course designed to provide students with an introduction? A revision of previously learned concepts? Is there a skill they need to master, or an academic level that they must attain? There are many Bloom's taxonomies that are not made equal. The application of each one will vary in relation to the topic you're studying and the degree of knowledge you are aiming for.

plan an assessment strategy to help students progress through the levels of the taxonomy of your course. When you have decided the place you'd like to end at, you'll need to determine the pit stops along the journey, using Bloom's Taxonomy to make sure you hit every point.

Within a single lesson in a single unit, you should move from the lower-order to higher order thinking-related questions. These levels of questioning are a part of the plan for the lesson, and are able to be strategically distributed throughout the lesson, moving between lower-order and higher-order questions in the start of the class, and ending with higher-order questions closer to the end of the lesson. This way, you can determine if your students are staying current with the curriculum as well as can address any roadblocks or assist struggling students before moving to the next level.

Learning outcomes for Online course's effectiveness

If you're now equipped with the pedagogical tools you need to succeed and you're ready to create a plan of instruction with a punch. It doesn't matter if you're teaching someone perform a piano or start a business of your own Our brains are wired exactly the same way and follow the same patterns regardless of the topic. Your ability to leverage this is crucial to creating a course which is effective and keep your students coming back to learn further.

      This article was first published in September 20, 2020. It it was revised in March 2023 to be much more helpful.