Karen,
Have you used the Learning Taxonomy to develop course content/student assessments, prior to taking ED109?
Tremayne Simpson
/they are so helpful to guiding me with the content that is required and to assess the student learning.
It provides a sequence of proficiency. However, it also is important to remember how the more basic steps relate to the overall goal of applying what is learned. That way you do not get so caught up in the immediate topic that you no longer can see "the forest for the trees."
It helps teach to the readiness of the learner from concrete to abstract.
The learning taxonomy gives levels of understanding that identify what students should have attained at the end of a lesson. The course/daily lesson objectives serve as measurement for the student's comprehension and mastery of material provided.
Daniel,
I agree that learning taxonomy can serve as a benefit in instructor development. In addition, it enables the instructor to create effective assessments to measure student retention of information.
Tremayne Simpson
Using taxonomy assesments will simply help you to tailor your teaching style and speed to the prior knowledge of the students.
Alexandra,
This is a great observation. In post-secondary education, applied subject knowledge should be expected. It is important that we create our curriculum on the basis of the learning taxonomy, to ensure that our students are able to appropriately used their acquired skills.
Tremayne Simpson
Diana,
What methods have you used to implement the Learning Taxonomy into your course lesson plans?
Tremayne Simpson
Keeps the student organized on completing a task they just learned. Thye learn the objectives of skills, life , comprehension area's.
andrew,
Do you divide your course topical outline into advancing levels of difficulty based on the learning taxonomy?
Tremayne Simpson
David,
What types of assessments do you use to gage when your students are ready for more advanced-level assignments?
Tremayne Simpson
Using taxonomy as a guide in developing lesson plans give us the ability to divide the course content into sections. We can then deliver the material in a more organized manner and better asses our students outcomes.
It provides you as well the students a hollistic picture of what should be accomplished during the class. It also helps the instructor to ensure that the student understands the basic information of the lecture and can apply that knowledge they have gained to new situations and circumstances. Using the learning taxonomy as a guide in the development of lesson plans ensures that you are focusing on higher order learning which will benefit the students greatly in their occupational careers as well as in future classes.
These skills will help you be able to better assess your students, and also to assess the effectiveness of your lesson plans so you can make adjustments in the future.
Erin,
I agree. As I mentioned earlier in the post, the wording of the objective needs to succinct and measurable. Instructors may have to provide interpretation for their students, in cases where they are not able to change the course learning objectives (standardized courses).
Tremayne Simpson
I believe it's important to understand the learning taxonomy so that the objectives are not only more clear, but more concise and specific. I think if you don't use the taxonomy, your objectives may be too vague and it won't be clear to students what exactly is expected of them in order to meet the objective. I think it also makes it easier for students to realize when they have accomplished a goal or objective.
Dixie,
Do you also teach online courses? If so, how do you assess their retention of course information?
Tremayne Simpson
Most of my classes are on-ground, so I rely heavily on face-reading. I also do a lot of walking around, reading over their shoulders during the workshop/application part of the class. I often ask the class to pause, save their work, and deliver a mini-lecture/explanation of any recurring problems I'm noticing.
Crystal,
Learning Taxonomy is not a difficult concept to understand, however the difficulty lies within properly implementing it within the structure of the course. When preparing my lesson plans, I try to visualize the content from the perspective of a student and ask myself questions in that context. From there, I am usually able to further specify the goals of my learning objectives.
Tremayne Simpson
