“Blooming” Webloggers!
I have made reference to Guy Dickinson’s dissertation, Weblogs- can they accelerate expertise? before. It is one of my favorite weblog papers.
I find his Bloom’s taxonomy chart fascinating. He states,” Using Bloom et al’s taxonomy of educational objectives (Bloom et al, 1956) as a basis, it is possible to identify the levels at which one could be expect to see certain demonstrations of learning behaviour from both students and interestingly, the weblog itself.
He continues with, “For illustrative purposes, I have developed a brief learning outcome in which to frame the hypothetical test:
“Given an example collaborative project, studewnts should demonstrate the results and process of their work within the environment of a project weblog, demonstrating peer assessment, self-reflection, and categorisation of their work. In addition, students should demonstate mastery of the weblog environment by successfully developing interlinked posts.”
And “In order to show the proposed attainment of levels, according to Bloom et al’s taxonomy (Bloom et al, 1956), it is most efficient to display the information graphically.”
|
Student, skill demonstrated: |
Competence: |
Weblog, skill demonstrated: |
|
Recall basic facts Quote parts of student posts Produce lists of facts Create weblog entries |
Knowledge |
Recall basic facts Quote parts of student posts Produce lists of facts |
|
Summarise group discussions Associate related weblog posts from searches |
Comprehension |
Summarise group discussions Associate related weblog posts |
|
Determine new relationships between peer entries Create new categories within weblog Constructively critique a classmate¢â¡Ás work |
Application |
Determine new relationships between peer entries |
|
Analyse own work and comment Identify commonality between different classmate¢â¡Ás work |
Analysis |
Identify commonality between different classmate¢â¡Ás work |
|
Form new opinions by using classmate¢â¡Ás work as basis Research web for related work to own Find and display web based information from a number of sources and present within context |
Synthesis |
Research web for related work Find and display web based information from a number of sources and present within context |
|
Critically assess own work and peer; Create structured arguments based on findings |
Evaluation |
None |
This is so neat to break it down this way. I have come back to this chart several times and it really gets me thinking.
OK, as I go over the chart, I see that my kids have done all of this, although much of it has been verbally during our discussion times. We never have as much time as we need to do the actual writing.
This is an important area that we need to start talking about more when telling about our projects with students. It really is hard to sift out just how the tool adds to the learning, but it does. I’m going to think hard on this aspect. The setup just lends itself to ways to expand their thinking. Categories, comments and reflections, comparing, analyzing…..)
We need to start looking carefully at how the features of the weblog coincide with our learning objectives and start having more discussion in this area.
I’ve used Bloom’s with my kids before when studying current events and had them think about their learning and had them use some of the related Bloom’s vocabulary rather than just 5 W type questions. (relate, recall, interpret, contrast, develop, organize,examine, infer, predict, elaborate, imagine, judge, evaluate, etc.) They can do it! They just need some teaching and relevant discussion and lots of examples.
I think I need to have the kids use our Bloom’s Quick Flip books and start discussing this some more. Gosh, I’m already got more on our plates than we can possibly finish by the end of the school year. So much to do, so little time! But weblogs are such a great way to “bloom” critical thinkers!
P.S. - If you don’t have the Quick Flip Questions for Critical Thinking check it out at Edupress. Every teacher needs one on his/her desk!
April 7th, 2004 at 7:19 pm
Thanks for link to the paper and for posting the chart. This will definitely help me to critically reflect on the ways I’m using weblogs in the classroom. I like your call for a need to look more carefully at how the features of weblogs coincide with our learning objectives. We also need to look carefully at our pedagogical approach. Whose learning objectives are we talking about? Where are we leading our students? Should we be leading our students? I’m thinking more of my own students here….but I wonder about different approaches for different ages. Great post!
April 12th, 2004 at 9:40 pm
Great link and chart. I am also a fan of Bloom’s taxonomy. This will complete the page I have made my students so that they can better understand their written assigments. You may view by clicking on keywords at:
http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/understand.htm