An Introduction to

Bloom's Taxonomy for

Instructional Designers

Learning objectives are at the very core of the

instructional design process, and rightly so; without
them, how would we know what content and activities to
include in our courses? Unfortunately, more often than
not, the learning objectives are not clearly defined,
making it hard to determine whether they have been met.
Enter: Blooms Taxonomy!

This classification system was specifically designed to

help instructors, and instructional designers, clearly
define learning objectivesand in turn create courses that
meet learners needs. Lets take a closer look at how this
instructional design principle applies to e-learning.

What Is Blooms Taxonomy?

In their original work, Bloom and a committee of
educators identified three domains of learning: cognitive
(mental), affective (emotional), and psychomotor
 (physical). However, when most people think of Blooms
Taxonomy they think only of the cognitive domain.

The cognitive domain is divided into six categories, each

representing a cognitive skill level. Each category is
associated with a set of verbs or cognitive processes that
describe what learners should be capable of doing. In
recent years, the names and order of these categories have
been revised, but the general idea remains the same.

Remembering: recognizing, recalling

Understanding: interpreting, exemplifying,

classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing,
explaining

Applying: executing, implementing

Analyzing: differentiating, organizing, attributing

Evaluating: checking, critiquing

Creating: generating, planning, producing

The revised taxonomy also includes a second dimension,

called the knowledge dimension, which focuses on the
type of knowledge. This dimension is split into four
categories:

Factual: knowledge of terminology; knowledge of

specific details and elements

Conceptual: knowledge of classifications and
categories; knowledge of principles and generalization;
knowledge of theories, models, and structures

Procedural: 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: strategic knowledge; knowledge

about cognitive tasks, including appropriate contextual
and conditional knowledge; self-knowledge

Once you know the cognitive process that learners are

expected to achieve and the type of knowledge the course
covers, youre ready to write your learning objective.

How? Simply combine the subject (the learner),

the verb from the cognitive process dimension (what
learners must know how to do), and the object from the
knowledge dimension (the knowledge they need to
acquire). For example, at the end of this
course, learners will be able to recognize the three
domains of Blooms Taxonomy.

How Does It Apply to E-Learning

Instructional Design?
As e-learning designers, writing clear learning objectives
is essential to the success of our courses. They are the
 basis for the instructional design process and should
shape every aspect of our courses, from the content we
include to the activities we design. It only makes sense
that you would design your course differently if learners
were expected to simply recall a piece of information
versus asked to create something new based on said
information.

Lets take a look at examples of activities you can design

for each of the six cognitive skill levels:

1. Remembering: examples, lectures, videos, visuals

2. Understanding: basic quiz questions (multiple
choice, matching, etc.)
3. Applying: practical exercises, role-playing games,
simulations
4. Analyzing: problem-solving questions, case studies
5. Evaluating: case studies, critiques, appraisals
6. Creating: projects, complex quiz questions (drag and
drop, free response, etc.)

As you can see, certain activities can be used for more

than one skill level; it all depends on how you design your
course. And this is only the beginningthere are many
more activities that you can design to help your learners
achieve each of these cognitive skill levels.

Hopefully this article has got you thinking about how you
can apply Blooms Taxonomy to your instruction design
 process in order to create clear, concise learning
objectives.

Want to learn more about instructional design? Check out

the following articles:

An Introduction to Instructional Design

Personalization Principle: Speaking to Your Learners

Instead of at Them

Multimedia Principle: Adding Graphics to Words

Improves Learning

Contiguity Principle: Keep Graphics and Related

Text Together

Redundancy Principle: Should You Duplicate

Narrated Text On Screen?

Coherence Principle: Less Material for Better

Learning

Dont forget to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-

Learning Heroesregularly for more helpful advice on everything
related to e-learning. And if you have any questions or
comments, feel free to share them below!

Bibliography

Cecelia Munzenmaier, MS, Blooms Taxonomy: Whats Old Is

New Again (Santa Rosa: The eLearning Guild, 2013).
Next in 'Practical Instructional Design How-Tos'
 4 Easy Ways to Organize Content For E-Learning

NEXT

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN HOW-TOS

1. Why Instructional Design Is Important

1. The Dos and Donts of Separating Need-to-Know from Nice-to-Know

1. An Introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy for Instructional Designers

1. 4 Easy Ways to Organize Content For E-Learning

1. How to Do a Task Analysis Like a Pro

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THE AUTHOR

Allison LaMotte
International Community Manager
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28 COMMENTS

Allan Carrington
over 1 year ago
This is a good introduction to Bloom's Taxonomy and I will refer to this in the
research thinking for the next version of the Padagogy Wheel (no it is not a
spelling error :-) The Padagogy Wheel started as an info graphic to show
teachers how to put pedagogy first then choose the technologies to serve it. It
has grown into so much more with each new version. The latest is V4.0 with
twice the resources of earlier versions in 19 languages . There have been
139,324 posters of the English version downloaded from my blog in the last 15
months. Recently I released the Spanish and German versions with Chinese
almost out and 15 more languages being translated at the moment. I am
confident that if you are a teacher or a learning designer you will find it
interesting. It extends what is bein... Expand

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 Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Allan Carrington
over 1 year ago
Thanks for sharing Allan, very interesting stuff! :)
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Chris Purvis
over 1 year ago
Thanks Allan! Great stuff.
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Edited

Sandi Williams
over 1 year ago
This is a great post for beginners but even as an experienced ID, I often have
to remind myself to stay aligned with my efforts. To take it a bit further, I've
included more specific examples of each level and dimension. To me, that's
always the hardest part and it truly makes the crafting the objectives easier.
Thanks for letting me share! Bloom's Taxonomy exercises Remembering:
recognizing, recalling reciting policy, knowing definitions, quoting product
prices, concentration game Understanding: interpreting, exemplifying,
classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, explaining distinguish between
situations, compare outcomes, determine the correct category Applying:
executing, implementing use a function to calculate vacation time, provide a
response to customer base... Expand

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Allison LaMotte
 AUTHOR
Sandi Williams
over 1 year ago
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing these examples, Sandi. I'm sure the
community will find them to be very helpful. :)
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Sandi Williams
Allison LaMotte
over 1 year ago
Thanks Allison. Coincidentally, this webinar about determining the best
delivery strategies for learning needs based on Bloom's Taxonomy came
through my Inbox today if anyone is interested: http://www.training-
pros.com/newsroom/learning-highlights/innovations-media-selection?
utm_source=newsletter_96&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=learning-
views-jun15
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James Basore
over 1 year ago
This is excellent. I developed an online tool for writing learning objectives
that is built around Bloom's Taxonomy. It's for teacher education programs but
applies to training professionals as well. If interested it is in use by a number
of Universities but available free online. You can find it by using Google to
search for "Objectives Builder"
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Tess Richardson
over 1 year ago
That is a really neat tool, James, and I look forward to using it. I'm curious
what the community thinks about listing the learning objectives within the
course. I see this done quite often, usually at the beginning of a course or
module. But when I'm on the other side of the course (as the learner) I frankly
find these lists a little annoying; like the chef showing me his recipes before
he begins cooking my food. :-)
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James Basore
Tess Richardson
over 1 year ago
I think you have a good point there. I'm also interested in hearing what others
have to say here. I've gone back and forth in listing them, or as a variation
listing them in question form, or not at all. Does the learner need to how the
soup is made, maybe not? Do they serve as an "advanced organizer" in any
meaningful way to let the learner know what they will learn in the training?
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Allan Carrington
over 1 year ago
Guys Now this is a Higher education perspective. So that is my disclaimer. :-)
What are you trying to do with your learning and teaching or training?
Learning outcomes are vital but they are not the start, What does
transformative learning look like in your learner in 21st century terms. If you
don't think about it and try to define it at least in your head you have nothing
to shoot for. That is why the Padagogy Wheel - see above post starts with
Graduate Attributes and Capabilities. I won't expand much on this I spend
many words talking about this in my blog http://tinyurl.com/alsltblog I will
say however if the learner AND the teacher help define this so there is
consensus you can acquire learning contract between trainer and learner. Now
if the learner has a clearer picture... Expand

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Edited
 Rod Ward
over 1 year ago
I never list learning objectives as statements at the beginning of a course
module. I pose them as questions. I find this far more effective and less likely
to trigger the usual boredom. I turn those cliched statements around and
format them as problems requiring solutions, or scenarios that the learner
might encounter. So instead of saying something like: "At the end of this
course/module you will be able to....[list of boring statements here]" I'd say
something like: "How should you respond to a co-worker who suggests you do
something unethical?" or "Fred's workmate suggests he does something that
might be unethical. How should Fred handle this?" I usually keep the list of
questions around 5 or less in any single module. That way the module doesn't
intimidate the le... Expand

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Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Rod Ward
over 1 year ago
I really like the idea of presenting the objectives as questions instead of
statements, I think it definitely is a more engaging way of going about it.
Thanks so much for sharing, Rod!
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Tess Richardson
Rod Ward
over 1 year ago
Rod, you make a good point about the intimidation factor that comes from a
long list of objectives. I agree with Allison--posing these as questions is an
interesting way to engage the learner.
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 Flag

Richard Presley
over 1 year ago
Good use of the "new" taxonomy. One minor correction, however. Bloom's
taxonomy is called that because his name is listed first as the one who headed
the committee. And yes, they did get around to doing the Affective domain,
but not the Psychomotor domain. It is unfortunate that few IDs pay attention
to the Affective domain because it provides a means to quantify seeming
intangibles like motivation and whether or not training "sticks" over the long
term.
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Terry Coe
Richard Presley
over 1 year ago
I agree. I have always found that i learn better when i am motivated by
emotion. (i.e. fear of failure, desire to be the best, concern over hurting
others, etc.) I found that if you can supply an emotional "hook" to a course, it
always makes the content stick with the learner.
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Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Terry Coe
over 1 year ago
Good point! Have you specifically used Bloom's take on this to design your e-
learning course?
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Terry Coe
 Allison LaMotte
over 1 year ago
I have tried. I used the "fear of hurting others"approach on a course on Privacy
and Confidentiality. I used statistics showing the internal accidental data
sharing is the number 2 cause of identity theft in a corporate environment.
Then showed that fear in my characters and steered them towards learning
about the methods to protect sensitive information. Its been a very big hit
here.
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Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Terry Coe
over 1 year ago
Interesting! I can see how that would be a great motivator. Thanks for sharing!
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Nicole Legault
STAFF
over 1 year ago
It depends on the course, but for the most part in the e-learning I've
developed I have listed learning objectives up front, in an introduction piece.
I include them because I like for it to be clear to learners exactly what they
will be learning and they know what to expect. I also like to check back on
the LO list and check off items as learners progress. The learning objectives
are easy to identify when you're designing proper training (teaching someone
TO DO something) and you've done your up front task analysis... basically, the
tasks become your learning objectives. :)
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Trina Rimmer
STAFF
over 1 year ago
Great article Allison! I also tend to provide learning objectives up front. I
think it builds buy-in when you know what you're going to get out of the
learning experience. I also like to share objectives in a learner-centric way.
For instance, instead of a bulleted list of "After this course you'll be able to
[insert action]" I like to mix it up and get learners thinking about the
challenge or the opportunity in a more tangible, personal way if possible. So I
might frame the learning objectives around a short narrative or I might re-
state the objectives in the form of questions, like, "What if you could [insert
action]?"
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Alyssa Gomez
STAFF
Trina Rimmer
over 1 year ago
Excellent idea, Trina! I also like to provide the learning objectives up front so
the learners know what to expect. I love that you are thinking outside of the
box in the way you present your objectives!
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Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Alyssa Gomez
over 1 year ago
I totally agree! I think it is important for learners to be aware of what they
are going to learn. Those that aren't interested can always skip ahead (unless
the navigation is restricted, of course).
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Cary Glenn
over 1 year ago
I'm beginning to change my mind about Bloom and his taxonomies. I find that
Will Thalheimer's taxonomy is
better http://www.willatworklearning.com/2006/06/new_taxonomy_fo.html
. Our understanding of cognitive processes in learning has really shown Bloom
to be lacking. I'm leaning more towards "Performance Objectives" where
learners will practice or be assessed on performance in a representative task.
This helps me understand what people need to do by the end of the course
but it doesn't lock me into a this is purely mental or purely physical mode.
Personally, I dislike listing objectives to the learner in the course. And when I
see it in courses I am taking I get bored. There is nothing wrong with giving
some overall goals but even that is usually redundant, most people know the
subject o... Expand

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Allison LaMotte
AUTHOR
Cary Glenn
over 1 year ago
Very interesting, Cary! Thanks so much for sharing. I can see where some
learners may be bored by a list of learning objectives, but ideally, if you've
broken up your course into a bite-sized course you'll only have one learning
objective, in which case there really isn't time to get bored.