Educational Development Digest: December 2023

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Bloom and Fink’s Taxonomy

Pedagogy in Practice | By Catherine Ford, Minnesota State Program Director for Educational Development

Bloom’s Taxonomy

When creating course learning objectives, you may have sought out a list of action verbs correlated to Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, which includes 6 hierarchical levels of complexity largely focused within the cognitive domain. You may be familiar with the pyramid imagery and corresponding tables of action verbs to begin your learning objective statements. You may have also spent time strategically identifying which of those verbs you should use from the higher categories (striving towards Evaluate and Create).

Did you know that this is only one of many approaches to educational taxonomies and writing learning objectives? If this sparks your interest, Irvine (2021) summarizes and compares six taxonomies including the original Bloom’s Taxonomy and Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning.

Fink’s Taxonomy

Fink’s Taxonomy has been around since 2003 with the publication of Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. A distinction of this taxonomy is the movement beyond the cognitive domain to “include specific skills that enable Significant Learning” that is more holistic (Intentional College Teaching).

Fink’s Taxonomy includes Foundational Knowledge and Application Skills (this is where it overlaps with Blooms (Intentional College Teaching), Integration, Human Dimension, Caring, and Learning How to Learn. These categories are not hierarchical and learning in one domain can support learning in another (University of Buffalo, 2023).

According to The Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) at North Island College, the advantages of Fink’s Taxonomy are that it:

• provides a framework for aligning learning outcomes with assessment
• includes focus ‘learning how to learn’ and how to promote skills students will use beyond learning content
• it identifies the importance of learning that extends beyond the classroom experience

I am also inclined to believe that the use of Fink’s Taxonomy in course design lends itself to humanizing your course both as a design element and instructional strategy. (In the NED, we call this Empathy by Design).

For example, in the Human Dimension, an instructor may consider the following questions as they develop corresponding learning outcomes:

What can or should students learn about themselves? What can or should students learn about interacting with people that they may actually encounter in the future? Or perhaps the questions related to Integration that invite connections and recognition by students to their personal, social, and/or work life as well as other courses. How might these questions influence how we choose to engage with content that is local, relevant, and immediate to our students?

With this lens, the opportunities to develop instructor-student relationships are abundant. What other intersections may applying this taxonomy have with your course design and facilitation? Another connection I made was to Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT). Specifically, TILT’s first aim is “Promoting students’ conscious understanding of how they learn” (TILT), and this is in direct alignment with one of Fink’s domain (Learning How to Learn).

Using these Taxonomies

If you are not ready to step away from the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy but are intrigued to explore Fink’s Taxonomy a bit more, Syracuse University’s Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment Unit developed a cross walk of action verbs for Fink’s Domains of Learning against Bloom’s Levels of Thinking.

The table provides a list of action verbs to select from just like the Original and Revised Bloom’s Taxonomies. As you review your course objectives as you prepare for your spring semester, consider reflecting on how you are engaging students in any of Fink’s six domains remembering that these are not sequential and one can positively impact another and lead to significant learning in your course.

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What is LTI?  Why is it beneficial to me?

Academic Technology Tips | By Jon Werth, Minnesota State Senior Online Learning Environment System Administrator

Perhaps the textbook you’ve decided to use for your class includes a corresponding website that students can use to review supplemental resources and/or practice problems. In the past, students would need to create an account and password on that site, which can turn into a logistical headache.  Fortunately, many publishers utilize a service called Learning Tools Interoperability, or LTI, that makes student access a snap.

What is LTI?

Learning Tools Interoperability is a technology standard that enables different learning tools/platforms (e.g. McGraw Hill, Kaltura, etc.) to be integrated within a learning management system, like D2L Brightspace. 

With LTI, instructors can enhance their courses with various tools and resources that are not available in the native learning management system (D2L Brightspace). There are a variety of LTI tools including things like interactive content (e.g. H5P), publisher resources (e.g. Cengage), simulations (e.g. Labster), and media (e.g. Kaltura MediaSpace).

LTI offers a couple of benefits to instructors and students. First, LTI can save time and effort for instructors by simplifying the process of adding external tools, returning grade scores, or transferring roster information. Second, LTI allows instructors to choose from a wide range of tools that suit their needs and preferences.

LTI Advantage

Currently, a new version of LTI (LTI Advantage) is being adopted by many education technology tools. Most of the migration work is transparent, but it may require a one-time reconnection to use the latest version. LTI Advantage offers improved workflows, additional security, and a better connection that will enable additional enhancements in the future.

For spring 2024 courses, some tools will require a reconnection to use LTI Advantage, such as Cengage and Pearson. As an instructor, how do you know if you’re using the latest version? If you’re using the Brightspace ‘Course Builder’ tool to add new links, you’re using the legacy version.  Instead, new links should be added by using the options in the Brightspace ‘Existing Activities’ menu:

LTI is a useful technology that can enrich Brightspace courses with diverse and innovative learning tools. By using LTI, instructors can offer more value and variety to their students while reducing their workload and increasing their flexibility. If you have any questions about LTI functionality, contact your campus Brightspace support team or the Minnesota State IT Service Desk for more information.

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Online Learning Consortium and Quality Matters

Did You Know? | By Elizabeth Harsma, Minnesota State Program Director for Technology Integrated Learning

Did you know, as part of Minnesota State, you are already a member of Quality Matters (QM) and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC)?

The Online Learning Consortium is a nonprofit organization “creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended, and digital learning while driving innovation.”

Quality Matters is a nonprofit organization that seeks to “promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning nationally and internationally.”

Both organizations provide members with resources and services that support quality course design. Course design can be leveraged to support culturally responsive teaching methods (Fritzgerald, 2020; Hammond, 2015).

Key Benefits

Some key member benefits include: access to course design rubrics/scorecards, discounted services, and professional development such as webinars and research libraries.

Benefit	QM	OLC
Quality Rubric/Scorecard	Yes	Yes
Webinars	Yes	Yes
Research Library	Yes	Yes
Discounted Services	Yes	Yes
…and more.	Yes	Yes

Key Benefit 1: Quality Rubric/Scorecard

OLC and QM provide rubrics and scorecards to support course quality.

Available in the OLC Quality Scorecard Suite:

• Online course design and teaching practice scorecards
• Program-level scorecards are also available

Available in the MyQM Course Review Management System (CRMS):

• Self-Review with access to the Quality Matters Higher Education 7th Edition Rubric
• Program review tools are also available

Key Benefit 2: Webinars

Attend live or rewatch webinars on course design and teaching with technology on many topics.

• QM webinars
• OLC webinars

Key Benefit 3: Research Library

Explore curated research summaries, peer reviewed articles, and research toolkits.

• OLC Research Center for Digital Learning & Leadership and Online Learning Journal
• QM Research Library and Research Toolkit

Additional Member Benefits

Other member benefits include: discounted fees for conferences, workshops, and courses, access to official program and course reviews, and more.

Stay tuned for equity-focused Quality Matters (QM) and Online Learning Consortium (OLC) professional development offered in partnership with the Network for Educational Development.

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