Definition of an E-Learning Curve

A colleague recently asked me "What is an e-learning curve?"

Well, when I originally started The E-Learning Curve Blog, my primary concern was to create a witty electronic learning-related title that hopefully caught my potential audiences' eye, and the name implied that the content of the blog would be a learning journey - for me as much as anyone. I can't deny that it's also a nice pun, or humourous play on words.

While undertaking some research on a different topic recently (learning objects - more to come about this in a few weeks), the term 'e-learning curve' cropped up with a certain regularity. Those occurrences, as well as my colleague's query have prompted me to write a short series on Curves (not the geometric kind).

Now read on.

We're all familiar with the old joke about the lost tourist in New York asking a cop how to get to Carnegie Hall. To which the cop replies "Lady, you gotta practice real hard."

Going back to the fundamentals, when we talk about learning, we're discussing ways to acquire new skills, knowledge or expertise. When we use learning curves, we're looking at approaches to measuring the growth or development of these abilities in the individual or group. As learning professionals working, we are perhaps most familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives are a means of evaluating a learner's current knowledge- or skill assets, and creating content accordingly to enhance and develop their current cognitive abilities(see Table 1). As is traditional, I will now mention the lesser-known domains, only to ignore them from this point forward...

Bloom identified three domains of educational activities:

• Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)
• Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude)
• Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)

Table 1. Bloom's Taxonomy

Competence Level	Skills Demonstrated
Knowledge Recall data or information.	observation and recall of information knowledge of dates, events, places knowledge of major ideas mastery of subject matter Associated verbs: list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where, etc.
Comprehension Understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one's own words.	understanding information grasp meaning translate knowledge into new context interpret facts, compare, contrast order, group, infer causes predict consequences Associated verbs: summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend
Application Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place.	Use information use methods, concepts, theories in new situations solve problems using required skills or knowledge Associated verbs: apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover
Analysis Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences.	Seeing patterns organization of parts recognition of hidden meanings identification of components Associated verbs: analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer
Synthesis Builds a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.	Seeing patterns organization of parts recognition of hidden meanings identification of components Associated verbs: analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer
Evaluation Make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.	compare and discriminate between ideas assess value of theories, presentations make choices based on reasoned argument verify value of evidence recognize subjectivity Associated verbs: assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, summarize

When designing content, the taxonomy can be used as part of a holistic approach learning and development, rather than as a linear model (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Bloom's Rose. [Source: John Manuel Kennedy Traverso]

Bloom's taxonomy is hierarchical - learning at the higher levels is dependent on the learner attaining prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels (Orlich, et al. 2004). Similarly, the verbs associated with Bloom's taxonomy must enable the learning professional to elicit a measurable result from the learner. From this perspective, we can say that learning can be quantitatively assessed and tracked, and these assessments can be represented on a graph, which leads us neatly to learning curves.

More tomorrow.

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References:

Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co. Inc.

Orlich, C., Harder, R., Callahan, R., Trevisian, M., & Brown, A. (2004). Teaching strategies: A guide to effective instruction. (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

St. Edward’s University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2004) Task Oriented Question Construction Wheel Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
[Internet] Available from:
http://www.stedwards.edu/cte/media/BloomPolygon.pdf [Accessed 15th May 2008]

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