Michael Arnzen muses about using Bloom’s taxonomy to adjust his class syllabus. He comments that he will consider increasing his attention to student affect, that is, how comfortable students are with class topics. He also notes that he does not know how to measure student comfort. He offers thoughtful comments.
Bloom’s taxonomy has had its followers and academic detractors for 40 years. Elementary school teachers initially found it a useful way to partition aspects of their instructional duties and views. Teachers (contrasted to scholars and scientists on faculties) in higher ed seem to adopt similar views. I find it comfortable to argue from a scientific behaviorist position. 🙂
Dr. Arnzen’s comments leave me with a question about the relative importance of the affective domain in higher ed. My experience has been that Tier 1 institutions require subordinating affection to objective, hardnosed analysis, criticism, and production, irrespective of personal views and interests.
Some argue that learning requires discomfort, not comfort. The argument continues, why else would anyone change (learn) except to relieve discomfort?
Which is more important in higher education, student comfort or student mastery of the content? I’m curious what others think.
Great questions! I’m still pondering this one, but I do know that one of my aims is often to “acclimate” students to unfamiliar territory. Colleges can be hard-nosed when it comes to the content, but their environment probably should still function as a sort of “safe haven” from the “real world” — a place where risk-taking should be encouraged and where there is room to learn from one’s mistakes. But sometimes we unconsciously structure our environment in ways that seem unsafe, and students hesitate to dip their toes in the cold waters of unfamiliarity.
Thanks for your response. Good points, Mike. You make sense to me. I like your view of higher ed as a safe place to explore ideas and systematic thinking. Also, I agree that acclimating to higher ed is important. I’ve observed that different institutions require different kinds of acclimating ranging from safe theraputic and remedial settings to programs requiring the highest level of cognition and risk taking to earn a degree. Perhaps I expect too much of students; many say so. But, I expect less than many faculty. As adults in higher ed, I expect students to figure out on their own time and ways to handle the hard-nosed content quickly, accurately, and precisely. When they take that initative, I try to support their effort to acclimate to rigorous study. At least that’s my current view. I wonder if I’ll change views in the future. 🙂 Do you think we’re on the same page?