Multi-Media, PowerPoint, and Bloom's Taxonomy

I think that multi-media and PowerPoint is the most visible technology used in the classroom today. As a student I see PowerPoints in college almost daily from lectures online to tools for guiding in-class discussions. From a teacher’s perspective a PowerPoint is similar to an oversized cheat sheet in my eyes. Having a presentation on a computer that can be projected onto a screen not only gives the presenter a quick and easy outline but also an easy way to create printed hand outs for the students as well. Also, having a visual outline, such as PowerPoint, helps students to stay focused on the topics being discussed. Multi-media and PowerPoint can be used to improve teaching by having a set outline and direction or purpose to the presentation, while assisting students in seeing the main ideas, take notes, and benefits visual learners. In a typical college course that relies heavily on PowerPoint lecture, all types of learning styles are being met. First of all, visual learners see the presentation, auditory learners hear the presentation and kinesthetic learners can take notes and write down the presentation outline. In general, I foresee myself using multi-media and PowerPoint in my classroom as a teaching tool and for student projects and presentations.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is an interesting approach to me. I like the idea of categorizing with different levels, this makes learning and expectations easier to measure and understand. As a student the Learning Skills Program article showed me some insight into how to foresee what kinds of questions a professor may ask. As a teacher the taxonomy can assist in accomplishing true learning goals. If the goal of learning is just basic recall and regurgitation of information I would guide students towards knowledge only. If I want a students to learn the basic content of what is read or presented I would test on a comprehension cognitive level. On a deeper level, if students are to take they learning and relate it to a real world situation then application would be stressed. To take application further, I would expect on an analysis cognitive level to use personal experience to apply and understand knowledge. Synthesis of the information would be useful when students need to organize their learning or ideas. Finally, evaluation is the highest level consisting of judging and reflecting the information learned or read. These levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are all very different and very important. Since learning goals vary a great deal depending on the subject and ideas being taught this lays out the various levels of understanding to be expect and applied to student’s learning.