After some research and considering the fact that Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning is practically inefficient in the face of today’s more dynamic learning environments, I believe I found a learning model which I can apply into workplace learning. It’s the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s collapsed version of the Marzano Model for Higher Order Thinking Skills, where instead of the usual eight thinking skills, there are only seven.

The North Carolina model can be used to guide and support any problem sharing and problem solving process, which are appropriate learning events in our line of work. Web development and design, and the subsequent formulation of search engine marketing strategies require strong analytical thinking and strategic planning.

In order to develop agents with strong skills in areas needed to perform their jobs well, I will need a model to pattern my training programs for higher order learning. The following are the seven skills that compose the North Carolina model:

1. Knowledge

When content is new, students must be guided in relating the new knowledge to what they already know, organizing and then using that new knowledge. Knowledge can be of two types: Declarative (i.e., attributes, rules) or procedural (skills and processes). Items of this type are factual and content-specific.

2. Organizing

Organizing is used to arrange information so it can be understood. This is a higher level way of expressing what Bloom referred to as comprehension.

* Comparing identifies similiarities and differences between or among entities.
* Classifying groups of items into categories on the basis of attributes.
* Ordering sequences or ordering entities acccording to a given criterion.
* Representing changes in the form of the information to show how critical events are related (visual, verbal, and symbolic).

3. Applying

Applying requires demonstration of prior knowledge within a new situation. Application is based on an individual’s ability to apply previous learning to a new or a novel situation without having to be shown how to use it. The task is to bring together the appropriate information, generalization or principles (declarative and procedural knowledge) that are required to solve a problem.

4. Analyzing

Analyzing clarifies existing information by discovering and examining parts/relationships.

* Identifying attributes and components refers to recognizing and articulating the parts that together constitute a whole.
* Identifying relationships and patterns refers to recognizing and articulating the interrelationships among components (causal, hierarchical, temporal, spatial, correctional, or metaphorical; equivalence, symmetry, and similarity; difference, contradiction, and exclusion).

5. Generating

Generating constructs a framework of ideas that holds new and old information together. The step of inference could also be seen as the first step of what Bloom called synthesis or Marzano called integrating.

* Inferring refers to going beyond the available information to identify what reasonably may be true.
* Predicting refers to assessing the likelihood of an outcome based on prior knowledge of how things usually turn out.
* Elaborating involves adding details, explanations, examples, or other relevant information from prior knowledge in order to improve understanding (explanations, analogies, and metaphors).

6. Integrating

Integrating connects or combines prior knowledge and new information to build new understandings. Bloom called this synthesis.

* Summarizing refers to combining information effectively into a cohesive statement. It involves condensing information, selecting what is important (and discarding what is not), and combining logical text proportions.
* Restructuring refers to changing existing knowledge structure to incorporate new information. New information and prior knowleldge are connected, combined and incorporated into a new understanding.

7. Evaluating

Evaluating requires assessing the appropriateness and quality of ideas.

* Establishing criteria sets standards for judging the value or logic of ideas.
* Verifying refers to confirming or proving the truth of an idea, using specific standards or criteria of evaluation (checking the accuracy of facts, checking the meaning or accuracy of the author’s statement by looking back at the text, using research results to verify the hypotheses).

I am continually searching for ways and know-how on improving my training programs. I feel satisfied whenever I encounter this kind of information. It somehow validates the way I’ve been doing my trainings. So far they have been effective in teaching the new agents the basics. However, as a trainer I can only teach them what they needed to know. How they use the knowledge and skills they have acquired to their work is a matter of ability and intelligence. In those areas, I can not hold court.