Technology Integration (Level 5.0)

As this critical level of the taxonomy, technology integration provides for “teaching with technology.” In the previous chapter, infused technologies centered on learning. At level 5.0, the focus is on “creating new technology-based materials by combining various technologies to teach.” Within an effective educational setting, technology becomes an enabling tool for teaching and takes many forms at this level of the taxonomy. A prime function of integrated technologies is to provide learners with knowledge of specific subject areas. Traditionally, students learn from technologies used as delivery tools to communicate messages just as they learn from teachers. But at this level of the taxonomy, learners will create “new technology-based materials, combining otherwise disparate technologies to teach.”

Technology and Education

This chapter establishes the critical relationships between technology and the foundations of education described in previous chapters. The domains, psychologies, and taxonomies of education provide the essentials upon which the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain is built and uncovered in subsequent chapters. It provides a foothold for further exploration in order to reveal the true impact and effect of this newest classification system for teaching and learning.

Technology Collaboration (Level 2.0)

The effective use of technology includes written communication, the professional exchange of information, and interpersonal collaboration. As the second level of the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain, Technology Collaboration (Level 2.0) is defined as “the ability to employ technology for effective interpersonal interaction.”

Taxonomies of Education

This chapter explores the key to taxonomies and their effectiveness as a teaching strategy. The explanation lies in their use of learning objectives constructed to embody three primary characteristics: an observable task, particular learning conditions, and established standards of performance. A properly constructed learning objective involves an observable task that the student must perform to demonstrate that the goal has been mastered. There must be little doubt as to the conditions under which the learning will occur, namely, the actions students are expected to demonstrate. Finally, learning objectives must stipulate what constitutes successful learning. Standards authenticate successful learning.

Psychologies of Learning

The primary responsibility of teachers is to promote student learning. This chapter explores the schools of educational psychology and how human activities change as a result of extrinsic motivators such as incentives, rewards, and punishments. Behaviorists advocate influencing behavior through the systematic adjustments of stimulus-response reinforcements. Cognitive psychology holds that information is more likely to be acquired, retained, and retrieved for future use if it is learner-constructed, relevant, and built upon prior knowledge. Humanist psychology focuses on individual growth and development. It stems from the theory that learning occurs primarily through reflection on personal experience, and as a result of intrinsic motivation.

Investigation into the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain

This final chapter on the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain provides a discretionary inquiry into the research base of this newest classification system. Similar to the historical evolution of the taxonomies of Bloom (cognitive), Krathwohl (affective), Kibler (psychomotor), Bruce and Levin (technology as media) and SeSDL (communications and information technology), a watershed text such as this is obligated to demonstrate the scholarly basis upon which the new classification schemata is built.

Techology (Level 6.0)

At the apex of the Taxonomy for the Technology Domain lies the study of technology, an often overlooked, yet uncommonly important venue for the application of technology for teaching and learning. Closely akin to the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives in the cognitive domain, Tech-ology concerns itself with the “ability to judge the universal impact, shared values, and social implications of technology use and its influence on teaching and learning.” Given the impact of technology on society over the past six decades, this level of the taxonomy also concerns itself with judgments, recommendations, implications, influences, values, effect, and affect on teaching and learning. Some of the most essential considerations are presented here.

Technology Literacy

Literacy represents the most modest level of technology-based learning. At this echelon of the taxonomy, literacy is defined as “the minimum degree of competency expected of teachers and students with respect to technology, computers, educational programs, office productivity software, the Internet, and their synergistic effectiveness as a learning strategy.”

Domains of Teaching

This chapter establishes the domains of teaching as one of two “pillars of instructional technology” and offers the necessary grounding in the history and evolution of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor teaching. The cognitive domain encompasses intellectual objectives that deal with “the recall or recognition of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities and skills.” The affective domain takes in individual “changes in interest, attitudes, and values, and the development of appreciations and adequate adjustment.” Finally, the psychomotor domain embraces physical skills and the performance of actions involved in learning described as “the manipulative or motor-skill area” (Bloom, 1956).

Technology Infusion (Level 4.0)

The fourth level of the taxonomy, technology infusion, is sub-titled, “learning with technology.” Following the mastery of technological literacy (understanding technology), collaboration (technology to share ideas), and decision-making (technology to solve problems), “identifying, harvesting, and applying existing technologies to unique learning situations” characterizes thenext logical step in the development of skills and competencies for teachers and learners.