Abstract:
Learning in higher education is often associated with Bloom’s Taxonomy; levals of active learning are determined, recommended and used by degree programmes in keeping with this hierareliy o f verbs. It is our aim to analyse the extent and. out come o f the use o f this Taxonomy in selected undergraduate studies o f the Faculties of Management Studies and Social Sciences and Languages o f the Sabaragamuwa University o f Sri Lanka. We shall consider as to how far the academics of these given disciplines consciously employ-Bloom’s Taxonomy in setting questions for end semester formal evaluations., with the hypothesis that this clasification is currently being employed by such faculties Our sample has been derived from the Faculties o f Management Studies and Social Sciences and Languages out of a total population o f five Faculties at the Sabaragamuwa University. As methodology we have followed random sampling in comparing the: verbs o f the Bloom’s Taxonomy with those o f the questions set by the academics for end of semester eva|uations in the academic year 2006/2007 Among the findings o f the study is the fact that
while around twenty five percent o f the academics have consciously and effectively
employed Bloom’s Taxonomy in evaluations, others have used, some verbs o f the
classifieation (eg. ‘analyse’ , ‘calculate’, -distinguish’ ‘evaluate’, ‘ iIlustrate’) or not used them, with lesser understanding of the alignment necessary between the learning objectives and assessment methods. This study is significant. since constructive alignment of teaching / learning / assessment with the learning objectives of an undergraduate course o f study is vital in maintaining the quality of each programme the maintaining o f which is the responsibility of all academies.The content o f this paper shall enable academics in general to look back on what has been achieved by them with Bloom’s Taxonomy as a source o f guidance and what the future may hold in relation to it.
