Reverse Bloom: A new hybrid approach to experiential learning for a new world

Bloom’s Hierarchy of learning has been the foundation of formal teaching and assessment practice since the mid 1950’s. This has resulted in higher-quality education outcomes, more consistency in delivery, and better teaching practices. However, mainstream teaching practices and teacher training have focused on the Cognitive domain, with less focus on social development (except for some societies and non-mainstream institutions). There has been little emphasis on the two other domains for comprehensive learning, which Bloom’s colleagues identified as the Psychomotor and Affective domains. These two less used domains highlight the skills and social aspects of being able to influence others and apply the learning in practice to generate value. The imbalance between the three is critical because all three domains play a role in being a competent professional and a contributing member of society, based on the capabilities built-in their learning experiences.This paper shares three key new contributions to the learning literature that help address this imbalance: The “Reverse Bloom Learning Framework” (RBLF), a set of principles to guide learning facilitation through the RBLF, and some insights on design of inclusive learning activities (including provision of deeper feedback for better reflection and higher quality learning outcomes). Together these three elements of progressive learning can enable a more balanced approach to learning at all levels. The RBLF includes all three of Bloom’s domains in iterative social learning experiences and reverses the traditional order of Bloom’s learning elements. The author suggests this more inclusive and comprehensive approach enables facilitation of more collaborative learning and that this will generate more competent, confident, and capable graduates, who are better equipped to interact in our modern challenging workplaces and our wider world.