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Azuma, M
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; Garbajosa, J
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Eleventh Annual International Workshop on , vol
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, pp
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 2003 
doi: 10
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2003
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ieee
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jsp?tp=&arnumber=1372141&i
snumber=29998 

How to Apply the Bloom Taxonomy to Software Engineering
Motoei Azuma
Waseda University
Tokyo, Japan
azumam@waseda
...
etsmtl
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This paper discusses how Bloom’s
taxonomy could be expanded to be more useful not
only for education but also for industry
...
This paper is the
result of a workshop held in Amsterdam in
September 2003 during the Software Technology
and Engineering Practice Conference (STEP
2003)
...

This taxonomy is used in the SWEBOK [2] to
specify the expected level of understanding of each
topic within its Knowledge Areas (KA) for a
‘graduate plus four years of experience’
...
After briefly presenting Bloom’s
Taxonomy in Section 2, a brief overview of some
of the key characteristic of Software Engineering is
given
...


2

Because educational objectives are the basis for
building curricula and tests, the classification of
goals came out as the best approach for this
framework
...
For each
objective, the intended behaviors were separated
from the content or object of the behavior
...


2
...

These levels progress from the simplest to the most
complex [11]:
1
...


2
...

Terms associated to it are: Describe,
generalize,
paraphrase,
summarize,
estimate
...


Application:
Addressees
the
use
abstractions in concrete situations
...


4
...


5
...


6
...


The Bloom’s Taxonomy

2
...
The objective was to
stimulate research on “the relations between
examining and education” and the development of
a theoretical framework “to promote the exchange
of test materials and ideas about testing”
...
upm
...

Technological (engineering) knowledge is on
the other hand operational
...
1 Characteristics of Software Engineering
Since our objective is to apply
to software engineering, it
adequately characterize this
following characteristics are
exercise:

Bloom’s taxonomy
is important to
discipline
...

This means that human factors are significant to
many aspects of the application of its knowledge
...
g
...

(3) The engineering process can be refined into
Primary Process, Supporting Process, and
Organizational Process (See for instances ISO/IEC
12207 [3])
...

(4) Applicable technologies vary depending on the
category, or application domain, of the target
software
...


3
...


Technological knowledge can be applied to
produce simple or complex products
...
For instance, the
Laws of Physics and underlying concepts required
to build a small bridge are the same than for a large
one
...
However the operational knowledge is not the
same at all
...

Thus, since software engineering is an engineering
discipline, the knowledge that students must get to
become fully empowered professionals must also
be operational e
...
gained through broad industrial
experience
...
As spelled-out in [8] it is
necessary to consider human (knowledge) assets,
personal (professional) competencies and, as
important, core competencies
...

The grading of the qualifications obtained after
getting a degree should thus consider this issue
...

However a number of issues with the usage of this
taxonomy in SWEBOK have been published [6]
and [7]
...
This means that
SWEBOK usage of this taxonomy to define
expectations for a graduate with four years of
experience would fall outside this original
design intent
...
As
explained previously Bloom’s taxonomy was
devised to structure knowledge [10]
...
Some topics are just baseline concepts,
such as Concurrency within Key issues in
software design
...
Analysis,
synthesis and evaluation will make sense under
Software structure and architecture or
Software design quality analysis and
evaluation
...
At the higher level the average of a topic
maybe application, as long as all the items are
application except for two, comprehension and
analysis
...
It also shows the
importance of a proper area break down
...


4

Two dimensional approach

4
...
g
...

As we explained, a cognitive-domain taxonomy for
engineering should be more precise at the
application level, since engineering knowledge
must be operational to be useful
...
2 Proposal
Table 1 shows a first cut at a modified taxonomy
for an educational context
...
These are:
A
...

C
...


Concept, Framework and Reference Model;
Principle and Theory;
Method and Technique;
Measurement and Assessment;

F
...


Each knowledge item can thus be identified by the
category and required Competence Level
...
Software Design
Notations can be mapped to category C and
required competence level may be at Level 3
(Application)
...

Also, the content of the cells of Table 1 are not all
at the same granularity level: some are SWEBOK
knowledge areas and some are topics
...

Table 1 as proposed cannot clarify the position of
target people, such as practitioners or graduate
students, by regard to Knowledge Area and
Competence Level
...


Knowledge Area/Topic
General design Concept
Context of design
Design process
Architectural structures
Architectural styles and
pattern
Design pattern
Quality attributes
Structural description
Behavioral description
General strategies
Function-oriented design
Object-oriented design
Data-structure centered
design

Category of
KA
A
B
A
A
B

Undergraduate Students
(1~2)
Level 1
Level 1
Level 1

Senior Class (3~4)
Undergraduates
Level 2
Level 2
Level 2
Level 1
Level 2

Master
Students

Level 1

Level 2,3,5

E
D
C
C
A
C
C
C

Practitioners

Level 2

Table 2: Proposed Taxonomy, Knowledge Area and
Target People [13]
Table 2 is one possible solution for the problem
...
For
instance:
(1) An undergraduate students in first and
second year should Know (Level 1) the
category
A
(Concept,
Framework,
Reference Model) of the Design Concept,
(2) A senior class of undergraduate students
should Understand (Level 2) the Category A
of the Architectural Styles and Patterns
...
These capability levels reflect the items
enumerated in section 5
...

The last two capability levels are interesting in that
they make a difference between company-wide
leadership in a specific knowledge area and
professional leadership e
...
outside of the company
...
1 The industrial context
Competence

In
industry,
especially
in
professional
environments, technical employees are usually
compensated based on their capability and how
they are using it
...
Capable personnel can not only
perform very complex work, but they can also
supervise less capable personnel, and also mentor
junior employees
...
2 The Construx Capability Levels
Construx Software, a software development and
consulting company (http://www
...
com),
has developed a ‘professional development ladder’
...


Leadership

Mastery

Summary
The employee performs or is capable
of performing basic work in an area,
generally under supervision
...

The employee performs effective,
independent work in an area, serves as
a role model for less expert employees,
and occasionally coaches others
...
The employee
regularly coach employees and
provides project-level and possibly
company-wide leadership
...

The employee performs reference
work in an area and has deep
experience across multiple projects
...


Table 3: The Construx Capability Levels [4]

Construct use these capability levels in conjunction
with knowledge areas (based on the SWEBOK) to
come up with a ‘Ladder’
...
An
individual that is rated as at a Competence level for
three knowledge areas and at an Introductory level
for the remaining knowledge areas would be at
level 10 of the Ladder
...

A Level 13 individual would master on knowledge
area, be a leader in 5 of them, competent in 8 and at
the Introductory level for the remaining
...


6

engineering, and in general to the engineering
discipline
...


Knowledge
...


Comprehension
...

Terms associated to it are: Describe,
generalize,
paraphrase,
summarize,
estimate
...


Application
...
It can
be associated to: determine, chart,
implement, prepare, solve, use, develop
...


4
...
Includes breaking down a whole
into component parts: That is: point out,
differentiate, distinguish, discriminate,
compare
...


5
...
Refers to putting parts together
to form a new and integrated whole:
Create, design, plan, organize, generate,
write
...

Regularly coach other professionals and
provides project-level and possibly
organization-wide leadership
...


Evaluation
...
From an
operational
perspective:
performs
reference work in an area and has deep
experience across multiple projects
...

Two axes of expansions have been explored in this
paper:
1
...


Knowledge area categorization
Construx operational capability levels

The first axis categorizes the nature of the
knowledge along a taxonomy based on a
characterization
of
software
engineering
knowledge
...

The second axis defines capabilities from a pure
operational perspective
...

This last approach is essentially a more refined
view of the Bloom’s taxonomy upper levels
...

We are now in a position to define a new taxonomy
that not only classify cognitive educational goals
but also classify operational capabilities
...
We believe because
of the reasons elaborated in this paper that this
taxonomy is more pertinent to software

Such an extended Bloom’s taxonomy could then be
combined with a finer grained characterization of
software engineering knowledge in a two
dimensional framework such as the one we
described earlier to provide a knowledge
assessment tool usable in both an educational and
an industrial environment
...
Preprint for conference
proceedings for Views on Software
Development in the New Millennium
Reykjavik, August 31st, September 1st ,
2000
...
An
Analysis Of
The Gap Between The
Knowledge And Skills Learned In Academic
Software Engineering Course Projects And
Those Required In Real Projects
...


[7]

Paul E
...
Alternative Domains And
Levels Of Understanding For Software
Engineering Assessment
...

33rd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education
Conference
...


[8]

Sita Ramakrishnan and Ashley Cambrell
...
An
In-forming Web-based Environment for a
Bachelor of Software Engineering Degree –
DoIT
...

Informing Science
...


[9]

Ken Surendran and Helen Hays, Andrew
Macfarlane
...
IEEE Software
...


Conclusions

This paper is the result of a workshop held in
Amsterdam in September 2003 during the Software
Technology and Engineering Practice Conference
(STEP 2003)
...
A new taxonomy
that is more applicable to engineering has been
proposed at the end of this paper
...

Bloom’s taxonomy levels for three software
engineer profiles
...
This paper’ contributions, as well as
the other results of the STEP 2003 workshop,
should not only enhance the usability of Bloom’s
taxonomy in software engineering education but
also make it more useful in an industrial setting for
human resources management
...
Special thanks to Pierre
Bourque for commenting this paper
...
Lee
...
The National
Teaching & Learning Forum of Learning
...


[1] B
...
Bloom, (Ed
...
New York ; Toronto: Longmans,
Green
–
as
quoted
in
http://www
...
uvic
...
html

[11] Anonymous, Supplemental material to [9]
...
ntlf
...
htm
...
, in
conjunction with James Rhem & Associates,
Inc
...


[2]

[12] Azuma, Motoei, STEP2003 Position Paper,
September 2003
...
Abran and J
...
Moore, Ex
...

Bourque and R
...
SWEBOK:
Guide to the Software Engineering Body of
Knowledge: Trial Version 1
...

IEEE
Computer Society Press, 2001
...


[4]

Anonymous,
Professional
Development
Ladder, A Construx Software Whitepaper,
Construx, 30 September 2002
...
Bourque, L
...
Abran and A

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