Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg: Technology Plumbs the Affective Learning Domain

Until very recently, it has been prohibitively expensive and impractical to attempt to develop learning technologies that mapped to the affective domain. Now there’s a broad category of products known as Affective Computing and a specific product category called Affective Learning Technology. Both are being used to develop products designed for the affective learning domain.

In 1956, a group of educators led by Benjamin Bloom identified three overlapping human learning domains: cognitive learning, psychomotor learning, and affective learning. They represent the knowledge, skills, and beliefs, respectively, of a human performer. The integrated framework of these three domains has since become known as Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Even though the three domains are tightly integrated aspects of human learning, traditionally only the skills and knowledge domains have been part of the corporate training focus. Training professionals have shied away from the affective domain because of its complexity. Until very recently, it has been prohibitively expensive and impractical to develop learning technologies that mapped to the affective domain.

In the case of the classroom experience, the affective is a layer provided by a human teacher. In higher education and corporate classrooms, role play (human-to-human collaboration) is used to teach affective domain subjects such as sales techniques, patient interactions, and employee management methods.

In the corporate sector, affective learning technologies are now beyond the research phase and are proliferating rapidly. These major factors are driving the adoption of affective learning technology products in the enterprise:
· workforce alignment
· workforce selection and retention
· workplace ethics
· customer analytics
· public safety and national security.