New Categorization of Practical Works Activities with Hybridization

of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Grimard’s Pyramid, and Specific MOOC

Karima Boussaha

, Mouhamed Beggas

and Khalil Khoualdi

Department of Computer Science, Research Laboratory ond Computer Science’s Complex Systems (ReLa(CS)2),

University of Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria

Department of Computer Science, University of Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria

Keywords: Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Practical Work MOOC, Learner Motivation, Social Cognitive

View, Computer Programming Language Practical Works, Bloom’s Pyramid, Grimard’s Pyramid.

Abstract: Due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the total confinement imposed on all countries to

prevent the spread of the virus, Massive open online courses (MOOC) systems have been widely used in

recent years, and have attracted more attention in educational institutions, especially. But MOOCs intended

for learning practical work have not been adequately addressed. However, everyone knows that the chances

of dropping out of MOOCs are very high compared to conventional offline courses. Researchers have

implemented extensive and diverse methods to determine the reasons behind learner attrition or lack of

interest to apply timely interventions.

We decided to address the dropout problem due to the lack of

motivation among learners, with special practical works MOOCs. We have hybridized two methodologies:

cognitive levels of learners, namely, Bloom’s taxonomy and Grimard’s pyramid for motivation this

hybridization allowed us to create a new categorization for practical works, and we propose a new MOOC

for learning practical works activities for programming languages in computer science. The main objective

of this MOOC platform is to automatically generate practical works of different levels of complexity to be

solved according to the level of motivation related to the learner. It composed into three principal

components: IMMS survey component, motivation component, and practical works generator component.

1 INTRODUCTION

In recent years, there has been extensive use and

considerable interest in using MOOCs systems,

especially in crisis times like the Coronavirus

pandemic, these MOOCs seem to be as much about

the collective empowerment of university leaders to

bring higher education into the digital age (Alamri et

al., 2019). In the depth of relevant literature, the

authors observe that there is a lack of MOOCs

explicitly addressing learning practical works

activities on one hand and the other hand though

these MOOCs systems have some drawbacks like

the significant number of learners’ dropouts which

turned out to be a severe problem (Alamri et al.,

2019). Moreover, the causes of dropout are known

to every specialist in traditional learning, but their

causes can be very different in distance learning.

There may be problems of another kind that can

increase the dropout rate among distance learning

students and push them to leave online courses,

including issues of isolation, disconnectedness, and

lack of technical mastery (Willging and Johnson,

2019). The authors see that one of the main reasons

that made the dropout rate so high with these kinds

of MOOCs is learners’ motivation level problem.

To address the above two challenges (dropout,

lack of MOOCs addressed to learning practical

works), we propose to design and develop a MOOC

platform for learning practical work in computer

science programming languages for learners. This

MOOC automatically generates practical work to be

solved according to the learner's degree of

motivation. This important approach is yet to be

introduced in the Learning with practical works

MOOCs. Thus, the main contributions of this work

are:

1. We hybridized two methodologies: cognitive

levels of learners, namely, Bloom’s

taxonomy and Grimard’s pyramid for

motivation this hybridization allowed us to

Boussaha, K., Beggas, M. and Khoualdi, K.

New Categorization of Practical Works Activities with Hybridization of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Grimard’s Pyramid, and Speciﬁc MOOC.

DOI: 10.5220/0011057200003182

In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2022) - Volume 2, pages 483-488

ISBN: 978-989-758-562-3; ISSN: 2184-5026

483

create a new categorization for practical

works.

2. Propose architecture of practical works

MOOC. The main objective of this practical

works MOOC platform is to automatically

generate practical works of different levels of

complexity to be solved according to the

level of motivation dear to the learner.

The rest of the research paper is organized as

follows. In section 2, we talk briefly about the

overview of Bloom’s and Grimard’s pyramids. In

section 3, we present the new categorization of the

practical works according to the methodologies

(Bloom and Grimard). We present in section 4, the

general architecture of the practical works and its

main components. Finally, we conclude with a

conclusion and future directions.

2 OVERVIEW OF BLOOM’S AND

GRIMARD’S PYRAMIDS

Our proposal is based on cognitive levels of learners,

namely, Bloom’s taxonomy and Grimard’s pyramid

for motivation evolution synthesized in what follows

(El-Seoud et al.,2016; Bloom,1965):

2.1 Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s taxonomy is a model of pedagogy

proposing a classification of levels of knowledge

acquisition. Taxonomy hierarchically organizes

information, from the simple restitution of facts to

the complex manipulation of concepts (Haddadi and

Dahmani,2016). It can be summarized in six

hierarchical levels. Each level corresponds to typical

operations. The taxonomy is offered as an aid to

teachers to formulate questions that allow situating

the level of comprehension of the learners. For

example, a question can be used to determine that a

student is proficient in the knowledge of facts,

understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and

evaluation. By structuring the questions, teachers

can better understand the weaknesses and strengths

of the students, which helps to promote the

progression of learning to higher levels. According

to Bloom (El-Seoud et al.,2016; Bloom.,1965): a

learner goes through several stages in their learning.

He begins by acquiring abstract knowledge, which is

realized more and more until the learner can create

knowledge in particular fields. These levels are (see

Figure 1):

• Remember: Retrieving relevant knowledge

from long term memory,

• Understand: Determining the meaning of

instructional messages, including oral, written,

and graphic communication,

• Apply: Carrying out or using a procedure in a

given situation,

• Analyze: Breaking material into its constituent

parts and detecting how the parts relate to one

another and to an overall structure or purpose,

• Evaluate: Making judgments based on criteria

and standards,

• Create: Putting elements together to form a

novel, coherent whole or make an original

product.

Figure 1: Bloom’s taxonomy (El-Seoud et al. 2016; Bloom., 1965).

CSEDU 2022 - 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

484

2.2 Grimard’s Pyramid of Learner’s

Motivation

In the learning process especially in presenting

lessons, the teacher motivates his students in many

and varied ways to ensure successful receiving of

lessons, but the motivation component in distance

learning environments is considered a missing

element under the absence of direct contact between

the learner and the teacher (Hadadi and

Dahmani,2016). Indeed, there is a close relationship

between learner motivation and the success of the

learning process. In our paper, we will focus on the

motivation centered on learning and based on the

four levels of motivation proposed by Dany Grimard

and presented through the pyramid of “Figure

2”.Dany Grimard proposes a taxonomy with the

description of four levels of motivation (Haddadi

and Dahmani, 2016; Jamil et al.; 2019).

• The passion: To understand this point, the

author describes the three components by the

acronym PIC (Passion, Intensity, and

Confidence). The “P” means that we must have

a sincere intention and do the activity or work

by passion and not by obligation. The “I”

indicate that we must commit unconditionally

and “C” shows that we must have an excellent

knowledge of ourselves.

• Autonomy: in the second level. It is related to

the learner’s ability to make choices

indecently. That means learners should develop

a capacity for reflection and recognize

strategies that help them to succeed.

• Mastery: consist of training and developing the

knowledge of learners, this gives them the

desire to always be better in a given activity.

• Find meaning: that means knowing the

direction and target. When a learner works on a

project, he can recognize if the project goes in

the same direction, as the mission he is given.

Figure 2 presents the four motivation levels

proposed by Dany Grimard.

3 A NEW CATEGORIZATION OF

PRACTICAL WORKS

ACTIVITIES

We used the same concept and the same hypothesis

that was put forward by Haddadi and Dahmani

(2016) in their proposal for the assessment activities

pyramid and by combining the point of view of

Bloom (the social cognitive view) with Grimard

about learners’ motivation levels(Haddadi and

Dahmani,2016). We found that the two pyramids are

compatible with each other and with ours, and we

inspire and propose a new categorization of practical

works activities as shown in Table 1. We were also

inspired by capability levels of CMMI (Capability

Maturity Model Integration), which consist of best

practices that address development and maintenance

activities applied to products and services (Team,

2006).

Figure 2: Motivation levels proposed by Dany Grimard (Haddadi and Dahmani,2016).

New Categorization of Practical Works Activities with Hybridization of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Grimard’s Pyramid, and Speciﬁc MOOC

485

Table 1: Practical works categories according to Bloom’s and Grimard’s pyramids.

Practical work level

Practical Works codes

written with

Motivation levels Cognitive-learning levels

Level one Closed questions Have passion

Remember

Understand

Level two Half-open questions Be autonomous Understand

Level three Open questions Mastery Apply Analyse

Level four Problems solution Find meaning

Analyze

Evaluate

Create

• Practical works level one: Consists of practical

works codes written with closed questions, in

the form of holed texts. This kind of practical

works is intended for learners who have a

passion degree of motivation, this type of

practical works offer a choice of predefined

answers with progressive difficulties to create a

relationship of trust with the learner, to guide

him gradually to decide to reach the next level.

• Practical works level two: Consists of practical

works codes written with half-open questions,

in the form of (compound questions and short

answer questions) which is a little more

complex than the previous ones. At this level,

the learner should have a certain degree of

autonomy, which is one of the critical success

factors for intrinsic motivation. With this type

of practical works, we aim to ensure that the

acquired knowledge is maintained and the

learner can combine his knowledge to write an

answer, thanks to the autonomy created in him.

• Practical works level three: At this stage, and

thanks to the learner's degree of motivation,

mastery, practical works codes written in the

form of open questions (exercises) are

presented to the learner in a clear and precise

manner and contain all the information to solve

the problem. Then, the learner puts into

practice a rule, a method, or mobilizes

knowledge in an ordinary situation. At this

level, the teacher should set specific criteria

and quantitative quality objectives to ensure

that the learner acquires the skills.

• Practical works level four: Consists of practical

works codes written with problem-solving.

This kind of practical works are intended for

learners who have to find a meaningful degree

of motivation. The practical works of this level

present problematic situations (case study).

This, allows the learner to analyze a real

situation, to extract conclusions from it to

enrich knowledge, develop the learner's

reasoning, stimulate his sense of creativity and

increase his confidence.

4 GENERAL ARCHITECTURE

OF THE PROPOSED

PRACTICAL WORKS MOOC

Our proposition consists to design and develop a

practical works MOOC for distance learning of

practical work in computer programming languages

for learners. This platform automatically generates

practical work (Boussaha et al., 2015; Boussaha et

al., 2021) to be solved according to the measure of

the degree of motivation related to the learner, that is

to say, we will divide the learners into four groups

according to the Dany Grimard pyramid. Learners

who have passion, learners who have Autonomy,

learners who have mastery, and Learners who have

the find meaning. This is on the one hand, on the

other hand, we will divide the practical works to be

generated into four levels according to Bloom’s

taxonomy. Knowing that for each type of learner we

will offer the practical work adapted to his level of

motivation. Figure 3 shows the principal

components of the practical works MOOC platform

proposed. It is composed of four principal

components: IMMS survey component, motivation

component, practical works generator component,

and certification component.

CSEDU 2022 - 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education

486

Figure 3: General architecture of the proposed MOOC.

4.1 Practical Work Generator

Component

This component is responsible for the generation of

the type of practical work (practical work level one,

practical work level two, practical work level three,

practical work level four) according to the learner’s

motivation level.

4.2 Learner Motivation Component

This component is responsible for determining the

learner’s motivation level (Passion, Mastery

autonomy, Find meaning).

4.3 IMMS Survey Component

The IMMS survey was designed to measure

responses to self-directed instructional materials.

These are situation-specific self-report measures that

can be used to estimate learners' motivational

attitudes in the context of virtually any delivery

system (Breslow et al., 2013; Li and Moore, 2018).

4.4 Certification

This component is responsible to verify if the learner

achieves his learning process, and offering

certification according to the questionnaire filled in

by the learner at the end of the learning session.

5 CONCLUSION

MOOCs environments have proven to be very

useful, especially in difficult times such as the

Coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, the use of

this type of environment is not without a price.

Excessive numbers of dropouts, among other

problems, remain a serious problem. Therefore, it is

necessary to motivate many researchers to conduct

more and more studies to understand the reasons

behind this problem or to develop new techniques

that will improve the cognitive level of learners and

thus reduce these frightening numbers.

Knowing the reasons why a learner has dropped

out is a very effective factor that can be taken into

consideration when creating new algorithms and

techniques to reduce dropouts. In addition, it is

necessary to find indicators with a goal that may

reflect the state of the learner, such as in a conflict or

encountering problems. Behavioral and cognitive

indicators are the most used against other indicators

such as biographical or social indicators or even

psychological indicators that seem very difficult to

calculate and control their values.

In this work, we have presented a new approach

based on the learner’s motivation level capable of

identifying and helping learners in critical situations,

thus preventing them from dropping out. The

proposed approach uses a hybridization of Bloom’s

and Grimard’s pyramids which hybrid to detect the

Users interfaces

Adding

MOOC

Learning

Certification Consult

resources

Learner

motivation

component

Pratical work

genetrator

Component

MOOC Creators MOOC Users

IMMS survey

Component

New Categorization of Practical Works Activities with Hybridization of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Grimard’s Pyramid, and Speciﬁc MOOC

487

learner’s motivation level and created a new

categorization of practical works which are proposed

like learning process activities. The objective of our

approach is how to attract learners to finish their

learning until they receive the certifications by

developing a Practical MOOC Platform intended for

learning practical work. Our goal is to generate the

type of practical work (simple, medium, complex) to

give to the learner according to his level of

motivation. Our research work is in the early stages.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us on many

points until it matures. We can mention some future

directions. We will develop the algorithm used in the

calculation of the learner’s motivation level and we

program to develop a prototype of the practical

works MOOCs.

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