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Beneath the tip of the iceberg: technology plumbs the affective learning domain.

Article Excerpt
Recently developed products are automating learning designed for mapping the affective domain. Several factors are driving the adoption of such products.

Workforce alignment. A lot of the workforce misunderstands the business goals of their companies. Some actively resist alignment or are disinterested in the corporate strategy.

Workforce selection and retention. A person's score on new affective-based personality assessments are being used to determine his or her appropriateness for particular jobs. Workplace ethics. Breach of ethical behavior can be expensive for companies. Ethics training is now widespread due to corporate scandals, compliance mandates, and legal risks.

Customer analytics. Evidence suggests that a worker's emotional state is a primary factor in performance.

Public safety and national security. Innovations are already being used by government agencies for gathering intelligence and ascertaining potential homeland security risks.

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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.

Now, new learning technologies have emerged that are automating learning designed for the affective domain. These new technologies are the equivalent of the railroads that opened new territories in the past. They're now providing access to the last domain of human learning, the Final Frontier. There's a broad category of products known as Affective Computing and a specific product category called Affective Learning Technology that are designed for the affective learning domain.

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