Bloom’s Categories of Learning are widely accepted in the instructional design field as a starting point for clarifying the types of learning that typically occur. While it would be easy to write an entire dissertation-length paper on these categories, it would be overwhelming and not really all that useful for most people! However, if you are considering a new training program for your contact center, it is helpful to have a general understanding, since this will help you better select when, where, and how your training should be delivered.
The categories are really broken down into three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Given the contact center environment, it is unlikely that you would have training that relates to the psychomotor domain, which focuses on physical skills. Also, unless you are facing challenges with employee motivation or are rolling out a diversity training program, you will likely not be working much within the affective domain, which includes attitudes and feelings. Contact center training will focus largely on the cognitive domain of knowledge and understanding.
The cognitive domain is broken down into the six categories of learning, progressing from the most basic (knowledge) to the most complex (evaluation); these categories are briefly reviewed below with a few examples from contact center training.
| Learning Category | Explanation | Contact Center Training Example |
| Remembering | Recall data or information |
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| Understanding | Explain ideas to demonstrate comprehension |
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| Applying | Apply information to a novel situation |
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| Analyzing | Distinguish parts to understand organizational structure |
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| Evaluating | Apply information to make a judgment |
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| Creating | Create a new product or idea |
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Even just this rudimentary understanding of learning categories can help you avoid common mistakes made when rolling out training. For example, if CSRs are expected to act as decision makers in response to customer complaints, it is unlikely that solely training them on recalling a corporate policy (knowledge) will help them effectively make decisions about applying that policy to the vast variety of customer complaints. Once you have a better understanding of the learning category that your training will likely encompass, you will be better able to determine the details of your training program including the delivery method, training location, course objectives, evaluation criteria, etc.
 Kelly has been working as a contract technical writer for Inova Solutions for nearly three years. As a recovering high school English teacher, she enjoys the opportunity to still employ her ‘red ink’ when writing, editing, and formatting documentation. You can contact Kelly at kelly@insideinova.com.
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