Bloom aims to help students develop understanding and independence through appropriate guidance. That can include explanations, worked examples, scaffolding, questions and independent practice. The support available in a conversation depends on the Bloom’s teaching settings and the type of request.
What learning support can include
- Explanations and worked examples introduce an idea or demonstrate how to approach a task.
- Scaffolding breaks a task into manageable steps and provides support that can be reduced as understanding grows.
- Questions and hints help learners explain their reasoning, check understanding or identify a next step.
- Independent practice and reflection give learners opportunities to apply what they have learned and judge where they still need help.
Choose guidance that fits the learner
Someone new to a topic may need an explanation or demonstration before attempting a problem. A learner with more experience may be ready to explain their reasoning or practise with less support. Questions are useful when learners have enough knowledge to engage with them; repeated guessing or frustration is a reason to reconsider the support being offered.
Active learning can include studying an example, explaining a step in your own words and then trying a similar task. It does not require discovering every answer yourself. See our learning science principles for the research guiding this philosophy.
How Bloom applies teaching settings
The Pedagogy tab controls how much writing, problem-solving, answer detail and code Bloom may provide to students. The current Default preset limits some forms of assistance, including complete solutions. Custom lets authorised staff adjust those limits for the course.
These settings describe the guidance Bloom is allowed to provide. They do not establish which approach is best for a particular student or guarantee that every reply will meet their needs. Preview the responses and adjust the settings using your knowledge of the learners and task.
Previewing the student experience
Pedagogical settings apply to student conversations. Educators, Managers and Space Owners can receive direct answers when chatting outside student mode, so an ordinary staff conversation is not a preview of the student experience.
- Use View as Student to preview the student experience with the Bloom’s teaching settings.
- The Guided chat control lets staff request help through questions and hints. It is off by default for staff. This is a response option, not a recommendation for every learner or task.
Other response types
Different requests have different purposes:
- Course administration: questions such as “When is the assignment due?” can receive a direct answer based on course materials.
- Quiz review: Bloom can help discuss submitted answers and feedback.
- Off-topic or restricted requests: topic and assessment restrictions may cause Bloom to redirect or decline a request.
Tuning support for your Bloom
Bloom Managers and Space Owners can open Configuration → Pedagogy. Custom controls require a paid teaching-space plan. Users with only the educator role should ask a Manager or Space Owner to change these settings.
Default is the current product preset, not a recommendation for every learner or task. Custom lets you adjust five dimensions independently:
- Writing Feedback: from comments to paragraph rewrites.
- Writing Generation: from no new prose to example paragraphs.
- Solution Process: from conceptual hints to full worked solutions.
- Answer Provision: from no answer confirmation to direct answers.
- Code Assistance: from conceptual help to full implementations.
Choose the levels that fit prior knowledge, task complexity and the learning goal. More restrictive settings do not automatically mean better learning. See How to control how much help Bloom gives for the settings and their limits.
Two ways to support understanding
Consider the question: “Why does photosynthesis level off at high light intensity?” These are illustrative teaching approaches, not promised responses for a particular setting.
An explanation can provide a starting point; a question can help a learner apply an idea they already know. Both can lead into further practice and reflection.
Common issues
Bloom keeps asking questions when I need more help
Explain what you do not yet understand and ask for a clearer explanation or worked example. If the course settings prevent the support you need, ask your educator to review them with a Manager or Space Owner. Repeated frustration is not evidence that learning is happening.
Bloom gives more or less detail than I expected
State your learning goal and the kind of support you want. Staff should also check the Pedagogy settings and whether they are using View as Student or Guided mode. AI responses can vary, so try representative tasks when reviewing the configuration.
Bloom refuses to answer
A topic or assessment restriction may apply. Ask about the underlying concept or contact your educator if you think a permitted learning question is being blocked.