Bloom’s Taxonomy

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The following describes Bloom’s Taxonomy (I developed for a presentation a few years ago and have since lost the sources for it):

Knowledge – Recalls or recognizes information, ideas, and principles in the approximate form in which it was learned

Verbs: Define, label, listen, list, memorize, name, read, recall, record, relate, repeat, view, select, describe, recognize, identify, locate, recite, state

Methods of assessment: True/False, Matching, Questions, Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Essay, Fill in the Blank, Game, kwl chart, reflective log

Comprehension – Translations (viz. kenyan translations), comprehends, or interprets information based on prior learning

Verbs: Describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, solve, tell, match, paraphrase, rewrite, give, examples, illustrate, extend, defend, distinguish, summarize, interrelate, interpret

Methods of assessment: True/False, Matching Questions, Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Essay, Fill in the Blank, discussion, Game, Role Play, silent mapping, concept webbing, reflective log

Application – Selects, transfers, and uses data and principles to complete a problem or task with a minimum or direction

Verbs: Apply, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, recognize, solve, use, organize, generalize, dramatize, prepare, choose, show

Methods of assessment: Multiple Choice, Short Answer, Essay, Discussion, Graphic Organizers, flow chart, case study, problem solving, game, role play, multimedia cbi, contracts, interviews

Analysis – Distinguishes, classifies, and relates the assumptions, hypotheses, evidence, or structure of a statement or question

Verbs: Analyze, appraise, break down, calculate, compare, contrast, debate, diagram, differentiate, examine, experiment, explain, inspect, inventory, question, relate, solve, classify, point out, distinguish, categorize, subdivide, infer, survey, select

Methods of assessment: Multiple Choice, Essay, Venn diagram, kwl chart, observation, presentation, journal, peer evaluation, discussion, simulation, game, role play, multimedia cbi, problem solving, case study, interviews

Synthesis – Originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan or proposal that is new to him or her

Verbs: Arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write, originate, hypothesize, develop, combine, produce, invent

Methods of assessment: Essay, role play, observation, checklist, presentation, reflections, journal, peer evaluation, portfolio, discussion, simulation, game, role play, flow chart, contracts, interviews

Evaluation – Appraises, assesses, or critiques on a basis of specific standards and criteria

Verbs: Appraise, assess, choose, compare, estimate, evaluate, judge, predict, rate value, select, relate, weigh, criticize, support, consider, critique, recommend, summarize

Methods of assessment: Essay, observation, checklist, presentation, reflections, journal, peer evaluation, portfolio, simulation, game, performance, metric, role play, Interviews

Google Nexus phone released

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Google has finally released their much anticipated Galaxy Nexus phone. It was released in the US yesterday and I got one:) Now for most mobile users I recommend an iPhone for various reasons. For myself and other ‘techies’ this is the phone to get and here is why:

– first phone with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwhich. Will be a few months before other phones get this update OS.

– It’s a google phone so you will get updates straight from google i.e., first. No other phones have this advantage.

– No bloatware. Normally when you buy an android phone is comes pre-installed with all sorts of software that you cannot delete. For instance moto blur for motorola or sense from htc. This is a vanilla version of android.

– It’s a developer phone. This means that you can easily root and unlock the phone. You can also reset it to factory settings.

Well those are the advantages of this phone over all others. If you want to know the reason why I recommend iphones over droids for most users stay tuned, i will eventually get around to writing that article.

Here is a link to the phone to check out the features: http://www.google.com/nexus/

Resume writing tips for the recent college graduate

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Do NOT have an objective. You just graduated and are not that career focused just yet.

Keep the resume simple – NO colors or images; simple structure

Education should be first followed by work experience

1-2 pages in length

Tell me what you did at your job AND be specific. Don’t say things like ‘managed a group and came up a solution that helped the save money’ – How many people did you manage? How much money was saved? You need to be specific. Tell me exactly what you did there. These should be written as achievements – what did you accomplish.

Do NOT list acronyms. People do NOT know what ADEGERTD is.

Speak is past tense for jobs you are no longer at. Present tense for jobs you are currently working at.

List your GPA if it was above 3.0

Keep thing consistent – like titles, dates, positions, number of bullets per item

Spell check

Grammar check

Ask someone to read your resume – do they understand every single thing?

Use 12 pt font.

Do NOT write in paragraph format. Please use bullets and keep them simple.

Action verbs should begin each bullet point. For instance – Managed a group, Delivered training, etc.

Show me your best – your resume is designed to get you a job so sell yourself

Use job titles that are meaningful and describe what you actually did.

List most relevant/important jobs first

Look at the jobs you are applying to. Are you using similar terminology?

List computer software that you know – near end of resume

Do not list hobbies unless you need to take up space

Do not leave space, use the entire page if you are going to use 2 pages. Do NOT make it 1.5 pages.

Google working on Siri alternative for Android?

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While Android has had voice recognition since it first came out, it does not have AI like Apple’s SIRI so it comes as no surprise that they would be working on something similar. Just today there are two articles talking about two different ways Google might be doing this.

The first article by droid life says google is working on a siri alternative called Majel. You can read about it here

The second article by mashable says that google recently acquired virtual assistant software called alfred. You can read about it here

What is Cognitive Load?

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Here is an explanation of cognitive load theory. This was taken from a recent publication of mine:

Pastore, R. (2012). The effects of time-compressed instruction and redundancy on learning and learners’ perceptions of cognitive load. Computers & Education, 58(1), 641-651.

Cognitive Load

Cognitive load refers to the informational load that is being processed in working memory (Van, Paas, & Sweller, 2010). Cognitive load theory explains that there is a certain amount of information that can be processed in working memory at one time without overloading processing capacity.  Thus, when cognitive load is increased beyond our working memory capacity, learning is depressed. Initial research on cognitive load stems from the information processing theory, which explains that we have a limited short term or working memory and an unlimited long-term memory (Brünken, Plass, & Leutner, 2003). Miller (1956) explains that the mind can store seven units of information, plus or minus two units depending on how meaningful they are to the learner, at one time in our working memory without exceeding processing capacity.

Cognitive load is comprised of three types of load that are referred to as extraneous, intrinsic, and germane (Sweller, 2010; see also Künsting, Wirth, & Paas, 2011). Each of these types affects learning separately. Extraneous cognitive load is affected by the design of the instruction. This type of load suggests that irrelevant information results in high cognitive processing. So reducing irrelevant activities will reduce cognitive load and increase comprehension. Intrinsic cognitive load is affected by high element interactivity, such that information that is hard for the learners to interpret increases cognitive load. Germane cognitive load refers to load that is generated by instructional activities that lead to schema development and automation (Mayer, 2005).

Making games and simulations in your classroom

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Educators often ask me what is the best tool for their students to make games in their classes. My first question is always: Do the students have programming experience? If so, I usually turn them onto 3D gaming software such as Unity. However, more often than not this is not the case. So there is some great software out there for educators that is FREE and requires no programming experience. In fact, much of this software is drag and drop and teaches programming logic. It’s geared for kids and is great in the classroom. Here are some of my favorites:

Scratch – created by MIT

Squeak – created by Apple

Alice – created by Carnegie Mellon University

Kodu – created by Microsoft

Gamemaker – created by YoYo Games

For Mobile: Google App Inventor

Google App Inventor moving to MIT Media Lab

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For those wondering about this transition, here is a link to some good info from MIT.

Here is some of the main info:

When will the Google App Inventor service shut down?

Google support of App Inventor will end on December 31, 2011.

When will the public MIT App Inventor service be available?

We MIT anticipate the public instance of App Inventor will be available for the general public to access some time in the first quarter of 2012.

Will my current App Inventor projects transfer automatically to the MIT service?

No, legally Google is not allowed to give your project data to MIT. You will need to download your projects to your computer and upload them to the MIT service when it becomes available.

What do I need to do to preserve my projects when the Google service shuts down?

You will need to download your projects to your computer. The “Download all projects” button will create a zip file of all your projects. Unzipping that will produce a folder with all your projects (each project itself is a zip file) and you can upload them individually to a new App Inventor service when it becomes available.

Link to the rest:

 App Inventor transition to MIT