Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The 2013 Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Summer Conference

 
The 46th Annual Oklahoma Career and Technology Education Summer Conference is scheduled for August 1-2, 2013 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
 
This conference is the major professional development activity for Oklahoma CareerTech teachers, counselors, administrators and state staff. Participants will learn innovative technical and instructional skills. They will also have the opportunity to network with and learn from their counterparts throughout the state.
 
The CareerTech Expo is held in conjunction with the conference. The exposition is a valuable resource to CareerTech educators, featuring over 150 exhibiting companies showcasing the latest products and services available in the career and technology education field!
 
The CareerTech Testing Center will be exhibiting along with CIMC, MAVCC, Printing Services, and Creative Services. Please stop by our booth and say hi and look at what's new for the 2013/2014 academic year!
 
I hope you have an incredible conference and take advantage of every learning and networking opportunity! 
 
And, if you are on Twitter, follow Summer Conference at #okacte 
 
I hope you'll join the conversation!

Monday, July 29, 2013

What Will the Future of Learning Look Like?

The education foundation KnowledgeWorks has released a forecast on five disruptions that will reshape the future of learning. The forecast focuses on ways that technology and new teaching strategies are not only shaking up traditional learning models, but they have the potential to radically change the way that students learn.

Also check out the following infographic from KnowledgeWorks that provides a glimpse into their projection of the future of learning: (Although each area will affect how we instruct our students and how we perform our jobs as educators, I believe CTE will play a significant role in the key insight that states, "continous career readiness will become the norm."


According to KnowledgeWorks:
This infographic tells the big story of KnowledgeWorks’ third forecast on the future of leanring, Recombinant Education: Regenerating the Future of Learning. Comprised of twelve key insights with accompanying graphics, it points the way toward a diverse learning ecosystem in which learning adapts to each child instead of each child trying to adapt to school.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Test Above Knowledge Level: Use Scenario Based Questions


I read a post on Questionmark's blog by John Kleeman that I wanted to share with you below. I think Kleeman does a great job of providing a simple example of how scenario based questions out perform knowledge or "definition" questions. This is a point that I continually try and stress to subject matter experts when they begin writing test questions. I believe the "definition" questions take less thought and effort to create and that is why subject matter experts may opt to write these type of questions, but I think it's also important to help them understand how scenario questions out perform knowledge questions upon statistical review. Other benefits of scenario questions are that they are better at assessing critical thinking skills and they add to the reading level of a test.

Thanks to John for providing us with another great post that I can share with you and with subject matter experts. Here is the post in its entirety:
Here’s the one piece of advice I’d give above all others to anyone creating quizzes, tests or exams: Test above knowledge.

You may be familiar with Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives, which is shown in the diagram below. At the lowest level is Knowledge; questions that test Knowledge ask for simple remembering of facts. At the highest level is Evaluation; questions that test Evaluation require participants to use judgement.
 

It’s great if you can write questions that assess at the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, but many organizations have a lot to gain by asking questions at any of the levels above Knowledge in the pyramid. Although there are times when testing facts can be useful, it’s usually better to test the application or comprehension of those facts.

In today’s world, where facts are easily googleable, it is the use and understanding of those facts in the real world that is genuinely useful. By testing above knowledge, you are checking not just that the participant knows something but that they can apply it in some scenario. This is more valid and more realistic — and for most applications it is also more useful.

Here is a simple example to illustrate the point:
 
What does a yellow traffic light mean?
  • Stop
  • Go
  • Caution
This is purely a factual, knowledge question.

But here, the question requires that the respondent to apply to meaning of a yellow traffic light to an actual situation:

If you are driving toward an intersection and the light turns from yellow to red, what should you do?
  • Speed up and cross the intersection
  • Stop suddenly
  • Stop gradually
This is a very simple example, but I hope it makes you realize that converting factual questions to scenarios is not very hard.

I’d encourage you to consider using scenarios in your questions: Ask people to apply their knowledge, not just prove that they know some facts. Have your test-takers apply what they know to actual situations.

Monday, July 1, 2013

New from CIMC...Early Care and Education: Pathway to Your National Credential


Pathway to Your National Credential replaces CIMC's Early Education: Pathway to CDA curriculum. This revised title addresses changes made to the national credentialing process for 2013, and includes reflective writing to increase the knowledge base. This curriculum provides 150 hours of high-quality training for students who want to purse the national credential of Child Development Associate, or CDA. Pathway to Your National Credential is endorsed by Oklahoma Child Care Services, meets the Early Learning Guidelines for Master Teachers, and is aligned to the following:

Council for Professional Recognition
National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) Commission
Oklahoma Core Competencies for Early Childhood Practitioners
Oklahoma Early Learning Guidelines
Center for Early Childhood Professional Development (CECPD) licensing regulations

Units include:
  • Providing for Children's Safety
  • Providing for Children's Health
  • Providing an Environment for Learning
  • Child Growth and Development
  • Ensuring Developmentally Appropriate Practice
  • Guiding Children
  • Involving Families and the Community
  • Program Planning and Record Keeping
  • Developing as an Early Education Professional
  • Putting it All Together
Click on the link below for a free sample from CIMC that includes the supplements for units 1 and 2, as well as a crosswalk to the CDA competency standards.

Early Education sample

Please contact CIMC's Customer Service Department at 800.654.4502 to purchase Early Care and Education: Pathway to Your National Credential!
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