Industries have expectations that university graduates possess well-rounded theoretical and practical knowledge to be successful in their jobs. While effective teaching and learning are essential goals in higher education institutions, lessons and learning activities in traditional classroom settings are often out of context, presented to students with much theoretical generality and abstract representations. This leads to a disconnection between academia and industry, where students struggle to apply abstract principles and knowledge in a real-world context to perform effectively in their workplace. Live role-play has been traditionally used as an educational technique to engage students and provide them the opportunity to learn with a real-world context within classroom settings. While role-playing in the classroom encourages transfer of learning, one of its limitation is traditional role-play often does not provide an authentic and believable real-world experience to participants. The primary aim of this study is to converge the pedagogical benefits of role-playing, educational technology and digital games to investigate the effectiveness of using digital role-playing games in classrooms to achieve learning outcomes. Qualitative data were collected from digital media lecturers of a transnational university based in Vietnam and Australia to identify desirable learning outcomes and describe teaching and learning challenges of digital media courses. Through interviews, lecturers also discussed their perceptions of digital RPGs and their level of acceptance in using this educational technology as part of their teaching practice to accomplish learning outcomes. The results highlighted three key desirable learning outcomes: The first learning outcome is students should develop solid understanding of theoretical and foundational design knowledge, enabling effective application of theoretical knowledge to produce creative digital media outputs. The second learning outcome - students should speak the "design language". Students should develop the ability to articulate, critique and explain creative works using appropriate design vocabularies and terminologies, which are used by design practitioners in the industry. The third learning outcome indicated that students should be resourceful and self-sufficient to conceptualise and generate creative ideas. Using Bloom’s taxonomy categories, game characteristics and identified learning outcomes, a conceptual framework was developed for the design and use of digital RPGs to achieve learning outcomes for digital media education. In validating this conceptual framework, a 3d digital role-playing game, Virtual Designer was developed and implemented in classroom environment. A pre/post-test experimental setup was implemented, in which performance gains were measured and compared between control (conventional learning methods) and treatment group (played digital RPG) to determine the learning effectiveness of digital RPGs. Opinion-based survey and focus group interview was also conducted. Based on collected feedback, students find Virtual Designer an effective tool to assess their state of knowledge in different areas of design and apply theoretical knowledge into practical contexts. Students find the game to be an engaging alternative to conventional learning methods, but some have commented the game to be too difficult and at times frustrating to play. Lecturers have also play-tested Virtual Designer and provided favorable views on the overall feasibility of using similar digital RPGs as a teaching and learning tool to sustain students’ interest in learning their subjects – and successfully accomplishing learning outcomes.

Building technology to support students who must learn ethics and social issues is a difficult problem. In fact ethics and social issues is an example of an ill-defined domains, which typically are resistant to standard intelligent tutoring systems techniques. An analysis of current pedagogical tools for teaching Computer Science ethics and social issues using Bloom’s Taxonomy shows that the task needs tools for achieving Application, Evaluation and Creation educational goals. One promising approach which has the potential to achieve such goals is educational games. This paper explores a proof of concept educational game called Conundrum. This serious game provides three ways for learners to interact with it, each supporting a level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. An experiment was run in a Computer Science ethics and social issues class showing promising results that the design of Conundrum led to students achieving Application, Evaluation and Creation goals. A multidimensional student model was also developed to aid instructors and learners understand their progress. The experiment showed that the design of Conundrum did have some good aspects but leaves a lot of future work to maximize its potential.

The globalisation of commerce, alongside growing information on the Internet, has increased the demand of E-Learning (EL). Furthermore, knowledge management (KM) is capable of generating significant organisational/institutional competitive advantages. KM and EL systems contribution to the requirements of education has resulted in their increased demand of their integration across business/academic world. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is one of the most widely used framework of organising levels of expertise. Bloom’s different cognitive domains are based on a hierarchy of learning which progresses from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract. This study considers ways to improve higher education in Saudi Arabia, based on the significant factors (of KM/EL systems) contributing to learner performance and the way in which New Bloom’s Taxonomy could potentially affect/benefit these individual systems; previous academic works will be considered, in an attempt to achieve higher standards of education using this theory/framework. This research presents the value of learning process/tactical approaches, to encourage staff and students to accept the idea of integrating EL and KM factors under New Bloom’s Taxonomy; examples will be given to demonstrate instances where systems have been adopted successfully. To investigate the effectiveness of New Bloom’s Taxonomy on the integration of EL and KM factors in Saudi higher education, a questionnaire methodology was chosen to collect data from experts of both systems; furthermore, the public sector was chosen as it has adopted both systems. Therefore, an integrated framework is proposed.

This research entitled "Biochemistry at School: a didactic proposal for meaningful learning" is characterized by being predominantly qualitative, which used as strategy the elaboration and application of a didactic sequence constructed from learning objectives proposed according to the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. This didactic sequence aimed at reinforcing different abilities of the cognitive domain classified in levels and categories and favoring the meaningful learning of Chemistry contents in the classroom for last year students of high school from a public school of Santa Maria - RS, as well as strengthening the pedagogical and didactic knowledge of teachers in initial formation of Chemistry Degree of the Federal University of Santa Maria. For this, the study was developed in three phases. In the first phase, the aim was to achieve the pedagogical theoretical reference on meaningful and disciplinary learning about the concepts to be approached, such as proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. The second phase was addressed to the theoretical and practical orientation of the teachers in initial formation for the construction of the didactic sequence, approaching different scientific contents in several interventions. The interventions were organized in three thematic workshops based on the Three Pedagogical Moments and the learning objectives proposed for the six levels and categories of knowledge organization of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. The third and final step was to apply in the classroom the didactic sequence constructed by the teachers in initial formation and evaluation of the constructed learning. The results of this study were obtained through different data collection instruments, such as: questionnaires, textual productions, didactic sequence activities and the observations and annotations of the researcher, which were analyzed according to the Textual Discourse Analysis. The active participation of teachers in initial formation in studies that provide spaces for articulating university-school, strengthening the pedagogical and didactic knowledge developed during their school and university life, since the teacher needs the use of those in the planning and application of activities, promoting improvements in the teaching process. Furthermore, the results allowed concluding that the application of the didactic sequence favored the meaningful learning of scientific concepts, inasmuch as an evolution was observed in the construction of the knowledge and skills of the cognitive domain of high school students. / Esta pesquisa intitulada “Bioquímica na Escola: uma proposta didática para a aprendizagem significativa” é caracterizada por ser predominantemente qualitativa, a qual utilizou como estratégia a elaboração e aplicação de uma sequência didática construída a partir de objetivos de aprendizagem propostos conforme à Taxonomia de Bloom revisada. Esta sequência didática teve como finalidade reforçar diferentes habilidades do domínio cognitivo classificadas em níveis e categorias e favorecer a aprendizagem significativa de conteúdos de Química em sala de aula para estudantes da 3ª série do Ensino Médio de uma escola estadual de Santa Maria – RS, bem como fortalecer os conhecimentos pedagógicos e didáticos de professores em formação inicial do curso de Química Licenciatura da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Para isso, a pesquisa foi desenvolvida em três fases. Na primeira fase, buscou-se o referencial teórico pedagógico sobre a aprendizagem significativa e disciplinar a respeito dos conceitos a serem abordados, tais como: proteínas, carboidratos e lipídeos. A segunda fase foi direcionada para a orientação teórica e prática dos professores em formação inicial para a construção da sequência didática, abordando diferentes conteúdos científicos em várias intervenções. As intervenções foram organizadas em três oficinas temáticas estruturadas nos Três Momentos Pedagógicas e nos objetivos de aprendizagem propostos para os seis níveis e categorias de organização do conhecimento da Taxonomia de Bloom revisada. A terceira e última etapa, destinou-se à aplicação em sala de aula da sequência didática construída pelos professores em formação inicial e avaliação da aprendizagem construída. Os resultados desta pesquisa foram obtidos por meio de diferentes instrumentos de coleta de dados, tais como: questionários, produções textuais, atividades da sequência didática e as observações e anotações do pesquisador, os quais foram analisados segundo a Análise Textual Discursiva. Conclui-se que a participação ativa dos professores em formação inicial em pesquisas que propiciem espaços para articular universidade-escola, fortalece os conhecimentos pedagógicos e didáticos desenvolvidos durante sua vida escolar e universitária, visto que precisa do uso deste no planejamento e aplicação de atividades, promovendo melhorias no processo de ensino. Além disso, os resultados permitiram concluir que a aplicação da sequência didática favoreceu a aprendizagem significativa de conceitos científicos, pois foi observado uma evolução na construção do conhecimentos e habilidades do domínio cognitivo dos estudantes do ensino médio.

The globalisation of commerce, alongside growing information on the Internet, has increased the demand of E-Learning (EL). Furthermore, knowledge management (KM) is capable of generating significant organisational/institutional competitive advantages. KM and EL systems contribution to the requirements of education has resulted in their increased demand of their integration across business/academic world. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is one of the most widely used framework of organising levels of expertise. Bloom’s different cognitive domains are based on a hierarchy of learning which progresses from simple to complex and from concrete to abstract. This study considers ways to improve higher education in Saudi Arabia, based on the significant factors (of KM/EL systems) contributing to learner performance and the way in which New Bloom’s Taxonomy could potentially affect/benefit these individual systems; previous academic works will be considered, in an attempt to achieve higher standards of education using this theory/framework. This research presents the value of learning process/tactical approaches, to encourage staff and students to accept the idea of integrating EL and KM factors under New Bloom’s Taxonomy; examples will be given to demonstrate instances where systems have been adopted successfully. To investigate the effectiveness of New Bloom’s Taxonomy on the integration of EL and KM factors in Saudi higher education, a questionnaire methodology was chosen to collect data from experts of both systems; furthermore, the public sector was chosen as it has adopted both systems. Therefore, an integrated framework is proposed.

The research reported here covers the following items: 1. The development of the Reflective Learning Framework (RLF). This framework was developed based on a grounded theoretical approach combined with an exploration of existing student reflections; then-current literature; and years of multiple iterations through real-world trials. This framework has now successfully been used by many educators in courses at McMaster and other institutions of higher education. 2. An investigation of students’ responses to the RLF. Following the development of the RLF, third-year students who had used the RLF to guide, assess, and evaluate their course reflections were surveyed and interviewed about their perceptions of using the RLF. Results of this study demonstrate that students see reflection as a tool to develop and use cognitive and metacognitive skills, and also as a tool to support knowledge retention and transfer. Furthermore, findings suggest how reflection, as studied, contributes to the acquisition of higher-order thinking skills required to address the complex challenges of improving sustainability. 3. Determining the effectiveness of the RLF. Finally, to determine the effectiveness of the RLF to support students in applying and demonstrating their higher-order thinking skills, a comparison of two sets of reflections was performed – one that used the RLF and one that did not. The comparison was based on tests of interrater reliability and a comparison of means was conducted. The results of this study demonstrate the reliability of the Framework to be used by multiple raters and that significantly different reflection outputs were obtained from students who used the RLF compared to those who did not. The results of these studies demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the RLF as a tool to guide, assess, and evaluate reflection through experiential education in university courses. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The research reported here covers the following items: (1) the development of the Reflective Learning Framework (RLF), which was accomplished through a bottom-up approach, and which began with reading and re-reading over 100 student reflections and then reviewing the wealth of literature on the topics of reflection and experiential learning; (2) an investigation of students’ responses to the RLF, which was accomplished through an online survey and in-person interviews; and (3) determining the effectiveness of the RLF by comparing the grades of students who used the RLF to those who did not. The results of these studies demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the RLF as a tool to guide, assess, and evaluate reflection through experiential education in university courses.

Orientador: Jorge Muniz Junior / Resumo: O objetivo desta tese é propor um modelo para avaliar competências de estudantes de engenharia em fóruns de discussão on-line. O modelo inclui um instrumento de pontuação (rubrica) baseado na Taxonomia de Bloom para avaliação de Competências em disciplinas da engenharia. A revisão da literatura indicou oportunidades de pesquisa atendidas pelo modelo proposto, tais como, comparação de diferentes rubricas, aplicação da Taxonomia de Bloom em atividades colaborativas, bem como validade e confiabilidade de rubricas em diferentes contextos educacionais. O modelo de avaliação utiliza rubrica analítica, a qual fornece feedback específico para cada uma das competências avaliadas, de acordo com os níveis da Taxonomia de Bloom: lembrar, entender, aplicar, analisar, avaliar e criar. As competências avaliadas estão alinhadas com a Accreditation Board of Engineering and Techonology (ABET), World Economic Forum de 2015 e National Academy of Engineering, de forma a comtemplar complexidade e desafios do profissional do século XXI. A validação do modelo foi feita por meio de sua aplicação em instituições públicas de ensino superior (Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC), Instituto Federal de São Paulo (IFSP) e Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)), o que envolveu 118 docentes especialistas de ensino a distância e 106 estudantes. Evidenciaram a validade e confiabilidade do modelo por meio dos coeficientes: Indice de Validade de Conteúdo (90%), Alfa de Cronbach (0,73), Porcentagem Abs... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The objective of this thesis is proposing a model to evaluate Engineering students’ competencies in on-line discussion forums. The model includes a grading tool (rubric), based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, for the evaluation of competencies in Engineering courses which stimulate logical thinking and decision making. The literature review revealed research possibilities about the proposed model use, such as the comparison of different rubrics, the application of Bloom’s Taxonomy in collaborative activities, and rubric validity and reliability in different educational contexts. The evaluation Model uses an analytic rubric, which provides a specific feedback for each of the evaluated competencies, according to the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. The evaluated competencies are relevant for the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology, 2015 World Economic Forum, and National Academy of Engineering, keeping in view the complexity and challenges of the 21st century professional.Validation of the model was done through its application in public universities (Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC), Instituto Federal de São Paulo (IFSP) e Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)), with the collaboration of 118 distance education specialist teachers and 106 students. Validity and reliability of the Model was proved by the following coefficients: Content Validity Index (90%), Cronbach’s Alpha (0.73), Absolute Pe... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive types and functions of questions orally posed by early childhood teachers in kindergarten through 3rd grade during a 90-minute literacy block. The cognitive types of questions were determined by the criteria established using Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Hess, Jones, Carlock, & Walkup, 2009). The functions of the posed questions were determined by criteria based on the work of Costa (2001), Hughes (as cited in Fusco, 2012), and Lowery (as cited in Fusco, 2012). This study examined questioning strategies used by 12 early childhood teachers from a Northeast Tennessee School District. The 12 teachers orally posed questions were recorded, scripted, and coded by the researcher to determine each question’s type, frequency, and function and how these indicators serve to increase student engagement during the literacy block. Results from the study show that the majority of questions posed are low in cognitive level requiring students to perform primarily at the basic level of remembering and understanding. The primary function of the recorded posed questions called for students to verify their understanding and many closed questions were asked during the documented lessons. The time teachers gave students to answer a question was minimal and a single student generated response was the predominant vehicle used to glean an answer to a presented question. While the teachers in this study appeared to understand the importance of posing high level cognitive questions in order to increase Common Core Standards instruction, results from this study showed that there seems to be a disconnect between what teachers think they do and their actual practice in regard to posing effective questions as a strategy for active student engagement and learning.

Several active learning strategies have been used when increasing the structure of a course as increasing course structure has been known to improve student learning in introductory STEM courses. Much has been studied on the value of frequent formative assessment; however, few studies have evaluated the effective modes of delivering summative assessment. This study examines the use of summative assessment as an inclusive teaching practice to improve first generation college student success in introductory biology and also uses faculty surveys to find out how instructors structure their introductory biology course and why they are structured that way. Final exams were evaluated by Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. Survey results showed that many instructors used online activities most of the time to supplement face-to-face courses. However, student and faculty viewpoints on assessments offer many interesting insights into how instructors may modify teaching strategies to increase the success of diverse student populations.

隨著電子化學習(E-Learning)環境技術的普及，線上學習與線上測驗已成為資訊教育的重要議題。但是因為填充題及問答題等測驗類型在線上測驗系統上實施有許多問題需克服，當線上測驗系統提供填充題及問答題等題型測驗時，將會產生嚴重的測驗評分等化(Equation)問題。目前線上測驗系統大多仍以是非題、單選題及複選題等題型為主，雖有少數線上測驗系統提供填充題及其他開放式填答的測驗類型，但仍未針對受測者填答之答案進行的語意自動評分。 / 另外，現有線上測驗系統未提供教師設定個人化的評分風格，對於多位教師共用測驗系統平台時所產生的評分規則認知衝突，系統也未提供支援與解決，為了解決上述問題，並使線上測驗能具備與傳統測驗相同的評量效力，本研究使用模糊理論、相似語意詞庫及人工智慧概念等，發展一個線上測驗及智慧評分子系統，此系統除了包括一般測驗系統所提供的是非、單選、複選等題型外，也包含採用智慧評分機制來評分的填充題，完成雛形系統的建置後，本研究再針對傳統紙筆測驗、一般型評分機制、及本研究的智慧型評分機制進行評分效力比較的實證研究。 / 此部分的實證研究結果顯示，在包含填充題型的測驗中，不同的評分機制在測驗成績的評分結果上會有顯著差異，而智慧型評分機制運作初期雖然可以減少與紙筆評分間的差異，並改善一般型評分機制的評分效力，但仍無法在統計上獲得具有相同評分效力的結果。但是智慧評分機制在擴充詞彙語意後，「已擴充語意後的智慧評分機制」與「紙筆評分」的評分結果並無顯著差異，其顯示出若在包括填充題型的線上測驗系統中加入具有擴充詞彙語意關係知識的功能，並提供多功能的智慧型模糊評分機制，允許教師輸入代表個人評分風格習慣的評分規則參數，則線上評分系統將有可能具有與紙筆評分相同的評分效力來處理具有填充題題型的測驗工作。 / 然而線上測驗並不只是在測驗後給予受測者一個分數而已，而應該讓學習者了解自己在知識向度及認知向度的學習結果，因此測驗系統的試題若能包含Bloom教育目標分類資訊，將促使測驗活動能給予學習者更大的幫助。為了降低教師製作試題的負擔，本研究也以本體論、詞彙網路、Bloom分類理論、中文語意庫、人工智慧為基礎，提出一個輔助教師產製題庫的系統架構，並使電腦所產製的試題能涵蓋新版Bloom認知領域教育目標分類中的知識向度及認知向度概念。本研究在電腦輔助教師產製題庫的成果上，不僅能減少教師人工出題的負擔，系統產製的試題也能評量事實、概念及程序等三種知識及記憶、了解、應用、分析及評鑑等五種認知向度能力。受限於線上測驗系統能自動評分的四種題型，本研究尚無法產製屬於創造認知層次的試題，但是卻已能產製出包含基本知識概念的試題，並能提供具有Bloom概念的測驗題庫來評量學習成效。此外，本研究亦針對電子化學習環境，提出適用於線上測驗系統的試題品質及評分等化能力評估概念模式，強調Bloom理論在線上測驗系統環境中的使用範圍與限制。此模式也透過測驗等化觀念，針對教育領域測驗理論在評估試題品質概念上提出新的觀點。 / Since the rapid E-learning development, the online learning and testing have been important topics of information education. Currently teachers still need to spend much time on creating and maintaining on-line testing item banks. Some researches have applied the new Bloom's taxonomy to design meaningful learning assessments. This research has applied ontology, Bloom's taxonomy, Chinese semantic database, artificial intelligence, semantic web, to design an on-line course learning system to assist teachers in creating test items. / Most of present on-line testing only has multiple choice items and true-false items. Though some provide fill-in-blank items, they can only recognize the answers either all right or all wrong through the simple computer binary pattern matching. In order to have the same evaluation effects as the traditional paper-and-pencil testing, this research will adopt the concepts of fuzzy theory, thesaurus, set, and artificial intelligence to develop the fuzzy scoring mechanism. The proposed on-line testing system will have true-false, multiple-choice, and fil-in-blank items. The latter will be graded through fuzzy judgment that is naturally endowed by the human teachers. / In addition, the past research indicated that e-learning students would learn more if provided appropriate feedback messages. In this research will add feedback messages to the proposed system according to different situations. The proposed on-line testing system will not only grade the test items, but also explain the answers and provide related materials to the testers. / The result of study are: (1) we could design the test items that would need a particular cognitive process to a particular type of knowledge, though we still could not have items to test “creative” level of cognitive process; (2) the test items could be used to assess the learning level meaningfully; (3) the computer would assist teachers to create a large number items, and save time of making item; (4) that different scoring mechanisms have a significant effect on test scores; (5) at the beginning, though our fuzzy on-line testing system is significantly better than the usual on-line testing system, it could not achieve the same effect as the paper-and-pencil testing; (6) after expanding semantic vocabularies from feedbacks, our fuzzy scoring mechanism is equivalent to paper-and-pencil.