Thursday, September 22, 2011

Google Plus : great news for you

As you’ve probably heard, Google+ is now open to everyone! No more invites necessary. But, that’s not all. When all your friends sign up they’ll be greeted by a bunch of new features that make Google+ a great tool for sharing and communicating on college campuses! Here are some ideas for how the new features that launch today can work for you: read more in


Google Student Blog: Open beta: How the next step for Google+ is great news for you

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Official Google Blog: Google+: 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99... 100.

The Google+ project has been in field trial for just under 90 days, and in that time we’ve made 91 different improvements (many of which are posted here). Google+ is still in its infancy, of course, but we’re more excited than ever to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. Today we’re releasing nine more features that get us that much closer.read more in

Official Google Blog: Google+: 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99... 100.:

Friday, September 16, 2011

Bloom’s Taxonomy: The 21st Century Version

So much have been written about Bloom’s taxonomy; one click in a search engine will flood your page with hundreds of articles all of which revolve around this taxonomy. Only few are those who have tried to customize it to fit in the 21st century educational paradigm. As a fan of Bloom’s pedagogy and being a classroom practitioner, I always look for new ways to improve my learning and teaching, and honestly speaking , if you are a teacher/ educator and still do not understand Bloom’s taxonomy then you are missing out on a great educational resource.
The following article is a summary and a fruit of my long painstaking research in the field of Bloom’s taxonomy. The purpose is to help teachers grow professionally and provide them with a solid informational background on how to better understand and apply Bloom’s taxonomy in  classrooms in the light of the new technological advances and innovations..
Bloom’s taxonomy of learning as Wikipedia has put it is “ a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom ”. Although it received little attention when first published, Bloom’s taxonomy has since been translated into 22 languages and is one of the most widely applied and most often cited reference in education.
Bloom, being convinced of the importance of thinking behaviors in the processes of learnign, had spearheaded a group of brilliant educational psychologists to undertake the task of classifying educational goals and objectives. They first came up with a general framework which was turned later on to a taxonomy of 3 domains.
1 – The cognitive : The intellectual or knowledge based domain consisted of 6 levels . Associated with the verb to THINK
2 – The Affective : Emotional or attitudinal based domain and consists of 5 levels. It is associated with the verb to FEEL
3 – The Psychomotor : The physical or skills based domain and consists of 6 levels
 bloom1

Bloom created different levels for both the cognitive and affective domains but never fully detailed the psychomotor domain leaving it for others to complete the task.
Let us now go through the different domains stated here. Apart from the diagram created by me and labelled after me all the other pictures and diagrams are taken from different sources. When you click on a picture it will direct you to its source.

1 The Cognitive Domaine

It involves knowledge and development of intelectual skills from Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS ) to Higher Order Thinking Skills ( HOTS ). They are arranged below in an increasing order from lower to higher order.


bloom2



bloom taxonomy


2 – The Affective Domain
Skills in this category describe the way people react emotionally and their ability to feel another living thing’s pain or joy. The five major affective categories are listed from the simplest behavior to the most complex.

bloom3


3-The Psychomotor Domain

Bloom did not create subcategories for the psychomotor domain but others such as Simpson, Harrow, and Dave have. They have added:
  1.  Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to guide motor activity
  2. Set :Readiness to act. It includes mental , physical and emotional sets.
  3. Guided Response : Adequacy of performance is achieved by practicing.
  4. Complex Overt Response : The skillful performance of motor acts that involve complex movement patterns.
  5. Adaptation : The individual can modify movement patterns to fit special requirements
  6. Origination : Creating new movement patterns to fit a particular situation or specific problem


bloom4


In each of the three domains, Bloom’s taxonomy is based on the premise that categories are ordered in degree of difficulty. An important premise of Bloom’s taxonomy is that each category or level must be mastered before progressing to the next. Accordingly:
  • Before we can understand a concept we must remember it.
  • Before we can apply the concept we must understand it
  • Before we analyze it we must be able to apply it
  • Before we can evaluate its impact we must have analyzed it
  • Before we can create we must have remembered, understood, applied, analyzed and evaluated.

Blooms Revised Taxonomy  ( BRT )

During the 1990s a new group of cognitive psychologists, lead by Lorin Anderson ( a former student of Blom’s ) and David Krathwohl updated the taxonomy reflecting relevance to 21st century education. In 2001, they published Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy with some changes. The changes occur in 3 main categories:
1 – Terminology
 
They changed the names in the six categories from noun to verb forms

2 – Structural Changes
 
Bloom’s original cognitive taxonomy was one dimensional form but with the addition of products , the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy becomes a two-dimensional table


cognitive table


3 – Changes in Emphasis

The Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy places emphasis upon its use as a “ more authentic tool for curriculum planning, instructional delivery and assessment.”
This new taxonomy reflects a more active form of thinking and is perhaps more accurate.


bloom difference


With the advance of technology into our lives and particularly into education , we started to talk about new emerging skills and competences that Bloom’s first taxonomy did not include. Below is a diagram i have created to include these new skills which corresponds to the 21st century learning.

bloom's digital taxonomy1


Blooms Taxonomy for iPads taken from iPad Applications in Bloom’s Taxonomy.


blooms taxonmy for ipads


Google tols to supprt Bloom’s Taxonomy taken from Bloomin Google


bloomin google


Here is a mdel of learning objectives taken from Iowa State University
 
blooms taxonomy3


My Webliography:

Bloom’s Taxonomy Learning Domains
iPad Applications in Bloom’s Taxonomy
Analyzing Apps with Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxnomy
Bloomin’ Google
Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy
A Model of Learning Objectives
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains
Research Skills
Bloom’s Taxonomy Review
Bloom’s Taxonomy ; The University of Georgia
Bloom’s Taxonomy : Wikipedia

Introducing Voice Actions for Android


crossposted from

Today, we’re pleased to announce that users in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain can now use Voice Actions in British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search box on your home screen, open the Voice Search app, or press down for a few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to activate the “Speak Now” screen. You can see how it works in this video
.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Googles turns Smartphone camera smarter

crossposted from

Today, we launched a new version of Google Goggles that enhances the camera on your Android-powered phone. With this new opt-in feature in Goggles, you can simply photograph an image using your phone’s camera, and Goggles will work in the background to analyze your image. If your photo contains items that Goggles can recognize, the app will notify you.

The Best Facebook Learning Apps


When Facebook first appeared in Harvard university its membership was initially limited to students of this institution and then later on expanded to other colleges and highschools until finally it became accessible to anyone in the world aged  and over.
If we scratch a little bit into the secrets behind the naming of this service as Facebook then we would definityely know the primary goals for which it was created. Facebook as stated in Wikipedia :
" is a printed or online directory found at American universities consisting of individuals’ photographs and names. In particular, it denotes publications of this type distributed by university administrations at the start of the academic year with the intention of helping students get to know each other. "




From the start Facebook was academically oriented towards helping Harvard students in their studies. It has since then made several inroads into education till it becomes now one of the major players in this field. Many colleges and universities are using its services to recruit candidates and to  publicize events on and out of campus. Apart from the promotional role it can play , its educational importance is clearly visible to everyone and it will unfair if we discard it because of privacy issues or any other negative effect it might bring around. We the educators MUST know the educative uses of Facebook and implement them in our teaching. In this regard, I have conducted some research into this particular area and have divided my findings into two articles one is entitled Reasons Why Facebook is Revolutionizing Education , where i have provided reasons and tips for educators on how to use this social networking in their classrooms, I have also included a paragraph about the potential side effects of Facebook and how educators can avoid them. The second article is the one you are reading . It is in fact a back up to the earlier post in that it includes a list of the best learning applications Facebook offers to its users and that educators can use in their daily work.

All thankfulness and gratitude go back to Davis Tiffany from Online College Classes who ordealed to prepare and present this list to the readers. To make it easy for you to find the apps you want , all the applications have been organized into different categories just pick up the one you want and click on the link to use it.

Social Connections



  1. FriendFeed
  2. Professional Profile
  3. SocialCalendar:
  4. CampusBuddy Courses
Documents and Sharing


  1. Zoho
  2. SplashCas
  3. Books iRead
  4. Divshare
  5. Files
  6. Last.fm
  7. Ma.gnolia
  8. Scrapblog
  9. Notecentric
  10. Webinaria Screencast Recorder
  11. Documents
  12. Visual Bookshelf
  13. Mathematical Formulas
  14. Netflix
  15. SlideShare
Photos


  1. Picnik
  2. Picasa
Ratings and School information


  1. College Planner
  2. Courses
  3. Pick-A-Prof
  4. Gradzilla
  5. Course Profiles
  6. Rate My Professors
Information and Research

  1. JSTOR Search
  2. MyRSS
  3. Translations
  4. DoResearch4me
  5. Quotes
  6. Dictionary.com Word of the Day
  7. Zen Habits
  8. Wikiseek Search
  9. Heritage & Flags
  10. WorldCa
  11. Goodreads
  12. Google Reader
Groups

Manage your study group, projects, and more with these apps.
  1. MyOffice
  2. Study Groups
  3. Polls
  4. CourseFeed
  5. Blackboard Learn
  6. Get Stuff Done
Organization
These Facebook apps will make your life and learning more organized.
  1. 30 Boxes
  2. MyLists
  3. BookTag
  4. kwiry
  5. To-Do List
  6. fbCal
  7. Books
  8. GCal
  9. Notely
  10. Upcoming.org
Integration
These apps make Facebook play nicely with other tools that are great for learning and productivity.
  1. Twitter
  2. Digg
  3. del.icio.us
Learning Sources
You can learn a lot from these Facebook apps, and even share knowledge, too.
  1. Teach the People
  2. Dojo Learning
  3. Learn
  4. Supercool School
  5. KnowledgeBook
  6. HeyMath!
  7. Podclass
  8. Big Brain Answers
  9. Teach and Learn
  10. NutshellMail
Language
Learn a new language through Facebook by using these apps.
  1. What language should you learn?
  2. Learn Spanish
  3. Learn German
  4. JapanesePod101
  5. Language Exchange
  6. Learn Russian Verbs
  7. Advanced Swedish Word of the Day
  8. Learn a Spanish Word a Day
  9. Learn French
  10. SpanishPod
Studying
These Facebook apps will make studying a snap.
  1. Flashcards
  2. Get Homework Help
  3. Class Notes
Buying & Selling
You can save money by selling your books, finding deals, and more through these Facebook apps.
  1. SwapRoll
  2. Upromise Deals
Games for Learning
Use these Facebook games to build your brain power.
  1. There/Their/They’re Test
  2. Capitals of the USA
  3. Mind Games
  4. Wordscraper
  5. What French philosopher are you?
  6. US Citizen Test
  7. Fifth Grade Test
  8. SCRABBLE
  9. BrainBone
  10. Bubble Words
  11. Mahjong
  12. Endless Crossword
  13. Fun Trivia
  14. Geo Challenge
  15. IQ Test:
  16. What are they thinking?

Taken from 100 Awesome Facebook Apps for Productivity and Learning )