Technology and Learning Styles and multiple intelligences

Technology and Learning Styles and multiple intelligences

I have read the article LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES by Richard M. Felder, Hoechst Celanese Professor of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University and Barbara A. Soloman, Coordinator of Advising, First Year College, North Carolina State University.

The article introduces eight learning styles. The writers tried to make a comparison between each two opposite types for example, between the active and reflective learners, the sensing learners and the intuitive learners, the visual and the verbal learners and at last the sequential learners and the global learners. Then, the writer tried to introduce a solution for each type. The writer mentions how can each learner help himself if he is put in an educational situation that doesn't suit his abilities or the way he retain and understand information.


The active learners understand information by discussing, or applying or explaining it. They like group work. They like to try the information first. On the other hand the reflective learner thinks of it first. They prefer working alone. The only similarity between them is that they couldn't sit for lectures without having anything to do. The comparison tried to guide the active and reflective learners to help themselves. An active learner in a class that allows little or no class time for discussion should study in a group, take turns explaining different topics to each other and work with others. This will help him retain information better. A reflective learner in a class that allows little or no class time for thinking shouldn't read or memorize the material or review what he has read and to think of possible questions or applications. He should write short summaries and class notes. This will enable him to retain the material more effectively.


Sensing learners like learning facts. They also like solving problems. They dislike complications and surprises. They are patient with details, good at memorizing facts, practical and careful. On the other hand, intuitive learners prefer discovering possibilities and relationships. They like innovation and they dislike repetition. They are better at grasping new concepts. To help themselves, sensors in a class where most of the material is abstract and theoretical should ask the instructor for specific examples of concepts and how they are applied. But an intuitor in a class that deals primarily with memorization should ask the instructor for interpretations or theories that link the facts. He should take time to read the entire question before he starts answering and be sure to check his results.

Visual learners remember best what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films. On the contrary, verbal learners get more out of words--written and spoken explanations. To help themselves, a visual learner tries to find diagrams, sketches and flow charts. He should ask the instructor for videotapes or CD-ROM displays of the course. He should color-code the notes. The verbal learner should write summaries or outlines of course material in his own words and work in groups so as to hear classmates.

The sequential learners understand in linear steps with each step following logically from the previous one. They follow logical stepwise paths. The global learners learn in large jumps. They can solve complex problems quickly or put things together. If the instructor jumps around from topic to topic or skips steps, the sequential learner should ask the instructor to fill in the skipped steps. He should also outline the lecture in logical order. Then he should relate each new topic he studies to things he already knows. A global learner, who needs the big picture before mastering the details, should skim through the entire topic to get an overview. He should try to relate the subject to things he already knows by asking the instructor to help him see connections or by consulting references.
Resources :
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm 

Technology and Learning Styles

 Technology and Learning Styles


        I will introduce a simple idea about the multiple intelligences and after that I will introduce how technology can enhance this intelligence in brief. According to this theory, "we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Individuals differ in the strength of these intelligences.

I am going to deal with the learning styles and how the technology can enhance them as follows:

1- Visual-Spatial:

The learners are very aware of their environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles and read maps. They can be taught through drawings, verbal and physical imagery. Tools include models, graphics, charts, photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video, videoconferencing, television, multimedia and texts with pictures/charts/graphs.

Technology can play a great role with this type of learners. Many technological items can be used with this learning style as follows: 

1- Visual learning. Slides, filmstrips, and movies
2- The VCR is a flexible and adaptable tool that can be utilized for innumerable educational purposes.
3- The interactive videodisc (IVD). For example Geographic Television (GTV) is currently one of the most recent developments in interactive video for the classroom.
4- IBM's Speech Viewer for those with speech difficulties where they can actually see their speaking patterns
5- Computers allow visually oriented students to learn through their strengths as they interact with the technology.
6- HyperCard or LinkWay software: the students can create multimedia reports.
7- Scholastic "Slide Shop is a program for creating computerized slide shows, producing audiovisual aids for talks, video title and credit screens
8- Interactive videodiscs are also becoming more available in the classroom

2- Bodily-kinesthetic

         The learner uses the body effectively, for example a dancer or a surgeon. They keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things and touching. They communicate well through body language and are taught through physical activity, acting out and role playing. Tools include equipment and real objects.

         For technology, this type of intelligence can be enhanced as follows:

1- Computers rely mostly on eye-hand coordination for their operation for example: keyboarding and the use of the mouse or touch-screen. This kinesthetic activity reinforces learning and makes the student an active participant in the learning process.
2- Video games engage the player and increase his skilful physical response to the challenges.
3- Programs such as "Lego Logo" offer ways to connect the computer to external manipulative.
5- Multi-media technology also involves much actual physical activity as information is gathered from databanks, books, and photos

3- Musical

        The learners show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, and tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio, stereo, CD-ROM and multimedia.

The development of musical intelligence can be enhanced by technology in the same way that verbal fluency is enhanced by word-processors as follows:

1- Digital technology, which combines digital audio with visual input, makes it possible for many students to learn about elements of music that are often too complicated for beginners to understand.
2- Interactive videodiscs on music make it possible to "break out" and hear individual instruments

4- Interpersonal

         They are marked by understanding and interacting with others. These students learn through interaction. They have many friends, empathy for others, and street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars, and dialogues. Tools include the telephone, audio conferencing, time and attention from the instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer conferencing and E-mail.

For technology, when students use computers in pairs or small groups, comprehension and learning are facilitated and accelerated.

1- Students can be videotaped as they give a presentation or performance. Groups of students can discuss their observations of each other,
2- The Internet, which is a network of computer networks, includes thousands of networks used by millions of people of all ages. For educators, telecommunications networks offer an important resource and support system.

5-Intrapersonal

         The learner is marked by understanding one's own interests, and goals. These learners tend to shy away from others. They're in tune with their inner feelings. They have wisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught through independent study and introspection. Tools include books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and time are fruitful with them. They are the most independent of the learners.

The development of intrapersonal intelligence can be facilitated through:

1- The use of technology to explore and expand the human mind. Technology offers the means to pursue a line of thought in great depth as well as to have random access to divergent ideas.
2- Individual student learning or personal growth plans can be well facilitated through computer programs that make possible on-going modifications or revisions, as well as the recording of accomplishments in the form of electronic or multimedia portfolios of student work.

6- Logical -Mathematical

        They reason, calculate and think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see and explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles, and ask cosmic questions. They can be taught through logic games, investigations, and mysteries. They need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details.

        Logical-Mathematical intelligence can be exercised and developed through many challenging and innovative kinds of multimedia technology. Students of every ability level can learn effectively through interesting software programs that offer immediate feedback and go far beyond drill and practice and "workbooks on computers." Many of them offer challenging opportunities to exercise and develop higher order thinking skills that are essential in problem-solving.

7- Linguistic

         The learners use words effectively. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games, multimedia, books, and tape recorders are helpful for them.

Technology enhances this learning style as follows:

1- The computer encourages students to revise and rewrite compositions and thus develop greater fluency and a more effective style.
2- Recopying by hand or typewriter often inhibits ongoing correction and revision, but the computer facilitates these processes and gives students a greater sense of control over their writing.
3- Technology is having an enormous impact on the development of speaking skills.
4- Computer has enhanced writing skills, so audiotape-recording, video-taping, and video-conferencing are having positive effects on oral fluency. When students observe and hear themselves speaking, they learn to express themselves effectively.
5- Technology offers new communication and learning opportunities to students with multiple handicaps and "different abilities.

Create an online course site or an exercise

Create an online course site or an exercise

         I think that creating an online course has become very easy in that time. Now we can apply some tools to build an online course: these are my real examples to be accessed

1-  I built a new class using www.nicenet.com . My class key is R344605E54

2- I built a blog using Google blogger . The URL is http://english4all4fun.blogspot.com/

3- I put a sample of an exercise in Google docs. The link is

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jp9g4oYW5zqMkRHMSoSiWGZeIul2QDsNudCVBD1QYlQ/edit?usp=sharing

         To reach the best use of these sites, I will put my topics and tasks in the conference page of the nicenet.com . The students should follow it by adding the key into the site to be added in the class. Then the students should read the topics and tasks and try to deal with them. After that, they have to go to the blog and write their answers, comments and ideas. They can answer them in written after viewing the exercises in Google g docs.

         These sites are suitable for students of prep schools, secondary schools and university. In the earlier ages, the students mayn't know how to use these sites in a perfect way. The students of higher levels can use them in the best way. They can read and write in a suitable way. They have a technology and computer experiences that qualify them to go through them smoothly and without problems.

        This site can help the learner autonomy. I can suggest some sites for him to be used for searching for book, references and useful sites. I can put the rubrics that in his way to learn. I can provide him with similar experiences in the form of article, pictures, presentations or templates to be followed as an initial imitation.   

Teaching with Online Tools

 Teaching with Online Tools

         I accessed the site http://www.toolsforeducators.com/ . I became amazed of what the site provides for us. It is really marvelous. I called it " all in one" in my favourite. I added it to my delicious.  I think that using the word search generator provides very easy and professional activities for word spelling revisions. I liked it and I will use it in my site and in my class and in the class blog or site. The crossword generator can help in the same way. I liked the dice tool. The students can make them in groups. The teacher even can use them as a starter or a game inside the class. I liked the game generator tool. It provides printable games with pictures. It can be used as a starter or ice breaker or a plenary for our lessons. It will help the students revise and memorize vocabularies. The spelling reading worksheets can help when the teacher tries to make a word reading sheet for his class. The best think that it is accompanied with pictures to help student keep the words by heart and memorize them with their mutual pictures.

         The website http://bogglesworldesl.com/ is very useful for writing activities, word spelling and making exercises. It contains varied collections of flashcards, songs, worksheets and exercises. It provides lesson plan for the teachers. They also can use the http://poster.4teachers.org/  as it is a free tool which allows educators to create a lesson, worksheet, or class page and immediately publish it online. Teachers can also set up classes and assign projects to students. Students complete the assignments by creating their own online projects or reports. Teachers and students can even add images and links to their pages.

         The easy test maker http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx is a powerful tool to make tests of all types. The site provides printed and pictured instructions for the teachers to be followed. The best part of the website is the inline tests where you can make automatic tests that are run and graded automatically online. This option is helpful for blogs and nicenet. It is also helpful for learner autonomy. Unfortunately they are used for upgraded versions only. But you can do so by using hot potatoes http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ . The site provides you a free install of the version of the software. It is easy to use it. You can use it online and offline as it provides the exercises in html form.

The levels or stages of learner autonomy and how they are assessed.

 The levels or stages of learner autonomy and how they are assessed.

 

        There are levels or stages of learner autonomy. I think that this type of learning suits all levels and stages according to the case of being intended or not intended. If it is not intended, it is suitable for students of earlier ages such as cycle 1 and cycle 2. The student can learn from the posters on the walls, the English corner, and the language center prepared by the teacher inside the class room. Doing manual projects helps much increase the experiences of the students so as to be recalled in similar situations. Many teachers realize that the students can learn indirectly, so some teachers prepare word walls for them in the class. Others ask the students to prepare a file for their flash cards and activities. In this stage the learner autonomy is limited. It lacks some of the strategies. The students in earlier ages can imitate, repeat, deduce, guess, and ask questions for clarifications. But they lack the ability take notes and have resources. But these can be provided by the teacher in an indirect way without telling the students that these resources have been put to help them work and learn autonomously. I myself put some games in the school yard for the students to learn from them.

        For higher levels and stages, this type of learning should be intended. The student himself wants to learn. He prepares his resources, references, books and websites that will be a start point to his learning process. The student assign his references according to his level and specialized learning. The students of prep and secondary schools can be active with this type of learning especially with the usage of technology as the students in this age are familiar with technology, internet and computer. The best one who can assign what suits his study life is the student of the university as he chooses materials that are suitable for his career of the future. Those who really work in specific jobs also can assign materials that are suitable for their jobs. Higher level students find it easy to find resources and the search engine play the best role here. They can imitate or even watch similar experiences in videos and websites. They can ask who know more about the topic. They have the ability to guess and deduce what's beyond what they really see. They can move through the metacognitive strategies. They can concentrate on general aspects of a task, pay attention to specific aspects of a task, check one's performance and reward oneself for success.


         The teacher can assess this type of learning according to many aspects: the traditional assessment, the alternative assessment and the continuous development evaluations. For the traditional assessment the teacher can provide the student with worksheets, questionnaires and report forms in which they have to express what they have learned and the teacher has to assess their development in accordance with the targeted development of the age, level and stage. For the alternative assessment, the teacher should help students build their rubrics which will be their guide through their autonomous learning process. These rubrics can help the students change their actions when they find that they are not on the right way. For the continuous development evaluations, the students can put notes, marks and points when they achieve a stage of their learning. The total of these marks and points can form the final assessment and the notes can provide a feedback for what was done during the learning process.


Mustafa

Learner autonomy

Learner autonomy

Hello David Bentz, Robert and everyone
First of all I would like to welcome David. I wish to learn from him.

I have read the article entitled what is Learner Autonomy and How Can It Be Fostered? (Dimitrios Thanasoulas) . I liked the idea of learner autonomy. I felt that it's a completion to the previously discussed topic about PBL. The learner is still in the center but this time, he is not only responsible for his learning process but also he goes through it autonomously. He learns a set of skills in his self-directed learning. It is the situation in which learners study on their own. The learner here controls the direction of his learning process.


To be an autonomous learner, the students should enough courage and will to communicate in the target language at all costs. The learner should guess what's coming and this will help him to have a full knowledge of the form and the content of his learning items. The learner should also have choices which will allow him to feel that he has a control or ownership over his own learning. As a result of this control and ownership, the students develop a sense of responsibility and self-motivation. The role of the teachers in this task is to provide the students of those suitable choices to help them to be responsible and autonomous.

The autonomous learning process has many strategies to be achieved. We are going to deal with them according to the priority of each. The learner should prepared his resources, materials and references such as books, dictionaries, websites, CDs and any suitable materials for his task. Then he watches others, imitate them and at last do the same. In the language learning process, he imitates and then repeats what he noticed. If he finds anything significant, he should take notes. As a good guesser, he can deduce facts according to the available noted information. At last he has to apply all what he gained using the knowledge he acquired. According to the metacognitive Strategies, first the learner decides to concentrate on general aspects of a task. Then he/she pays attention to specific aspects of a task. After that, one checks one's performance. Hence, the learner evaluates his performance. At last he rewards himself for success.

To know how the students are going on their learning process, the teacher should know what strategies they are using and asks them to report what they are thinking while they are performing it.

When we try to apply technology in this type of education, we have much to say. Search engines are great providers of information of all types. The learner can download as much books and learning programs as he can. He can check, watch, imitate and do the same as others all over then world. His usage to technology will be enhanced with the passage of time.


At last we can say that this type of learning is a value that the teacher can plant inside his students. The students upgrade this value with their development in age and experiences. At that time, the learner will decide what to learn, how, where, what tools needed, who will help, what obstacle will face him and how he will plan to over come. So, it is a complete educational and learning process that affects both the student behaviour and his learning attitudes.

One Computer in the Classroom

One Computer in the Classroom

         First the teacher should decide where to put his computer. All students should see the computer. It is advisable that the computer can be moved and secured. Then the teacher should be sure that the computer contains the software needed for his work. The teacher may need all office software such as word, excel, access, PowerPoint and publisher. The teacher should install the clipart, the fonts and the templates which will be used later. He may need internet connection, web access to access search engines and email. To work offline the teacher may use software that helps him download pages on the computer to be run without the need of internet connection.


         Then the teacher comes to the management stage. The teacher should divide the class into small groups. He should also divide the project into small modules or small parts so students can work on different sections. To help groups work fast, they should work according to templates. For safety, each group should have a portfolio folder that contains their clipart, templates and folder to save works in.


         Now we can speak about what can be done on one classroom computer. The teacher can use the computer to assign the students attendance. He should have database of the students and their data. The teacher can make the worksheets, activities and tests on it. They can use the internet to send and receive messages to and from each other. They can also access useful websites and search engines. The search engines help the class provide the materials such as pictures, articles, sound and video files to be used in projects. The students can make projects such as PowerPoint presentations. The presentations, videos and projects of the class can be shown on the projector or even published on the class blog or website. The teacher's cam or mobile cam can play a role to record and document the projects and the learning process while going on.


         Many schools have materials in a form of CD or DVD. These autorun materials are very useful. The teacher himself can make such CDs using his one computer. The software of making autorun CDs has become available on the download sites. He can introduce the materials in interactive way. He can use software such as notebook to make interactive presentations that run from the HD.


         To publish what is going inside the classroom the teacher can make his publications go in two ways: one inside the school and the other in the World Wide Web. He can make a class magazine, weekly news letter and letters of involvement for the parents. He can inform the other teachers and colleagues in the school of what is going in his class through a brochure or through e mail. Then he can publish all the class actions on the class blog.

Thank you

Classes of one computer

Classes of one computer

          To speak about classes of one computer, it's important to compare between what was at the beginning of applying computer technologies in school and what is going on these days. In the past, there were no computers in classes. There were only computer labs. The teachers who were in charge weren't well qualified. They hardly knew anything about how to use computers. They were afraid lest these computers should have any problems. There were no internet connections, no LAN and no wifi. Students may visit these labs as they visit museums. They didn't have to touch anything. They had to look, watch and listen and nothing more.

          But the students nowadays are very fortunate. Labs are everywhere. Teachers are well qualified. For the class of one computer, there is much to be done on it. The computers are connected to the school internet connection. Some computers have wireless cards for wireless connection. There are also a data show and smart boards. The computers are connected to speakers and printers. Teachers use them to do the following:
1-   Using database of the students names for evaluations, development and personal information.
2-   Some teachers prepare presentations on PowerPoint or Notebook which is more useful for presentations of all types than PowerPoint.
3-   Teachers can make searches on the internet for pictures, clipart or topics related to their subject matter.
4-   Some teachers use videos, pictures and other materials for discussion.
5-   Previously prepared CDs or DVDs of the subjects can also be used.
6-   Songs and listening materials can also be applied using the one computer.
7-   All the language skills can be dealt with through smart boards when connected with computers in classes.
8-   Preparing worksheets can also be achieved through the one computer in the class.

Teach large classes techniques

Before this week I had the idea that teaching in large classes is a problem with no solution. After going through the sites available and the suggested ones, I found that the teacher can overcome these troubles and reach the top of his class working. For me, I don't teach large classes. Anyhow, through reading and discussion, I knew the challenges and the ways to exceed them. In my article now, I am going to speak about the challenges with the technology ot the techniques that can be used with them.


The large number of the class may make the teacher embarrassed. So, individual and face to face instruction may be useless in this case. The teacher has to minimize the number of his audience. Instead of speaking to 60 students, he can speak to 6 groups of 10 students. He speaks to them as a one unit. In the group, there should be a group name, logo and roles. Students who learn in collaborative settings both learn and retain 1.5 times as much as students who learn individually. The teacher may have the problem of not knowing the names of the students. This can be solved easily. He can ask each on in the group to write his name and put it in front of him in the group or on the wall beside him.


There are many techniques that should be used to benefit from the group work. The size of the group is an important factor in this process. The increase in group size leads to an increase in complexity. This is because larger groups have more non-participants than smaller groups, group size affects levels of cooperation and Group members tend to be less satisfied with groups of ten
or more. To achieve that, the teacher should assign students to groups rather than allowing them to self-select. He/should teach students how to work in groups. For more details, you can access this link http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/groups.pdf .There are many activities that can be used with the small groups: think-pair-share, think-pair-square, conceptest, quick-thinks re-order the steps, paraphrase the idea and support a statement .



Collaborative learning of small groups that work together is a fruitful way. In such a way, each group member's success is dependent on the group's success. Students who engage in cooperative learning learn more, and develop better critical-thinking skills than students in traditional lecture classes. By the passing of the time the students may get bored. But they enjoy cooperative learning more than traditional lecture classes. The Collaborative learning can be used either in small exercise or even a big project according to the students' levels or grades and in online classes.


The number of the student is a great challenge in the field of classroom management. I remember a saying which I can say that it's the best solution to any classroom management problems in small or large classes: "keep them always busy." The teacher should lecture the class. By the passing of the time the students may get bored and other students feel afraid to participate. Techniques like lecturing won't be fruitful if it isn't enhanced. The use of technology such as computer projections, PowerPoint presentations laptops and projections are a great enhancement to the teachers' lecture.


Therefore, now I am going to speak about PowerPoint presentations and how they can be used interactively. I read many articles about making interactive PowerPoint. Most of them are listed here: http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/powerpoint/powerpoint.html I also viewed Roberts's presentation. I learned much from them. I learned that many techniques can be used to make interactive such as the following: the blank slide, the think-pair-share techniques and the think-pair-square technique. The presentation should be varied in materials to match all the types of the students. They should contain pictures, videos, flash items and hyperlinks. The text font, the text size, the colour , the background. To engage the class, the lecturer should provide printed handouts for those who don't write notes while lecturing. The teacher should comment and do not just read the presentation. There should good use of time. Giving the class a rest through the blank slide, using many types of media, and hiding the pointer are helpful techniques to make the presentation more interactive.

Mustafa

The Interactive lessons

Interactive lessons

Interactive classes lead the teachers to ask about the best ways to make interactive lessons or lectures. After viewing http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/howto.html , I found an answer to the question : How to give Interactive Lectures. There are many Steps for creating an interactive lecture.
Interactive activities begin with planning the objectives, content and classroom atmosphere. Then the instructor should care about capturing the students' attention. He start some engagement triggers thought-provoking question or things that have visual appeal or are of common interest to students. Instructors might try cartoons, photographs, evocative textual passages, news clips and clips from movies or television shows. To create an interactive lecture segment that meets the desired learning goals, instructors must select an appropriate activity from the many possible techniques available. Several possibilities are shown here and categorized as basic, intermediate and advanced based on preparation and class time required. The basic are as follows: think-pair-share, one-minute write and the question of the day? The intermediate ones are demonstrations, concepTest , role playing and skeleton notes. Simulation and experiments are the advanced.


The fourth step to providing an interactive lecture is to determine how to structure and manage the interactive class period. There are as many ways to structure an interactive class session as there are interactive techniques. The instructor create a classroom atmosphere conducive to interactive learning. He should be be an effective classroom manager. Finally, instructors must determine how to end an interactive activity, gather student responses and provide, when appropriate, a synthesizing discussion or follow-up assignment. The student responses also provide useful feedback about what students have learned.

Courses can pose a unique set of challenges and the instructor will want to consider additional managerial strategies to meet these challenges. With careful planning, even classes with hundreds of students can have interactive lecture segments with significant student engagement. Additional energy must be devoted to strategies to encourage student participation as well. Fortunately, for large enrollment teachers, advances in pedagogical technologies have offered the potential for more engaging large enrollment class periods.

The teacher in the video involved here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQra4baNwP8 , tries to introduce solution to problems and to develop some thinking skills. The teacher stated the lecture by asking a question. Then she decided that everyone has to ash the person beside him. The teacher poses the question to the class and asks everybody to have some type of discussion with the person beside him. Some of the students decided that one of the answers (from a,b,c, or d) is the right answer. The lecturer decided that the students should be highly engaged in the learning process. She decides that in physics students should be asked continually, so that the teacher could consider what they have understood. The students learn much when they talk to each other. It is significant to know what the students know and try to enrich their knowledge.

Teaching Large Classes

Teaching Large Classes

        Large classes are wide apread because of the lack of money, teachers, materials, classes in many countries. They are taught in the lecture mode where there are fewer discussions, lack of interaction, lack of structure, lack of testing or graded assignments, and there is a distance between the professors and students where professors do not know their students and the students feel little sense of responsibility. Moreover, lecture mode classes are ineffective in higher-level thinking, attitude change, and motivation for further learning.

        I liked the Chinese proverb; "Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand". To engage students in learning, a teacher requires not only knowledge of subject matter but also knowledge of how students learn. The aim of teaching is not only to transmit information but also to transform students from passive recipients into active constructors of their own and other's knowledge.

         Enhancing lecture classes can be achieved many aspects. Professors enhance Lecture-style classes to promote student engagement. Professors can show pictures, photos, slides or other visual aids, changing topics to attain variety. Professors can also include stories, examples, and current events from the news to make the lecture more interesting. To increase the students' motivation, Professors can make their classes feel more personal by coming to class early enough to talk personally to students, and staying after class to answer questions. Setting up routines, speaking style, eye contact with one's audience and variation of voice and tone can be used to promote student engagement. Adding cooperative and collaborative learning experiences is essential to students' ability to learn new concepts, skills, and understandings. Collaboration helps with student motivation, and student engagement.

There are some small-group informal learning activities:

- Think-Pair-Share: Teacher lectures, poses a question or issue for students to consider. The student shares their responses with another person.
- Think-Pair-Square: Pairs of students share information within teams of 4 rather than withthe class.
- Concept Test : Teacher poses a multiple-choice question that requires conceptual understanding. Students write their answers on a sheet. Then they work in pairs, attempting to convince others of their answers.
Quick-thinks Re-order the steps : Students must correctly order a set of randomly sequenced steps.
Minute paper : students answer two questions in one to three minutes.

Teaching Large Classes is not a challenge as there are many alternatives to solve it. While reading many technological solutions came to my mind. Not all of them can be available in all classes, but some can be found. They are as follows:1-   Facebook , Google + and twitter can be used to sent commands, comments , questions and discussion topics
2-   Conferences inside labs using network can also help.
3-   Webinars through the web helps to deal with online conferences.
4-   Software like paltalk in which students can speak and give opinions.
The large classes force the teacher to use different activities, and methodologies that to engage everyone in the learning process. He has to be active all the time. Sitting class rules is a must. The classification of the group according to the hobbies, skills and the intelligences is a great enhancement to promote student engagement.

With best wishes

Mustafa

Rubrics and alternative assessment

Rubrics and alternative assessment

          An effective assessment program uses multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, and should be closely correlated to your stated goals. Projects in which students create multimedia presentations, Web pages, artwork or songs may be evaluated differently than traditional written, typed, or even word-processed papers. Assessment strategies can include performance tasks, teacher observations, personal communications, standardized testing, and student and teacher developed evaluation rubrics, and others.

          Before beginning a project, it is always necessary to ask:
- How will you know if your project was successful?
- How will you measure what students learn?
What is the function of assessment in PBL?
- Assessment helps teachers develop more complex relationships with their students...
- Assessment helps students answer the questions "Am I getting it?" and "How am I doing?"...
- Assessment can help make content connections clear...
- Assessment engages students directly in the evaluation of their own work...
- Assessment helps teachers plan their next steps...
- Assessment helps students plan their projects...

          The most common assessment and evaluation tools used for collaborative learning are web-based rubrics. Most generate printable versions of the rubric. Some have a rubric calculator, allowing the teacher to select appropriate performance indicators and have a grade generated. Developing meaningful rubrics can be a challenge. Involving students in the development of rubrics helps them with their thinking and clarifies expectations all around.

         A rubric simply lists a set of criteria which define and describe the important components of the work being planned or evaluated. A given criterion is then stated in several different levels of completion or competence, with a weighted score assigned to each level (0 being the lowest level) .

         A rubric should give clear guidelines to a reviewer on how to evaluate or "grade" a project presentation. This means that different reviewers can arrive at similar conclusions when comparing a given project to each of the graduated criteria on a rubric.

        As a guide for planning, a rubric gives students clear targets of proficiency to aim for. With a rubric in hand, they know what constitutes a "good" project presentation.

         While the the students are making their project, a rubric can be a handy tool to help keep students on target: they can compare their progress with where they want to be on the rubric's proficiency scale, and refer to it in order to remind themselves of their goal. Finally, as an assessment tool, teachers can use it to assess projects, student groups, or individual students; students can use the same rubric for self-assessment as individuals, in groups, and for peer assessment; and parents can answer for themselves their questions about their child's performance.

        While some ready-made rubrics may help to accomplish these different purposes, they become even more powerful when students help develop the rubric they will be using. Students must actively focus on and discuss the characteristics of effective and interesting media projects, giving them depths of understanding and insight not likely achieved from using a ready-made rubric.

         There are many websites which help us make our rubrics. I liked the rubistar very much. I can recommend another site http://www.teachnology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/ . This website helps the teacher to generate a rubric for his students project.

Mustafa Ahmed Ali

My experience of PBL , rubrics and technology

My experience of PBL , rubrics and technology

          I would like to tell the teachers all over the world about an experience that gathered the majority of our week's topics of discussion; the PBL, the rubrics or the alternative assessment and the use of technology. I have experienced some types of PBL in my classroom.

         Last month we had an English day. My role was to introduce a play in English. I discussed the topic in my class. I gave them worksheet of the story of the play. The students discussed it with each other. I assigned some rubrics for those who will be chosen such as self confidence, accurate and fluent speaking. This helped me choose my play team. We worked for a week. I gave instructions, listen to their suggestions, let them evaluate each others. Two days before the play, they changed their roles according to their own opinions. They suggested using music at the beginning and the end.

        For the rubrics and the alternative assessment, I would like to refer to two experiences. The first was that I was asked to be an evaluator in an English competition. It was concerned with the 4 language skills. I sit with the other colleagues to decide the criteria through which we will assess the students. We made some thing similar but not the same as what we learned in this course about rubrics. We decided that each one got a sheet for assessment, and assess the skill individually, and then we collect the marks and take the average. The second alternative assessment experience is the continuing assessment. I use it in my class. The students are assessed continually all around the year according to their action, behavior, projects or reports. They got a monthly feedback of the achieved objectives in a report of the objectives and their grades; good, very good and excellent.

Project Based Learning , altenative assessment and technology

Project Based Learning , altenative assessment and technology

"One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life. It's an in-depth investigation of a real-world topic worthy of children's attention and effort."-Education researcher Sylvia Chard

Project Based Learning is a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

Important considerations found in the definition:

1- Project Based Learning is an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.

2- Project Based Learning is synonymous with learning in depth. A well-designed project provokes students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline.

3- Project Based Learning teaches students 21 st century skills as well as content. These skills include communication and presentation skills, organization and time management skills, research and inquiry skills, self-assessment and reflection skills, and group participation and leadership skills.

4- Project Based Learning is generally done by groups of students working together toward a common goal. Performance is assessed on an individual basis, and takes into account the quality of the product produced, the depth of content understanding demonstrated, and the contributions made to the ongoing process of project realization.

5- Finally, Project Based Learning allows students to reflect upon their own ideas and opinions, exercise voice and choice, and make decisions that affect project outcomes and the learning process in general.

Teacher role in project-based learning:
Teachers support students by giving sufficient guidance and feedback. The teacher must thoroughly explain all tasks that are to be completed, provide detailed directions for how to develop the project, and circulate within the classroom in order to answer questions and encourage student motivation. completion. The inclusion of a reflective writing component provides for self-evaluation of student learning.

Student role in project-based learning
Students generally work in small, collaborative groups in the project-based learning model. They find sources, conduct research, and hold each other responsible for learning and the completion of tasks. Essentially, students must be "self-managers" in this approach to instruction.6

The benefits of PBL are as follows:

1- PBL and Technology Use Bring a New Relevance to the Learning at Hand
By bringing real-life context and technology to the curriculum through a PBL approach, students are encouraged to become independent workers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. Teachers can communicate with administrators, exchange ideas with other teachers and subject-area experts, and communicate with parents, all the while breaking down invisible barriers such as isolation of the classroom, fear of embarking on an unfamiliar process, and lack of assurances of success.
PBL is not just a way of learning; it's a way of working together. If students learn to take responsibility for their own learning, they will form the basis for the way they will work with others in their adult lives.


2- PBL Lends Itself to Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessment and evaluation allow us to document a child's progress and development. PBL encourages this by doing the following:
•   It lets the teacher have multiple assessment opportunities.
•   It allows a child to demonstrate his or her capabilities while working independently.
•   It shows the child's ability to apply desired skills such as doing research.
•   It develops the child's ability to work with his or her peers, building teamwork and group skills.
•   It allows the teacher to learn more about the child as a person.
•   It helps the teacher communicate in progressive and meaningful ways with the child or a group of children on a range of issues.

3- PBL Promotes Lifelong Learning
PBL promotes lifelong learning because
•   PBL and the use of technology enable students, teachers, and administrators to reach out beyond the school building.
•   Students become engaged builders of a new knowledge base and become active, lifelong learners.
•   PBL teaches children to take control of their learning, the first step as lifelong learners.

4- PBL Accommodates Students with Varying Learning Styles and Differences
It is known that children have various learning styles. They build their knowledge on varying backgrounds and experiences. It is also recognized that children have a broader range of capabilities than they have been permitted to show in regular classrooms with the traditional text-based focus. PBL addresses these differences, because students must use all modalities in the process of researching and solving a problem, then communicating the solutions. When children are interested in what they.

Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction

Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction


        There are three activities that are designed to help students choose books that meet their interests and reading levels.

          Firstly, Choosing Books; in which the students got the opportunity of selecting books. The teacher emails the class a list of 10 e-books, then the students skim and scan some pages of each book, and answer questions about the title, type and the main character. The class votes for the books.

         Secondly, Reading and Sharing Books, in which the students read the three e-books that get the most votes. Each group discusses these three books dealing with the title, setting, and characters. Each member takes turns telling the story. Each group types a summary report of the three books. They have to answer questions about the characters, the place, and the time. To share their stories they have to answer questions about what the main characters like, what affects them, the problem in the story and the lesson in it.

         Thirdly, Evaluating Books, in which the students evaluate information from the online texts and resources. Each group evaluates the three books and ranks these three books in first, second and third. Each group types a final report. The students have to answer questions based on traditional criteria to evaluate story elements. To write the final report, the students have to use the following format: introduction, argument and conclusion.

          I applied two reading programs that are similar to the previously mentioned reading activities. The first is Rigby Star for grade 1,2 and three http://www.rigbystories.co.uk/grade-selection.asp?regionId=1 . The Rigby star site publishes the stories of each grade in a flash form. Students listen, read, discuss, and do the involved activities. The students are still too young to evaluate and write reports. This will be achieved in the second applied program; GRP which stands for Guide Reading Program http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/ . The program is intended for students from KG to grade 6. It consists of reading books classified according the students levels. The students reads, argue in groups, answer simple questions, give reports, evaluate the stories and evaluate each other. You can read about GRP, in this article http://www.readingprograms.info/guidedreading.html .

My ABCD for one of the stories which is "The Sky Bird by Laura O'Reilly, from New Zealand http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/sto/fo/oreilly/oreilly1.html in the Adventure of Sydney http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mul/sydney/" is as follow:

Cognitive (comprehension level) -"C: Given one of the stories taken from the sites mentioned, A: the student B: will be able to accurately summarize the story giving the title, the characters, the colours mentioned, the hero's problem and how it was solved. D: in a paragraph of 15 lines using the present simple tense."

          I have tried some of the websites mentioned in the article. I found some out of work. The best of them is the adventure of Sydney. The second is Walks the Red Dog ; http://www.backyardnature.net/r/reddog00.htm in which there are many stories for reading which are suitable for students in grade 3 to 6. I also accessed the Lauri's ESL website; http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/ which can be considered a huge store of links for all ESL skills and activities such as grammar, quizzes , reading activities, listening activities and websites suitable for ESL students. There is also another site (children's story book); http://www.magickeys.com/books/ . The site is full of stories suitable for all levels. There is also audio included so as to help listeners and readers to listen while reading and watching the pictures.

Sites mentioned in the article:

Rigby star :        http://www.rigbystories.co.uk/grade-selection.asp?regionId=1
Guided Reading :    http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/
Guided reading :    http://www.readingprograms.info/guidedreading.html
The Sky Bird :      http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/sto/fo/oreilly/oreilly1.html
The Adventure of Sydney : http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mul/sydney/
Walks the Red Dog:    http://www.backyardnature.net/r/reddog00.htm
Lauri's ESL website :    http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/
Children's story book: http://www.magickeys.com/books/

Reading skill and how to be enhanced by technology.

 Reading skill and how to be enhanced by technology.

  There are three activities that are designed to help students choose books that meet their interests and reading levels.

Firstly, Choosing Books; in which the students got the opportunity of selecting books. The teacher emails the class a list of 10 e-books, then the students skim and scan some pages of each book, and answer questions about the title, type and the main character. The class votes for the books.

Secondly, Reading and Sharing Books, in which the students read the three e-books that get the most votes. Each group discusses these three books dealing with the title, setting, and characters. Each member takes turns telling the story. Each group types a summary report of the three books. They have to answer questions about the characters, the place, and the time. To share their stories they have to answer questions about what the main characters like, what affects them, the problem in the story and the lesson in it.

Thirdly, Evaluating Books, in which the students evaluate information from the online texts and resources. Each group evaluates the three books and ranks these three books in first, second and third. Each group types a final report. The students have to answer questions based on traditional criteria to evaluate story elements. To write the final report, the students have to use the following format: introduction, argument and conclusion.

I applied two reading programs that are similar to the previously mentioned reading activities. The first is Rigby Star for grade 1,2 and three http://www.rigbystories.co.uk/grade-selection.asp?regionId=1 . The Rigby star site publishes the stories of each grade in a flash form. Students listen, read, discuss, and do the involved activities. The students are still too young to evaluate and write reports. This will be achieved in the second applied program; GRP which stands for Guide Reading Program http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/ . The program is intended for students from KG to grade 6. It consists of reading books classified according the students levels. The students reads, argue in groups, answer simple questions, give reports, evaluate the stories and evaluate each other. You can read about GRP, in this article http://www.readingprograms.info/guidedreading.html .

My ABCD for one of the stories which is "The Sky Bird by Laura O'Reilly, from New Zealand http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/sto/fo/oreilly/oreilly1.html in the Adventure of Sydney http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mul/sydney/" is as follow:

Cognitive (comprehension level) -"C: Given one of the stories taken from the sites mentioned, A: the student B: will be able to accurately summarize the story giving the title, the characters, the colours mentioned, the hero's problem and how it was solved. D: in a paragraph of 15 lines using the present simple tense."

I have tried some of the websites mentioned in the article. I found some out of work. The best of them is the adventure of Sydney. The second is Walks the Red Dog ; http://www.backyardnature.net/r/reddog00.htm in which there are many stories for reading which are suitable for students in grade 3 to 6. I also accessed the Lauri's ESL website; http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/ which can be considered a huge store of links for all ESL skills and activities such as grammar, quizzes , reading activities, listening activities and websites suitable for ESL students. There is also another site (children's story book); http://www.magickeys.com/books/ . The site is full of stories suitable for all levels. There is also audio included so as to help listeners and readers to listen while reading and watching the pictures.

Sites mentioned in the article:

Rigby star :        http://www.rigbystories.co.uk/grade-selection.asp?regionId=1
Guided Reading :    http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/
Guided reading :    http://www.readingprograms.info/guidedreading.html
The Sky Bird :      http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/sto/fo/oreilly/oreilly1.html
The Adventure of Sydney : http://www.cyberkids.com/cw/mul/sydney/
Walks the Red Dog:    http://www.backyardnature.net/r/reddog00.htm
Lauri's ESL website :    http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/
Children's story book: http://www.magickeys.com/books/

How to teach listening through technology????

       How to teach listening through technology????

         Although listening has been a neglected skill in terms of research and how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more attention. There is now a greater awareness among teachers that we have to help learners develop their listening skills. The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our learners to. In the rest of this article the writer would like to suggest a process for helping learners develop their listening skills, and make suggestions as how this might be achieved with authentic materials.

        There are three stages for the developing of the listening language skills: Pre-listening, While-listening, Post-listening activities. The writer will use this established format of pre-, while-, and post-listening activities and make some suggestions as to how they can be used with authentic materials delivered through technological media.

        First of all radio one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic listening practice. Stations such as BBC World Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air. In order to use radio programs with learners, teachers need to select a program at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks.

1: Pre-Listening Task Today we are going to listen to a travel program on the radio for ten minutes. radio guide tells us in that this program is about Egypt. What do you know about Egypt? What would you like to know about Egypt?
2: While-Listening Task While you listen to the program, try to listen for the main things the presenter recommends doing while in Egypt.
3: Post-Listening Task In groups of three have a short discussion about what you heard from the program.

        Using television or videos in the classroom allows the learners access to more information when listening. That is, the learners can now see what is happening as well as listen to the text, so learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context. The writers applied the three stages on the TV/Video programs as follows:
1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV. Does anyone know what it is?
2: While-Viewing Task: Focus on listening to the movie instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters
: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) the internet Who watched the movie last weekend? What can you tell us about it?

        The teacher can do the same stages with internet and computer devices. They are able to direct our learners to sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have access to the appropriate computer hardware as follows:

1: Pre-Listening Task Tomorrow in class we will have to access at least two of the following websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.avoa. gov or http://npr.org (National Public Radio) and listen to different versions of the main stories.
2: While-Listening Task Students may either work at home to collect the information they require.
3: Post-Listening Task (the next class) First I would like you to sit in groups according to one of the websites you visited. Discuss what the main news stories were. Only exchange information at this stage.

       

Listening and how to be enhanced by technology

The listening skill

        Listening is the first and the most important skill. To be a real listener , You should follow three steps ; hearing which means that you listen enough to catch what the speaker is saying, understanding or taking what you hear and understanding it in your own ways, and judging which can be simply expressed : Do you believe what you heard?

        I followed some sites which are very helpful for both the teachers and the students. So I would like to give some pieces of advice for my class mates to benefit from these sites. To be a good listener, give your full attention on the person who is speaking. You should make sure your mind is focused. The speaker should finish before you begin to talk. You should finish listening before you begin to speak. Then you have to listen to the main ideas. You can ask questions, if you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said. At last you should give your speaker a feedback to what's said.

I recommend some of our colleague's sites .

http://esl.about.com/
http://www.esl-lab.com/
http://www.englishclub.com/
http://www.talkenglish.com/

        Now lets speak about how to improve your listening skills through the web. Make sure you have the right software to take advantage of what is available on the world wide web. You can download players and find links to online radio stations at real.com , windowsmedia.com and winamp.com . You can try some of the English radio stations I will some recommend on my blog page. You can subscribe to broadcast and radio stations on iTunes too.

        Films in English are an excellent language resource.You can visit http://www.learnenglish.de/ImproveEnglish/films.htm . If you want to know how to use films to learn listening.Listening while reading is a good idea too. There are lots of audio books on the market, I mention some on my recommended books pages, there are also some fun listening movies and lessons on the http://www.fun-with-english.co.uk/ site and on the Interesting Facts site. You can also visit http://www.weteachenglish.info/ where there's a free lessons and you can contact the teacher through skype.

        Keep up to date with current events and watch an English-language news station, such as BBC World. Watch news reports on events you are already aware of.
Find out how to switch languages on your TV. If you have digital or satellite TV there are several channels that broadcast in multiple languages. Eurosport is one and Euro news is another, you should be able to set these to the English language.
- On this site:- Use the dictation to improve your listening skill. http://www.learnenglish.de/dictationpage.htm will help you test your understanding.
- Every Wednesday I run a http://www.learnenglish.de/englishchat.htm Sometimes it is very advanced, but there are no more excuses.
- You can try http://www.afactaday.co.uk/ pages. You can write some interesting facts and there are accompany sound files for the most interesting facts.
- You can have fun on the http://www.fun-with-english.co.uk/ page. There are new videos or listening files every month.
- Go to some TTS (text to speech) web sites and use their free services. Some of the results are surprisingly good. I particularly like http://www.acapela.tv/en/talking-cards/ for their talking cards.
If you want to improve your speaking skills you have to :
•Borrow or buy a book on public speaking and read 10 pages every day
•Watch at least one TED speaker video (www.ted.com) every week
•Subscribe to and read blogs on public speaking skills
•Say yes when given the opportunity to speak or present
•Ask for specific, constructive feedback every time you speak
•Find a mentor and ask for help and advice
•Practice every speech or presentation out loud at least once before doing it for real
•Keep a speaking journal and write down something you learned about speaking every day

Go to www.ted.com , Then you have to imitate the videos. This will help you improve your speaking skills

Mustafa

How to make an ABCD objectives ?????

These are my ABCD objectives. They are prepared for a grade 4 classes. The text book name is Backpack. This unit is speaking about helping hands. It also concerned with the present simple in both questions and answers. I tried to deal with reading and writing. It's my first time to write objectives in ABCD. So your feedback really will help me.

Thank you

Cognitive (comprehension level) -"C: Given a video showing different helping hands of different jobs, A: the student B: will be able to accurately identify the names of the jobs and what they do. D: in a table of 16 rows and 2 columns of people names and what do they do?"

Cognitive (application level) -"C: Given a paragraph written about one job, A: the student B: will be able to write a short paragraph of 4 sentences about 4 helping hands.  D: within 10 minutes. "

Cognitive (problem solving/synthesis level) -"C: Given a previously prepared and written report or a TV show about helping hands in the country, A: the student B: will be able to play the role of a TV reporter or a journalist and report what helping hands do in the country.  D: within 5 minutes  for the TV Show and an essay of 4 paragraphs for the journalistic report."

Psychomotor - "C: Given a sample of a miming game, A: the student C: (in two teams) B: will be able to mime the helping hand and his actions while the other teams negotiating the actions to say who he is miming.  D: within 60 seconds for miming , and 20 seconds for answering."

• Affective - "C: Given the opportunity to work in a team, A: the student B: will be able to describe the steps of planting the school garden, D: within 15 minutes."

Search engines unknown but very important

Discussion 2 Week 2

Many of my colleagues wrote about other search engines. It is a great chance for me to know more details. I was a great chance to know that the World Wide Web has this amount of the search engines. I decided to write about some other. I know that they may be known by some but others mayn't know them.

There are some search engines which I tried and provided me with a large amount pf specialized information related to different types of topics. When you want general information you can try :

1-      www.iseek.com . Because it's  an excellent targeted search engine, designed especially for students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. Find authoritative, intelligent, and time-saving resources in a safe, editor-reviewed environment with seek.

2-      http://www.virtuallrc.com/ . This search engines indexes thousands of the best academic information websites, selected by teachers and library professionals worldwide, in order to provide to students and teachers current, valid information for school and university academic projects.

When you want books or references from any library, you can use these coming search engines to find out which libraries have the books you need, and maybe even find them available online:

3-      http://www.worldcat.org/ . The WorldCat connects you to the collections and services of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide.

4-      http://books.google.com/ . In this search engine you'll supercharge your research by searching this index of the world’s books. You’ll find millions for free and others you can preview to find out if they’re what you’re looking for.

5-      http://openlibrary.org/ . Here you can find the world’s classic literature, open e-books, and other excellent open and free resources in the Open Library. You can even contribute to the library with information, and  corrections to the catalog.

There are many people who want to make searches for scientific topics . For those I recommend the coming sites.

6-      http://www.sciseek.com/ In this science search engine and directory, you’ll find the best of what the science web has to offer. Browse by category, search by keyword, and even add new sites to the listings.

7-      http://worldwidescience.org/ . You can use WorldWideScience.org as a global science gateway, offering excellent search results in the sciences, and even the option to select specific databases and find resources in your own language.  

8-      http://www.science.gov/ In this government science portal, you can search more than 50 databases and 2,100 selected websites from 12 federal agencies. This is an incredible resource for millions of pages of U.S. government science information.

History is very important for everyone. The historical studies are really important to justify the life nowadays and help to give solutions to modern problems from earlier life. So people who have interest in history can access these search engines:

9-      http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/genesis/ . In this his historical search engine you can find excellent sources for women’s history with the Genesis dataset and extensive list of web resources.

10-  http://historyengine.richmond.edu/ . In The History Engine is an educational tool that gives students the opportunity to learn history by doing the work—researching, writing, and publishing—of a historian. The result is an ever-growing collection of historical articles or "episodes" that paints a wide-ranging portrait of life in the United States throughout its history and that is available to scholars, teachers, and the general public in our online database.

For me these are some of the search engines. I hope that my colleagues can access and benefit from . But I still stick to Google as it can provide the majority of these search services easily and smoothly. I think also that many people got used to the usage of Google and how easy it is.

 The reference is :

http://edudemic.com/2012/07/best-search-engines/

Search engines priority (Google Vs Bing)

Search engines priority (Google Vs Bing)

        The search engines give the best help in the field of the academic search. But each one gives search results according to what the search engine was previously intended to do. I used Bing search engine. I decided to search for "multiple intelligences". I applied the essential guidelines for creating better searches as they are offered in the web searching tech tip. First of all I wrote "multiple intelligences" between quotes. The site gives me more than million results of sites' links with a simple and clear description that speaks about all what relates "multiple intelligences". The site also gives other related searching processes such as Multiple Intelligence Test, Multiple Intelligence Quiz, Multiple Intelligence Survey, Howard Gardner Multiple Intelligences, Existential Intelligence. These extra related search processes saved my time and I reached what I wanted without much usage of the guidelines for creating better searches as in the web searching tech tip. This will be better for the unprofessional searcher. Perhaps, the site doesn't help with the spelling mistakes as it doesn't provide alternatives for mistakes.

          On the other hand, when I tried Google, the site also gave me more than million results of sites' links of academic articles about the topic and some related search processes but the related search processes were less than that of Bing. The site gives also others services such as pictures, video, book, translation, and a list of other related services. This provides the searcher with a flood of information and ideas of all types related to his search topic. In my opinion the best service in Google is the "Do you mean ….?" service which helps much with the spelling mistakes. Google gives a preview to the site page which may save the searcher's time of search.

        For me I recommend Google. As it provides many services which helps me find whatsoever I want in different shapes. When I make a project for my class, I may need academic articles, pictures, videos and sounds. All are available in Google.

For further information about Bing versus Google, you can visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/224639