Proposed eLarning Model Based on Bloom Taxonomy: Cognitive Theory with Web 2.0 Support the Learning in Higher Education
Conference Paper
Alhojailan, Mohammed I. . 2013
Conference Name:
New technologies and media literacy education DisCo2013
Conference Location:
Charles University, Prague
Conference Date:
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sponsoring Organization:
Center for Higher Education Studies; Prague
Publication Abstract:
This paper seeks to explore the improvements made by learners to their critical thinking when they use web 2.0’s blog tools. The use of Web 2.0 (or read/write web) has increased over the last ten years, especially in higher education [1]. Some authors believe that web 2.0’s blog tools could be used to cater for different learning styles by, e.g. supporting interactions and communications [2], exchanging experiences and acquiring knowledge [3] [4] [5] and improve critical thinking [6]. To date there seems to be a lack of empirical research into blog usage in higher education, especially in Saudi Arabia [7]. Consequently, to better understand the social-culture impact of blog usage, this paucity should be addressed by conducting empirical investigations, which focus on the impact of blogs ‘theoretically’ in learning environments in different countries including Saudi Arabian universities, [7], [8], [9].
In this paper, Bloom’s Taxonomy Model is applied to promote learning objectives via learning activities that use blogs [10] [11]. Bloom’s Taxonomy Model was used to analyse learners’ reflections of their categorised actions and responses when they used blogs. The model was also used to assist the researcher to understand the different levels of cognitive abilities that were exhibited by learners. In order to achieve this goal a group of twenty-seven learners at King Saudi University in Riyadh were investigated for one semester. Three cycles of action research were adapted and used together with unstructured observations, the content of which was subjected to data analysis (Koshy, 2005; Cohen et al., 2011). Thematic analysis (TA) was also utilized to analyse the data [3] [12].
The findings of the investigation showed that blog usage changed the style of learners’ interactions. The learners’ styles changed from generating posts that were in general unrelated to the module’s syllabus and avoided making contributions to content to ones that shared experiences and opinions and demonstrated positive attitudes. Blog tools, therefore, were shown to have the potential to improve and change a learner’s skills, abilities and thoughts based on Bloom’s Taxonomy