Group items tagged

"During a recent meeting with some colleagues, I reflected upon the conversations that I have had with potential clients over the past 6 months with regards to the use of mobile technologies. With a very small exception (probably 2-3 out of approx 60 conversations) those conversations have revolved around the creation of 'mobile learning', which actually translated as the "shrinking down of desktop content to allow it to be viewed and interacted with on a mobile device". Very little, if any mention, of creating performance support resources… No consideration of using the devices native functions I.e. camera, keyboard, GPS, voice recorder, to enhance the experience…. A heavy focus on the learner 'learning' something from it, as opposed to the worker 'enhancing' their performance from it (Hell, who needs to learn the London Underground routes if you've got the app in your pocket?) And this is where I think we have got it wrong again!" Great thoughts on where we are and where we might go with mobile technologies for education

"I was recently in a third grade classroom and was struck by the presence of rules that were posted for how to have a conversation. The poster said, "Each person must contribute to the discussion but take turns talking. Ask each other, 'Would you like to add to my idea?' or 'Can you tell us what you are thinking?' Ask questions so that you understand each other's ideas. Say, 'Can you tell me more about that?' or 'Can you say that in another way?'" "Having visited many middle and high schools, I think these same rules could -- and probably should -- be posted there as well. " How important the rules of conversation are! We all too often expect our students to "get into groups and discuss," but how often are these productive conversations? These tips/strategies are well worth practicing at the beginning of every year/semester, and not just with young learners. These tips are also a nice practice for EFL/ESL students as they prepare to speak with native speakers.

"During a recent meeting with some colleagues, I reflected upon the conversations that I have had with potential clients over the past 6 months with regards to the use of mobile technologies. With a very small exception (probably 2-3 out of approx 60 conversations) those conversations have revolved around the creation of 'mobile learning', which actually translated as the "shrinking down of desktop content to allow it to be viewed and interacted with on a mobile device". Very little, if any mention, of creating performance support resources… No consideration of using the devices native functions I.e. camera, keyboard, GPS, voice recorder, to enhance the experience…. A heavy focus on the learner 'learning' something from it, as opposed to the worker 'enhancing' their performance from it (Hell, who needs to learn the London Underground routes if you've got the app in your pocket?) And this is where I think we have got it wrong again!"

Twitter has a nice API for collecting tweets around a particular hashtag. This is especially useful if you have created an event and want to use a Twitter thread for continuing conversations. The API uses Google Spreadsheets and it allows conversations among participants to be "replayed" with an infographic. Very nice archived visualization.

Conversation English is an iPhone/iTunes app where people can view a short video of a dialogue and do exercises. If your students are crazy about their smart phones, this would be a good way to get them to practice.

An interesting way to have an instant conversation partner (currently only in English and Spanish). You are paired with a native-speaking partner, select a level, and speak in Spanish for 5 minutes, then in English for 5 minutes. Your conversation partner then responds. You rate each other's speech. And then choose another partner. Though a little artificial, this could work very well with class assignments on set topics. (Thanks to Sandra Rogers, WiA, for this info.)

"It's as if there's a layer of conversation lying on top of the regular web," shared David Warlick at the TechForum Texas that took place on November 10, 2005. At the same time, he introduced the concept of a Personal Learning Network, or PLN. Facilitated by blogs and RSS Feeds, the purpose of the PLN is professional development within an area of interest. This idea of building your own professional development network - where you find the people from whom you can learn, ask questions of them, comment on their thoughts and links, and have them do the same for you - is one of the major benefits of blogging and podcasting. It is the art of conversation captured in digital format. This article shares how blogs enable both adult learners and students to create their own Personal Learning Networks, sometimes with unintended consequences - both positive and negative. It also examines possible solutions to address unintended consequences among student blog use.

Obviously, talking with a "chatbot" using artificial intelligence is a poor substitute for conversation practice with a real human. In fact, at the level these bots function right now, I don't think they're particularly useful for anything than an occasional fun practice opportunity in the computer lab - except for one that I'm aware of, and I'll share it at the end of this "The Best…" post. As always, though, I'm happy to be shown a different perspective. This list shares what I think are the best chatbots out there. I'm going to have my students try them all out later this month, and will report their assessments. The main difference that I can see is that, though most are text-only, the first two provide audio for the "bot side" of the conversation.

An educator explains how he uses Twitter to inspire authentic conversations within his class and across the Twitterverse:: "Within days he found students tweeting at each other multiple times an evening, mentioning and "favoriting" their peers' thoughts, and providing ample material for classroom discussion. His students were being "more careful and reading more closely," Bronke noted. Conducting conversations online allowed him to track their comprehension as well. Because most of his students used Twitter for recreational purposes, they could also utilize their experiences in English class and include their class hashtags as they responded to tweets from One Direction and Tim Tebow. And as an added bonus: Bronke used his already-established education-oriented Twitter handle. This meant that the student comments he retweeted were often retweeted and "favorited" by teachers and scholars who wanted to support their ideas. These students learned that their voice mattered even outside of the classroom setting, and that engaging in real dialogue could be fun and worthwhile."

This is a nice version of Alice. You can have students conduct a chat--they type, and Alice answers orally. There is also a pull-down menu of questions and replies to use. You can allow students to "get crazy," or ask them to try to make a coherent "conversation." A nice way, potentially, to practice "polite conversation" before trying it out with a real human. From EFL Classroom 2.0.

This is a site much like Babbel used to be--you can study using excises, or choose a conversation partner, or just explore aspects of the culture. I didn't have time to get into it futher, but it might be a nice way to get some basics and converse with a real person. It looks as if the chat is both text and audi/webcam. You can log in with Facebook and use that as a way to connect with others.

"Programming is magic. It's the ability to create things from pure imagination. We started CodeCombat to give learners the feeling of wizardly power at their fingertips by using typed code. "As it turns out, that enables them to learn faster too. WAY faster. It's like having a conversation instead of reading a manual. We want to bring that conversation to every school and to every student, because everyone should have the chance to learn the magic of programming. "CodeCombat is a community project,with hundreds of players volunteering to create levels, contribute to our code to add features, fix bugs, playtest, and even translate the game into 50 languages so far. Employees, contributors and the site gain by sharing ideas and pooling effort, as does the open source community in general. The site is built on numerous open source projects, and we are open sourced to give back to the community and provide code-curious players a familiar project to explore and experiment with. Anyone can join the CodeCombat community! "

"Series Content Conversations: Strategies for ELLs: Using Technology to Boost Confidence" - Video page includes questions for discussion and teacher conversations on the topic.

This is a site for young learners/young adult learners who might be doing e-pals -- or for the teacher who wants to use conversation in the classroom, perhaps as a good warm-up activity while students are arriving and settling down to their class work.

These are inventive ideas for working with EFL/ESL adult learners.

A look atMOOCs from the co-founder of Coursera. Shows how video lectures are delivered with spot-check questions and feedback, and the use of peer/self grading. The conversations, home-work assignments, and so on, are all data fodder for an examination of how MOOC learning works. Students were also self-selected into virtual and land-based study groups. Feedback on quizzes and spot-checks also led to the development of "individualized" responses to wrong answers/misconceptions. Demonstrates how tutoring one-on-online is far better than lecture courses. The goal of Coursera is to ignite students creativity through active learning.

Watch TV shows on your computer. You may wish to use excerpts from episodes in your class as conversation starters or models for social interactions to be play-acted.

"Successful managers learn three to four times as much from experience as from interaction with bosses, coaches, and mentors. And they learn about twice as much from those conversations as in classrooms and formal learning programs." Learning experientially seems a valid general approach to all of life and learning.

"I attended a webinar two week's ago featuring Stacey Harris of Brandon Hall Group and Mark Hellinger of Xyleme. The topic of conversation was this idea of going mobile with your learning; a hot topic in the learning space no doubt. They touched on the concept that learning expectations have shifted with all of the new technology, which has caused change among those who are initially developing the content. Furthermore, while social media monitoring and exploring, I am seeing an increase in not only speculation of that point, but a firm belief from others in the industry that there IS a shift happening in todays learning market. People haven't exactly been able to call it by name, but its being felt. People are feeling a shift from the current learning demands of just getting the information out there, to infinite accessibility and readability. " = Dawn Poulos An interesting article on how e-learning is responding to the push-pull of mobile accessibility.

Lots of documentaries on an enormous variety of subjects. These can be used to spark conversation and get students ready to do their own research for a paper. Professionally produced, and free. Many are award-winning.