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"If you've ever sat through a teaching seminar, you've probably heard a lecture about "learning styles." Perhaps you were told that some students are visual learners, some are auditory learners, and others are kinesthetic learners. Or maybe you were given one of the dozens of other learning-style taxonomies that scholars and consultants have developed. "Almost certainly, you were told that your instruction should match your students' styles. For example, kinesthetic learners-students who learn best through hands-on activities-are said to do better in classes that feature plenty of experiments, while verbal learners are said to do worse. "Now four psychologists argue that you were told wrong. There is no strong scientific evidence to support the "matching" idea, they contend in a paper published this week in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. And there is absolutely no reason for professors to adopt it in the classroom." Be wary of any teaching/learning fad, and look for experimental design in research. However, it does make sense to use a variety of stimuli, "styles," and approaches to spark curiosity and give variety. Kids do get bored if it's all "by the book."

"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

Continuing improvements in speech recognition technology may lead to some useful CALL applications to ESL/EFL: "By the use of automatic speech recognition (ASR), oral tasks can be practiced more easily because it is the computer itself which understands and gives feedback to the learner so that the learner feels much more involved, and in contrast to traditional methods, a learner can enjoy engaging in activities more."

This web resource is for teachers of high beginning and intermediate writing courses and intermediate ESL learners. The resource provides 8 units that 1) teach about paragraph structure and paragraph elements: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence 2) introduce transition words and coherence in a paragraph 3) provide the opportunity to learn about and practice basic writing skills such as making an outline and staying on topic. Clear explanations are supported by examples; therefore, teacher can use this resource for class preparation, and ESL learners can use it as additional material to learn about paragraph writing. Practice activities provided by the website are not interactive; however, most of the assessment tasks have answer keys. In addition, each unit provides lesson in a PDF format that can be used by a teacher as a handout. -- From Lena Shvidko For ESL K-12 learners, but would be useful for adults as well. Focuses on the paragraph, rather than the essay, so makes a good beginning set of lessons.

This cross-platform app -- iPhone and Android -- lets students create their own games and instructional programs. Free for teachers and students, you need to sign up for an account, but you can work on a computer to create the HTML5. Learning games can be dreary, but creating them can be very interesting for students. The frontpage shows middle school learners working away, so this might be good even for younger learners.

Mechanics and drama help students understand science and how life works. For young and very young learners, this lesson demonstrates how to engage learners physically in the subjects they are studying.

"Abstract: The course management system (CMS) reinforces the status quo and hinders substantial teaching and learning innovation in higher education. It does so by imposing artificial time limits on learner access to course content and other learners, privileging the role of the instructor at the expense of the learner, and limiting the power of the network effect in the learning process. The open learning network (OLN)-a hybrid of the CMS and the personal learning environment (PLE)-is proposed as an alternative learning technology environment with the potential to leverage the affordances of the Web to dramatically improve learning. Author Name(s): Jon Mott David Wiley"

News In Review sites that would specifically be accessible to English Language Learners would make a good companion to The Best news/current events websites for English Language Learners and to The Best Visually Engaging News Sites. Most of the sites on this list are similar to each other in format - they show slideshows of key images from the previous week and have short captions. I have noted, though, a couple of exceptions that provide audio or video.

Article on PBL: The assumption of non-constructivist approaches to learning has been that as long as learners are provided with knowledge, they will be able to use it. Education based on that assumption is thus primarily concerned with transferring substance to the learner, and little importance is placed on the role of the learning activity. From a constructivist view, on the other hand, learning is the process of constructing knowledge - not merely obtaining it - in social environments (Brooks & Brooks, 1993). The theory of situated learning consistent with this view asserts that what we come to know and understand is fundamentally a product of the learning situation and the nature of the learning activity. Learning tasks should thus, as far as possible, be embedded in the target context and require the kind of thinking that would be done in real life (Brown et al., 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991).

"No reliable research has ever demonstrated that instruction designated as appropriate for any "tested" learning style is effective because it matches that style. The research is missing several important control validations. For example, there are no statistically valid studies comparing the response of a mixed-learning-style control group with the results of a learning-style-matched group. To qualify as "effective," there must be support of claims that superior outcomes are the direct result of teaching to individual learning styles and not a general result to the instruction. There is no evidence that "visual learners" have better outcomes to instruction designed for "visual learners" than do mixed-style learners taught using the same instruction. Without comparison groups, the before and after results could simply mean that the particular instruction is the most effective method for teaching that specific content to all students (Pashler, et al)." Excellent blog debunking some of the neuromyths that instruction is guided by, particularly in the public school system of the U.S.

These are divided by subject matter, and each has a short description, so it's not as daunting a list as appears at first glance. Take some time to explore the content areas, many of which are useful for language learners, such as Daily Haiku. There will be many apps with comparable features/functions for Droid-based smartphones and tablets also.

A clever game site that could be used for lesson on where garbage goes. for very young learners, but supposedly adaptable to older learners, too.

This site is filled with stories of interest to Adult ESL learners at many levels. Each story has a pre-reading, timed reading and audio component.

This project was designed to create leveled reading selections that are appropriate for and valued by adult learners. These materials, combined with the research-proven strategies of repeated reading and guided oral reading, aid in building learners' fluency and comprehension skills. The materials correspond to Casas 200 - 235. This project helps adults become better readers and more informed consumers, parents, employees, citizens and community members. The focus of these reading selections will be on topics such us: Civics, Employment, Housing, Health, School, Money, and Government. This project is funded in part through an EL/Civics Grant from the MN Dept. of Ed - ABE Division and mini-grant from the Minnesota Literacy Council.

"Relevant real-world content Each lesson is based in authentic content-the world-class news and information on CNN-and organized in sections that match the needs and interests of learners. This makes the learning experience personalized and relevant. No nonsensical sentences or made-up stories. New lessons every day Today's news becomes today's lessons on en.news, with new lessons published on a daily basis. That's like giving the world a new English textbook every day. For free. Unlimited learning for free Learning a language is a lifelong journey and on en.news, learners can return as often as they want to take as many lessons as they want. There's no "end of a book" or "end of a course" which means the learning never ends. Part of a daily routine en.news combines the habit of consuming news, checking sports scores and staying on top of the world of entertainment with the utility of learning English."

This is a clever illustration of how several writers can collaborate in Google Docs/Driver to create. Your young learners will catch on fast.

Review of Digital Dante Website. "Great works continue to draw new specialists into the field and serve to bring the history of a language, its people, and their culture to life. Literary works serve as examples of the power and beauty of language at its best. Helping to make such texts more accessible to learners, the Web can make use of hypertext and multimedia to provide context that is so often lacking for those without the general background knowledge that a good reader is assumed to possess. "

Games and puzzles for young learners (K-8th) to practice math. Includes a Teacher's Page to help inspire your class.

"Free Math Help offers a variety of free tools to help students with Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and statistics. The site has a simple interface with color coded tabs identifying their four categories which are lessons, calculators, games, and forums." This blog post describes the website, which includes over 100 lessons, calculators, and games for younger learners.

This is an excellent compendium of how to do "close reading" which in fact means re-reading for various purposes. Teachers can teach how to read on multiple levels--vocabulary, metaphor, main ideas--and how these inter-relate, with an eye to how this can lead to writing a thoughtful, original paper. This blog is well worth following for help with pedagogy and teaching high school and academic learners.

Gives examples of very young learners using blogs as digital portfolios. Good discussion of formative and summative assessment as well.