CALL_IS_VSL

Study online with friends, or teacher sets up study or project groups. Looks like a neat application in the social networking area.

"Vaestro is audio forum software that you can use on your web site for free. Talk to your friends, host interactive podcasts, or use it like an audio blog. Use it anytime you need to communicate with groups of people small or large. With Vaestro, everyone has a chance to speak and be heard." The teacher can create channels with the different master tracks (recording them yourself directly on the channel or uploading an MP3 file) for students to listen to and then record their versions, which they can edit as many times as they want.

"Stunning Flash Websites for free. 1,823,517 sites built with Wix." Might be an interesting way for high schools to get into Web design. Easy to follow help with a drag and drop editor, no technical skills required. You can add Flash-y photos and moving buttons, art and music, etc.

These are comprehension questions that go with the Death by PowerPoint video.

You can capture photos from a Webcam, upload images from your computer, use Flickr images, or borrow images from a Website to create an animated gif image. Very nice little tool, and it also can be uploaded on Twitter.

"In the original 2004 article I stated: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application" (Conclusion section, � 1). I find Verhagen�s (2006) critique falls at precisely this point. The core of what I wrote in the initial article is still valid: that learning is a network phenomenon, influenced (aided) by socialization and technology. Two years is a lifetime in the educational technology space. Two years ago, web 2.0 was just at the beginning of the hype cycle. Blogs, wikis, and RSS�now prominent terms at most educational conferences�were still the sandbox of learning technology geeks. Podcasting was not yet prominent. YouTube didn't exist. Google had not released its suite of web-based tools. Google Earth was not yet on the desktops of children and executives alike�each thrilled to view their house, school, or business in satellite images. Learning Management Systems still held the starting point of most elearning initiatives. Moodle was not yet prominent, and the term PLEs (personal learning environments) did not exist. In two years, our small space of educational technology evolved�perhaps exploded is a more accurate term."

"Between 2006 and 2008, while teaching "Ethics for Teachers" to EFL teacher trainees at "Profesorado del Liceo Cultural Británico" (Buenos Aires - Argentina ), and certainly encouraged by the inspiring discussions that were taking place at TESOL EVO workshops, I had the chance to explore the integration of student blogs into the course. Class members were invited to start their own blogs (which I then linked and followed by means of a Feevy students in turn chose to embed into their blog templates) and weekly post their reflections on assigned readings. Since the topics discussed took in sharing values and personal experiences, this seemed a perfect occasion for fostering individual expression. Serving other aims of the course - the development of interculturalism and appreciation of diversity - the weekly assignment also involved posting a comment on at least an entry made by a partner."

A video introduction to this feed reader. Looks fairly simple to use. A teacher could have all students in the class use the Reader for individual blogs or news items, etc., requiring that students read a certain number of them daily (for intensive courses), or weekly.

Free quiz/test maker in a variety of formats. Can create online for students to use online, and scoring is available to teacher in Excel format.

Over 600 audio clips from the British Library Sound Archive collection. Would be useful for hearing how modern dialects actually sound; includes Minority/Ethnic accents.

A pdf book with papers and articles describing pedagogic models and approaches to developing the VITAE e-portfolio "Chapter 1: Teacher competence development - a European perspective, Chapter 2: The VITAE Approach, Chapter 3: Exploring Web 2.0 and Mentoring as Tools for Lifelong Learning, Chapter 4: Guided course development on the basis of an e-learning patterns template, Chapter 5: Fun and Games in professional development, Chapter 6: The VITAE e-portfolio - a catalyst for enhanced learning, Chapter 7: Community-based mentoring and innovating through Web 2.0, Chapter 8: Web 2.0 - Learning Culture and Organisational Change,"

"What is Audio-Lingua ? A collaborative bank of authentic audio resources, recorded by native speakers, for a freely pedagogical or personal use. Audio documents ? Short, a maximum recording length of two minutes, on various subjects… Collaborative ? It means that any person who feels interested may contribute sending personal audio documents by filling in the form. Authentic ? For they are only made by native (English, French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish) speakers ! All accents can be useful. Aim ? To train oral comprehension for anyone who would like to improve this language skill." An interesting share-and-share-alike method of accummulating short audio files for study. You can select any of the European languages and a level for listening. Have your tudents practice and make their own recordings.

"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"

This is really about how to make a good presentation, but with ad jargon. Might be useful when older/advanced students are getting ready for an ESP presentation.

This Ning is posting monthly activities--Web tools to explore and comment on. You need to join to make comments, but can read and experiment without doing so.

"By Alvina Lopez It doesn't matter if you're a veteran teacher or a newbie just now taking college courses - finding new ways to get students engaged in the classroom is always a great thing. One way many teachers are reaching out is with the multitude of material found on the web, allowing them to turn everyday lessons into a multimedia experience. You can find a great amount of helpful material on these sites, including videos to augment your lessons, lectures to inspire students, documentaries to show them how things work, and loads of additional videos to help you become a better, smarter teacher."

These wonderful videos take you from initial lessons to interviews with teachers and students to advice by the expert, and a view of how those lessons are put to use in the classrom. Amazingly good teacher training in 26 videos.

"The Newseum displays these daily newspaper front pages in their original, unedited form. Some front pages may contain material that is objectionable to some visitors. Viewer discretion is advised." This would be very handy, and easy to use, for adult ESL/EFL, social studies classes, or cross-cultural study: What is considered important in each location? How is the same news story treated differently in different cities or different parts of the world? Excellent for visual learners.

This would be very useful for h.s. social studies or an adult ESL/EFL class where students can compare how the news is presented in different newspapers, or compare what is considered important in different cultures.

Sorry I can't vouch for any of these individually. Worth exploring as an assist to student projects.