Michael Gorman, former president of the American Library Association, decries the movement towards a user-controlled Internet as “a world in which everyone is an expert in a world devoid of expertise”
Technical usability is defined as the general usability of a tool for a user— how easily users can complete a task with the least number of obstacles.
Pedagogical usability applies specifically to how learnable and usable the website is for learners.
Providing users with an immediate solution to an obstacle may not be the preferred outcome when users must learn during the process
How do current users of a foreign language learning website that employs Web 2.0 technologies use the site for learning and social purposes?
What technical and pedagogical issues arise when potential users participate in a usability test of three foreign language learning websites that employ Web 2.0 technologies?
Just stumbled across this site with ideas on how or what tasks with technology in lesson planning might look like based on general units. Worth looking into more.
I provide the correct answer (present indicative or infinitive) in the form of a comment on the same tweet. This gives students who follow the Twitter feed and receive notifications an opportunity to quiz themselves in real time.
Students who do not have a Twitter account can go to my school website and follow along with the embedded stream.
I didn't know you could do that either. I wonder if students without accounts would still be disadvantaged, though, since they wouldn't receive notifications in real time...
In both cases, students understand that I am paying attention and rewarding their efforts and attention to detail, and feel that their hard work is being recognized.
There is great power in positive reinforcement
I ask permission first
For the students who provided the work, this is a great motivator to keep the high-quality work flowing, while for the other students, it serves as an example of good work.
Micro-blogging via Twitter is another way to link students outside of class. Let's be honest -- there are not many young people out there who do not already tweet. You can use Twitter in class in a similar fashion to blogging. If you do, I strongly suggest that you use TweetDeck to efficiently manage your students' tweets. I also love having students tweet a story. You start by tweeting the first line of the story based on the unit you are studying.
This article from Edutopia provides ten simple suggestions for using various SM tools. The author's description of twitter won my heart: micro-blogging. Just that idea alone makes twitter seem much more manageable and useful.
ACTFL 2012 presentation
"There are two files: one handout with useful web-site links, apps, and a QR Code activity, and a copy of the Keynote slides from the presentation."
I was amazed at all of the awesome websites posted on this blog, it was a great resource for finding new technologies to use in class. Also loved the music/ music video post!
Many great ideas. In the past few days I have come across a few of the online tools mentioned but this blog brings them all together in one source, which is very helpful.
Instead of constantly reinventing the wheel, I love to see what other World Language teachers are doing in their classrooms. This article has some good activities that can easily be converted to any language.
I like this blog because it has practical ideas and valuable insights. There is surely much more discussion in the EFL world, it is worth check it out.
As many as 145 languages are spoken in Minnesota public schools. This fall, students with the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication are working with MPRNews to explore that classroom diversity -- and sharing a bit of what they find as they go.
Incredible. I knew Minnesota is diverse.. you just need to go outside and see it. But, data shown in this page is amazing.
I also have read some of the other posts. I think that this could be a good resource for high school or college because it shows facts, and authentic stories.
Plickers might be interesting for quick multiple choice responses.
giving them opportunities to contribute to a class blog or something where their classmates will get to see their hearts and minds in this other forum. I think that really opens things up.
But Cain particularly feels for one group of introverts: the quiet kids in a classroom.
Our most important institutions, like schools and workplaces, are designed for extroverts,
why is it that kids who prefer to go off by themselves or to work alone are seen as outliers?
How about the very definition of “class participation?”
how best to cultivate the talent of those students.
a student who has one or two or three friends, and prefers to go deep with their friendships instead of being one of a big gang, there’s nothing wrong with that at all, in terms of it being a predictor for adulthood.
If the kid is perfectly happy the way they are, they need to get the message that the way they are is cool.
make sure to build quiet time into the school day, especially when kids are younger. Have 15 minutes set aside every day where the students just read.
maximize choice.
less group work in general.
do more work in pairs, which is a way that both introverts and extroverts can thrive.
challenge teachers to rethink what they mean by class participation and start thinking of it as classroom engagement instead.
account the research of Anders Ericsson, who invented the concept of “deliberate practice.”
tools that allow students to participate through their electronic devices as opposed to raising their hand.
Apps that allow students to contribute to class discussions, sometimes anonymously and sometimes not.
I agree this statement of "Number one would be to make sure to build quiet time into the school day, especially when kids are younger. Have 15 minutes set aside every day where the students just read."
Question: As a classroom teacher, I am with my students 42 minutes per day, how can I take almost half of this time for reading? Shouldn't this issue be addressed as a whole school wide??
I agree with you Diane - that would be way too much time for reading in just your class. In some classes, I do a 5 - 10 minute "free-writing" exercise that is individual. It seems like you'd need to scale the time so that it's appropriate for your class.
A lot of students who might be reticent at first will feel emboldened by having first discussed it with a partner.
Wow, just imagine how much calmer the world could be if classrooms were set up to allow for multiple temperaments as well as learning styles?!
Also, the think-pair-share concept is fantastic; I've been using the "alone-paired-large group" sequence for language learners in groups since I got my CELTA certification and it's been hugely successful. Nobody wants to be wrong in public, and when learners have a chance to discuss it with a partner first, they are more likely to share their ideas.