Group items tagged

Language Teaching Technology

Technology in the classroom

This is the site for Steve's "The Future of Education."

Steve Hargadon shares a lot of information relating to technology and education on his blog. He also hosts interview series of discussion communities named "The Future of Education."

There was a hyperlink to an article about whether we should still teach cursive. Apparently high schools are not doing it any more. My son stopped cursive in about the 5th grade and didn't have to use it and now he is struggling at the university because he can't read when the professor uses cursive in anything, like comments on his papers. I have to print when I leave him a note. Wow, technology is wiping out one of the long-standing activities that took humans decades to develop.

I like the balanced way this piece presents some of the pros and cons of technology in education. Just this week I had a conversation with another educator who has encountered recent studies suggesting a link between handwriting (of any kind) and certain cognitive development. Some schools are now emphasizing handwriting instruction because it helps boost students' academic achievement.

My daughter is 8 years old and she started learning cursive this year. So it must be back! I'm not sure if will help boost her achievement or not, but I'm glad she is learning it. I think the article made a good point about how students today have a short attention span and easily get off track. If they are typing a paper on the computer, for example, they can open a browser and start surfing the web. They don't necessarily stay focused on the task at hand. It is even hard for me sometimes. If I don't ignore email (just put it off until later, I mean), I would never get anything done!

I do audio slideshows as an end-of-semester project in my level 2 class, but I have only ever used PhotoStory. PhotoStory is loaded on our language lab computers so that students do not have to register or create any types of accounts. These resources seem to be just as easy, however

Blog about free audio tech resources

Thank you Isis. I like all those ones that are useful without signing up. I will keep looking in this page. They have lots of articles!!

What, how and why Wikis?

So easy. I have used QRcode a lot so my students o not have to type the site in their devices

Todays Meet is a backchannel, which helps teachers conduct online discussions, while channeling the results onto one web page or an Interactive White Board.

Though some were supportive of the idea of using microblogging in classes, many wrote some variation on what this reader posted: "[This] means you never have to learn to open your mouth. Surely more Twitter is exactly the opposite of what kids desperately need to turn into functioning adults."

Voki speaking avatars are great tools for the classroom. Teachers and students alike can create avatars and use them in a number of ways to make learning fun and more accessible.