There are a variety of teaching strategies that instructors can use to improve student learning. The links below will show you some ways to make your classes more engaging
There's so much on this Blog site. I saw this post about Doodling and thought it's worth sharing. Not that the 80 hats around the world are not worth sharing! ;-) There's a vast variety of topics here
I think this is a great idea for using virtual reality in the classroom and can be adapted for any language.
The team will expand upon the initial pilot by hiring five Parisians from different neighborhoods to document and share their lives with a VR camera over the course of one to two months.
I'm trying to figure out how to do this for my own classroom; I wonder if one day we could develop an exchange where we work with partners in other countries to gather video for each other for these types of projects.
Awardees hypothesize that virtual reality will allow language learners to have perceptual, empathetic, and culturally immersive experiences in multiple sensory modalities (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.) that will enhance their vision, perceived value of language and culture learning, and willingness to communicate.
"The use of technology is not a goal in and of itself; rather technology is one tool that supports language learners as they use the target language in culturally appropriate ways to accomplish authentic tasks."
This quote stood out to me and it is so true. sometimes we feel pressured to use technology but we forgot the pedagogy purpose.
Thanks for sharing it. We are using technology for our language lessons. I agree what ACFLT says about having clear that tech is a tool not a goal since the most important aspect is the learning.
I'm still learning about all of the features of MS Teams, but this one surprised me. I can imagine it being a good tool for synchronous and asynchronous language learning - not just video conferencing.
App Integrations
I love this feature: When you need to take things up a notch, you can use some of the most popular apps in education right inside the Teams environment, including Kahoot!, Nearpod, Quizlet, and Flipgrid. If a particular app will be used frequently by a group, you can add a designated tab to a channel just for that app, so users can get to it quickly.
I agree that app integrations is the best feature. We are using Canvas for our classes at my institution but we are also using Teams for university wide communication. Both are new but the experience so far has been positive. I may follow up on the advise to start a small project on Teams to learn more about its best features in building a collaborative classroom. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for posting this, Jordan, and reminding me that here at UofL we've got MS Teams as an additional resource! I've just check to see if there's the possibility of integration with Blackboard and it appears there is. (I'm glad to have the option for synchronous class meetings, since I've always found Blackboard Collaborate to be a little baroque in its layout....)
Thanks for the tip @greghutcheson ! It hadn't occurred to me to look for Teams/Blackboard compatibility. I'm not sure yet if I prefer Teams over Blackboard Collaborate, but if one runs more smoothly than the other, that would be my pick!
I share this with my GTAs. It is another resource that is no longer active. But, the past podcasts prove useful, especially while designing online content, interactions and lessons. Sometimes, the technology is so exciting and enticing that the pedagogy gets a little overshadowed.
I really appreciated reading this as I just tried recording my first screencastify minilecture yesterday and found it really challenging! One tip that I got from this that I will try is to put the recording in EdPuzzle so that I can put in some comprehension checks!
I found this to be a very informative and helpful article with lots of practical suggestions and useful links. I wish I had read this before I tried to make videos with Screencast-o-Matic for my classes this past Spring. I could have used his suggestions! I will definitely be referring to it when I begin to make videos for my classes this fall. I too liked how he put his video into EdPuzzle to increase student interactivity. Thanks for sharing it!
Hey this is really useful. I have a feeling that I'm going to be using screencasts often as I convert all my teaching to online in the fall. It will be most useful for grammar explanation types of lessons. It looks like it is just what is needed to fill that need for personal explanations that the students want. I prefer interactive worksheets but I get the feeling students don't like them as much as I do.
I used Screencast-o-matic for sharing my presentation while creating a video and it was a great program. Kaltura is also a great way to create presentations.
Students collaborate with guests on projects to gain diverse expertise.
If a participant has a comment or question, he/she should type "!" for a comment or "?" for a question.
f a participant wishes to change the topic of conversation, this is signaled by typing "new?" or "new!". If no one objects by typing "!" or "?" and proceeding with the present topic
It's good to see the list of types of "interaction". It's something I'll want to go back to to guide not just what I want students to do... but, what I want us to do TOGETHER.
The "Educause" links don't work for me.