Group items tagged

A "Voki" experience in teaching Language.

More from Spring Lake PArk

TESOL is improving their webinars and now they are a lot into Web 2.0.

This slideshare ppt has some practical ideas for synchronous learning on slides 19, 20, & 21. It mentions the use of 2 FREE tools that are excellent for foreign language use: makebeliefscomix.com & devolver moviemaker. Check it out!

This video clearly explains how to evaluate and give feedback about online collaborative group work.

"This video is a brief introduction to synchronous online learning. The following items are discussed: advantages, disadvantages, facilitation strategies, and tools that enhance student learning."

A small study - but shows that interactive e-books aren't necessarily the best way to read.

iTalki is a good site for this and it's typically only adults.

Discussion on how technology is being used and why we're still struggling to give more control of learning to students. A good read!

"A 2014 paper by researchers at Michigan State University, in East Lansing, provides a tangible example: Teachers and students in the small-scale study were found to be making extensive use of the online word-processing tool Google Docs. The application's power to support collaborative writing and in-depth feedback, however, was not being realized. Teachers were not encouraging group-writing assignments and their feedback focused overwhelmingly on issues such as spelling and grammar, rather than content and organization." This really gets to the heart of the idea of combining education and technology: the technology has to serve the goal and it doesn't sound like the teachers' goals were the same as the stated goals of the assignment. So obviously Google Docs is a fantastic tool, but it has to be utilized appropriately for it to be effective.

I must say I have sat through many workshops in my tenure at my university that included the modification of some practices and even included, to my frustration, the basic structure of a lesson from stating outcomes to assessment. The problem with our particular situation is that usually it is directed to a "one-size-fits-all" use of a given technology that may not apply to many disciplines. I have found them somewhat useful for upper-level courses at times, but the language classes often pose the need for a kind of collaboration and interpersonal technology that isn't presented. Hence my desire to take this course. Another difficulty is the overwhelming number of technological applications presented--I can't tell you how many--and the students really become overwhelmed, since they often have to learn new technologies in almost many courses. Some work and some don't, and since they are the guinea pigs and there are no guarantees that everything will work as planned, and given the astounding changes in tech, the newness never seems to end, neither for the student nor the teacher. So focusing on just 1 or 2 to begin with seems like the only way to deal with it. Finally, I think that, at least in our university, the huge courses found often in the sciences reflect the slowness to adopt meaningful change. Many in these disciplines have simply used the tech to deliver more lectures on topics students must memorize, perhaps adding clickers for comprehension checks. There seems to be a great disconnect between what happens in the classroom and the amazing advances in tech they have made for their hands-on work--labs, collaborative work, etc.

Here's a great, free resource for creating mind maps. An invaluable tool!

A conversation on Twitter a week or so ago got me thinking about using the TV show El Internado: Laguna Negra to teach the culture of Spain.

"Five Two Zero So Much"