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Very interesting article. As a language teacher myself, I really can relate!

@effeinstein Yes, all of my vocabulary quizzes are on Google Forms and I use GF extensively for gathering reflections pre-post units, post field trips, in general, anytime I need to gather data from students about what we are working on-- Sometimes I collect their emails, other times anonymous, if I feel that I might gather more frank feedback that way-- The spreadsheet of data is nice to look over when considering how well something went, or to make tweaks for the next iteration of work. I can also pull quotes for presentations to faculty and families, or in writing narrative reports-- Also makes grading quick and easy-- Sometimes I print out the quizzes for quick one on one feedback for students--

It is also a great tool for getting feedback from the students.

This blog has some great free resources for listening practice with beginning level Spanish learners.

Free Spanish listening resources

Very interesting activity. I also see that you posted it trough Feedly :-) I was thinking on how to do it :-)

From the website:  (and there is a companion website, see below) In spite of the proliferation of online learning in higher education, creating online courses can still evoke a good deal of frustration, negativity, and wariness in those who need to create them. Essentials of Online Course Design takes a fresh, thoughtfully designed, step-by-step approach to online course development. At its core is a set of standards that are based on best practices in the field of online learning and teaching. Pedagogical, organizational and visual design principles are presented and modeled throughout the book and users will quickly learn from the guide's hands-on approach. The course design process begins with the elements of a classroom syllabus which, after a series of guided steps, easily evolve into an online course outline. The guide's key features include: a practical approach informed by theory clean interior design that offers straightforward guidance from page one clear and jargon-free language examples, screen shots, and illustrations to clarify and support the text a Companion Website with examples, adaptable templates, interactive learning features, and online resources a checklist of online course design standards that readers can use to self-evaluate. Essentials of Online Course Design serves as a best-practice model for designing online courses. After reading this book, readers will find that preparing for online teaching is, contrary to popular belief, a satisfying and engaging experience. The core issue is simply good design: pedagogical, organizational, and visual. Companion website:  http://www.marjorievai.com/WEBSITE-CONTENTS.html

Here is an article that describes boomwriter, a technology tool that allows students do collaborative writing. Activities may have to be simplified for beginning level students, but I can see how this might work well with higher level students as well as with native speakers.

When I took online classes, doing projects in teams was one of the things I liked least - at the beginning - but after having done some projects that were well-structured, I have to say that those were the learning experiences where I learned the most.

Have you ever read an NMC Horizon Report and thought, "I want to start implementing these technologies and learning approaches at my school...but where to begin?" Produced by the New Media Consortium (NMC), the Report details emerging technologies likely to have a significant impact on teaching and learning around the globe. The Toolkit is geared toward education leaders who wish to learn more about and further the dialogue on the emerging technologies identified in the Report and their potential to re-imagine K-12 education.

Fun language materials for beginning or end of class or "breather."

How to use movies to teach media literacy in the classrom.

How to use Glogster to make posters or for digital storytelling.

This could be really useful for study abroad reflection too!

I tried this one at the beginning of the week, but gave up after not being able to type accent marks in Spanish. I like the idea of creating posters or "one pager" presentations.

This article presents a research about the effects on integrating multimedia sources on second language vocabulary acquisition. The researchers exposed the language learners to different stimulus: video with audio and captions, video with audio, and video with captions and compare the results to analyze their effect on language acquisition.

"This study was conducted to examine the use of social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter, as a pedagogical instrument in beginning level Spanish courses. "

Thanks for sharing this presentation!

Excellent! Thanks for sharing this, Marlene. I'm going to re-post it for our LCTL instructors. I think it will be really useful.

Full of useful examples and websites! Will definitely try the Wheeldecide.com to make calling on students more interesting. Great discussion on keeping students engaged.

How to use Voxopop

Seems like an interesting tool for getting students to practice oral skills outside of the classroom as well. I might like to use this idea at the beginning of the school year to have students introduce themselves to one another.

The Scary Guy (and he is!) talking to parents about bullying. 

You are right. At the beginning I was "Whatttt!" but then this had sense. Interesting speech for parents, and for teachers!!

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.

Abstract: In recent years, a sharp increase in the number of academic studies around the use of video games and new media for educational purposes has greatly expanded our understanding of their potential for enhancing learning.

Constantinos, this a great resource of information. Thank you for sharing! I haven't sit down to read it all, but skimming through it I found plenty of interesting information. I was always interested in using video games or educational games for language learning, but never took initiative in reading anything on the topic. In the beginning of "From "Authentic Materials" to "Live Materials" section, the author mentions that the culture should not be described to students, but rather facilitate a platform for them to actually participate in that culture. I see how we can do that through games, but is there any of you using other means to do it? Is it possible to do it through social networks or second language learning networks? If yes, how exactly? Any thoughts on this?