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Sign-up for the 30-day, but a year - free! Here's info I got in an email notification: We are glad to announce a free WizIQ individual membership for K-12 and College teachers. To be eligible for this offer, teachers need email addresses associated with their educational institutes (e.g., aprofessor@college.edu or ateacher@adistrict.k12.ma.us.) If you are a teacher from K12 or a College, apply and claim your free membership by following the steps below: Steps to get free WizIQ membership: 1.Sign up for a 30-day trial by clicking on the 'Apply now' button below 2. Verify your email address from your email inbox 3. You'll receive a confirmation email from us once your free membership is approved Apply now  WizIQ's free teacher accounts give educators at accredited institutions access to a range of teaching tools. To many educators, the virtual classroom for which WizIQ is best known only means live classes, which they might not need considering they see their students in person every day. But with the WizIQ Virtual Classroom teachers can also: Offer online courses for their school Run virtual office hours and homework help Run summer school online to address transportation and facilities issues Give AP students a jumpstart with virtual summer class sessions Let athletes or homebound students work with their classes, live, even if they can't be there Easily set up classes - without IT help Bring subject matter experts into their classrooms virtually Support group and project-based learning Engage hard-to-reach parents with: Virtual parents' nights Virtual conferences Adult education and community outreach Virtual math and literacy nights Broadcast live school committee meetings on the web Record lectures or flip their classrooms Conduct virtual field trips Run professional development when and where staff are available Share teaching resources among schools Teachers can take full advantage of every WizIQ feature, including screen-sharing, polling, video-confe

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?

This is a great explanation. Thank you for posting it. Any idea about the legality of editing YouTube videos with eduCanon?

A little off-topic for Week 5 but overall relevant to this course.

"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 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!

"Stephen Hersh outlines six steps for how you can create a community of active learning online if you 'use the medium.' "

Yes,Greg, Agreed, great resource!!! Will use often.

Zoom! I'm pretty sure Stephen Hersch is my neighbor! Teaches at Northwestern. "Stop talking so much!" Yes. Great take away. I saw this video when I looked up to see what TEACHx is since he's involved. Started in 2016. But this linked video https://vimeo.com/249442007 is 4 Northwestern students and how they use technology. Evidently they use Canvas as well. I want to look up want one student said about his Spanish class. But what I liked is one of the students talks about when she doesn't use technology. After having said that all her life she had never used her laptop so much, but still in class the expectation is to arrive prepared and be ready to discuss. Hersch says the same for the what is one of the best uses of Zoom... time for students to discuss. Now! How to really get them all to prepare!?

I like the features of padlet and have personally used the platform in several webinars, but have yet to use the tool myself! I think that will definitely try this platform in the upcoming school year.

His videos are so helpful! Thanks for sharing. Does anyone know if Flipgrid integrates with Sakai? A big concern for me is to keep things simple and streamlined for students. Sending them information through different channels seems to just ask for things to get overlooked or lost. Thanks!

It sound like this guy is in the right place at the right time! I love reading but honestly video tutorials can be sooo helpful and nice to watch when they are well produced! I've seen in his channel another tool I love and I haven't used for a while: Adobe Spark.

I think we are connected, but we could probably share this article with our "unconnected" colleagues!

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.

This is a listing of ways to use social media in the classroom.  

I like what srafuller says about not expecting students to be like we were when we were students. I struggle with that in all the classes I teach, not just the foreign language. I work to be conscious of reaching students "where they are" every day. Not only that, but we need to be conscious (at least older teachers like me) of not teaching the way we were taught!

I really like this article! Simple, to-the-point, useful suggestions for several on-line applications. I tried out Duolingo but was chagrined to find out they don't offer Russian (Ukrainian and Esperanto but not Russian?!). I could, however, study English from Russian, which has several activities (especially translation) that my students can use. Thanks for posting this article!

This blog has information not only on practical things, such as how to use VoiceThread, but also on how to create community in online courses. Seems interesting so far.

Interesting to read about her progression throughout the years using these different sites.

A lot of valuable information here. Thanks for sharing.

Point/Counterpoint - a discussion on "is technology killing critical-thinking skills?" I think they're coming from the same point of view, but expressing it differently. A lot of frustration with internet filters...

We can continue a discussion here in the Diigo group about articles, tools, or whatever the group finds and bookmarks. You can also put "sticky notes" right on the article page itself - no one but the logged-in group members can actually see the notes. This is one way we can keep the "group momentum" going after the institute ends. Add your thoughts!

Wow - not only a really cool tool, but also a really well-done video explaining what it is and how it works!

Sorry, this is a U of MN tool, but I thought you'd like to see what it is - and the way they've done the video to explain it is really nicely done!

Welcome to the Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon, CAPL, the source for authentic images for language learning

I like the concept of organizing photos like this. I went into the Spanish(Mexico) sections and some are good pictures and others are not, but it is worth going through them if you are in a pinch to find an authentic picture. I think I might have to start organizing my pictures this way for my classroom. Just this last trip I took about 40 in the market (at least 8 photos of different types of avocados) and this would make it easier to use/find them for class.

Love this site, too! Pix address many questions kids have about things in the target countries that we don't necessarily get to see first hand. But, caution, too. Times they are rapidly changing and some of the pix are outdated. But, as you say, in a pinch they are nice to know about.

This doesn't really apply to language level exams, but for those of you who are interested in the MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) and how to get beyond Bloom's level 1 in testing, this article has an interesting idea for multiple choice tests.

thanks for the article link, Marlene. I am collecting articles/info about assessment and testing for a board I have going on Pinterest and for a Diigo group I have set up for my students here at my school in Chicago. It's a private group, but I am happy to invite you in if you are interested.

ePals is the social network optimized for K-12 learning. Over half a million classrooms in 200 countries and territories have joined the ePals Global Community to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas. ePals now translates in 35 languages!

I found this while sorting through my old bookmarks to add them to diigo. Anyone ever used this or heard of it?

I want to say that they have been around in a number of forms over many years - maybe even started at St Olaf College as Classroom to Classroom Connections back in the 90's?? But they've grown into a huge corporation now! These kinds of projects are the ones I like the best - when you get kids talking to each other!

I like this article even though it's from 6 years ago because it talks about the benefits to teletandem communication. I hope you are able to read it because it's from the Chronicle of Higher Education and you might need to sign up.

It sounds interesting but I can't read the article because it prompts me to log in or create an account. I've always been interested in what I call "The cultural dimension of FL teaching".

I came across this blog looking for communicative activities to do with students online. They have an online immersion program for several different languages but also maintain different blogs for certain audiences. This one is the "General Educator Blog." I found their content helpful and really informative.

I found it very relevant. Would like to try FluentU but not sure if there are free resources. The subcription is $20/mo, not cheap...