Group items tagged

slide show with ideas and samples for sychnronous activities

I like the slide show especially the slide that shows the different tasks for synchronous activities.

I saved this for a course I am working on (training for language instructors who will be teaching online courses). Thanks!

Although this article is about British language education and it's two years old, my interest was piqued when I read it: ""Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learnt. The best way is to tell students right away that they are responsible for their own learning process, and the teacher is just a guide who has to motivate them."" Made me think about relevancy and how Tech is only one part of that.

Really interesting. I wonder if we changed the setting to the U.S. if the same difficulties would apply. I never really thought about grammar being discarded simply because students don't know it well enough. While I've found that most students we teach don't understand their mother tongue, I still think that the shift to task-based work had as much to do with the lack of real communication skills. Just teaching them grammar and relying on them to go abroad to learn to speak wasn't doing it. That being said, I think the mixture of methods is best, and by mixture I mean the integration of many methods into accomplishing a task. And I agree that the meta-learning is key.

I remember getting a comment from a student once, many years ago, that she had learned more about English grammar in my Spanish class than anywhere else... (sigh)

" 'The basis of a task-based approach'"

After reading how much material I could flip and have students do outside of class, I thought it would be good to start looking for more templates for meaning bearing and higher order thinking tasks that could be done in the classroom. Here is some really good stuff Jane Willis.

an alternative to paper agendas! 7 tools for managing tasks/to do lists

"Learn Chinese with Tasks: Implementing a Task Chain to Improve Integrated Language Skills - Part One"

I don't think I can annotate this article because it is a Google book and has access limitations. I have worked with Dr. Christine Appel, one of the authors of the article "Synchronous tandem language learning in a MOOC context: A study on task design and learner performance". My main interest here is: "How can we best design online synchronous tasks to achieve the optimal outcome?". Sometimes we focus too much on the tool and not so much on how we can make the most of it. The article studies real tasks to find the effects task design have in student performance.

Provides guidelines for creating effective online collaborative tasks.

Finding videos

Appropriate for our synchronous week! See what advice they give.

The article highlights the effectiveness of collaborative and cooperative language learning activities such as school exchanges and pairing students with counterparts abroad. It also bring up the issue of difficult assessment gets in the way and brings to the front solo performances and summative examinations.

I certainly agree with this as being an effective way to language learning. We in the military community use the group/pair work approach for many reasons. Pair work keeps them interested and motivated to learn. It also makes better use of class time. I also think that when the students are ready for the OPI, they generally do better than if they were in a traditional classroom. As for assessment, yes it is more difficult, but it is up to us as instructors to find ways to measure the students' performance based on the interaction. Once the student is in country, it will be up to him/her to communicate with others. That will be the true test.

A lifestyle blog about trying to simplify tasks in your life sometimes with technology.

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!

Very helpful for those who are still getting to know ACTFL standards. Includes short, non-jargony descriptions for studnts, and linked PDFs with various skills/tasks that they can check off for monitoring of their own progress in the interpersonal, presentational, and interpretive modes.

It's getting close to that time of year when teachers and students will be returning to school for the fall semester. The great thing about the start of a new school year is that it brings new resolutions for both teachers and students.

funny that I posted this later without seeing yours first.

:)

" self-assess their performance on learning tasks and formulate points for improvement. " Think about this is in terms of ePortfolios developed through professional development workshops.

Abstract: "In academic settings where digital badges are taking over conventional task formats, educators are faced with the challenge of how to deliver and assess content and skills within badges. Imposing a mastery learning approach, where feedback is key, to a digital badge system may be a potential solution to using digital badges within higher education. As a way to support student learning, Guskey, Journal of Advanced Academics, 19(1), 8-31 (2007) emphasizes the importance of not only frequent feedback but specific feedback. In order to examine how students are using feedback to inform their coursework within a digital badge context, an online survey was designed consisting of open-ended questions about the nature and value of instructional feedback within a digital badge system. Results from the questionnaire indicated three major thematic groups illustrating feedback from the students' perspective: Importance and Nature of Feedback, Authority over Knowledge and Learning, and Learning for Mastery."