While preparing the course for the next session, I thought I would prepare a presentation to start with on Day 1. First of all, it will explain what the teachers are going to cover during this session. Secondly, this will be an introduction to one of Web 2.0 tools. I hope that Prezi will interest the teachers and keep them motivated throughout the day.
Here is my presentation.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Bringing it all together
Some of discussions in forum threads this week got really long and somewhat difficult to follow.
However, Bev summarized "Bringing it all together" and it became easier to follow.
The questions posted by Elvina were:
However, Bev summarized "Bringing it all together" and it became easier to follow.
The questions posted by Elvina were:
We can see that there are a number of issues that affect how successful forums are, such as knowing how to keep a discussion on track, when to draw a discussion to a close and how best to do that.
Some questions for you:
- When might a moderator summarise a discussion, and when would they weave?
- What are the advantages of summarising and weaving, and are there any possible risks?
- Are these activities which are only relevant to the moderator? Explain the rationale for your answer.
Bev's summary on Prezi:
Monday, February 20, 2012
Lurking Summary
To summarize the topic of lurking, Elvina used Mindmono, a great tool for creating presentations.
Here is the summary: http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=1e968ef1fba244afbad591a68f02f004
I find the summaries useful because participants can refer to them at any time after the course to refresh the discussions in their minds.
Here is the summary: http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=1e968ef1fba244afbad591a68f02f004
I find the summaries useful because participants can refer to them at any time after the course to refresh the discussions in their minds.
Scheduling a Meeting
A great Web 2.0 tool that allows you to collaborate with others anywhere in the world to schedule an online meeting,
http://www.scheduleonce.com/
A video tutorial for the tool.
http://www.scheduleonce.com/
A video tutorial for the tool.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
E-Moderator Roles
Elvina prepared this summary for us after Unit 2. Very useful to see all the ideas in one place.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Patterns of Participation Prezi
My Prezi on Patterns of Participation
http://prezi.com/zqhrjijgvnfx/participation-patterns-gilly-salmon/
http://prezi.com/zqhrjijgvnfx/participation-patterns-gilly-salmon/
Monday, February 13, 2012
Huang on Constructivism
The pre-course reading was mainly understandable but there were a couple of things that caused some confusion.
One was self-directed approach where an adult learner is supposed to be setting his goals, looking for resources, decide on learning styles and evaluate their progress. What is the role of the teacher here then? It seems to me that if an adult can do all this, then maybe a teacher is not needed either.
Experiential learning (similar idea to pre-authentication) was another one, and this one suggests that teaching an adult should be based on the adult's experience. So if you are teaching someone presentation skills and the person has never done it before and never worked before, what prior experience can we base it on?
Another one was the evaluation of the learner. It said that the evaluation of the learner is time consuming and it is not easy to evaluate learner's learning outcomes. "For Dewey the quality of the experience is the starting point never the result. So what do we test? Why do we create quizzes?
Another thing I do not really agree with is the fact that learners can participate actively in the course design, including course objectives, prerequisites, grading scheme and teaching materials. It does seem to be connected with the first point and it does seem to me that the role of the teacher is diminishing. What is the teacher going to do?
However, I read a couple of articles which helped to understand this a bit:
Friday, February 10, 2012
Digital Tools - E-Book
The last task of this year's EVO Digital Tools was to create and publish an eBook.
To be honest I started the task just to see what it is like working with the tool and I liked it. There are so many things that can be done with it in the classroom.
This is what I have at the moment: http://www.epubbud.com/book.php?saved=1&g=9ZTR894Z
To be honest I started the task just to see what it is like working with the tool and I liked it. There are so many things that can be done with it in the classroom.
This is what I have at the moment: http://www.epubbud.com/book.php?saved=1&g=9ZTR894Z
Web 2.0 Tools - Moderation Skills
There is a lot of reading to do this week, but unfortunately I haven't got round to it yet.
At the moment I would just like to archive the links in this post to come back to it, when I have completed the tasks.
Top 10 moderation Skills - http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=66
The E-Consultants - http://www.theconsultants-e.com/training/default.aspx
Salmon's research - http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAY02_Issue/article02.html
At the moment I would just like to archive the links in this post to come back to it, when I have completed the tasks.
Top 10 moderation Skills - http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=66
The E-Consultants - http://www.theconsultants-e.com/training/default.aspx
Salmon's research - http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAY02_Issue/article02.html
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Digital Tools - ReadThinkWrite
I am impressed by the lesson plan we were supposed to analyze this week. Very creative! It has also been very handy as my students (Advanced level) are going to finish reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini soon.
I would actually like to use some of the plays by Shakespeare in the future but at the moment I would like to choose The Kite Runner as this is the book my students are reading.
I have asked my students to write out the names of the characters and the main events of the story. When looking through the lesson plan, I found the Stapeless Book tool, which allows students to create an 8-page book. I thought this would be an ideal tool for them to keep all their notes there. (Although I like the Plot Diagram too, I think the Stapeless Book will allow them to compile all the required information in one place)
When their books are ready, I will ask my students to swap their Stapeless Books with other students and check if any important information or a name of a character is missing. In case of missing information, it is added and the book is returned to the owner.
Next I will send them the link to the Drama Map and ask them to choose first the Conflict Map to write about the conflict and then the Resolution Map (here I will go with the idea in the lesson plan) to decide on the turning point, change the decision taken by the main character and give it a resolution.
Then the students can compare their ideas and choose the best one(s) and give feedback to one another.
I think I still need to think this through to make sure that everything works well. So I can call this a lesson plan draft.
I will do the suggested reading and will also examine the Ideas for Happily-Ever-After Presentations more thoroughly and then post a final lesson plan.
Comments and suggestions are welcome! :)
I would actually like to use some of the plays by Shakespeare in the future but at the moment I would like to choose The Kite Runner as this is the book my students are reading.
I have asked my students to write out the names of the characters and the main events of the story. When looking through the lesson plan, I found the Stapeless Book tool, which allows students to create an 8-page book. I thought this would be an ideal tool for them to keep all their notes there. (Although I like the Plot Diagram too, I think the Stapeless Book will allow them to compile all the required information in one place)
When their books are ready, I will ask my students to swap their Stapeless Books with other students and check if any important information or a name of a character is missing. In case of missing information, it is added and the book is returned to the owner.
Next I will send them the link to the Drama Map and ask them to choose first the Conflict Map to write about the conflict and then the Resolution Map (here I will go with the idea in the lesson plan) to decide on the turning point, change the decision taken by the main character and give it a resolution.
Then the students can compare their ideas and choose the best one(s) and give feedback to one another.
I think I still need to think this through to make sure that everything works well. So I can call this a lesson plan draft.
I will do the suggested reading and will also examine the Ideas for Happily-Ever-After Presentations more thoroughly and then post a final lesson plan.
Comments and suggestions are welcome! :)
Digital Tools - Read, Summarize, Publish
I loved this activity! What a wonderful idea to ask students to summarize their reading tasks and create a newspaper!
I summarized Combining Face-to-Face and Online Education and used Fodey to publish it.
Here's what I've got.
I summarized Combining Face-to-Face and Online Education and used Fodey to publish it.
Here's what I've got.
Lovely, isn't it?
Digital Tools - Lesson Plan 2 (Speaking)
This is my second lesson plan for my General English students.
DIGITAL RESOURCE
DIGITAL RESOURCE
CLASS LEVEL
Adult Business English Learners at Pre-Intermediate level
TIME FRAME
The task is going to be set as homework so it is not going to take any lesson time.
LESSON GOAL
By the end of this task, students will have
- practised their speaking skills by recording their holiday presentations
- applied the holiday vocabulary they have learnt at the lesson
- practised their listening skills by listening to their peers' presentations
- enhanced their digital literacy by learning how to record and by recording themselves
STEPS
The teacher has to create a talkgroup on Voxopop before the lesson starts and invite the students to join the talkgroup.
At the lesson students learn about presentation skills and listen to some interviews. Then they are given information about different companies and need to prepare a presentation for prospective students explaining why it is good to work for the company that they present. They present in front of the class and get feedback from peers and the teacher.
At home students need to prepare a similar presentation about the company they work for and record it on Voxopop. Then they are asked to listen to the presentations of their peers and leave recorded comments. The teacher also needs to leave recorded comments for the students.
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS
Students might have difficulties using Voxopop (prepare a screencast with every step explained and demonstrated and post it on the group's Facebook wall right after the lesson).
Web 2.0 Tools - Task and assessment design
This week has been really challanging because we had to give feedback to the way some forums were run and also look at some forms of alternative assessment and task design.
We looked at some forums where the discussion went completely wrong. At first we all had an impression that it was the moderators' fault as they didn't intervene. Then when we discovered that it was a student run forum and the moderatoirs were not really supposed to moderate it constantly, we changed our opinion. However, the messages made us understand that some form of moderation is required anyway.
I have decided to create a code of coinduct for any online students that I have which I can refer them to any time a problem arises.
As an example we looked at The British Open University and the University of Dundee's Code of Conduct.
For task design we first did some reading which was really useful for me. However, the most important for me was that the approach to online teaching should be task-centred rather than self-centred. Another very important point that I must remember is:
When introducing students to a new VLE, make sure that every single step is explained; everything should be as hassle-free as possible for a learner. I think that a screencast should be ideal in guiding students through all the sign in process and further us of the platform.
The last task of the week was alternative assessment. I actually quite liked the idea because in many cases students get so stressed when they hear that they have a test to write. Cecili Lemos gives very valuable advice in her slides and her presentation of the same slides. There are also some additional ideas on Web 2.0 Teaching Tools website. And a very useful overview of tools that can be used is given on Ridley School District's website.
NCLRC discusses the forms of alternative assessment and which form can be used for different situations.
We looked at some forums where the discussion went completely wrong. At first we all had an impression that it was the moderators' fault as they didn't intervene. Then when we discovered that it was a student run forum and the moderatoirs were not really supposed to moderate it constantly, we changed our opinion. However, the messages made us understand that some form of moderation is required anyway.
I have decided to create a code of coinduct for any online students that I have which I can refer them to any time a problem arises.
As an example we looked at The British Open University and the University of Dundee's Code of Conduct.
For task design we first did some reading which was really useful for me. However, the most important for me was that the approach to online teaching should be task-centred rather than self-centred. Another very important point that I must remember is:
When introducing students to a new VLE, make sure that every single step is explained; everything should be as hassle-free as possible for a learner. I think that a screencast should be ideal in guiding students through all the sign in process and further us of the platform.
The last task of the week was alternative assessment. I actually quite liked the idea because in many cases students get so stressed when they hear that they have a test to write. Cecili Lemos gives very valuable advice in her slides and her presentation of the same slides. There are also some additional ideas on Web 2.0 Teaching Tools website. And a very useful overview of tools that can be used is given on Ridley School District's website.
NCLRC discusses the forms of alternative assessment and which form can be used for different situations.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Digital Tools - Lesson Plan (Speaking)
All the tools I looked at were really nice. It was hard to choose just one.
DIGITAL RESOURCE
CLASS LEVEL
Adult Business English Learners at Upper-Intermediate level and above
TIME FRAME
The task is going to be set as homework so it is not going to take any lesson time.
LESSON GOAL
By the end of this task, students will have
- practised their speaking skills by recording their presentations and leaving recorded comments for their peers
- applied what they have learnt at the lesson about presentation skills
- practised their listening skills by listening to their peers' presentations
- enhanced their digital literacy by learning how to record and by recording themselves
STEPS
The teacher has to create a talkgroup on Voxopop before the lesson starts and invite the students to join the talkgroup.
At the lesson students learn about presentation skills and listen to some interviews. Then they are given information about different companies and need to prepare a presentation for prospective students explaining why it is good to work for the company that they present. They present in front of the class and get feedback from peers and the teacher.
At home students need to prepare a similar presentation about the company they work for and record it on Voxopop. Then they are asked to listen to the presentations of their peers and leave recorded comments. The teacher also needs to leave recorded comments for the students.
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS
Students might have difficulties using Voxopop (prepare a screencast with every step explained and demonstrated and post it on the group's Facebook wall right after the lesson).
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Gamification - Professional Development
This week's tasks made me think a lot.
The general idea of the reading tasks (Play the Game, The School, Play the Game Because You Can, Has the Gamification of Reality Already Begun?, Connectivism, Professional Development, The Educators' PLN) and the video that we watched was that gaming will help to change the world and also that it gives teachers a possibility to develop professionally.
It is understandable that gamification has already started (having had a look at all the games throughout weeks 1-3, that much became clear) but what remained unclear for me was the concern that if we increase the play-time to save the world some time in the future, as Jane McGonigal says in her TED presentation, we might just never return to real life. So what is going to happen to the real world in the future? I might be wrong, but at the moment I just don't see people wanting to apply the skills that they gain through games to real-situations. I will have to explore this notion further, as it interested me a lot.
In his blog posts Paul Braddock talks about The School Game that he is developing at the moment. The game is designed mainly for school teachers and is supposed to help them in their professional development. The idea is fantastic, in my opinion. I felt a bit sad that a similar game is not being developed for Teachers of Adult Learners. However, Paul said that some of the rooms in The School will be useful for us too! :)
The general idea of the reading tasks (Play the Game, The School, Play the Game Because You Can, Has the Gamification of Reality Already Begun?, Connectivism, Professional Development, The Educators' PLN) and the video that we watched was that gaming will help to change the world and also that it gives teachers a possibility to develop professionally.
It is understandable that gamification has already started (having had a look at all the games throughout weeks 1-3, that much became clear) but what remained unclear for me was the concern that if we increase the play-time to save the world some time in the future, as Jane McGonigal says in her TED presentation, we might just never return to real life. So what is going to happen to the real world in the future? I might be wrong, but at the moment I just don't see people wanting to apply the skills that they gain through games to real-situations. I will have to explore this notion further, as it interested me a lot.
In his blog posts Paul Braddock talks about The School Game that he is developing at the moment. The game is designed mainly for school teachers and is supposed to help them in their professional development. The idea is fantastic, in my opinion. I felt a bit sad that a similar game is not being developed for Teachers of Adult Learners. However, Paul said that some of the rooms in The School will be useful for us too! :)
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Web 2.0 Tools - Videocasts
What we looked at this week was Moderating forums.
The following was a very interesting statement:
'However, motivating students to use the online discussion groups is one of the main challenges. It is often the case that the better performing students engage in the debates, whilst the remainder of the class either offer limited debate or fail to engage at all. This lack of engagement could be due to poor motivation, confidence or fear of embarrassment at posting a message that the student perceives will be interpreted as being stupid by their peers. It is therefore important that the tutor manages the online discussion and its progression to ensure that viewpoints are constructively received and further debate can be instigated.' (http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/case_studies/using_online_discussion_forums_as_a_learning_tool.pdf, accessed 14 January 2012)
Now how would I motivate a participant to take part in forums? What could I, as a moderator, do to make sure that everyone is actively involved in the discussion and is not just reading the posts passively?
Having read the article from the University of Newcastle, I understood that what I need to do is to make the connection between the "student's sitting in front of the computer" and achieveing his/her professional goals. But how? When studying online you don't get the same feeling of a community as in a real class and you do not really feel that you know the people who are teaching or studying with you.
The question was left hanging in my head when I looked at our next task: creating a screencast . First of all it would make it easier for participants to use the platform, and secondly by hearing the tutor's voice they would feel the 'human' atmosphere too. I was not really happy with my first screencast of the wiki that I run for my students but I posted it anyway and promised myself to make another one shortly.
The next day I had to help my students to record themselves on Voxopop so I created another screencast, which I liked more.
But I still think that seeing the tutor/moderator and other participants will make it easier for everyone to start enjoying the online learning process. Maybe asking everyone to introduce themselves with a videocast and then setting a group work activity for them to collaborate and complete some kind of task will make things better. I don't know. I will need to try this idea and find out.
The following was a very interesting statement:
'However, motivating students to use the online discussion groups is one of the main challenges. It is often the case that the better performing students engage in the debates, whilst the remainder of the class either offer limited debate or fail to engage at all. This lack of engagement could be due to poor motivation, confidence or fear of embarrassment at posting a message that the student perceives will be interpreted as being stupid by their peers. It is therefore important that the tutor manages the online discussion and its progression to ensure that viewpoints are constructively received and further debate can be instigated.' (http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/case_studies/using_online_discussion_forums_as_a_learning_tool.pdf, accessed 14 January 2012)
Now how would I motivate a participant to take part in forums? What could I, as a moderator, do to make sure that everyone is actively involved in the discussion and is not just reading the posts passively?
Having read the article from the University of Newcastle, I understood that what I need to do is to make the connection between the "student's sitting in front of the computer" and achieveing his/her professional goals. But how? When studying online you don't get the same feeling of a community as in a real class and you do not really feel that you know the people who are teaching or studying with you.
The question was left hanging in my head when I looked at our next task: creating a screencast . First of all it would make it easier for participants to use the platform, and secondly by hearing the tutor's voice they would feel the 'human' atmosphere too. I was not really happy with my first screencast of the wiki that I run for my students but I posted it anyway and promised myself to make another one shortly.
The next day I had to help my students to record themselves on Voxopop so I created another screencast, which I liked more.
But I still think that seeing the tutor/moderator and other participants will make it easier for everyone to start enjoying the online learning process. Maybe asking everyone to introduce themselves with a videocast and then setting a group work activity for them to collaborate and complete some kind of task will make things better. I don't know. I will need to try this idea and find out.
DigItal Tools - Videocasts, Sketchcasts and Video Questionnaires
This week has been really hectic for me: so many tasks to do that I thought I wasn't going to make it. But I seem to be coping well at the moment.
The more I learn about tools available for teachers on the Internet, the more I love it.
This week our first task was to create a videocast. We were given two questions to answer and could choose either to record our answer with video or without one. I chose a video reply because this was something new for me.
The site is Record.tv and this is what I created. I am not sure whether my students will be comfortable with videoing themselves or not, but I am going to give it a try. I am going to ask them to do a reading task at home and then record themselves answering the "do you agree or disagree" questions. I think this will be an interesting task for them because in many cases if they disagree with each other, they start interrupting each other. This way they will all be able to express their opinions fully.
The next site I think will be very useful for my IELTS students. The site is intervue.me and it allows teachers to create questionnaires for their students and then have students record their video replies. This is my reply to the question "How do you celebrate Christmas with your family?" I could just type in the cue cards or sets of questions for the Speaking section of the exam and they could practise speaking at home too. Nik Peachy's blog gives a very detailed explanation on how to use the site.
The last tool was Sketchcast which is a drawing and audio recording tool. I think it is more appropriate for children, but I might be wrong: adults also get excited about various new tools to use to improve their speaking skills.
I liked all the three tools and I am planning to incorporate them into my lesson plans as soon as I can.
The more I learn about tools available for teachers on the Internet, the more I love it.
This week our first task was to create a videocast. We were given two questions to answer and could choose either to record our answer with video or without one. I chose a video reply because this was something new for me.
The site is Record.tv and this is what I created. I am not sure whether my students will be comfortable with videoing themselves or not, but I am going to give it a try. I am going to ask them to do a reading task at home and then record themselves answering the "do you agree or disagree" questions. I think this will be an interesting task for them because in many cases if they disagree with each other, they start interrupting each other. This way they will all be able to express their opinions fully.
The next site I think will be very useful for my IELTS students. The site is intervue.me and it allows teachers to create questionnaires for their students and then have students record their video replies. This is my reply to the question "How do you celebrate Christmas with your family?" I could just type in the cue cards or sets of questions for the Speaking section of the exam and they could practise speaking at home too. Nik Peachy's blog gives a very detailed explanation on how to use the site.
The last tool was Sketchcast which is a drawing and audio recording tool. I think it is more appropriate for children, but I might be wrong: adults also get excited about various new tools to use to improve their speaking skills.
I liked all the three tools and I am planning to incorporate them into my lesson plans as soon as I can.
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