Here is a list of online resources that I suggest you visit if you want to get a sense of the kind of things that are being done with technology in educational contexts (these are also linked in the blogroll of this blog):
- Nik Peachey's blogs (here and here) - good for practical evaluations of technological tools
- Larry Ferlazzo - lots of links to useful web sites
- Will Richardson's blog - especially good if you are interested in promoting new literacies
- Graham Stanley's blog - has a special interest in Second Life (also see Gavin Dudeney)
- Tom Barret - Educational technology in an English school
- Language Learning and Technology - an online, peer-refereed academic journal: lots of evaluations of technological applications here
A good way to digest the ideas that you encounter is to post your thoughts to your blog. When you come across an interesting reading, summarize it for the community and add your own thoughts. Might the approach work with your own students? What problems do you foresee, and how would you overcome them? Feedback and comments from others will be helpful to refine your ideas.
Last night, I mentioned an application of Flickr for vocabulary learning (described by Nik Peachey, here), and ideas for using Google Earth in class (collated by Tom Barrett, here).
13 comments:
Thanks for providing us with so many tips and resources, Christoph. However, since the majority of English teachers in Hong Kong are more concerned with traditional textbook teaching and marking, it is quite difficult to have the whole panel, let alone the school, back you up on any innovative approach to teaching. The dual immersion approach and integration mentioned by Warschauer et al shed light on the issue but it is nevertheless a big challenge to get everyone on board. In fact, traditionalists would get upset if you tampered with the curriculum. I am still trying to talk my colleagues into it as we speak.
Thanks for the comment, I understand the concern. Being innovative is always going to attract criticism from those who dislike change. As we can't change the people around us, we need to recognize the limitations and work within them. As far as I can see, using technology in class, while it is sometimes described as a paradigm shift, is not incompatible with traditional textbook teaching and marking. However, it could considerably enhance it, especially by providing for opportunities for engaging with authentic materials, collaboration (e.g. Google Docs) and construction of texts for a wider audience. Some people do advocate a more aggressive approach to this problem (see Will Richardson's blog as he treats the issue from time to time), but in the end you will have to find a point that you are comfortable with. You probably also need to develop strategies for explaining the significance of what you are doing to your colleagues - I suspect that is what you are engaged in at the moment, and it is not always easy going.
True, Christoph, very true. I guess I was just frustrated more than anything. There ARE a selected few who are interested but they usually sit back and let me talk. I guess, like what Warschauer et al said, I should come up with some team teaching ideas and integrate them into the syllabuses.
I must admit, Christoph, that it was heartening for me to come away from Monday evening's session thinking, "Glad it's not only me who feels that I'm years behind when it comes to using technology in the classroom!"
I suppose another reason why I haven't yet fully got onboard the technology bandwagon stems from my long-held belief that my young, beginner-level ESL students were not developmentally ready for engaging in digital literacy practices. Perhaps EN6482 will change my view on this! I'll begin by checking out some of the links you put up in 'Getting Acquainted' posting. I will certainly be challenged to explore ideas for using technology appropriately in educational contexts similar to the one I currently find myself in.
I've added one more journal above - Innovate Journal of Online Education. Have a look at this too!
Hi Christoph. Thank you for asking us to create our Blog but I feel very frustrated when creating it. Can you direct me to a good link which can help me to understand the different functions of it, for example, how to create links to other classmates' blogs, etc.?
Hi Jade and sorry for throwing you in the deep end. Here is a link to the blogger help forum.
And here is a link that describes how to add formatting elements (though I see that Kiat has already explained on your blog).
Hi, Christophe. Many thanks for sharing with us such a lot of useful websites and blogs. I welcome the idea that computer technology can enhance the effects of traditional language teaching. It is a great idea that the students can post their short essays on a particular controversial issue and discuss over the peers’ essays. In the process of writing and discussing, they will develop the skills needed in the writing to a larger audience. Perhaps they will even find the discussion easier to elicit their argument. Besides, blogging or getting information from other people’s blogs could be beneficial as well. Hopefully, these new pedagogies could arouse students interest in searching information and expressing their ideas in English.
Hi, Christoph. I was quite amazed by our classmates’ presentations. Especially the full-time teachers in Hong Kong, they are applying all kinds of e-learning resources in their teaching activities. In mainland China, these kinds of teaching methods are not so prevailing nowadays, or rather, teachers only use PowerPoint or provide some useful links to be supplements for teaching. It is far too enough I think.
There are lots of on-line learning sources and I do not know which is better. I am eager to learn certain kind of software which could improve specific language skills. I think I should equip myself with more knowledge on the technology so that I could come up with better teaching ideas. Just like I am working with the software “My Word” to see how it could help students to learn the vocabulary in an interesting way. So Christoph, could you introduce some useful software or programs in language learning for us? I am really appreciated your help.
The class that evening was very inspirational for I learned a lot new things about CALL through classmates' experience sharing. It was amazing to find how CALL is put into practice in HK here. I also learned some useful websites that I think I can use in my future teaching practice.
Actually the information I've got in that class was so overwhelming that I was even a bit anxious. With the development of high technology, there are so many useful resources available on-line. I feel it is really a pity not to incorporate all the available resources into teaching and learning. But then I realize that the available resources seem to be inexhaustible and unbouded, and it is impossible to put all of them into practice. What a teacher should learn about CALL is to know different kinds of available sources and make the right decision to choose some resouces suitable in his or her own teaching context to put into practice.
[In addition, it seems to me that we have shared with each other a lot of experiences. It is necessary to sum up and sort through these precious resources instead of just pouring them out if we really want to digest all these things. I really want to do this job. However,I am too heavily loaded this semester and don't have enough time to do more extra work.(Full-time students have six courses this semester.) I think maybe we can have a blog that everyone can edit. We set several categories for resources, such as: useful websites, useful softwares, useful on-line journals, useful blogs, and so on. Everyone can add information to each category and when we browse the page, we can get to know all the others' ideas at once. Otherwise, we need to browse all the others' webpages and may forget what we have read when we move on to another webpages. But this wish may be a bit difficult to realize.]
By the way, the Nik's blog is quite useful to me! Thanks very much! I now have new things to try.
Don't make a lesson "technological" for technology's sake. A lot of Hong Kong teachers still use PowerPoint to fulfill their IT requirement for lesson observation every year. It's so detached from the overall lesson that it becomes PowerPointLESS. Hence, make sure the software or program that you are using blends in with the lesson seamlessly. Believe me, students know when you are faking "IT". Just remember less is more as a simple Youtube video along with your enthusiasm can make your lesson uber-cool.
Couldn't agree more with the last comment. Kids (even as young as those at primary level) can figure you out pretty quickly, which is not a problem if you simply tell them that you are, relatively speaking, a novice when it comes to using whatever technology you're using (joke about this even)...AND THEN seek out their assistance when needed.
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