We've now come to the end of another semester (more or less) and so I would like to share a few reflections on this semester's course in New Technologies and Language Teaching.
One of the highlights for me has been the way that the teachers taking this course have picked up the practical skills of designing websites (we used Google sites) and regularly writing posts to their blogs (linked under 'Student blogs' from this site). With most of the websites that were created, it was pretty clear that they could be used in an authentic teaching context, either to support a particular class, or a particular English language teaching textbook. We have also had some interesting discussions as teachers have tried out their websites in real teaching contexts, and I think I have learned from their experiences (one example being Teresa's recent posts about using her website in her school - here and here).
I always enjoy the discussions that we have have in the blogs for this course, and this semester has been no exception. It has been really pleasing to see people interacting with one another in the blogs to share ideas, provide feedback and learn from one another. It was also good to see teachers using the blogs as a way to record the main points in a particular lesson - for example this post by Sonia where she 'live-blogs' some of the lesson content.
Now that the course is basically over, I wonder if there are ways for this group of teachers to stay in touch, and to continue the kind of support that they have given each other over the past 13 weeks. One way, perhaps, is to keep using these blogs as a place to share the resources we find and the (technological) teaching experiences we have... Any other suggestions?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Finding and evaluating educational technology tools
These days, it seems as though there is a new web 2.0 tool out every day, and on top of that, all of them seem to have some kind of educational application. If you are interested in using technology for teaching and learning, then it is important to develop ways of finding and evaluating useful technological tools. Luckily, teachers are developing very rich networks to help each other stay informed, for example through email lists, blogs, wikis and Twitter. In this blog post I would like to share the sources that I use in an effort to keep up to date. I'd encourage you to check out these sources yourselves, and let me know about good sources that you use yourself. Note that this isn't intended to be some kind of exhaustive list, it just reflects my own practice which I hope you might find useful as a starting point.
Email lists and newsletters
I am on a few email lists relating to educational technology, or language learning and technology (but I have cut back a bit). You might find these helpful:
Blogs
When I get time, I read these blogs:
Others that I would recommend, especially for ideas about technology in language teaching:
If you have a look at the blogroll on these blogs, you can also find a lot of interesting, related material.
Wikis
Wikis are great at bringing people together to pool resources. Here are a few that I have stumbled across at various points:
Twitter
This is actually the best source for me, because it's a place where educators share up-to-the-minute information. I follow a lot of the bloggers that I read, and find their updates very helpful. Check out:
As well as the posts to Twitter, I have been very impressed with paper.li, where (among other things) you can get a daily digest of useful #edtech posts or #edchat posts.
Of course, staying up-to-date is only part of the problem. The real challenge comes in figuring out how the tools and strategies that you read about can be applied to your own teaching. Often that involves a rather time-consuming process of exploration and reflection, particularly when it comes to answering the question: 'How can these technological tools promote the kind of language learning that I expect my students to be engaged in?'
Email lists and newsletters
I am on a few email lists relating to educational technology, or language learning and technology (but I have cut back a bit). You might find these helpful:
- IATEFL learning technologies SIG
- CALICO discussion list
- Edutopia newsletter (as I've said before, I find this very useful)
Blogs
When I get time, I read these blogs:
- Tom Barrett's edte.ch (school context, his Interesting Ways lists are especially good)
- Will Richardson's Weblogg-ed (school context)
- David Parry's academhack (university context)
Others that I would recommend, especially for ideas about technology in language teaching:
- Nik Peachey's blogs: (Learning technology and Quick Shout)
- Larry Ferlazzo's websites of the day
- Graham Stanley's blog-efl (especially if you are interested in Second Life)
If you have a look at the blogroll on these blogs, you can also find a lot of interesting, related material.
Wikis
Wikis are great at bringing people together to pool resources. Here are a few that I have stumbled across at various points:
This is actually the best source for me, because it's a place where educators share up-to-the-minute information. I follow a lot of the bloggers that I read, and find their updates very helpful. Check out:
As well as the posts to Twitter, I have been very impressed with paper.li, where (among other things) you can get a daily digest of useful #edtech posts or #edchat posts.
Of course, staying up-to-date is only part of the problem. The real challenge comes in figuring out how the tools and strategies that you read about can be applied to your own teaching. Often that involves a rather time-consuming process of exploration and reflection, particularly when it comes to answering the question: 'How can these technological tools promote the kind of language learning that I expect my students to be engaged in?'
Monday, November 8, 2010
Using blogger to share a podcast
Last week we looked at how you and your students could create a podcast using the free online audio editing tool, Audacity. This week we'll look at how to share that audio.
Here is a suggested method:
The video covers steps 1-5 above, but does not show you how to embed a player in your blogpost. One way of doing that is described at the Unofficial Google Operating System blog.
If you copy the code provided in this post, and replace [MP3_file] with the url of your mp3 file, then a flash player will appear in your post, allowing your readers to listen to the audio from within your post, as well as using iTunes or other RSS readers. The player will look like this (image only):
From what I understand, the player can only play mp3 files, which is a bit limiting. Obviously, this is just one way of going about sharing a podcast, if you have other suggestions please let me know by leaving a comment.
Here is a suggested method:
- Enable enclosures in your blog (Dashboard > Settings > Formatting > Show link fields > 'Yes'
- Upload your mp3 file to a file sharing service (e.g. Dropbox or Box.net)
- Find and copy the link to your file
- Create a new post in your blog
- Underneath the title select 'Add enclosure link' and paste in the url for the file
- Embed a player in your post as well (see below)
The video covers steps 1-5 above, but does not show you how to embed a player in your blogpost. One way of doing that is described at the Unofficial Google Operating System blog.
If you copy the code provided in this post, and replace [MP3_file] with the url of your mp3 file, then a flash player will appear in your post, allowing your readers to listen to the audio from within your post, as well as using iTunes or other RSS readers. The player will look like this (image only):
From what I understand, the player can only play mp3 files, which is a bit limiting. Obviously, this is just one way of going about sharing a podcast, if you have other suggestions please let me know by leaving a comment.
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