Blogs are now used in a large variety of different contexts, from presidential campaigns to personal diaries. If we are interested in using blogs in language education, then it helps to think about what makes a good blog, and what makes a good blogging assignment.
On what makes a good blog, Will Richardson (author of Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts) suggests that real blogging involves deep reflection and personal growth over a period of time. Such 'complex blogs' involve 'extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links and comments'. Take a look at his evaluation blogging in education contexts, it's worth a read.
Ideally, a 'blogging assignment' should include more than just posting to a blog. Blogs are about participating in communities, and so it is important to think about relevant sources (e.g. web sites and other blogs), link to these from your posts, and provide others with feedback (e.g. in the form of comments). In their study of student blogging, Ducate and Lomicka (needs library login) divide the process into two stages: one of blog reading, the other of posting to blogs. This seems like a sound idea, as their students were able to gain some insight into blogging conventions before they began posting themselves.
If you're interested in learning about blogging conventions, then it will definitely help to read some blogs (you can start with the ones in this blog's blogroll). What conventions can you identify?
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
New Technologies: Getting acquainted
Last night we shared our accounts of technology use in language teaching and learning, and listening to these, I was struck by how a variety of technologies are now becoming more and more pervasive in language education. I was also struck by the variety in terms of engagement and level of confidence with technology: even though most of us use computers regularly, we do not all feel that we can take a basic familiarity with computers for granted, it seems to me. And the question of how best to use technology in the classroom is one that we clearly all need to explore (it's one of those questions that occupies some people for a very long time, so there is no surprise there!). A good starting point for resolving some of these issues is to delve into the various writing available on the internet, which describes experiences with technology in the language learning context. Both academic literature and practical accounts in educators' blogs can be helpful here.
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):
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).
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).
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A fresh start
The new year is getting underway now, and we've already finished our first lesson in New Technologies in Language Teaching. We've set up our blogs (which you can find listed in the sidebar, just scroll down a bit), rolled up our sleeves and are ready for the work to begin!
Image by James Jordan http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Workshop follow-up
I've just finished a workshop about using blogs and wikis in the language classroom with some very motivated English language teachers. There were some excellent ideas from the group, and some important issues got raised as well. This was a very interesting group with a pretty good understanding of how the web works, and I hope that they will be able to go on and use blogs/wikis in their teaching.
UPDATE: One of the teachers has already got his blog started - have a look at Mr. Maxwell's lessons...
Some interesting issues raised:
1. Students are already enthusiastically blogging: can we harness that for our own purposes?
I would hope that some of the enthusiasm that they feel for their own blogging would spill over into the blogging that they do for their class. I can't stress enough the importance of setting out some ground rules, as this teacher has done, so that students understand the purpose of their blogging, and understand related privacy and ethical issues.
2. If you create a wiki, does that mean that anyone in the class can edit anything?
It basically does. But my experience is that people tend to need encouraging to edit, not the other way around. Once again, setting out ground rules for how you expect students to go about editing, addressing ethical issues and so on, are essential. You can see an example of this here, and covering related issues here. Of course, you would need to think about your own context and negotiate a policy with your students.
3. How can we create and use multimedia in blogs?
Once students get past a certain level, they will be able to teach you this (which might seem a bit scary if you like being in charge). Blogger has an add video function, and it is also very easy to add video that you have uploaded to Googlevideo, Youtube or Teachertube. There are lots of different ways to create multimedia, ranging from simple slideshows with audio to edited movies. Here are some useful links:
Online video for learning: A comprehensive list of online tools that you can use to edit and share video online
Jumpcut: Online video editor
Voicethread: Audio narrated slideshows with audio comments from listeners
Windows Movie Maker and Apple's iMovie can also be used to create movies. Because so many people and institutions use Windows, I guess you will want to use that (sorry Mac users, but you probably already know how to use iMovie don't you?). Feel free to browse the animations below to get some idea of how Moviemaker works:
How to import media into a Windows Movie Maker project
How to add a title frame to a Windows Movie Maker project
How to clip a movie in Windows Movie Maker
How to add a transition in Windows Movie Maker
How to export a project from Windows Movie Maker
A nice idea for a project:
One teacher suggested that students could work in groups to create travel brochures for different countries around the world, each group adding the work to a different section of a wiki. A project like that would allow students opportunities for peer and self correction (as well as teacher feedback) using the discussion function of the wiki.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to respond below.
UPDATE: One of the teachers has already got his blog started - have a look at Mr. Maxwell's lessons...
Some interesting issues raised:
1. Students are already enthusiastically blogging: can we harness that for our own purposes?
I would hope that some of the enthusiasm that they feel for their own blogging would spill over into the blogging that they do for their class. I can't stress enough the importance of setting out some ground rules, as this teacher has done, so that students understand the purpose of their blogging, and understand related privacy and ethical issues.
2. If you create a wiki, does that mean that anyone in the class can edit anything?
It basically does. But my experience is that people tend to need encouraging to edit, not the other way around. Once again, setting out ground rules for how you expect students to go about editing, addressing ethical issues and so on, are essential. You can see an example of this here, and covering related issues here. Of course, you would need to think about your own context and negotiate a policy with your students.
3. How can we create and use multimedia in blogs?
Once students get past a certain level, they will be able to teach you this (which might seem a bit scary if you like being in charge). Blogger has an add video function, and it is also very easy to add video that you have uploaded to Googlevideo, Youtube or Teachertube. There are lots of different ways to create multimedia, ranging from simple slideshows with audio to edited movies. Here are some useful links:
Online video for learning: A comprehensive list of online tools that you can use to edit and share video online
Jumpcut: Online video editor
Voicethread: Audio narrated slideshows with audio comments from listeners
Windows Movie Maker and Apple's iMovie can also be used to create movies. Because so many people and institutions use Windows, I guess you will want to use that (sorry Mac users, but you probably already know how to use iMovie don't you?). Feel free to browse the animations below to get some idea of how Moviemaker works:
How to import media into a Windows Movie Maker project
How to add a title frame to a Windows Movie Maker project
How to clip a movie in Windows Movie Maker
How to add a transition in Windows Movie Maker
How to export a project from Windows Movie Maker
A nice idea for a project:
One teacher suggested that students could work in groups to create travel brochures for different countries around the world, each group adding the work to a different section of a wiki. A project like that would allow students opportunities for peer and self correction (as well as teacher feedback) using the discussion function of the wiki.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to respond below.
Blogs and wikis workshop
I'm with a group of teachers, figuring out how to use blogs to support English language teaching in schools. If there is anyone out there that wants to contribute, please feel free to add to the comments section below.
I've collected some links to some class blogs and I would like to discuss those with you. Before you have a look at the links, it might be a good idea to think about what blogging actually is.
When you look at the links you will probably notice that there are different things you can do with a class blog:
Blogging is also extremely flexible. Looking at these blogs, what range of learning opportunities do you see for students?
Here are the links:
I've collected some links to some class blogs and I would like to discuss those with you. Before you have a look at the links, it might be a good idea to think about what blogging actually is.
When you look at the links you will probably notice that there are different things you can do with a class blog:
- Post administrative information
- Post learning tips for your students
- Have students share work with a real audience
- Facilitate collaborative project learning
- And much much more...
Blogging is also extremely flexible. Looking at these blogs, what range of learning opportunities do you see for students?
Here are the links:
Sister project showcaseWhich of these blogs do you like the best? What do you think might work for you? Let me know what you think.
Room 9 Nelson central’s blog
Mr. C’s class blog
English 131 blog
CALL Lessons 2005-2007
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Getting started with blogs
So you want to set up a blog? Nothing could be easier. There's a very good step by step guide for setting up a blog in Blogger available from the Ohio State University.
If you're going to be reading student blogs then you should probably get familiar with RSS, and set up a Reader. RSS is a simple way of streaming web content to your computer, by subscribing to websites that frequently update. For example, you could subscribe to a news site and then be alerted every time a new article is published (careful, it gets overwhelming fast!).
More about RSS here.
If you're going to be reading student blogs then you should probably get familiar with RSS, and set up a Reader. RSS is a simple way of streaming web content to your computer, by subscribing to websites that frequently update. For example, you could subscribe to a news site and then be alerted every time a new article is published (careful, it gets overwhelming fast!).
More about RSS here.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Where to from here?
The course is almost over and many of you must be wondering what to do with the blogs that you have been diligently updating over the last few months. Well, that is of course entirely up to you!
A starting point
You won't have to read a 20 page article and comment on it every week any more, and I'm sure that you are already feeling relieved about that! On the other hand, one way of keeping your professional development going in the area of New Technologies in Language Teaching is to subscribe to a few blogs focused on educational technology. You can see a few of the blogs that I subscribe to in the 'blogroll' on the left. That way, as new resources, teaching tools and ways of exploiting these are described you can take advantage of them as they come out. You'll also be able to share your own ideas by commenting on other people's blogs or writing posts of your own. You can get an idea of how this might work for you if you read this post by Passionately Curious. The writer describes how a variety of social networking tools, including blogs, have helped them to create a 'personal learning network' for professional development.
A process
As far as blogging for professional development goes, I've found the following process to be helpful:
A starting point
You won't have to read a 20 page article and comment on it every week any more, and I'm sure that you are already feeling relieved about that! On the other hand, one way of keeping your professional development going in the area of New Technologies in Language Teaching is to subscribe to a few blogs focused on educational technology. You can see a few of the blogs that I subscribe to in the 'blogroll' on the left. That way, as new resources, teaching tools and ways of exploiting these are described you can take advantage of them as they come out. You'll also be able to share your own ideas by commenting on other people's blogs or writing posts of your own. You can get an idea of how this might work for you if you read this post by Passionately Curious. The writer describes how a variety of social networking tools, including blogs, have helped them to create a 'personal learning network' for professional development.
A process
As far as blogging for professional development goes, I've found the following process to be helpful:
- Identify blogs and journals that I am interested in and subscribe using RSS
- Get into the habit of reading (more or less regularly)
- Post links to useful resources, blogs and write comments that relate the posts to my context
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
