Week 8: Enhancing Learning Through Different Web Tools

It is undeniable that this week is the busiest week for the particiapants of  the WIKI class. Despite working on the first draft of individual project report, the participants also have to explore some different tools  and exercises. I observed some tools such as Web blog, Nicenet, WebQuests, Web Sites and the new one,  Anvil. 

Web blog. I think web blog  is the easiest tool to create and the handiest one to use both by   teacher and  students.  It can be created and used almost without constraint.  I have started using this tool for my Intermediate Listening class. All the students have their personal blogs and used them  as a self-report media for what they have learned every week from their listening tasks and what they feel after using the internet to do  the task. Blog can enhance learner autonomy  as it make students do the assignment by themselves out of the class. It at the same time may enhance students’ different skills such as writing and grammar.   We also created a class blog last week and named it Andalas Listening Class 2013.     Before that, I also had created  one by myself which I named Interactive Listening (http://rinaesl.blogspot.com/) which I will use for the rest of this semester as a replacement for the Face book group I usually use to post the announcement and the task.

Nicenet. Nicenet is also a great tool to enhance good network between teacher and students and among class members. It is a good forum for discusion.  It is appropriately used for writing-based class.   I created one for my Linguistics Research Method as the students have to do lot of reading and write the reading report.   I provided them the links for the reading and put them on the Link Sharing.The name of the class is Linguistic Reserach Method 2013 and the class key is 3K66G3U48. I hope this tool can help motivate my students to do the reading assignement and post their ideas on the discussion class. 

Class survey.  We can make  a survey using Google.doc. A well designed class survey can help teacher obtain    information about their students’ learning habits, interest, needs and other preferences.  On the other side, it might enhance students’ interest and participation in the class.  I just designed a class survey to see my students’ preferences in listening activities.  

WebQuests  are Web-based projects which use World Wide Web sites to help students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. An effective WebQuest develops critical thinking skills and often includes a  cooperative learning component. Students learn as they search for information using the Web, following a prescribed format that focuses on problem solving and authentic assessment.  A well-written WebQuest requires students to go beyond simple fact finding, help them analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. I think  WebQuest is more appropriately used for advance learners.   I will used it next semester for my Seminar on Linguistics Class.

Class website or wiki.  This tools is very useful as it allows  both teachers and students to take an active role in the network.     ITeacher can post  tasks  and  teaching materials including videos  in a certain time frame.  However, it is quite tricky to build as we have to delete and replace the already existing information on the template. I have tried several times and ended up with several unfinished. The last one is ‘Listening 2013’.  

I checked several games through the Word search, bingo, crossword puzzles, board games, flash cards, matching, multiple choice exercises.  They are all interesting.  I like Easy Test Maker, Hot Potatoes, Web Poster Wizard!  These tools allow us create worksheets, lessons,    interactive exams (multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises).  I created  a jumbled sentence interactive exam using potatoes.     

This week we are fortunate as we have a chance to get to know Jeff Magoto in our online discussion. He is the creator of  ANVILL, a great tool for speaking-based class. It is great as it contains  various tools  such as  Practice Recorder, Image Template, Quiz Tool, Media Template, Response Tool , Livechat Tool, Voiceboards Tool,    Video template.  I think I would encourage my colleagues in my department to use this echnology for teaching speaking.

Week 7.  An inspiring  week

This week is very interesting as we learn about learner autonomy, mobile learning and one computer class. All articles related to the topics are very inspiring.

1. Learner autonomy

As mentioned by Dimitrios Thanasoulas and Richard Smith, learner autonomy is a new perspective in the context of language learning. It is widely referred to in the field of ELT only over the last decade.  Autonomy has been defined or used in different ways y the experts b but in general note, autonomy, as quoted by Holec (1981: 3, cited in Benson & Voller, 1997: 1) is  'the ability to take charge of one's learning'.  Learner autonomy is meant as giving students  a ‘greater responsibility for, and take charge of,  their own learning’.      

Enhancing learner autonomy can be done with or without technology. Group work, discussion and presentation can enhcane students autonomy. Recently, I  tried to develop my students’ autonomy by  making them  aware of the  advantages of their mobile devices for learning English.  I introduced them to some links on the internets where they can learn various Englis skills. I showed them some  interesting English videos  provided among others by anglo-link.com , www.listen-and-write.com/ and http://learningenglish.voanews.com/. I designed some assignments and homework  which make them have to study by themselves. I asked every student to create a reflective blog  which I use as a controling tool to check what they have done and learned. I was so glad to see their enthusiasm in selecting the videos, watching them and responding to what they learned from the videos. I find  teaching is not a burden but very insteresting and challenging.  You can check what my students’ have done and learned during the last two weeks by visiting their blogs. Some of the blogs are:

http://lilis-yulianti.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_24.html

http://listeningclass-defi.blogspot.com/;

http://nfl-harahap.blogspot.com/

http://nurritesya.blogspot.com/;

http://siska-sofianti.blogspot.com/;

http://faniisanii.blogspot.com/;

http://kiemasyudha.blogspot.com/

2. Mobile learning  (m-learning).

We now use different kinds of mobile phone or android phones.  Mostly we use it for reading ebooks, chatting, social networking, and so on.  Advances in technology of communcation have increased the interest of language educators to  utilize the newly invented devices  for mobile learning (m-learning) iPhone or Android phone  are among devices with enhanced capabilities  that have hundreds of thousands of apps (applications) to choose. The Apple iPad and other new tablet computers are adding to the mobile app frenzy.  This is an invaluable advantages  technology has given to the language learning methodology.  It provides teachers or instructors a wider opportunity to choose the availbles application for language learning or teaching purposes.  I often use my iPad to surf the webs I want on the internet while some of my students use their iPhones or android phones to listen to the audio or watch the  English vidoes  I assigned for them. 

3. One computer class

Sometime we only have one computer to use in the class. Creative teacher can make use of it for better learning purposes. I usually use one computer method for teaching both large and small classes. This way does not only help save my time, as I prepared my teaching material at home, but also help engage the students to the class. I usually used power point for large classes. Last week I and mys Linguistics Resarach Methods students use power point to review several articles on linguistics research. We discussed some important aspects of writing and the use of several academic words.

Week 6.  Using Technology for Teaching Large Class 

This week,  as the previous weeks, I learned a lot from this class. This week's  topic is teaching large class and using technology to help teachers teach large classes or lecture-based classes. There are several reading materials on the strategies for teaching large classes. I read Richard M. Felder's article "Effective Teaching In Large Classes"  which contains several strategies for teaching large classes. I also read Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw’s “Enhancing Learning by Engaging Students” who describe basic principles (variety, pace, collaboration speaking style and individualization) that help promote the students' engagement and learning. I like Richard M. Felder’s article “Beating The Numbers Game: Effective Teaching In Large Classes”. It shows us how to get students actively involved in the class while at the same time help them develop a sense of community. The article also provides us with some ideas for teaching large classess. One way is giving students frequent homework assignments. I was aspired by his motto ‘ People learn by doing, not by watching and listening’

Online assessment is  a new thing for me. The Blackboard's assessment seems very useful as it does not only provides us as teachers with a form to create online assessments using different question types but also gives students with immediate feedback. It also provides us with assessment features to test students’ knowledge and measure their progress. I also checked the Blackboard's Tutorials for using the Assessment features on http://ondemand.blackboard.com/r9/assess.htm which shows how the Grade Center is structured and how to complete common Grade Center Tasks. This page includes video and PDF tutorials for using Blackboard's Grade Center, Tests and Surveys, and Assignment features.

Respondus is also a new tool for me. It is very invaluable for teacher as it helps teacher create and manage exam. The instruction video shows that respondus is an efficient and easy tool to us for large classes. I think I  need some computer knowledge if I want  to use it for my class.

Improving Lectures with Technology is a must for those who are engaged in teaching large class. Carnegie Mellon describes best practices of teaching with technology and various tools, including Blackboard, a teacher can use. Those who decide to use computer projections should prepare themselves well before the class in order the presentation runs smoothly. One tip to solve common problems that arise when using technology during presentations is by troubleshooting the computer.

Clickers (personal response systems) is an easy-to-use technology as students can select anonymously an answer to multiple-choice, true/false, yes/no questions displayed by the lecturer on the board. Students choose their answers on transmitter units that send a signal to a receiver attached to the lecturer’s laptop, and the results can be displayed for the whole class to see. I think this can only be done in a classroom where the transmitters are already prepared before the class. In my condition, this is quite impossible for this time as all the classroom are publicly open and not designed for this need yet. Surely it is quite costsly to implement as we need  a lot of clickers.

This week I learn the use of power point for teaching large class. Drs. Terry & Cathy Cavanaugh’s article “Creating Interactive power point Presentations for Teachers and Students” is a good source of idea for power point presentation.   I am already familiar with ppt and  I mostly use  power point presentation for my large classes. During the last five years,  most of lecturers at my university  use it for teaching as the university has provided every classroom with projectors. However, we have to use our own  portable computer as the university does not provide it for us. For presentations, I often use slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/).  For non ESL classes, I  usually use seminar method where both teacher and students utilize power point for the discussion. I found that in my students’ power points were much more interesting than my traditional look one. They have varied and interesting slide designs.  They dowloaded  the template design   freely from https://sites.google.com/site/freedownloadppttemplates/home. 

Eventhough  I am very familiar with PPT, interactive power point is new for me.  We can make an interactive point on https://docs.google.com/    It allows us to insert images, audios and videos as well as links to the internet.  I am so glad that  I could finish one and proudly  share it on Wiki class. It is about 'using offer and requests'.  It contains some videos from you tube  the students may watch. You can check my interactive power point on 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LqoMgCV9qIkythp9Yv6oNsz_JGBuLGY_HWn9GuY26es/edit#slide=id.g124413b5b_030. Hope you learn something  from it. 

Week 5: An impressive week

 I learned a lot this week as we are introduced to Problem Based Learning (PBL) , Alternative Assessment and Rubric, WebQuest and the benefits of implementing them to our ESL classes. Problem Based Learning is a real world-based activity which promotes autonomous learning activity. Here, students are put as the center of learning process while teachers act as ‘coaches and facilitators of inquiry and reflection’. As it departs from a problem-solved learning task and assigns students to working in pairs or groups, it creates and develops students’s awareness of the importance of togetherness and cooperativeness. Susan Gaer’s project samplers are good examples of the application of PBL learning approach. It gives me some thought or ideas about activities that might be relevant for my listening class. I think it would be worthwhile to use PBL approach  for my Intermediate Listening class. I have asked my students to create their own blog on which they may write their reflection of what they have watched and learned. Last night, I searched and studied several listening materials on the internet for them to listen. I was so helped by this URL http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/liindex.htm as it provides me not only the essentials of teaching listening such as goals and techniques for teaching listening, but also sample listening materials which are topically varied.

I also learned new alternative assessment to evaluate learning process:   checklist and rubric. They are  two assessment methods that are very different from the traditional ones that most of the time I used. I learned that both checklist and rubric help both teacher and student evaluate the learning process. Checklists is a measurement which is easy to construct and use. It also aligns closely with tasks. However, it has a weakness as it ‘simply provides an indication of whether a specific criterion, characteristic, or behavior is present’ in the students or class. A rubric, however, gives the teacher information on the students' background knowledge and interests as it provides a measure of quality of performance on the basis of established criteria. Alternative assessment is appropriately used to evaluate or score a wide varieties of elements. I used it last month for assessing teachers’ teaching practice. It is designed to evaluate various aspects of teaching such as pre-teaching, while teaching and post teaching activities, voice, body language, teaching media, and so on. It can be easily used by both the assessors and the peers since it uses checklist boxes for each category and activity. Both assessment can also  be used by student to assesses  to assess their own learning and provide feedback to their peers. I have created my rubric for oral presentation class. It is designed to evaluate my students' ability to describe a place as their listening and speaking project. I like using this rubric for my assessment as it is very easy to follow and the assessment is already there and clearly stated. You can take a look at my rubric from this link http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2378152

 A WebQuest is a new Internet-based learning activity for me. WebQuest is an activity, either individually or in teams, in which students learn as they search for information using the Web. They follow a prescribed format focusing on problem solving and authentic assessment which uses resources available on the World Wide Web. I think WebQuest is a powerful learning tool for us to use since it enhances the learning atmosphere and motivates both teacher and student to involve in the activity.   It also could motivate students to use their creativity and critical thinking in solving a problem. In addition, it develops basic knowledge of research as they lear to to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.

Week 4: Tough but productive week

This week is really tough but very challenging and amazingly advantageous. The main topic for this week is using technology to enhance reading, writing and vocabulary skills. We did two main things: reading articles about using technology to enhance reading, writing and vacabulary skills and writing a technology-enhanced l
lesson plan.

I read some articles on the related topic.  Krajka’s article ‘Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction' shows that  web is the invaluable source of information, both for teachers and the learners. It informs that 'the advent of the internet and the wide spread of technology create new opportunities for language learning'. Meanwhile Andrea's article  ‘Using Technology to Assist in Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension   describes several possibilities to enhance vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension with the help of technology. This can be used for students of different levels of English background. I will use for my students as well.

I also checked several multi-skills websites that would work for my class but i liked http://www.manythings.org/ at he most as it contains various skills with very interesting materials and has easy-to-follow instructions. Http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/plans/pages/index.aspx is very informative web-skills. It provides daily learning targets for common core state standards, including instructional notes, activity ideas, assessment ideas as well as links to open educational resources aligned to the standards. However, it might be problematic for some who do not yet use Word 2013 as it operates from within Word 2013. I had added my favorite link to RWG links webskills fall 2013 and my delicious.com. And writing an ABCD objective that I could create to go with the web-skills I used is very challenging. The practice helps me more familiar with the ABCD method.

This week   is invaluable as  we are asked to write a  lesson plan with technology . Tips and advice from Sean’s webskills team about “How to Write A Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan" (https://sites.google.com/site/webskillsuo/lesson-plan) and Margo Dill’s article “How to Write an Integrated Lesson Plan”
(http://www.ehow.com/how_2324320_write-integrated-lesson-plan.html) are very informative and useful as it provides a comprehensive information and tips on writing an integrated lesson plan. Using the template prepared by Deborah Healey , from Oregon University, I make a lesson with technology. What is interesting is that making the lesson plan on https://docs.google.com. Here,  the lesson plan can be shared with other people who can give their feedback as “comments”. I was so happy when I finished writing my lesson plan and shared it in the link. You can leave your comment on my lesson plan by checking https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mhqma7ltavik7y8jbtjvq2sxtzzoltrhxk0-lysnvos/edit?usp=sharing.

Week 3. 
This week  I learned  Using Delicious.com to Store Useful Links  and  read some  articles about CALL for listening, speaking, or pronunciation skills. I also have a chance to  take a quick look at some of the lesson plans for both skills.  I read  Lindsey Miller's article about 'Developing Listening Skill with Authentic Materials' which provides me with important  information about the aims and advantages of using real English conversations or speech such as news on radio or TV for the learners. It affirms me that I have been doing a right thing for my intermediate  listening class where students listened to  a real Englih conversation downloaded from YouTube as my listening materials. The article, however, reminds me that I have to be more focused in determining the listening tasks for the students. The second article 'New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation', by Maria Busa, also affirms me that using linguistic perspective can help teacher teach pronunciation in a more effective way. In teaching pronunciation or helping student's pronunciation, I often contrast or compare some English sounds with the equivalent Arabic sounds for  English words containing such sound as  [ð] as in the English words 'they, though'.   This technique is very effective, especially for the Muslim students as  they also learn Qoran and Arabic language.

I also have searched and checked several websites which provide me with great ideas about English teaching and lesson plans. One of the best websites, besides the ones I usually use, http://esl.about.com/od/teachingenglish/u/teach.htm. I can see that this would be best for the second language learner to learn listening and speaking. It  is very  a good source for both teachers and  students as there  are different activities to go through.  The URL, the 'English as 2nd Language' , is a good reference and resource to help us understand the basics of being an English teacher and develop our understanding of teaching techniques. It includes step-by-step instructions of writing lesson plans and provides classroom handouts by learner level and topic area. One teaching idea mentioned here is using YouTube for teaching listening. You can check the http://esl.about.com/od/listeninglessonplans/a/youtube.htm. It is appropriate for intermediate students.  I think http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/speaking/teaching-ideas/is a best web for teachers. It provides us with lots of ideas for teaching speaking.

This week I also had a chance to discuss with my students about using web technology for the listening class and use them as audience for my final project. I was so glad finding that the students   were very enthusiastic and so eager to create their own blog and the class blog. I believe that it's a good start! After the class, we took a picture together showing our enthusiasm for the class.

My Intermediate Listening Class

Students of Intermediate Listening class are watching an Oprah Winfrey's talk show downloaded  by a student to be discussed in the classroom.  They will be the audience of my webskills class and my final project.



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