|
Post by joseantoniook on Dec 8, 2009 11:39:07 GMT -5
In the article ONLINE COMMUNICATION TOOLS THAT PROMOTE LANGUAGE LEARNING AND FOSTER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT www.fl.ul.pt/unil/pol7/pol7_txt8.pdf , Teresa Almeida d'Eça reviews three tools for syncronous and asynchronous communication (Yahoo Groups, Yahoo messenger, and Taped In) talking about possible uses of these tools for teaching and learning. She also discusses theirs advantages and disadvantages. Please read the article and answer this question: The author mentions several uses of Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Messenger, and Tapped In for learning or teaching. From the examples/uses she mentions, which ones have you been involved with or have experienced? Do you think you could use any of these tools in your classes? Which ones? How would you use them?
|
|
|
Post by attilio on Jan 20, 2010 9:51:49 GMT -5
I used Yahoo Messenger a couple of years ago to connect my students with those of an American school. The experience was positive, but the main problem was that both schools didn't have a broadband connection, so most students became frustrated and nervous. Has anyone else experienced this problem? How did you solve it?
|
|
|
Post by joseantoniook on Jan 20, 2010 15:15:22 GMT -5
Hello Atilio, I have used chat with my students in class. They usually enjoy the experience. I had a similar experience once. I had programmed a chat with another, but we had a connection problem. I guess these things happen and we should always have a back up plan. However, these episodes should not discourage us from using the web for teaching. If we try many times, some of them might be successful and the success is what counts. We all end up forgetting the time when it did not work. Thanks a lot for sharing this with us. Let's wait for some more stories. Kindest regards
|
|
|
Post by lolesova on Jan 20, 2010 15:23:50 GMT -5
attilo and Jose, hi
Thanks for discussing this important moment as chat. I used chat just once in my life to connect students in Siberia and USA. As attilo noticed that students' frustrations were the problem during chat. I should learn more how to conduct chat - and I always refer to this article written by Teresa. I find it very practical and on-time always. Jose is right saying that we need to practice chat again and again to make it successful. Repetition is always helpful. I am going to use chat this semester with my students in Siberia.
|
|
sanja
New Member
Posts: 1
|
Post by sanja on Jan 21, 2010 16:35:04 GMT -5
I've read the article with great interest because I think that YG, TI and YM are powerful tools to use both for professional development and for teaching. I first became a member of a Yahoo Group two years ago and I think it completely changed the way I look on professional development, learning and collaboration in the education world. As Teresa said, Yahoo Groups "centralize communication, stimulate interaction and encourage collaboration" YG are also"a way of putting teachers in the shoes of the students". I believe we all need to try to be in the shoes of the students as often as possible. TappedIn offers a lot of possibilities like having an office where we can keep our teaching and private stuff, hold a study group or meet colleagues. It's easy to use. When we need text chat type of communication, it seems perfect. Unfortunately, I found out from BjB's presentation that students must be over 18 to use it, so it will remain my platform for chatting with colleagues in the future, too. While reading Teresa's article I understood why we didn't use video during our YM session - we had enough technical problems with voice. Technical problems are the only real disadvantage I see: the problem of oversimplified language and session management seem easier to deal with. I'm interested in the use of YM with younger students (13 year olds) but I have never used YM with students and I would like to read or hear about it from somebody who has.
|
|
|
Post by lolesova on Jan 21, 2010 17:56:39 GMT -5
Sanja, hi
Thanks for sharing you opinion about readings for this week. I also found the articles very practical and useful. I always refer to them when I need chat or online conference. I think that we all need practice and experience with chat before inviting our students. But it would be also interesting to hear others' opinion about how it works for the students. I agree with you at this point. I've done chat via YM with my students before, I am going to have it in March this year - to connect two classes in Siberia and the USA. We will see how it works.
Larissa, co-moderator week 2
|
|
|
Post by sandrogers123 on Jan 21, 2010 19:21:19 GMT -5
TappedIn offers a lot of possibilities like having an office where we can keep our teaching and private stuff, hold a study group or meet colleagues. It's easy to use. When we need text chat type of communication, it seems perfect. Unfortunately, I found out from BjB's presentation that students must be over 18 to use it, so it will remain my platform for chatting with colleagues in the future, too. While reading Teresa's article I understood why we didn't use video during our YM session - we had enough technical problems with voice. Technical problems are the only real disadvantage I see: the problem of oversimplified language and session management seem easier to deal with. I'm interested in the use of YM with younger students (13 year olds) but I have never used YM with students and I would like to read or hear about it from somebody who has. Hi Sanja, Chat is used with K-12 learners enrolled in the Florida Virtual School. THe students chat with their teacher and with other students. Of course, this is done with parental permission and also students are aware that their transcripts are property of the school even when chatting S2S. The FLVS uses Elluminate as the learning platform. CHat can be disabled for those students who are enrolled in the online school but confined to a prison or detention center for youths. I have not taught from the FLVS but interviewed students who were enrolled in the online program while committed to a residential "prison" for youths. --Sandra
|
|
|
Post by bezrukovaav on Jan 22, 2010 1:58:15 GMT -5
I've read the articles with a great interest, but I don't quite understand the process of organizing work with these tools. Frankly speaking, I don't know what to do in a TappedIn office which I opened. As for the YM I can't open the page at all. I haven't tried the skype , yet, but at least know what it is. The difficulty in using it will be the eccess to Internet in our University. I am considering the possibility of the on-line development course for the EFL teachers. Angelina
|
|
|
Post by joseantoniook on Jan 22, 2010 2:32:09 GMT -5
I've read the articles with a great interest, but I don't quite understand the process of organizing work with these tools. Frankly speaking, I don't know what to do in a TappedIn office which I opened. As for the YM I can't open the page at all. I haven't tried the skype , yet, but at least know what it is. The difficulty in using it will be the eccess to Internet in our University. I am considering the possibility of the on-line development course for the EFL teachers. Angelina Hello Angelina, It is really nice to see you here. I am so happy you liked the articles. Concerning how to organize work with chat tools, I guess we will have to learn by doing. That is why we are having chats on a one to one basis, with small groups, and conference. If you have skype, please add some us to your contact list (my id joseantoniook) and try the text and voice chat in skype. About tapped in, what I like about it is that it has a setting which is different from yahoo messenger or skype. Why is this important? It is strategic because in many institutions these tools (YM and Skype) are blocked and tapped in might not be. So, if you learn how to use it, you can use it in your school (I am aware of the fact that you don't have access to the internet where you teach, but you will one day . Nothing lasts forever The world moves towards internet connection ). Another good thing about Tapped in is that it is an international, multicultural virtual environment inhabited by educators. So, it allows you to organize chat events with international guests. If you are not connected at school, you might be able to organize a chat with some guests from other countries and your students. Everyone can be connected from a different place and meet in Tapped In chat room. So having an office at Tapped in, is to have an office in a virtual skyscraper where people can leave messages if you are not in. I hope my explanations helped. Please try to reach any of us to experience chats in skype or to try to solve your problems with yahoo messenger. All the best.
|
|
|
Post by dimivalmi on Jan 22, 2010 3:03:54 GMT -5
Comparing Yahoo Groups and Google Groups
During my third online course ("Intel. Teaching to the Future") I organized several Google groups for the Access summer campers. Then I arranged several Google groups for my university students. Right now I use one GG as a forum for students' homework, their peer commenting and teacher's analysis. I have been using GG since June 2008.
During BAW10 I have started using Yahoo Group. I discussed with Jose Antonio the differences between the two types of groups. Of course, YG is much more sophisticated than GG. It is a real web-site.
|
|
|
Post by dimivalmi on Jan 22, 2010 3:49:38 GMT -5
Tapped In
I posted my impressions in the messages to the BAW10 Yahoo Group and in the blog.
I have joined TI and I have had several individual and group tours. I have seen the educational potential of TI, but I am still not sure whether I should organize my office there. First of all, I'd like to choose a theme.
I think that TI has much more advantages for my teacher's than for my learners' education.
|
|
|
Post by dimivalmi on Jan 22, 2010 3:56:33 GMT -5
Yahoo Messenger
I have expressed my admiration in several messages to the YG and in the blog.
Even with glitches YM attracts my teacher's attenion.
I'd like to use YM with my small groups for practicing Topical Vocabulary. I have some time left before the new semester starts to prepare the scenario.
|
|
|
Post by dimivalmi on Jan 22, 2010 6:09:26 GMT -5
Opened Tapped In Office
I have just opened my office: ValentinaS.
Then I created Teaching Practice Group for supervising my teaching students during their school practice.
Then I joined Webheads in Action and TESOL EVO DMPT
Everything was done under the careful guidance of JeffC (Cooper). My great thanks to him!
|
|
|
Post by Tanita on Jan 22, 2010 8:42:38 GMT -5
The article is really interesting and usefull/I used skype in Epals project we chat with teacher from California and discussed our plan s for future.But we couldn't do it with our students because the time difference is nearly 13 hours. No I create my google group for students for different tasks and projects
|
|
|
Post by Miriam on Jan 22, 2010 13:44:39 GMT -5
Actually, this is my response to all the 2nd week readings:
From all of the readings; I believe the authors were saying that online communication is very student-centered, needs to be explored and used more, and has a great potential for second language acquisition.
In Almeida d’eça’s essay, she writes about different online tools and how they can be manipulated for second language practice. She also writes about the drawbacks. In the Enhancing Collaboration essay they do a study to prove their hypothesis that students are more likely to notice and correct their mistakes using text based chat rather than face to face interaction. The main reasons are because they have more time to express themselves and they can record what they are saying and look back later.
The Enhancing collaboration essay was a big project. This essay too, suggested that language schools don’t really use chat/online projects or realize its great potential. Additionally, this paper focuses on collaboration. It basically says that using blended courses can get just as good results as the traditional classroom. Finally, this is something that teachers of all disciplines should look into and consider incorporating at their institutions.
I did not know that yahoo messenger supports video and that you could have up to five conferences at one time. You can practice to four basic skills. I’ve had a yahoo account for more than a decade and didn’t know that you could do all this with something as simple as the yahoo messenger.
The Noticing and Text-based Chat essay also made me think about things in ways I hadn’t before. I never thought about the potential for self correction and the student being more aware or more likely to notice their mistakes using this medium. Self-correction is always stressed in TEFL classes and using text-based chat is a perfect way to get them to do that. I would think that that ‘noticing’ more in text-based chat would also help them notice more in class and with f2f conversations.
I thought all of essays were really good and opened up my mind more, which is why I am taking this course. As far as ‘student-centered’ goes, I have this habit of thinking everything the teacher does is student centered unless she is an egomaniac, just there to get a paycheck, or just clueless. The teacher is there for the students, it is a selfless job, and the English teacher already knows English. As a teacher who focuses on her students, I think every activity I come up with is student centered, but now I have more options.
|
|