TOO MANY STUDENT MESSAGES
I get a lot of Emails from my students. As I mentioned before, I am seriously spamming my hundreds of students with thousands of messages. So I get quite a few Emails back from them, usually telling me what they are doing to improve their English in response to my tips and encouragement. I also get a lot of Emails of holiday greetings from them during the holiday season. Often they ask me what I'm going to do for the holiday. Sometimes I see my students making common errors in their messages and I would like to send them a little guidance about this problem.
Normally, I could not keep up with such a large amount of incoming messages. I can read them but to try to reply to them all can be a huge effort and I may be only able to manage the briefest of replies. It may seem a little disappointing to the students to not get an answer to their Email but what can one person do? They understand and don't expect much.
But I want to do more.
I use Microsoft Outlook to manage my Email. It downloads all my incoming messages from my GMAIL.COM account and uploads and sends my outgoing messages.
THE SOLUTION
I use an Outlook function as a simple way to insert stock replies to my students messages. When my students tell me that they are reading a newspaper article everyday or are listening to podcasts from www.eslpod.com to improve their English, I have 10 different encouraging stock answers that I can choose from to reply to them. One of them is:
"THAT'S REALLY GOOD! KEEP IT UP! YOUR ENGLISH IMPROVES QUICKLY WHENEVER YOU TRY TO DO SOMETHING IN ENGLISH!"
If I want to point out a common grammar error I have a rather longer stock reply that explains the problem, the solution and several examples.
I can give really helpful and encouraging replies to students and it only takes me about 10 seconds. If you are a busy teacher and want to give more detailed replies to your students' messages, here is how you can do it, too.
HOW TO
In Outlook go to TOOLS -> OPTIONS... -> MAIL FORMAT -> SIGNATURES...
There you will find a function for creating your signature in your Emails. But the great thing is that you can put any text in there that you want to be able to select and insert into your Emails. When you want to use it in an Email, first you "Reply" to the Email, choose INSERT -> SIGNATURE and then you will be presented with a drop-down menu of all your stock replies and answers that you can select from.
You may want to develop several versions of one reply so that not all students are getting exactly the same thing and you may want to update them from time to time. Of course, this is not a way to deal with all messages but I find it useful to deal with almost all of them.
It really does a lot to help the students feel closer to their teacher. It really helps the teacher to not let the messages go unanswered and to send out some encouragement and guidance.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
03 October 2008
Spamming my students with "BOB"
A teacher asked about spamming my students, "How much time do you estimate it takes to compose and send out a message?"
I use an Excel file and a Visual Basic program I wrote called "BOB". On one Excel sheet I keep the student names, Email addresses and some other information. On the other sheet I keep the "content" for the messages like message subject and message body.
Most of my BOB messages were taken from Emails I have sent to other groups of students in times past. Indeed, some students may be receiving a message I sent them years ago but probably forgot. So in this case composing a message is very fast. But since all of the messages are short, even if I write a new one it is also very fast.
HOW BOB WORKS
Keep in mind, each of these messages is stored in the Excel file and is reused. So once you write it, it gets used many times. The BOB program reads the student name, Email address and what message the student is on. For example:
John; john_zhou@yahoo.com; 27
Then the program will check on the content sheet and find message #27 which has a subject line for message #27 and body for #27.
BOB then creates the Email, first with the subject line and the body which begins with "Dear John," followed by my message. It ends with my signature name and my links like a regular message does.
Recently, I added a place for another line at the end of the message that I can customize. If it is a holiday time, I can send them holiday greetings. If I want to remind all of the students from one class about a homework assignment, I can do it there. If I found a new coffee shop to have my one-on-one class with a manager, I can mention it there.
It takes BOB about 3-4 seconds to make each message. After BOB is done making messages for all the students, it takes Outlook about 2 seconds to send each one out.
EXTENDING TEACHER PRESENCE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Teachers have a wealth of knowledge on teaching that can benefit students. The beauty of this system is that it gets maximum use out of the teachers' resource of ideas, tips and pointers. The BOB system starts all students on message #1 and then works the student, message by message, through all of the teachers ideas and tips. Every student will receive every tip from the teacher. They will miss nothing. They will receive it in measured spoonfuls every couple days.
If any teachers would like a copy of the BOB spamming program please let me know and I'll send it to you. I'll let you have about 60 of my messages that I send out. It works only with Excel and Outlook. (It may not work with Outlook Express.)
I use an Excel file and a Visual Basic program I wrote called "BOB". On one Excel sheet I keep the student names, Email addresses and some other information. On the other sheet I keep the "content" for the messages like message subject and message body.
Most of my BOB messages were taken from Emails I have sent to other groups of students in times past. Indeed, some students may be receiving a message I sent them years ago but probably forgot. So in this case composing a message is very fast. But since all of the messages are short, even if I write a new one it is also very fast.
HOW BOB WORKS
Keep in mind, each of these messages is stored in the Excel file and is reused. So once you write it, it gets used many times. The BOB program reads the student name, Email address and what message the student is on. For example:
John; john_zhou@yahoo.com; 27
Then the program will check on the content sheet and find message #27 which has a subject line for message #27 and body for #27.
BOB then creates the Email, first with the subject line and the body which begins with "Dear John," followed by my message. It ends with my signature name and my links like a regular message does.
Recently, I added a place for another line at the end of the message that I can customize. If it is a holiday time, I can send them holiday greetings. If I want to remind all of the students from one class about a homework assignment, I can do it there. If I found a new coffee shop to have my one-on-one class with a manager, I can mention it there.
It takes BOB about 3-4 seconds to make each message. After BOB is done making messages for all the students, it takes Outlook about 2 seconds to send each one out.
EXTENDING TEACHER PRESENCE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Teachers have a wealth of knowledge on teaching that can benefit students. The beauty of this system is that it gets maximum use out of the teachers' resource of ideas, tips and pointers. The BOB system starts all students on message #1 and then works the student, message by message, through all of the teachers ideas and tips. Every student will receive every tip from the teacher. They will miss nothing. They will receive it in measured spoonfuls every couple days.
If any teachers would like a copy of the BOB spamming program please let me know and I'll send it to you. I'll let you have about 60 of my messages that I send out. It works only with Excel and Outlook. (It may not work with Outlook Express.)
Tablet computers in the classroom
A teacher referred to my experimentation with a tablet computer so I'd like to tell everyone about that. Five years ago I bought an ACER C110 Travelmate 11 inch notebook computer. You can twist the screen on this computer and lay it down on top of the keyboard and use it like a tablet computer. It was quite small and had an external DVD drive. I bought it here in Guangzhou and it cost 16,OOO Rmb. This was rather expensive but cheaper than the larger Toshiba computer that could do the same thing. When I bought this I was intrigued about the possiblities of using a tablet in the classroom and wanted to experiment.
I still have this computer and am writing you with it now. A corner of the computer broke off due to an accident. I was running across a busy Guangzhou street and the buckle on my computer bag, heavily laden with not only my computer but those immensily weighty Interchange Teacher Books, broke and my bag hit the street hard. The corner broke off my computer and now the WiFi no longer works. My computer looks terrible today and even my students beg me to get a new one but I've grown attached to it the way an old man gets attached to an old easy chair or a favorite pair of old slippers.
But I have to say that I am not satisfied with the computer as a tablet. It was not as easy to use as I hoped to move around the classroom and make notes on students. With the computer in one hand and the special pen in the other, I could not talk with students and then very quickly look up the student on my Excel sheet and make a notation.
What I wound up doing is making notations on slips of paper and at the end of class transferring these to my computer. One of the main things I note in this way is the IELTS speaking level of the students.
I sacrificed the DVD drive for this tablet computer. My next computer, which I'm shopping for now, will have a built in drive. I think this will be more useful for me than the tablet function.
I now have a Windows Mobile phone. This phone runs Excel and I've tried to keep my student list on this. I also can write on it like a tiny tablet computer but the whole process of finding the student's name amongst 40 other names and making the notation is more cumbersome than jotting it on a slip of paper and then entering all the info in a couple minutes after class.
08 May 2008
The future just ain't what it used to be
A teacher describes his experience at using tele- & videoconferencing in teaching: "While teaching in France I was asked to teach on an online course. IMHO it was a disaster. People came and went from the virtual room and nobody seemed to know what was going on. It was a bit like one of those horrible dreams you have about having no control of a class. I think it MIGHT work IF you have the opportunity to meet the students in the real world before you go virtual - and have a limited number of well-motivated students."
I think we have to keep in mind that this is a moving target, very dynamic, constantly changing and improving. People, including our students, are using VOIP and videoconferencing more and more. Managers and staff in offices are using this to communicate with each other and with colleagues around the world. Everyone will get used to the protocols of usage and behavior.
It's not that it is a special tool for English teaching. It is becoming an increasingly common way of communication with all people around the world and something that we can use, too.
It is quickly reaching the point that it is not a cheap and convenient way to teach English but it is a more realistic way of teaching English because it is the way our students are actually using English. My students here in China report to me that of their spoken English communication, about 95% is on the phone and about 5% is face-to-face. Yet, just about ALL of our English teaching is face-to-face. So I think teaching by VOIP, videoconferencing and even by telephone, with all the associated difficulties, are not only authentic but necessary mediums for teaching.
Additionally, improvements are being made on audio and video quality. In ten years, many of us will be sitting down at a table looking at a life-like video image of our student(s) on the other side of the table. Except for the fact that it is two-dimensional instead of three, it will be the same as being there. I and many of you have seen demonstrations of this technology already.
It is no longer called "videoconferencing". Rather, it has become "Telepresence".
That is an interesting term to ponder, "Telepresence". Teachers could work in tandem. The primary face-to-face teacher could hand off to a telepresent teacher for ten minutes to explain some aspect of English and then carry on. When a question comes up he doesn't know how to answer he could bring up a colleague.
In a Friedmanistic style flattening of the world, teachers can be anywhere teaching students who are anywhere. These dynamics will change many things about our profession in unusual ways. British teachers living in the UK may find it more difficult to compete with British teachers living in China or India where the cost of living is vastly cheaper and a lower salary can be accepted. Indians have mastered call centers, even adopting American or other accents, and it wouldn't take too much for them to teach American English or whatever flavor is desired to anyone anywhere.
The future just ain't what it used to be.
I think we have to keep in mind that this is a moving target, very dynamic, constantly changing and improving. People, including our students, are using VOIP and videoconferencing more and more. Managers and staff in offices are using this to communicate with each other and with colleagues around the world. Everyone will get used to the protocols of usage and behavior.
It's not that it is a special tool for English teaching. It is becoming an increasingly common way of communication with all people around the world and something that we can use, too.
It is quickly reaching the point that it is not a cheap and convenient way to teach English but it is a more realistic way of teaching English because it is the way our students are actually using English. My students here in China report to me that of their spoken English communication, about 95% is on the phone and about 5% is face-to-face. Yet, just about ALL of our English teaching is face-to-face. So I think teaching by VOIP, videoconferencing and even by telephone, with all the associated difficulties, are not only authentic but necessary mediums for teaching.
Additionally, improvements are being made on audio and video quality. In ten years, many of us will be sitting down at a table looking at a life-like video image of our student(s) on the other side of the table. Except for the fact that it is two-dimensional instead of three, it will be the same as being there. I and many of you have seen demonstrations of this technology already.
It is no longer called "videoconferencing". Rather, it has become "Telepresence".
That is an interesting term to ponder, "Telepresence". Teachers could work in tandem. The primary face-to-face teacher could hand off to a telepresent teacher for ten minutes to explain some aspect of English and then carry on. When a question comes up he doesn't know how to answer he could bring up a colleague.
In a Friedmanistic style flattening of the world, teachers can be anywhere teaching students who are anywhere. These dynamics will change many things about our profession in unusual ways. British teachers living in the UK may find it more difficult to compete with British teachers living in China or India where the cost of living is vastly cheaper and a lower salary can be accepted. Indians have mastered call centers, even adopting American or other accents, and it wouldn't take too much for them to teach American English or whatever flavor is desired to anyone anywhere.
The future just ain't what it used to be.
04 September 2007
Thinking outside the book
One thing that students and teachers really struggle with is boredom. Maybe I'm just easily bored but I have yet to find a book or teacher that really keeps the student's interest from cover to cover, it doesn't matter how good they are.
Sometimes I think that the way English teaching works is that we often trap ourselves into thinking "inside the book". Publishers have little interest in helping teachers think otherwise and because we often lean on manufactured materials we always wind up with a book.
We are basically teaching the same way Socrates, Plato and Aristotle taught thousands of years ago except for the addition of the printed book invented by Gutenberg.
Of course, there are guys who have rebelled against the book. You can find a bunch of them at Dogme. They have a Yahoo group and their leader has published in The Guardian newspaper ELT pages.
But to me, they seem more readily identified for what they are against than what they are for. And from my experience, it really helps to have a course or plan for students as otherwise the training can seem a bit aimless to the students.
So how can we escape the book but still have a plan?
First, let's brainstorm a list of all the new tools and technologies and other things that are available to us since the days of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Gutenberg. Without much order, here is my list:
Computers
Email
Telephone
Phone messages
PowerPoint
YouTube
PDA
Chat rooms
Blogs
Websites
Fax
MP3
MP4
Video
Email spam
Voice spam
Television
Shopping malls
Perhaps your list is longer. Now, just as a thought exercise to stretch us "outside the book", what if you assigned yourself the task of using each of these to provide some part of a training course.
There was once a game called Majestic by Electronic Arts. They described it as "The suspense thriller that infiltrates your life through the Internet, telephone and fax, then leaves you guessing where the game ends and reality begins." To play this game you had to check websites and periodically you'd receive frantic phone calls with clues or cryptic faxes.
I think something so pervasive would be an exciting way to teach and learn. What would a "Majestic" English course be like? The student would be receiving training from so many directions at so many times. Of course, not all of this is possible with every teacher and every student, but employing some of these technologies could really get us "out of the book". Consider the possibilities that a ficticious Chinese student named Jerry Liang would experience:
- Jerry gets a daily Email that has a short lesson, story or MP3. This Email is pumped out to Jerry and all the other students by a program similar to those used by spammers.
- Jerry also receives a daily SMS phone messages that reminds him to study an assignment, do homework or join some activities that the teacher has organized.
- Every week, Jerry is directed to watch a certain TV program or movie which all the other students and teacher will be watching. Jerry doesn't have to participate if he is busy that night but he does need to participate in at least two per week. Jerry tunes in the program and starts the chat program on his computer. While he is watching the program on his home TV, other students and the teacher are watching it and chatting with him about it, about the story, actors, what they like or don't like, etc. ("Don't go in that dark room!...don't do it!...Ugh! I knew it!!!")
- Jerry posts assignments on the blog.
- Jerry gets SMS phone messages with new vocabulary on set days. After first contact with the new vocabulary in a lesson he receives the vocabulary in a message on day 2, 5, 12, 19, 33, 63. He has a look at the words and reviews them.
- He has some specially recorded lessons made by his teacher or other teachers in MP3 format in his MP3/MP4 player or PDA which he listens to throughout the day.
- When Jerry visits the popular local mall he takes a walking tour via MP3. The teacher has made a short recording and guides the him through the mall, describing interesting things about the mall and shops and introducing more new vocabulary. ("Starbucks took its name from a coffee-loving character in the famous American novel called 'Moby Dick', a story about a man hunting a whale. Starbuck's strategy is to become people's 'third place', the main place people go outside of home and work.")
- Sometimes Jerry receives a phone call from the teacher to practice his speaking, but more often than not, the teacher (randomly?) assigns Jerry and the other students speaking buddies, other students, who he calls to practice a particular speaking activity. Every week Jerry recieves an Email with a speaking lesson to practice and his speaking buddy's phone number. Sometimes the buddy is in his class but most of the time the buddy is a student in one of the teacher's other classes, perhaps a manager in a company. It's interesting to have this way to talk to various professionals that he wouldn't normally meet (and Jerry thinks it's always interesting to talk to girls).
- Twice a month, Jerry is given a phone number to a company in an English speaking country that provides information about their services along with one or more questions that he needs to ask about. For example, he once had to call Trump International Hotel in New York to find out if they allow dogs in the room. (They do if the dog is under 10 pounds but the guest must pay a non-refundable $200.) This provides a real English challenge and practice for Jerry.
- Etc, etc, etc.
All of this is possible with current technology but will never be offered by a book publisher. It just remains for the teacher to sort out his content and figure out the different ways to deliver it.
A student, going through a course like that, would have an experience they've never had before. But as I said, maybe I dream up this stuff because I'm the kind of person who is easily bored.
Sometimes I think that the way English teaching works is that we often trap ourselves into thinking "inside the book". Publishers have little interest in helping teachers think otherwise and because we often lean on manufactured materials we always wind up with a book.
We are basically teaching the same way Socrates, Plato and Aristotle taught thousands of years ago except for the addition of the printed book invented by Gutenberg.
Of course, there are guys who have rebelled against the book. You can find a bunch of them at Dogme. They have a Yahoo group and their leader has published in The Guardian newspaper ELT pages.
But to me, they seem more readily identified for what they are against than what they are for. And from my experience, it really helps to have a course or plan for students as otherwise the training can seem a bit aimless to the students.
So how can we escape the book but still have a plan?
First, let's brainstorm a list of all the new tools and technologies and other things that are available to us since the days of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Gutenberg. Without much order, here is my list:
Computers
Telephone
Phone messages
PowerPoint
YouTube
PDA
Chat rooms
Blogs
Websites
Fax
MP3
MP4
Video
Email spam
Voice spam
Television
Shopping malls
Perhaps your list is longer. Now, just as a thought exercise to stretch us "outside the book", what if you assigned yourself the task of using each of these to provide some part of a training course.
There was once a game called Majestic by Electronic Arts. They described it as "The suspense thriller that infiltrates your life through the Internet, telephone and fax, then leaves you guessing where the game ends and reality begins." To play this game you had to check websites and periodically you'd receive frantic phone calls with clues or cryptic faxes.
I think something so pervasive would be an exciting way to teach and learn. What would a "Majestic" English course be like? The student would be receiving training from so many directions at so many times. Of course, not all of this is possible with every teacher and every student, but employing some of these technologies could really get us "out of the book". Consider the possibilities that a ficticious Chinese student named Jerry Liang would experience:
- Jerry gets a daily Email that has a short lesson, story or MP3. This Email is pumped out to Jerry and all the other students by a program similar to those used by spammers.
- Jerry also receives a daily SMS phone messages that reminds him to study an assignment, do homework or join some activities that the teacher has organized.
- Every week, Jerry is directed to watch a certain TV program or movie which all the other students and teacher will be watching. Jerry doesn't have to participate if he is busy that night but he does need to participate in at least two per week. Jerry tunes in the program and starts the chat program on his computer. While he is watching the program on his home TV, other students and the teacher are watching it and chatting with him about it, about the story, actors, what they like or don't like, etc. ("Don't go in that dark room!...don't do it!...Ugh! I knew it!!!")
- Jerry posts assignments on the blog.
- Jerry gets SMS phone messages with new vocabulary on set days. After first contact with the new vocabulary in a lesson he receives the vocabulary in a message on day 2, 5, 12, 19, 33, 63. He has a look at the words and reviews them.
- He has some specially recorded lessons made by his teacher or other teachers in MP3 format in his MP3/MP4 player or PDA which he listens to throughout the day.
- When Jerry visits the popular local mall he takes a walking tour via MP3. The teacher has made a short recording and guides the him through the mall, describing interesting things about the mall and shops and introducing more new vocabulary. ("Starbucks took its name from a coffee-loving character in the famous American novel called 'Moby Dick', a story about a man hunting a whale. Starbuck's strategy is to become people's 'third place', the main place people go outside of home and work.")
- Sometimes Jerry receives a phone call from the teacher to practice his speaking, but more often than not, the teacher (randomly?) assigns Jerry and the other students speaking buddies, other students, who he calls to practice a particular speaking activity. Every week Jerry recieves an Email with a speaking lesson to practice and his speaking buddy's phone number. Sometimes the buddy is in his class but most of the time the buddy is a student in one of the teacher's other classes, perhaps a manager in a company. It's interesting to have this way to talk to various professionals that he wouldn't normally meet (and Jerry thinks it's always interesting to talk to girls).
- Twice a month, Jerry is given a phone number to a company in an English speaking country that provides information about their services along with one or more questions that he needs to ask about. For example, he once had to call Trump International Hotel in New York to find out if they allow dogs in the room. (They do if the dog is under 10 pounds but the guest must pay a non-refundable $200.) This provides a real English challenge and practice for Jerry.
- Etc, etc, etc.
All of this is possible with current technology but will never be offered by a book publisher. It just remains for the teacher to sort out his content and figure out the different ways to deliver it.
A student, going through a course like that, would have an experience they've never had before. But as I said, maybe I dream up this stuff because I'm the kind of person who is easily bored.
26 July 2007
15 ideas for mLearning projects
These are some things that have already been done. I don't post these here as suggestions of what you could do but to give you some ideas that you could adapt:
From: MOBILE LEARNING PROJECTS
- Students have to carry out scientific enquiry in the context of their discovering and exploring of an environment. Pairs of 11-12 year olds explored a woodland and were presented at certain times with different forms of digital augmentations.
- Students can send SMS that appears on lecturers laptop during the class. They can anonymously ask questions without interrupting the class. The lecturer can choose to respond immediately or wait until a number of questions arise. SMS are available after class.
- Players use GPStracked handheld computers to experience a virtual savannah that appears to be overlaid on a football pitch sized grassy field. Players act collaboratively to carry out a series of lion missions (such as marking their territory, hiding their cubs and hunting). Aim of the game is to encourage players to understand the behaviour of lions though personal experience
- Students in a economics course could acess course mateiral (slides, PDF) and contribute on the discusstion board.
- Composition students were asked to compose and perform music on PDAs. PDAs are equipped with MIDI module and portable keyboard.
- Evaluate to what extent and how a PDA can help students learning. PDAs are issued for the project time with the aim of collectiing application log data. Learn more about how students use PDAs.
- The project aims to test "just-in-time" access to knowledge on mobile terminals for medical students. Especially when they are practicing in medical institutions.
- Medical practitioners on ward are equiped with PDAs to build a portfolio of evidence. A detailed evidence of clinical activities, prior learning comopetencies, course materials, certificates. Furthermore they get acess to learning resources, clinical guidelines and a learning diary.
- Informatics students were required to develop and eavluate their own interactive learning experiences in collaboration with fellow students. PDAs with internet functionality were lent to them to consider as their own.
- Course materials were distriubted in e-book format. Followed by an investigation how students use these learning materials.
- A collaborative treasure hunt game that requires co-ordination between spatially seperated team-members. The teams have to visit locations in an urban area to collect symbols in order to complete tasks.
- A collaborative problem solving application that attempts to support learners in constructing their own understanding of tshare their decisions with fellows.
- A application for percussion composition, allows users to create, manipulate, edit and save original pieces of percussion music through an intuitive interface.
- Children collect with scientific data on spot. Devices can collect data and communicate with sensors that are in the field while also providing instant feedback through on the spot data analysis.
- This project supports the participants in expressing their thoughts through a digital narrative. While the overall process is similar to other digital film projects, the tools used are different. The learners shoot all of their footage and record their soundtrack on smartphones. In addition, the smartphones allow the participants to make their multimedia available to collaborators by sending the images and sound via the multimedia messaging service (MMS) to a blog.
More ideas for mLearning projects
These are some things that have already been done. I don't post these here as suggestions of what you could do but to give you some ideas of how other teachers are using mLearning in the classroom. As technology improves and becomes more efficient we will be able to do more things similar to this:
"Students have to carry out scientific enquiry in the context of their discovering and exploring of an environment. Pairs of 11-12 year olds explored a woodland and were presented at certain times with different forms of digital augmentations."
"Students can send SMS that appears on lecturers laptop during the class. They can anonymously ask questions without interrupting the class. The lecturer can choose to respond immediately or wait until a number of questions arise. SMS are available after class."
"Players use GPStracked handheld computers to experience a virtual savannah that appears to be overlaid on a football pitch sized grassy field. Players act collaboratively to carry out a series of lion missions (such as marking their territory, hiding their cubs and hunting). Aim of the game is to encourage players to understand the behaviour of lions though personal experience."
"Students in a economics course could acess course mateiral (slides, PDF) and contribute on the discusstion board."
"Composition students were asked to compose and perform music on PDAs. PDAs are equipped with MIDI module and portable keyboard."
"Evaluate to what extent and how a PDA can help students learning. PDAs are issued for the project time with the aim of collectiing application log data. Learn more about how students use PDAs."
"The project aims to test 'just-in-time' access to knowledge on mobile terminals for medical students. Especially when they are practicing in medical institutions."
"Medical practitioners on ward are equiped with PDAs to build a portfolio of evidence. A detailed evidence of clinical activities, prior learning comopetencies, course materials, certificates. Furthermore they get acess to learning resources, clinical guidelines and a learning diary."
"Informatics students were required to develop and eavluate their own interactive learning experiences in collaboration with fellow students. PDAs with internet functionality were lent to them to consider as their own."
"Course materials were distriubted in e-book format. Followed by an investigation how students use these learning materials."
"A collaborative treasure hunt game that requires co-ordination between spatially seperated team-members. The teams have to visit locations in an urban area to collect symbols in order to complete tasks."
"A collaborative problem solving application that attempts to support learners in constructing their own understanding of tshare their decisions with fellows."
"A application for percussion composition, allows users to create, manipulate, edit and save original pieces of percussion music through an intuitive interface."
"Children collect with scientific data on spot. Devices can collect data and communicate with sensors that are in the field while also providing instant feedback through on the spot data analysis."
"This project supports the participants in expressing their thoughts through a digital narrative. While the overall process is similar to other digital film projects, the tools used are different. The learners shoot all of their footage and record their soundtrack on smartphones. In addition, the smartphones allow the participants to make their multimedia available to collaborators by sending the images and sound via the multimedia messaging service (MMS) to a blog."
"Students have to carry out scientific enquiry in the context of their discovering and exploring of an environment. Pairs of 11-12 year olds explored a woodland and were presented at certain times with different forms of digital augmentations."
"Students can send SMS that appears on lecturers laptop during the class. They can anonymously ask questions without interrupting the class. The lecturer can choose to respond immediately or wait until a number of questions arise. SMS are available after class."
"Players use GPStracked handheld computers to experience a virtual savannah that appears to be overlaid on a football pitch sized grassy field. Players act collaboratively to carry out a series of lion missions (such as marking their territory, hiding their cubs and hunting). Aim of the game is to encourage players to understand the behaviour of lions though personal experience."
"Students in a economics course could acess course mateiral (slides, PDF) and contribute on the discusstion board."
"Composition students were asked to compose and perform music on PDAs. PDAs are equipped with MIDI module and portable keyboard."
"Evaluate to what extent and how a PDA can help students learning. PDAs are issued for the project time with the aim of collectiing application log data. Learn more about how students use PDAs."
"The project aims to test 'just-in-time' access to knowledge on mobile terminals for medical students. Especially when they are practicing in medical institutions."
"Medical practitioners on ward are equiped with PDAs to build a portfolio of evidence. A detailed evidence of clinical activities, prior learning comopetencies, course materials, certificates. Furthermore they get acess to learning resources, clinical guidelines and a learning diary."
"Informatics students were required to develop and eavluate their own interactive learning experiences in collaboration with fellow students. PDAs with internet functionality were lent to them to consider as their own."
"Course materials were distriubted in e-book format. Followed by an investigation how students use these learning materials."
"A collaborative treasure hunt game that requires co-ordination between spatially seperated team-members. The teams have to visit locations in an urban area to collect symbols in order to complete tasks."
"A collaborative problem solving application that attempts to support learners in constructing their own understanding of tshare their decisions with fellows."
"A application for percussion composition, allows users to create, manipulate, edit and save original pieces of percussion music through an intuitive interface."
"Children collect with scientific data on spot. Devices can collect data and communicate with sensors that are in the field while also providing instant feedback through on the spot data analysis."
"This project supports the participants in expressing their thoughts through a digital narrative. While the overall process is similar to other digital film projects, the tools used are different. The learners shoot all of their footage and record their soundtrack on smartphones. In addition, the smartphones allow the participants to make their multimedia available to collaborators by sending the images and sound via the multimedia messaging service (MMS) to a blog."
The Bob Project - Are we ready for mLearning?
The idea of students interacting with an automated teaching system is central to the Bob project. Many other people are promoting an idea called mLearning or Mobile Learning:
"Given its definition m-learning could very well be a new form of personal learning that never ends, allowing more and more people to realize how much of our lifetimes on this planet are truly extended adventures in personal learning.
From MasterNewMedia.org
"The advocates of lifelong learning have been advocating this very change in how we conceive, design and deliver education. Individuals are constantly learning, searching, questioning and acknowledging new information from the environment they operate in, no matter what their interest or specialization is. Unless your work assignment is something that a computer or other automated machine could take over from you, an increasing number of work activities depend on your ability to learn and familiarize yourself with a continuosly growing array of new concepts and ideas." [Photo: mLearning at a museum]
Some researchers are testing the use of SMS messaging in the classroom. That would be interesting. Instead of teachers telling the students to put their phones away they'll be saying, "Turn to page 35, take out your mobile phone and send me a message on question #6."
From Using short message service to encourage interactivity in the classroom:
"Interactivity in the classroom is reported to promote a more active learning environment, facilitate the building of learning communities, provide greater feedback for lecturers, and help student motivation. Various definitions of interactivity exist in the literature, alternately focusing on the participants, structure and technology. The PLS TXT UR Thoughts research project builds on existing definitions to define interactivity as a message loop originating from and concluding with the student. The authors chose to introduce mobile phones and short message service (SMS) within the classroom due to the ubiquity of mobile phones among students and the interactive potential of SMS. SMS is a low-threshold application used widely by students to quickly send concise, text-based messages at any time. The research presented involved students sending SMS in real-time, in class, via their personal mobile phones. Using a modem interfacing with customised software to produce SMS files, the lecturer can view the messages and verbally develop the interactive loop with students during class. The SMS are available online after class, allowing interactive loops to further develop via threaded comments."
This is an idea rather close to mine about creating an audio tour for students at a popular student location like a shopping mall. It could even be interactive through SMS or MMS.
From Supporting Mobile Language Learning outside Classrooms:
"The continuous development of wireless and mobile technologies has allowed the creation of an additional platform for supporting learning, one that can be embedded in the same physical space in which the learning is taking place. This paper describes a computer supported ubiquitous learning environment for language learning, called LOCH (Languagelearning Outside the Classroom with Handhelds). In the environment, the teacher assigns field activities to the students, who go around the town to fulfill them and share their individual experiences. The main aim of this project, called One Day Trip with PDA, was to integrate the knowledge acquired in the classroom and the real needs of the students in their daily life."
mLearning can be used by students outside the classroom to make an instant blog of what they see, feel and experience.
From Moblogging for ESOL
"M-learning is a powerful tool for ESOL (English for speakers of other languages). In a recent example, ten adult ESOL learners became ‘photo journalists’ for the college open day. They created a photo diary of events using camera phones and sent their pictures, along with captions, to an e-mail address that automatically published them to a publicly-available web site. To prepare for the event, learners looked at published photo stories on the Internet and analysed the language and content to learn about styles and structures that would be useful in writing their own photo diary. The project proved so successful in engaging learners that even the most hesitant members of the class (e.g. a lady in her 60s, who had never used a mobile phone before, and a visually impaired learner) not only took part, but also found the experience very rewarding."
And of course, mLearning is being used to teach languages.
More ideas
Are these the actual tools that we will use in The Bob Project? No. These are actual wild and crazy ideas that will help us think out of the box and find the most effective way to build Bob. If we don't get out of the box we won't go anywhere.
"Given its definition m-learning could very well be a new form of personal learning that never ends, allowing more and more people to realize how much of our lifetimes on this planet are truly extended adventures in personal learning. From MasterNewMedia.org
"The advocates of lifelong learning have been advocating this very change in how we conceive, design and deliver education. Individuals are constantly learning, searching, questioning and acknowledging new information from the environment they operate in, no matter what their interest or specialization is. Unless your work assignment is something that a computer or other automated machine could take over from you, an increasing number of work activities depend on your ability to learn and familiarize yourself with a continuosly growing array of new concepts and ideas." [Photo: mLearning at a museum]
Some researchers are testing the use of SMS messaging in the classroom. That would be interesting. Instead of teachers telling the students to put their phones away they'll be saying, "Turn to page 35, take out your mobile phone and send me a message on question #6."
From Using short message service to encourage interactivity in the classroom:
"Interactivity in the classroom is reported to promote a more active learning environment, facilitate the building of learning communities, provide greater feedback for lecturers, and help student motivation. Various definitions of interactivity exist in the literature, alternately focusing on the participants, structure and technology. The PLS TXT UR Thoughts research project builds on existing definitions to define interactivity as a message loop originating from and concluding with the student. The authors chose to introduce mobile phones and short message service (SMS) within the classroom due to the ubiquity of mobile phones among students and the interactive potential of SMS. SMS is a low-threshold application used widely by students to quickly send concise, text-based messages at any time. The research presented involved students sending SMS in real-time, in class, via their personal mobile phones. Using a modem interfacing with customised software to produce SMS files, the lecturer can view the messages and verbally develop the interactive loop with students during class. The SMS are available online after class, allowing interactive loops to further develop via threaded comments."
This is an idea rather close to mine about creating an audio tour for students at a popular student location like a shopping mall. It could even be interactive through SMS or MMS.
From Supporting Mobile Language Learning outside Classrooms:
"The continuous development of wireless and mobile technologies has allowed the creation of an additional platform for supporting learning, one that can be embedded in the same physical space in which the learning is taking place. This paper describes a computer supported ubiquitous learning environment for language learning, called LOCH (Languagelearning Outside the Classroom with Handhelds). In the environment, the teacher assigns field activities to the students, who go around the town to fulfill them and share their individual experiences. The main aim of this project, called One Day Trip with PDA, was to integrate the knowledge acquired in the classroom and the real needs of the students in their daily life."
mLearning can be used by students outside the classroom to make an instant blog of what they see, feel and experience.
From Moblogging for ESOL
"M-learning is a powerful tool for ESOL (English for speakers of other languages). In a recent example, ten adult ESOL learners became ‘photo journalists’ for the college open day. They created a photo diary of events using camera phones and sent their pictures, along with captions, to an e-mail address that automatically published them to a publicly-available web site. To prepare for the event, learners looked at published photo stories on the Internet and analysed the language and content to learn about styles and structures that would be useful in writing their own photo diary. The project proved so successful in engaging learners that even the most hesitant members of the class (e.g. a lady in her 60s, who had never used a mobile phone before, and a visually impaired learner) not only took part, but also found the experience very rewarding."
And of course, mLearning is being used to teach languages.
More ideas
Are these the actual tools that we will use in The Bob Project? No. These are actual wild and crazy ideas that will help us think out of the box and find the most effective way to build Bob. If we don't get out of the box we won't go anywhere.
03 July 2007
Organizing speaking tests for large numbers of students
Yesterday, I did a speaking test for 200 students. It's quite a big job and took me all day. But it would have taken much longer if I had never done this before and if I wasn't organized.Some teachers allow students to choose their partner and choose their subject. Sometimes they can do this days in advance. Consequently, some students will find a dialog and memorize it and then perform it for the test. I don't do it this way. I don't think it's very realistic.
In the workplace, people need to be able to speak English to anyone and they can't always choose the topic. So I tell my students they can choose any partner they want as long as student #1 chooses students #2 and student #3 chooses student #4, etc. I tell them they can choose their own topics to talk about. They come up to my desk and choose from several slips of paper which are facing down. The students cannot look at the paper before they choose. Consequently, they are choosing randomly. I do allow them 3-4 minutes to prepare before the interview. The topics are always things that we practiced discussing in class.
When one pair of students sits down to do their dialog for me another pair of students will come up to the desk, choose a topic and stand aside to prepare. I don't allow them to use dictionaries, notebooks, textbooks or to talk with other students during the preparation period. I sit facing the two students who are talking but behind them I can keep an eye on the next two students who are preparing for their talk. This is important because they many of them can hardly keep themselves from a bit of cheating if it is possible.
The students talk to their partner on the topic. I used to be an IELTS examiner and found it is a bit extra work to have to also be asking the students all the questions. So I like to get the students talking with each other and I listen in. If I think a student can go higher or if their dialog was too short I will jump in with a few extra questions.
While they are talking I am recording them. They hold a cheap $2 clip-on microphone that I found which works really well and is fastened at the end of a ballpoint pen. I use free program called Audacity to record the interview. Although I'm sitting right next to them, I actually listen to the students through a set of earphones. This ensures that everything is being recorded. The interview is recorded for reference in case I want or need to go back and check something or if I need to justify a score I have given.
If their dialog is too short or doesn't reveal their English skills well enough I will ask some questions to make them speak more. Answering"why" questions or questions where they have to explain or justify a viewpoint are some of the toughest questions and are good to push students to the limits.
I have some band descriptors and a list of all the students names and numbers on an Excel sheet. The band descriptors are divided into three areas of speaking (communicative range, overall fluency, accuracy & appropriacy) and four levels (levels 4-7 of a 10 level rating system) While they are talking, I scan the band descriptors and give them an initial score. I continue to listen to them and modify parts of my score as they perform better or worse.
It's very important to have a clear set of standards that the students should speak to. And while they are speaking you should be constantly checking those standards and try to measure the student to those standards as best you can.
After all of the testing is done, I will use Excel to average out the band scores and assign grades on a curve.
15 March 2007
It's a small world when the world becomes your classroom
A teacher wants to know what students can do to help themselves improve their English outside of class.
One of the hardest things to do with students who do not live in an English speaking country is to help them practice their spoken English. Thanks to today's modern technology, this no longer has to be a problem.
Skype is a free "telephone" program with which you can call another person computer to computer. The sound is of such a high quality it rivals a telephone call. Skype is currently the most popular downloaded program in the world. It's completely free.
Students can call each other or people all over the world to practice their English. There are some businesses which use Skype (search Skype for "hotel" or "services") which may be more ready to speak, especially to people perceived as potential customers.
Teachers can also have conference calls with students.
Additionally, for about 2 cents a minute Skype users can call normal telephones. This opens up just about every phone in the world. They could spend hours and just a few dollars practicing their English by getting information on ski trips and lodgings, cost of notebook computers and their features, and how the services of a personality consultant can makeover their life.
One of the hardest things to do with students who do not live in an English speaking country is to help them practice their spoken English. Thanks to today's modern technology, this no longer has to be a problem.
Skype is a free "telephone" program with which you can call another person computer to computer. The sound is of such a high quality it rivals a telephone call. Skype is currently the most popular downloaded program in the world. It's completely free.
Students can call each other or people all over the world to practice their English. There are some businesses which use Skype (search Skype for "hotel" or "services") which may be more ready to speak, especially to people perceived as potential customers.
Teachers can also have conference calls with students.
Additionally, for about 2 cents a minute Skype users can call normal telephones. This opens up just about every phone in the world. They could spend hours and just a few dollars practicing their English by getting information on ski trips and lodgings, cost of notebook computers and their features, and how the services of a personality consultant can makeover their life.
07 March 2007
The adaptable customizable dynamic coursebook -- Are you ready for it?
In a discussion we were having Betty Azar explained: "It seems to me that a textbook that provides a solid core of good material is crucial in a classroom..."
I really don't wish to argue with Ms Azar. She is certainly my senior in this profession. I haven't used her books but they are being sold here in China and I have never heard a single criticism of them but I have heard considerable praise. As for myself, I am a mere teacher sans-MA and unpublished and holding a mere certificate with only a few years of experience under my belt.
I don't wish to argue against the coursebook. I want to advocate for a better coursebook. I would like to see coursebooks that are alive and dynamic. I would like to see coursebooks that can adapt to teachers and students. Teachers and students should not have to adapt to coursebooks.
Today's coursebooks are too static. They are written for a mass market or even for a specific market that is not the market you are teaching in. All of the business English coursebooks I have to use were written for Europe. My students are learning about entertaining in London and doing business in Poland. I'm in China. My students are not going to Poland but they may need English to negotiate a contract in Tokyo and check on suppliers in Korea. There's a new business English book that is for Asia but it's more centered in Thailand and it doesn't focus on the language well enough for my students' needs.
Why can't we have an adaptable coursebook? Why can't we have coursebook templates that a teacher can use to fill in the details specific for his class? Why can't we have a coursebook Wizard like MS Office has so that you can fill in some information and it will generate a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation or a coursebook for us? Why can't we have a coursebook format for upper intermediate students that we can use for business English and shift to logistics English and flip to warehouse English.
Do you know there are actual computer programs that can help script writers write a script for a movie? They step the writer through the structure of a script and help him keep control of character development and story line. Is it going to win an Oscar? No. And are you going to teach the world's greatest lesson tomorrow? No. We don't need magnificent lessons. We need good lessons that are geared to the specific needs of our students.
I am making my lessons in PowerPoint. I sometimes make changes in my lesson in mid-exercise if it is not just right. I can even include pictures of my students in the lesson or pictures of our city.
Wouldn't you like to have a "Betty Azar" Wizard to step you through the process of customizing the grammar focus for your particular students? Wouldn't it be cool if a virtual "Jack Richards" was at your elbow making suggestions on more activities to reinforces some new vocabulary for tomorrow's lesson?
We don't need less Betty Azar, we need more Betty Azar. So when can we have something like this? We will have to wait until the big publishers figure out how to make money out of it. But the longer the big publishers take to do that the more we will start doing it ourselves.
I really don't wish to argue with Ms Azar. She is certainly my senior in this profession. I haven't used her books but they are being sold here in China and I have never heard a single criticism of them but I have heard considerable praise. As for myself, I am a mere teacher sans-MA and unpublished and holding a mere certificate with only a few years of experience under my belt.
I don't wish to argue against the coursebook. I want to advocate for a better coursebook. I would like to see coursebooks that are alive and dynamic. I would like to see coursebooks that can adapt to teachers and students. Teachers and students should not have to adapt to coursebooks.
Today's coursebooks are too static. They are written for a mass market or even for a specific market that is not the market you are teaching in. All of the business English coursebooks I have to use were written for Europe. My students are learning about entertaining in London and doing business in Poland. I'm in China. My students are not going to Poland but they may need English to negotiate a contract in Tokyo and check on suppliers in Korea. There's a new business English book that is for Asia but it's more centered in Thailand and it doesn't focus on the language well enough for my students' needs.
Why can't we have an adaptable coursebook? Why can't we have coursebook templates that a teacher can use to fill in the details specific for his class? Why can't we have a coursebook Wizard like MS Office has so that you can fill in some information and it will generate a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation or a coursebook for us? Why can't we have a coursebook format for upper intermediate students that we can use for business English and shift to logistics English and flip to warehouse English.
Do you know there are actual computer programs that can help script writers write a script for a movie? They step the writer through the structure of a script and help him keep control of character development and story line. Is it going to win an Oscar? No. And are you going to teach the world's greatest lesson tomorrow? No. We don't need magnificent lessons. We need good lessons that are geared to the specific needs of our students.
I am making my lessons in PowerPoint. I sometimes make changes in my lesson in mid-exercise if it is not just right. I can even include pictures of my students in the lesson or pictures of our city.
Wouldn't you like to have a "Betty Azar" Wizard to step you through the process of customizing the grammar focus for your particular students? Wouldn't it be cool if a virtual "Jack Richards" was at your elbow making suggestions on more activities to reinforces some new vocabulary for tomorrow's lesson?
We don't need less Betty Azar, we need more Betty Azar. So when can we have something like this? We will have to wait until the big publishers figure out how to make money out of it. But the longer the big publishers take to do that the more we will start doing it ourselves.
23 February 2007
What would "distributed teaching" be like?
Perhaps you've heard of the idea of computing tasks being farmed out to many different computers? Science and business use distributed computing to solve complex problems when the power of one computer is not enough. SETI is a rather big and public example of this. It uses tens of thousands of computers around the world to help with computations related to the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.
Already technology is playing a role in our teaching. Ten years ago Email was not widely used. Ten years ago the Internet as we know it was just a baby. Now we use these things quite extensively. Many of us are using them in our teaching as well. We have set up websites, we communicate with our students and other teachers through the Internet. Email and VOIP (Internet telephony) technology have eliminated the sense of distance between each other and makes almost everyone in the world feel
close.
Each new technology opens a new door to opportunities we didn't think of before. So we have to be constantly reevaluating the possibilities because what we can do today is something we couldn't do yesterday.
What would "distributed teaching" be like? Seeing how distributed computing has impacted computing, how would distributed teaching impact teaching? What would distributed teaching be like?
Perhaps a network of teachers in different locations forming a team and each one applying his specialty to work together on each other's students?
These are some questions I've been asking myself lately and, frankly, I don't really know but think there might be some interesting possibilities there. What do you think?
Already technology is playing a role in our teaching. Ten years ago Email was not widely used. Ten years ago the Internet as we know it was just a baby. Now we use these things quite extensively. Many of us are using them in our teaching as well. We have set up websites, we communicate with our students and other teachers through the Internet. Email and VOIP (Internet telephony) technology have eliminated the sense of distance between each other and makes almost everyone in the world feel
close.
Each new technology opens a new door to opportunities we didn't think of before. So we have to be constantly reevaluating the possibilities because what we can do today is something we couldn't do yesterday.
What would "distributed teaching" be like? Seeing how distributed computing has impacted computing, how would distributed teaching impact teaching? What would distributed teaching be like?
Perhaps a network of teachers in different locations forming a team and each one applying his specialty to work together on each other's students?
These are some questions I've been asking myself lately and, frankly, I don't really know but think there might be some interesting possibilities there. What do you think?
21 February 2007
Using a "podcast tour" as a teaching exercise
A teacher asked: "Does anyone else have good lessons for teaching directions?"
Here's an idea that goes beyond the box.
This is an article about a really cool idea. They have developed dial-up audio guided tours through various cities. I think it's fantastic.
When I went to Beijing and visited the Forbidden City I opted for an audio cassette recorded tour. I think it was Roger Moore (AKA James Bond) who narrated it. It was great. He told you to go to the left, look up and then explained the ceiling. Then told you to walk over to the door and he told you about the door. He was kind of funny, too, and slipped in a few jokes. I really enjoyed that tour.
This is something teachers could do. Teachers could record a tour for their students to listen to. Lots of students have MP3's these days.
The teacher could guide the student through part of the city or campus or whatever. The teacher doesn't have to give a straight tour but could tell little stories about what the place reminds the teacher of ("This is where my bicycle was stolen"), could relate it to places in the west by comparing ("These McDonalds are exactly the same all over the world"), make up a drama to go along with the surroundings ("She was sitting there, on the park bench, when she saw a shadow moving behind the bushes"), make it like a treasure hunt ("Your next clue will be on the second tree to the left"), a city crossing ("Take the number 12 bus to the third street past Beijing Lu, get out and walk to the right") or other personal comments ("I liked the lunch box meals they sold here until the time I got sick for three days"), etc.
On a recent trip to Macau I was thinking about doing something like that. I was following some tour from a book but it was a bit boring. So I thought about making my own tour in audio but just invent stories and totally crazy made-up things to make it at least more interesting than the tour book although not as factual.
NEW YORK — Would you like Steven Tyler to tell you to "walk this way" in Boston, or Jerry Stiller to escort you through New York City?
The Aerosmith rocker, "Seinfeld" actor and "Aliens" actress Sigourney Weaver are among several stars lending their voices to new cell phone-guided tours of U.S. cities, a technology-based project that trades unknown docents for high-wattage celebrities.
In the "Boston: City of Rebels and Dreamers" tour, for example, visitors to the Massachusetts capital can call a special number and be treated to Tyler's quirky take on Fenway Park, Boston Common and other historical hotspots.
"Eh, this is Steven Tyler. This stop is about gardens that even a rocker can love," the raspy-voiced rocker says, describing Boston's public garden. "Don't worry, we'll get to that rocker stuff later."
Here's an idea that goes beyond the box.
This is an article about a really cool idea. They have developed dial-up audio guided tours through various cities. I think it's fantastic.
When I went to Beijing and visited the Forbidden City I opted for an audio cassette recorded tour. I think it was Roger Moore (AKA James Bond) who narrated it. It was great. He told you to go to the left, look up and then explained the ceiling. Then told you to walk over to the door and he told you about the door. He was kind of funny, too, and slipped in a few jokes. I really enjoyed that tour.
This is something teachers could do. Teachers could record a tour for their students to listen to. Lots of students have MP3's these days.
The teacher could guide the student through part of the city or campus or whatever. The teacher doesn't have to give a straight tour but could tell little stories about what the place reminds the teacher of ("This is where my bicycle was stolen"), could relate it to places in the west by comparing ("These McDonalds are exactly the same all over the world"), make up a drama to go along with the surroundings ("She was sitting there, on the park bench, when she saw a shadow moving behind the bushes"), make it like a treasure hunt ("Your next clue will be on the second tree to the left"), a city crossing ("Take the number 12 bus to the third street past Beijing Lu, get out and walk to the right") or other personal comments ("I liked the lunch box meals they sold here until the time I got sick for three days"), etc.
On a recent trip to Macau I was thinking about doing something like that. I was following some tour from a book but it was a bit boring. So I thought about making my own tour in audio but just invent stories and totally crazy made-up things to make it at least more interesting than the tour book although not as factual.
==============
NEW YORK — Would you like Steven Tyler to tell you to "walk this way" in Boston, or Jerry Stiller to escort you through New York City?
The Aerosmith rocker, "Seinfeld" actor and "Aliens" actress Sigourney Weaver are among several stars lending their voices to new cell phone-guided tours of U.S. cities, a technology-based project that trades unknown docents for high-wattage celebrities.
In the "Boston: City of Rebels and Dreamers" tour, for example, visitors to the Massachusetts capital can call a special number and be treated to Tyler's quirky take on Fenway Park, Boston Common and other historical hotspots.
"Eh, this is Steven Tyler. This stop is about gardens that even a rocker can love," the raspy-voiced rocker says, describing Boston's public garden. "Don't worry, we'll get to that rocker stuff later."
Bob: Continous assessment
There are always some students who get more of the teacher's attention, either through their excellent participation in the class or their bad behavior. But these characteristics can mislead the teacher as to how the whole class is doing. About half the students are more unobtrusive and are doing well or poorly. In fact, some people who seem like they are doing poorly are doing pretty well and some who seem like they are doing well are not doing well.
With my class list in my computer (or could be on a sheet of paper) I go down the list or hop around the list calling on every student. It may take from 2-4 days, but I get every student to answer some questions that were the focus of our pair/group work or questions put to the entire body. Sometimes when the students are doing pair/group work, I will take my computer (or list) and walk around to some of the students and interview them personally.
This way I will have a pretty good idea of how each student, even the quiet and unobtrusive ones, are doing in my class even if I have 40, 50 or 100 students.
I will also be very knowledgeable about which students are skipping class because I'm keeping this information on my computer and it keeps accumulative data with alerts to problem areas, although it could also be kept on paper, I will also know who has been missing my class for a long time.
I, too, had a similar problem as you. Two years ago a student came to my first class and then came to my last class for the exam. In the time between I had forgotten all about him. I was determined to not let that happen again and that is why I began keeping track of attendance on my computer.
But in any case, my suggestion is that in the speaking class we can use every opportunity to evaluate our students throughout the term to develop a picture of how each student is doing. Then, using that information we can segment the students into three groups. Doing well, doing OK, doing poorly. With that we can challenge the groups that is doing well to do better so that they are not limited by the "ceiling" of the class. The group that is doing poorly we can offer more attention, perhaps outside the main class or something else.
This is a way to more customize our approach to training to the needs of the class.
With my class list in my computer (or could be on a sheet of paper) I go down the list or hop around the list calling on every student. It may take from 2-4 days, but I get every student to answer some questions that were the focus of our pair/group work or questions put to the entire body. Sometimes when the students are doing pair/group work, I will take my computer (or list) and walk around to some of the students and interview them personally.
This way I will have a pretty good idea of how each student, even the quiet and unobtrusive ones, are doing in my class even if I have 40, 50 or 100 students.
I will also be very knowledgeable about which students are skipping class because I'm keeping this information on my computer and it keeps accumulative data with alerts to problem areas, although it could also be kept on paper, I will also know who has been missing my class for a long time.
I, too, had a similar problem as you. Two years ago a student came to my first class and then came to my last class for the exam. In the time between I had forgotten all about him. I was determined to not let that happen again and that is why I began keeping track of attendance on my computer.
But in any case, my suggestion is that in the speaking class we can use every opportunity to evaluate our students throughout the term to develop a picture of how each student is doing. Then, using that information we can segment the students into three groups. Doing well, doing OK, doing poorly. With that we can challenge the groups that is doing well to do better so that they are not limited by the "ceiling" of the class. The group that is doing poorly we can offer more attention, perhaps outside the main class or something else.
This is a way to more customize our approach to training to the needs of the class.
Bob: Effective student monitoring, formative & diagnostic assessments and differentiating instruction
"Bob" is a computerized system to help you manage your class.
Different teachers have different ways to appeal to and win the hearts and minds of their students. Some teachers do it through the example of their professionalism, sometimes augmented by humor and love, and the confidence that the teacher is able to instill into their students that he will be able to take their English to a higher level.
But in large classes there are students who are slipping through the cracks. As you implied, how can they "focus on the performance of every one of their students under these conditions" rather than just, what I'll call, "broadcast teaching"?
This past semester I was experimenting with Bob and have written about it before. [1] In a way, "Bob" is a computer system I'm using consisting of an Excel file and Visual Basic program. But it is more an extension or appendage of me as a teacher and many of the things I'm doing with my students. Technology isn't running my classroom but I am using technology to help me do what I need to do easier and better.
I must say it has helped me keep track of my students ten times better than before I began to use it. Of course, I'm a bit absent minded and always have trouble remembering things, people, names, etc.
For people who are interested in this sort of thing you need to know what to do after you gain the ability to closely monitor each student. For example, built into the system you would have some Diagnostic and Formative Assessments.[1]
The next step is grouping the students or segmenting them. (Bob enabled me to develop the name cards I spoke of earlier.[2]) Then you can apply what they call "Differentiating Instruction" to better meet the needs of the students and their motivational triggers in a more individual way.[3]
I think most teachers teach to the middle level of the class. We don't teach to the bottom students but we don't teach to the top students either. We teach to the middle students. This is perhaps the normal effort of teachers. Teachers who make a greater effort may try to do something for students who are lagging. But there is also a significant number of students who are doing very well in our classes. If we don't pay attention to their needs they will be stuck at an academic ceiling, possible boredom and lost opportunity to develop. We need to offer them a degree of more challenging work so they can climb higher than the class average to which we are teaching.
By effective use of available technology all of this is possible to the degree that I think you could manage 500 students.
Different teachers have different ways to appeal to and win the hearts and minds of their students. Some teachers do it through the example of their professionalism, sometimes augmented by humor and love, and the confidence that the teacher is able to instill into their students that he will be able to take their English to a higher level.
But in large classes there are students who are slipping through the cracks. As you implied, how can they "focus on the performance of every one of their students under these conditions" rather than just, what I'll call, "broadcast teaching"?
This past semester I was experimenting with Bob and have written about it before. [1] In a way, "Bob" is a computer system I'm using consisting of an Excel file and Visual Basic program. But it is more an extension or appendage of me as a teacher and many of the things I'm doing with my students. Technology isn't running my classroom but I am using technology to help me do what I need to do easier and better.
I must say it has helped me keep track of my students ten times better than before I began to use it. Of course, I'm a bit absent minded and always have trouble remembering things, people, names, etc.
For people who are interested in this sort of thing you need to know what to do after you gain the ability to closely monitor each student. For example, built into the system you would have some Diagnostic and Formative Assessments.[1]
The next step is grouping the students or segmenting them. (Bob enabled me to develop the name cards I spoke of earlier.[2]) Then you can apply what they call "Differentiating Instruction" to better meet the needs of the students and their motivational triggers in a more individual way.[3]
I think most teachers teach to the middle level of the class. We don't teach to the bottom students but we don't teach to the top students either. We teach to the middle students. This is perhaps the normal effort of teachers. Teachers who make a greater effort may try to do something for students who are lagging. But there is also a significant number of students who are doing very well in our classes. If we don't pay attention to their needs they will be stuck at an academic ceiling, possible boredom and lost opportunity to develop. We need to offer them a degree of more challenging work so they can climb higher than the class average to which we are teaching.
By effective use of available technology all of this is possible to the degree that I think you could manage 500 students.
17 February 2007
Why another CALL symposium?
I am wondering if we are seeing the end of these conferences. Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) conferences should be the first ones to flee the brick-and-mortar model and hit the Internet airwaves.
Sitting down here in Guangzhou, I often wonder, should I try to go to one of these things? I use my computer a lot in my teaching. I'm sending Emails and SMS to my students with my computer, I use PowerPoint's in all of my classes. I have a website to teach my students and a website to share my views on teaching. I have started an Open Source Coursebook free for all teachers to use and contribute to as a way to give us dynamic customizable coursebooks better suited to our needs. I use the computer to analyze the corpus of many of my lessons and texts by computer.
Long ago I decided to put all my teaching work into the computer and now I have years of lessons and courses in my machine. I have over 400 video clips, about 100 news clips in English/English and two feature length films in English/English inside my notebook ready to be called on when needed.
So I am certainly interested in the ways computers can aid language learning.
I suppose it would cost me at least $500 in plane tickets, hotel and meals to go there and about another $500 in lost work. And I ask myself, will I get $1000 of value out of it?
The International Symposium of CALL in Beijing just finished and I am wondering if I made the right decision in not going. Teachers who went had little to report.
Of course, it would be great to get out of the house and get out of the school and get out of the city to have a change of scene. But if I want a change of scene I think a beach on Sanya would be more enjoyable. Often we are given very little information about the exact content of the conference. One list member seemed to suggest that the meeting wasn't as practical as he was hoping it would be.
Amazon.com offers more information on a $5 book than conference organizers do about a conference. At Amazon you can read the publisher's blurb describing the book the way they want to put it. You can read parts of the book or even a whole chapter to see if you like it. Then you can read comments, reactions, criticisms and praises of the book by people like you and me and they often suggest other books or even better books. It is not a perfect system but do conference organizers give you a sample of the presentations? Is there a place where you can hear the positive AND the negative reactions of people who have heard the presentation? You may ask how can we hear reactions when the conference hasn't even happened yet? Well, I did a search on the people presenting at the symposium and they have been giving the same presentations all over the world.
They should just blog it, film it and post it or podcast it. Maybe it adds to their mystique if you can only catch them in their rare public appearances. I could not find much content of what they were going to say on the Internet, just references to them giving talks around the world.
Lots of big names have put their stuff on the Net free for the world. Stephen Krashen does conferences. Mert met him in Russia recently. You don't have to chase him at symposiums. He also has his own website at http://www.sdkrashen.com/ where you'll find tons of his articles explaining everything he believes about English teaching.
I'm a real fan of Jack Richards, author of New Interchange. He has a website that explains his views, theories and research on language teaching at http://www.professorjackrichards.com/. I don't know if he is on any lists.
Many of the people who go to conferences have their trips paid for by their schools or companies but I pay out of my own pocket and have to really justify the costs. I usually hear from people that attend these things that the biggest benefit they get out of it was to meet new colleagues in the teaching profession, make some friends amongst peers, network, etc, and it often seems the main attraction was not the main benefit. I never hear anyone say that what they heard was worth $1000 (although I'm positive it must happen, maybe.)
For $1000 I could probably buy 15 or 20 good books and a ticket to Sanya and a beachside hotel room. I feel I would certainly learn something from those books while watching the sunrise over an espresso or cooling myself on the beach with a Budweiser.
I learn a lot from the Internet. I've been learning a lot about corpus and have also been exploring a side interest in complexity theory and Schelling. Often experts leave their Email addresses and I write them. I write professors and experts all over the world. (TIP: Make your first Email to them a short simple thanks for writing something that helped you. After they thank you for your thanks you can ask your questions.)
I wrote Ronald Gray about his paper on Truscott's grammar correction ideas, John Milton who wrote an amazing writing marking program, Ben Szekely at Harvard about his paper on intelligent ranking systems, Zane Berge at the Universtity of Maryland about his studies into motivation in online training, Ricard Zach at the University of Calgary about some ideas in using Excel to develop a CRM for students, and that is just in the past few months.
Anyone can do this to seek out answers from experts who are great people and very helpful.
The Internet is getting better everyday. More and more professors and experts are sharing their best stuff on the Internet. Knowledge is getting freer as in "no money" not just ease of access or availability. MIT is working as fast as it can to put all their courses and lectures up on the Internet free for anyone with at least a dialup connection. Every month I get an Email from them telling me about the latest video I can watch of some IT CEO talking about the future of technology or NASA manager talking about the heavens. I love those things and what I've learned from Semler, Friedman, Drucker and others have changed the way I work and think about work.
And of course, the computer enables us to communicate with each other like we do on mailing lists. Peter Neu posted some things about social constructionist theory. This is the idea of people bringing their knowledge together to interact and learn together rather than simply being told what to do by a teacher. Hmmm, sounds like the mailing lists we're on or blogs and what we've been doing for the past several years. I have learned so much here and have made some great friends. And you and I are all networking and communicating with each other and with our colleagues and peers just like people like to do at those conferences.
Thank God for the Internet. Thank God for the computer. All of this is, literally, at our fingertips.
Isn't it curious that we are sometimes tempted to travel to the other side of the country to listen to someone tell us how to use a computer to do our job?
Sitting down here in Guangzhou, I often wonder, should I try to go to one of these things? I use my computer a lot in my teaching. I'm sending Emails and SMS to my students with my computer, I use PowerPoint's in all of my classes. I have a website to teach my students and a website to share my views on teaching. I have started an Open Source Coursebook free for all teachers to use and contribute to as a way to give us dynamic customizable coursebooks better suited to our needs. I use the computer to analyze the corpus of many of my lessons and texts by computer.
Long ago I decided to put all my teaching work into the computer and now I have years of lessons and courses in my machine. I have over 400 video clips, about 100 news clips in English/English and two feature length films in English/English inside my notebook ready to be called on when needed.
So I am certainly interested in the ways computers can aid language learning.
I suppose it would cost me at least $500 in plane tickets, hotel and meals to go there and about another $500 in lost work. And I ask myself, will I get $1000 of value out of it?
The International Symposium of CALL in Beijing just finished and I am wondering if I made the right decision in not going. Teachers who went had little to report.
Of course, it would be great to get out of the house and get out of the school and get out of the city to have a change of scene. But if I want a change of scene I think a beach on Sanya would be more enjoyable. Often we are given very little information about the exact content of the conference. One list member seemed to suggest that the meeting wasn't as practical as he was hoping it would be.
Amazon.com offers more information on a $5 book than conference organizers do about a conference. At Amazon you can read the publisher's blurb describing the book the way they want to put it. You can read parts of the book or even a whole chapter to see if you like it. Then you can read comments, reactions, criticisms and praises of the book by people like you and me and they often suggest other books or even better books. It is not a perfect system but do conference organizers give you a sample of the presentations? Is there a place where you can hear the positive AND the negative reactions of people who have heard the presentation? You may ask how can we hear reactions when the conference hasn't even happened yet? Well, I did a search on the people presenting at the symposium and they have been giving the same presentations all over the world.
They should just blog it, film it and post it or podcast it. Maybe it adds to their mystique if you can only catch them in their rare public appearances. I could not find much content of what they were going to say on the Internet, just references to them giving talks around the world.
Lots of big names have put their stuff on the Net free for the world. Stephen Krashen does conferences. Mert met him in Russia recently. You don't have to chase him at symposiums. He also has his own website at http://www.sdkrashen.com/ where you'll find tons of his articles explaining everything he believes about English teaching.
I'm a real fan of Jack Richards, author of New Interchange. He has a website that explains his views, theories and research on language teaching at http://www.professorjackrichards.com/. I don't know if he is on any lists.
Many of the people who go to conferences have their trips paid for by their schools or companies but I pay out of my own pocket and have to really justify the costs. I usually hear from people that attend these things that the biggest benefit they get out of it was to meet new colleagues in the teaching profession, make some friends amongst peers, network, etc, and it often seems the main attraction was not the main benefit. I never hear anyone say that what they heard was worth $1000 (although I'm positive it must happen, maybe.)
For $1000 I could probably buy 15 or 20 good books and a ticket to Sanya and a beachside hotel room. I feel I would certainly learn something from those books while watching the sunrise over an espresso or cooling myself on the beach with a Budweiser.
I learn a lot from the Internet. I've been learning a lot about corpus and have also been exploring a side interest in complexity theory and Schelling. Often experts leave their Email addresses and I write them. I write professors and experts all over the world. (TIP: Make your first Email to them a short simple thanks for writing something that helped you. After they thank you for your thanks you can ask your questions.)
I wrote Ronald Gray about his paper on Truscott's grammar correction ideas, John Milton who wrote an amazing writing marking program, Ben Szekely at Harvard about his paper on intelligent ranking systems, Zane Berge at the Universtity of Maryland about his studies into motivation in online training, Ricard Zach at the University of Calgary about some ideas in using Excel to develop a CRM for students, and that is just in the past few months.
Anyone can do this to seek out answers from experts who are great people and very helpful.
The Internet is getting better everyday. More and more professors and experts are sharing their best stuff on the Internet. Knowledge is getting freer as in "no money" not just ease of access or availability. MIT is working as fast as it can to put all their courses and lectures up on the Internet free for anyone with at least a dialup connection. Every month I get an Email from them telling me about the latest video I can watch of some IT CEO talking about the future of technology or NASA manager talking about the heavens. I love those things and what I've learned from Semler, Friedman, Drucker and others have changed the way I work and think about work.
And of course, the computer enables us to communicate with each other like we do on mailing lists. Peter Neu posted some things about social constructionist theory. This is the idea of people bringing their knowledge together to interact and learn together rather than simply being told what to do by a teacher. Hmmm, sounds like the mailing lists we're on or blogs and what we've been doing for the past several years. I have learned so much here and have made some great friends. And you and I are all networking and communicating with each other and with our colleagues and peers just like people like to do at those conferences.
Thank God for the Internet. Thank God for the computer. All of this is, literally, at our fingertips.
Isn't it curious that we are sometimes tempted to travel to the other side of the country to listen to someone tell us how to use a computer to do our job?
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