Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Week #13: Research on ICT and ELT - Final Project
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Week #12: E-Assessment
- Concept Maps
- Concept Tests
- Knowledge Survey
- Exams
- Oral Presentations
- Poster Presentations
- Peer Review
- Portfolios
- Rubrics
- Written Reports
Other assessment types includes: concept sketches, case studies, seminar-style courses, mathematical thinking and performance assessments.
E-assessment is becoming widely used. It has many advantages over traditional (paper-based) assessment. The advantages include:
- lower long-term costs
- instant feedback to students
- greater flexibility with respect to location and timing
- improved reliability (machine marking is much more reliable than human marking)
- greater storage efficiency - tens of thousands of answer scripts can be stored on a server compared to the physical space required for paper scripts
- enhanced question styles which incorporate interactivity and multimedia.
There are also disadvantages. E-assessment systems are expensive to establish and not suitable for every type of assessment (such as extended response questions). The main expense is not technical; it is the cost of producing high quality assessment items - although this cost is identical when using paper-based assessment.
These are some websites where you can create rubrics and other assessment tools for your lessons:
I created my own rubric as an example to assess my students online work of their Class Blog (final project). Visit the link here
References and links to expand on this topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-assessment
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Week #11: Web-based lessons and e-portfolios
Our ICT in ELT course is coming to its end but in this amazing experience we have learned many things regarding technology and all the possibilities to use it within the field of education, especially to teach English. One of the most useful tool to be used and integrated into the classroom is the Web. During this week, the facilitator taught about Web-based lessons and E-portfolios and their importance for teaching and learning.
Web-based lessons are lessons that integrate the use of one or more Websites for different purposes including research, reading, writing, communication and collaboration with teachers and learners around the world. These type of lessons can bring into the classroom new opportunities for students to develop ideas, knowledge and digital skills. There is so much information on the Web that many creative and original activities/lessons can be done. Different learning styles and language skills can be developed by using texts, videos and sound.
When integrating Web-based lessons into our classroom an important aspect should be taken into account: to include specific steps that describe how and when the Website will be used. In other words, it is important to include and design a Web-based Lesson Plan. A lesson plan should contain:
- date
- teacher
- class/level
- lesson length
- topic
- objectives (learning goals)
- materials
- description of the activities
- websites to be used
- description of follow-up activities
Example of a Web-based lesson plan to be used with the students of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC)
Teacher: Cirene Ramírez
Level: intermediate - 10 students
Lesson lenght: 90 minutes
Topic: global warming (specifically greenhouse gases)
Aim: students will recognize the theme of an oral text given in English
Objectives:
- to practice listening skills using audio and video tools via Internet
- to relate visual images with spoken narration in English
- to practice speaking skills
Materials: 10 computers with Internet access, headsets
Description of the activities: students will be asked to access Internet in order to watch a short video narrated in English. They will relate the narration with the visual aids provided in the video and then will recognize the main topic.
Website to be used: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/
Follow-up activities: students will practice speaking by sharing their comments and opinions about the video watched in class.
Regarding e-portfolios, these are a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. The process of producing an e-portfolio (writing, typing, recording, etc.) usually requires the synthesis of ideas, reflection on achievements, self-awareness and forward planning; with the potential for educational, developmental or other benefits. E-portfolios, like traditional portfolios, can facilitate students' reflection on their own learning, leading to more awareness of learning strategies and needs. By using e-portfolios, students can develop creativity and increase their motivation. Collaborative and group work are promoted and ICTs are integrated into the traditional classroom.
References:
http://www.slideshare.net/EvelynIzquierdo/webbased-lessons-and-eportfolios
http://tech.worlded.org/docs/surfing/section5.htm
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Week #10: Exploring Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs)
While originally created for distance education, VLEs are now most often used to supplement traditional face to face clasroom activities, commonly known as Blended Learning. In these environments students play an important role since they are not only active but also actors. They co-construct the virtual space.
- economize on the time of teaching staff.
- provide a service for students who increansingly look to the internet as the natural medium for finding information and resources.
- facilitate the integration of distance and campus-based learning or of learning on different campuses.
There are different virtual environments for learning among which the most used are: Moodle, Elluminate, WiZiQ, and the virtual world Second Life. In our ICT in ELT course we have been working with WiZiQ for online lessons in which we listen and interact with our teacher and classmates using a webcam and microphones besides the different tools provided by the platform. I think this has been a very interesting topic for all language teachers that want to begin using and applying technology into their classes.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Week #9: Communities of practice (CoPs) - Exploring Web 2.0 tools for Social Networks
- Domain - a domain of knowledge creates common ground, inspires members to participate, guides their learning and gives meaning to their actions.
- Community - the notion of a community creates the social fabric for that learning. A strong community fosters interactions and encourages a willingness to share ideas.
- Practice - that while the domain provides the general area of interest for the community, the practice is the specific focus around which the community develops, shares and maintains its core of knowledge.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Week #8: Social networking - Webconferences
Flickr is much more than just an online photo sharing space. It's a hub for educational experiments, networking and visually appealing inspiration to any educator. According to Carla Arena, who describes herself as a passionate of Flickr, this tool has a great potential for the classroom. She explains that "it´s all about narrative, showing who we are, it´s about stories, it´s about us".
With these short definitions, Arena begins her presentation and shows support for using Flickr in education. She gave many examples and ideas to teachers of the possible uses of it. For example, you can become part of a group in which people share pictures regarding a specific topic or interest. From one single photo a big conversation can be created. Teachers may choose a topic and students can join the discussion commenting on the photos of that topic and debating on pics. Labels and tags are also useful to learn and practice English specially for beginners.
In summary, Flickr should be explored more in depth by teachers to engage students in the process of learning the language more actively.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Week #7: Web 3.0 Virtual worlds - Tour to Second Life - My SL Experience
During this week of the course, our professor gave us an introduction to SL. We created our avatars and visited some interesting places where we learned how to walk, communicate and even fly with our avatars. It was an interesting experience for me. There´s still plenty left, though. We have to continue working on SL and using it as a tool for education. In fact, this is the important aspect here since we are English Language teachers and want to develop other types of activities with our students.
These are some of the snapshots taken during the visit. The whole ICT in ELT group is there receiving instructions from our professor and learning from the different tutorials.