My final Reflection!

I have so many things to say about the way this subject changed my approach towards including technology in the classroom that this voki was not enough!
Voki

I particularly liked the fact that we were introduced to websites and web tools that were easy to use both for us and our students.

Learning about PLN's has raised my awareness of how important it is to be in contact with professionals and experts and to share and construct knowledge.

To be good teachers and professionals we have to be updated to the latest educational discoveries and novelties.

Having a  skype conference with Graham Stanley was an incredible and enjoyable opprtunity.

This subject has significantly contributed to my knowledge and resources as a teacher and has surpassed my expectations.

Thank you, Laura!

I also prepared a prezi presentation My reflection on Prezi

Case Study 2.3

Vicky Saumell is the co-ordinator of the EFL Department at Instituto San Francisco de Asis, a private school in Argetina, Buenos Aires. An amount of 800 students of different levels  have three hours of English a week.
When reviewing how English was taught at the school, she felt the students were not offered the best option for learning because teachers were relying too much on the coursebook to drive the English curriculum. When teachers do this, they run the risk of forcing students to work on something that does not reflect their personal interests or that is not completely suitable for them.
Therefore, the departement decided to adopt a "Project-based learning focus" and abandoned the coursebooks to design their own curriculum and materials. This projects were welcomed with enthusiasm because they provided interesting and attractive ideas and offered a creative output, which resulted in increased motivation for teachers and students!
This approach is extremely successful because it is directed at students' interests and knowledge to better engage them in the learning process.

Context: During one of her last projects, Vicky used "digital storytelling" with three classes of twenty learners aged 17. The idea of these kind of projects is to combine the art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia.
If we analyse this case from the point of view of the TPCK Model, we can identify the use of technology in the creation of wikis to keep record of the projects being done and to upload the final products of each of them, the different tools for digital storytelling, Windows Movie Maker, soundtrack recorder, animated cartoons from Zimmer Twins software.
As regards, the element of Pedagogy, the idea of one of these projects was for students to work in groups, choose famous paintings and write a narrative that linked the stories together and finally, through Windows Movie Maker, they had to create an animated slideshows and record a soundtrack saying what they liked about the graffitti.
In another project, students had to recreate part of the story of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream using different tools.
The Content of these projects has to do with developing digital literacy skills as well as working with famous plays, such as Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Besides, what is interesting about these projects is that students feel they have more choice and that their interests are being taken into account by the teacher. As they are working with something closer to their realities, they can have a say and express their opinion with great confidence. They are motivated and use the target language in a meaningful way.

From the point of view of the SAMR Model, I would say that part of these projects are at the subtitution level as the students write a story but instead of doing it in paper, they do it online and surrounded by multimedia complementary material. In the case of soundtracks, we can say that it stands at the Modification level as they couldn't have recorded it without technology.

I will definitely look forward to integrating projects in my own teaching!

PLN: Personal Learning Networks

When it comes to the idea of having a Personal Learning Network teachers may wonder why it would be convenient to have one. In fact, there are strong reasons why a professional in education should develop this virtual resource: as they connect, interact and construct knowledge with other professionals from the learning environment they develop professionally. Besides, teachers involved in a PLN will always have a colleague available to provide a piece of advice, suggestions and to share ideas and links.

As Nik Peachey explains, the 3 main characteristics of PLN's are:

• Availability
• Knowledge
• Willingness to share

This way, you can not only connect knowledge inside a big community but also obtain instant information. This information is varied and diverse, so you have plenty of possibilities to choose what you want to use and what suits your needs. 

Why is it so great? First, when we look for information on the internet not everything is quality information but when we are part of a community of professionals who share their discoveries, their tools and ideas we have access to really good quality data. Moreover, we need to find what we want when we need it. The solution to that issue is "Connectivism", Nik states ( http://goo.gl/6fQv4B). Through the PLN's we can form bonds of friendship and solidarity with colleagues even though they might not be physically available to us.

In my case, my PLN is made up of a facebook group called Profesores de Inglés de la República Argentina

My pinterest account

My Scoop it account

My Diigo account

And of course, this blog.

Through all these different social networks I can get in touch with colleagues and professionals of educations who can answer my queries and provide new ideas and support. This is the only way you can get in contact with the latest educational trends and be informed about conferences, webinar, meetings, etc.

"Over one billion people and computers networked together collectively producing over 2000 gigabytes of new information per second"...and it is Personal Learning Networks that made it possible!

Gamifying the lesson!

Students love playing games. They do it all the time and at all ages. Virtual games are an excellent way of practising the language in an enjoyable way.
From Graham Stanley's games one I liked very much, maybe because we have just celebrated Halloween, is Darker Ride Escape. http://www.mousecity.com/games/point-and-click/darker-ride-escape/
This game provides the students with a walkthrough that is displayed in a video.
During the game the students pick up elements, solve puzzles, for instance:

The sound gives students the creepy, spooky atmosphere. The pictures are great for this celebration. In this caption I had to use the key I had previously picked up to open one of the doors!

Content Curation

Curation, in this context, refers to the selection and organization of material with value added by an expert. It is annalogous to the activity of the traditional curator in an art gallery or museum. The curator selects items from a larger collection, organizing them into coherent groups, and presenting them to the visitors in a way that enhances their enjoyment and understanding.
I think this concept is of great importance in a world where both teachers and students are surrounded by technology. Sometimes, we want to include many interesting things in our lessons but are not able to select and differentiate among them. In those cases, the experience and knowledge of an expert will be a great guidance for our work and our willingness to include tech in the ESL lesson.

This is my Scoop it account http://www.scoop.it/u/florencia-colombo

Web Tools for Speaking Skills!

Sometimes, when we want to have our students develop speaking skills, we find it difficult to set an attractive and motivating context for them. Here are some web tools that may provide learners with a funny and appealing way of practising speaking without been aware of it!

Blabberize: For instance, we could use this web tool in a 1st year of secondary school group. Intermediate level.
The idea is that students choose an object meaningful for them take, a picture of it. Then, they should write one paragraph from the point of view of the object saying why they beleive they are important, describing their relationship with their owner, etc.
The teacher will check the paragraph and give feedback on it. Now, students are ready to record the paragraph using this web tool and upload both the photo and the recording to the class platform.
In order to encourage a report stage, students will be assigned to check on two classmates' productions and comment on them in class.
http://blabberize.com/

Voxopop: This web tool could be used, for instance, with a 6th form group. Pre-Intermediate level.
What students will be instructed this time is to work on a collaborative story writing.
The teacher provides each group a different title for the story. (the class will be divided in groups of 5 people, ideally).
Each student is supposed to write a part of the story at home and then bring it to the lesson for the teacher to check. Once it's been corrected, the next student takes it home to write part 2 and so on.
When the story is finished, they record it using voxopop and they add pictures to illustrate each part.
http://www.voxopop.com/

Present.me: This web tool could be used with a 5th form group of students- Upper-Intermediate level.
Students are asked to create a presentayion regarding their future course of studies using "Present.me".
The teacher will give some guidelines as regards what information should be included in the presentation, such as articles related to their subject-matter, etc.
If it is a small group the presentations could be shown in class and discuss which seems to be the best / most creative one.
https://present.me/content/

"Evaluating Tools and Apps" by Nik Peachey

Nik Peachey's conference "Evaluating Web Tools and Apps" was absolutely interesting. I am already interested in trying and using many of the tools and apps he mentioned in my lessons! I think they are very useful and based on Nik's criteria, they are easily at hand both for teachers and students!
I tried Blipfoto because that's the one I liked the most...apart from the fact that I love pictures! Besides, it is free and easy to access!
Have a look at it! http://www.blipfoto.com/Florencia

My experience on Twister!

My experience on Twister!

TPCK

Case Study 1.5 "Edugaming" + TPCK Model

Context: Kyle Mawer, a EFL teacher based in Barcelona, embarked on a short "Edugaming" programme with a primary class of nine- to ten-year old students from B2 level.

Technology: He decided to use an online game called n° 5 from a company called "3 wish". The reason why he chose it was because the games were easily accessible online, they were free, the graphics were cartoonish and appealing and the content appropriate for his learners.

Pedagogy: When it came to choosing the type of activities this type of technology was useful for, Kyle decided to write a 'walkthrough' of the game, that is to say, a set of instructions (with screenshots) for completing a puzzle game. He also included a screen capture video of someone playing the game and then wrote the walkthrough, down-grading the English appropriately. What is more, he prepared a worksheet  for a pre-game task, identifying language elements within the walkthrough that he considered might pose difficulty for his children. In this task they had to match words and pictures.
He also gave each pair of students key comprehension questions to consider during the game and encourage play dictation.

Content Knowledge:  As regards the content being exploited through this activity we can say that this kind of games are good to involve students in problem-solving activities, to develop reading skills, to encourage learners to use oral language for a shared task, to practice grammar, to focus attention on descriptive language and prepositions of place.


I think this digital games-based learning is an excellent way to create language opportunities among kids! They have grown up with computers and gaming consoles and they feel much more comfortable learning in this atmosphere because it is something they are familiar with and enjoy doing! I will try to apply it with my youngest students!

The SAMR Model

Surfing the internet and trying to find info about the SAMR model I came across this very interesting article from the web page: https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model. It is really useful as it has examples of how we can integrate this model in our lessons.

Although I think we, meaning...the current reality we live in this country, are much better than some years ago as regards technological devices available at schools, there is still a long way to go until this kind of things are possible for every school in Argentina. Let's do our best to make it possible!

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might impact teaching and learning.  It also shows a progression that adopters of educational technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology.  

While one might argue over whether an activity can be defined as one level or another, the important concept to grasp here is the level of student engagement. One might well measure progression along these levels by looking at who is asking the important questions.  As one moves along the continuum, computer technology becomes more important in the classroom but at the same time becomes more invisibly woven into the demands of good teaching and learning.

Level	Definition	Examples	Functional Change
Substitution	Computer technology is used to perform the same task as was done before the use of computers.	Students print out worksheet, finish it, pass it in.	No functional change in teaching and learning.  There may well be times when this the appropriate level of work as there is no real gain to be had from computer technology.  One needs to decide computer use based on any other possible benefits. This area tends to be teacher centric where the instructor is guiding all aspects of a lesson.
Augmentation	Computer Technology offers an effective tool to perform common tasks.	Students take a quiz using a Google Form in stead of using pencil and paper.	There is some functional benefit here in that paper is being saved, students and teacher can receive almost immediate feedback on student level of understanding of material.  This level starts to move along the teacher / student centric continuum. The impact of immediate feedback is that students may begin to become more engaged in learning.
Modification	This is the first step over the line between enhancing the traditional goings-on of the classroom and transforming the classroom. Common classroom tasks are being accomplished through the use of computer technology.	Students are asked to write an essay around the theme "And This I Believe...". An audio recording of the essay is made along with an original musical soundtrack.  The recording will be played in front of an authentic audience such as parents, or college admission counselors.	There is significant functional change in the classroom.  While all students are learning similar writing skills, the reality of an authentic audience gives each student has a personal stake in the quality of the work.  Computer technology is necessary for this classroom to function allowing peer and teacher feedback, easy rewriting, and audio recording.  Questions about writing skills increasingly come from the students themselves.
Redefintion	Computer technology allows for new tasks that were previously	A classroom is asked to create a documentary video answering an essential question related to important concepts. Teams of students take on different subtopics and collaborate to create one final product.  Teams are expected to contact outside sources for information.	At this level, common classroom tasks and computer technology exist not as ends but as supports for student centered learning.  Students learn content and skills in support of important concepts as they pursue the challenge of creating a  professional quality video.  Collaboration becomes necessary and technology allows such communications to occur.  Questions and discussion are increasingly student generated.

My avatar!

This is my first time creating an avatar. I thought it would be very difficult to find a website to do it for free and then create it easily but this experience changed my mind completely!

Now that I've tried it myself I think it would be a great idea to introduce my students to it. Avatars might be a good way to work with descriptions, portraits of characters we might read about in short stories, novels and so on. Besides, this app is of great help for those students who are not very good at drawing!

Hope you like mine!

On this blog

Hi, everyone! The purpose of this blog is to share my reflections as regards teaching with technology.
I will be posting my experiences with resourceful multimedia apps and how I believe this could engage and motivate students towards a successful and entertained learning practice.