This week I’ve known more online tools for enhancing learning. Among those tools, ANVILL which puts the main focus on oral/aural language practice is a good tool for communicative development. Some of the tools in ANVILL are Voiceboards, LiveChat, Quizzes and Surveys and Tcast. Most of these modern web-based audio and video tools are very motivating and useful for learner autonomy encouragement.
I like Voiceboards that is good to encourage multimedia communication in which teachers or learners can easily post or respond to an oral/aural assignment. Especially, teachers can address students to Voiceboards for students’ speaking skill enhancement because students are able to practice their pronunciation at home on their own. There are discussions, audio journals, pronunciation exercises, and other forms of oral language practice added to spoken language in Voiceboard.
Planning to make a survey using Google docs will be one of the first steps of my project which is helpful for me to get to know my students’ interests and needs in English learning. Moreover, to better understand students’ reading competence I would try EasyTestMaker tool to make a test that all the formatting is done, word banks are randomized and answer keys are created too.
In addition, I downloaded the program Hot Potatoes - at http://hotpot.uvic.ca/ to use it on my computer. It can help me create matching, cloze, scrambled sentence, and multiple choice exercises and crossword puzzles. I’ll explore it for my test making. I believe that it won’t take me much time to create a test as using Hot Potatoes and EasyTestMaker. I’ll try them both. ;-)
Best,
Phuong-Mai
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
WEEK 7: Teacher and Learner Autonomy
My university has transformed from semester-system to credit-system for nearly 2 years. I think it’s pretty out-of-date in comparison with the educational development of other universities in the world. It is in the semester-system that administrators or selection committee didn’t have the right to choose our own textbooks, had to focus more on quantity than on learning and teaching quality and also put pressure on teachers and students. As a teacher, I can see the difficulties in encouraging teacher and learner autonomy in that educational system. Over the past 2 years, applying credit-system in the curriculum and technologies in teaching and learning, both teachers and learners in my university have known the importance of learning autonomy, especially teachers’ role in guiding and instructing students to learn autonomously. As mentioned in Thanasoulas’ article, it’s right that autonomy is a process, not a product.
To encourage learner autonomy, teachers have to foster teacher autonomy first by updating themselves with a variety of materials, resources, and methods to meet the learners' needs. Using various materials, new methods and updated resources in teaching can draw students’ interests and motivation. This results in students’ need in exploring the world of learning.
I definitely agree with Thanasoulas’s ideas that teachers should act as a facilitator of learning, a counselor, and as a resource to get students learn autonomously inside the classroom. I plan to use retrospective self-reports that include semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires to raise awareness of learners.
In addition, outside the classroom teachers can encourage learner autonomy by introducing interesting books and on current newspapers, English programmes on TV &/or radio or recommending students to read along with subtitles in English as watching. Moreover, asking students to write journals/diaries on their personal blogs is one of the best ways to enhance students' self-study. Even shy and unmotivated students can write whatever they like and share with others.
I think teacher and learner autonomy is not very difficult to enhance provided that we as teachers are whole-hearted to encourage students to learn autonomously with or without the help of technologies.
To encourage learner autonomy, teachers have to foster teacher autonomy first by updating themselves with a variety of materials, resources, and methods to meet the learners' needs. Using various materials, new methods and updated resources in teaching can draw students’ interests and motivation. This results in students’ need in exploring the world of learning.
I definitely agree with Thanasoulas’s ideas that teachers should act as a facilitator of learning, a counselor, and as a resource to get students learn autonomously inside the classroom. I plan to use retrospective self-reports that include semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires to raise awareness of learners.
In addition, outside the classroom teachers can encourage learner autonomy by introducing interesting books and on current newspapers, English programmes on TV &/or radio or recommending students to read along with subtitles in English as watching. Moreover, asking students to write journals/diaries on their personal blogs is one of the best ways to enhance students' self-study. Even shy and unmotivated students can write whatever they like and share with others.
I think teacher and learner autonomy is not very difficult to enhance provided that we as teachers are whole-hearted to encourage students to learn autonomously with or without the help of technologies.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
WEEK 6: Implementing Project plan for reading skill development
Last week, I created my Webquest page on Zunal aiming at reading comprehension development. I’ll add some more websites URLs and youtube videos for vocabulary and reading development, try creating a rubric/checklist for students’ assessment.
As a teacher of English with a few years of experience, I have taught some large classes. I think it’s an interesting and helpful topic for me get more experiences in teaching large classes. It’s right teaching large classes is particularly challenging. It’s said in Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw’s article that “To teach is to engage students in learning”. For me, to create a student-centered class in not easy at all, but it can come to a success only if the instructors know how to best use techniques and appropriately apply technologies into their teaching.
As discussed on the Nicenet, I plan to use technology tools such as PPT, Webquests and organize collaboration and small group activities that can keep students involved in large classes. Moreover, I won’t forget to pay attention on designing the lectures with a variety of materials that include photos, pictures, visual aids, stories, different tasks to do. Using Think-Pair-Share, ConcepTest, and Minute paper in large classes is a good idea mentioned in Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw’s article.
Take a look at my Webquest page at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=108966 for details and I highly appreciate your comments.
Best,
Phuong-Mai
As a teacher of English with a few years of experience, I have taught some large classes. I think it’s an interesting and helpful topic for me get more experiences in teaching large classes. It’s right teaching large classes is particularly challenging. It’s said in Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw’s article that “To teach is to engage students in learning”. For me, to create a student-centered class in not easy at all, but it can come to a success only if the instructors know how to best use techniques and appropriately apply technologies into their teaching.
As discussed on the Nicenet, I plan to use technology tools such as PPT, Webquests and organize collaboration and small group activities that can keep students involved in large classes. Moreover, I won’t forget to pay attention on designing the lectures with a variety of materials that include photos, pictures, visual aids, stories, different tasks to do. Using Think-Pair-Share, ConcepTest, and Minute paper in large classes is a good idea mentioned in Rick Finnan and Donna Shaw’s article.
Take a look at my Webquest page at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=108966 for details and I highly appreciate your comments.
Best,
Phuong-Mai
Sunday, July 24, 2011
WEEK 5: PBL, WebQuests, and Rubrics
The introduction of Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and rubrics brought me a new perspective of technology application in English language teaching. It’s good for me to use webquests as a Web page in a particular format to create and preselect online lessons that are built around online resources and rubric which can be created by using Microsoft Word as an assessment tool. Using WebQuests in the classrooms can help build a solid foundation that prepares students for the future. Good point of WebQuests is that the topics are less well-defined and tasks invite students’ problem-solving and creativity.
WebQuests are a form of PBL that make learners work in groups and have a specified product with the tasks statements and resources designations. I’ll try using PBL in teaching, my students hopefully get more motivated and eager to learn. In order to make my expectations clear to the students and show them how to meet my expectations, I can produce an evaluation in the form of a rubric for them to use as they are doing their project and for self-evaluation when it is finished. I can evaluate with the rubric as well. That requires teacher and students interaction.
Regarding assessing the performances of my students, I’ll use checklists for reading and listening skill that involve multiple choice, true/false or fill-in-the-blank tests and rubric for speaking and writing skill with presentations, discussions, portfolios, essays, projects. What I have to do first is to show my students how to judge and evaluate the information they find.
I created an oral presentation rubric about English speaking skill assessment guidelines in the wiki class and I’m trying to create a webquest page for my class as well. I’m sure it will take me time and effort to make good use of the web for a useful webquest. I’ll start creating my webquest on Zunal or QuestGarden which provides step-by-step direction and examples and choose an appropriate WebQuest Template.
I’m experimenting it out.
WebQuests are a form of PBL that make learners work in groups and have a specified product with the tasks statements and resources designations. I’ll try using PBL in teaching, my students hopefully get more motivated and eager to learn. In order to make my expectations clear to the students and show them how to meet my expectations, I can produce an evaluation in the form of a rubric for them to use as they are doing their project and for self-evaluation when it is finished. I can evaluate with the rubric as well. That requires teacher and students interaction.
Regarding assessing the performances of my students, I’ll use checklists for reading and listening skill that involve multiple choice, true/false or fill-in-the-blank tests and rubric for speaking and writing skill with presentations, discussions, portfolios, essays, projects. What I have to do first is to show my students how to judge and evaluate the information they find.
I created an oral presentation rubric about English speaking skill assessment guidelines in the wiki class and I’m trying to create a webquest page for my class as well. I’m sure it will take me time and effort to make good use of the web for a useful webquest. I’ll start creating my webquest on Zunal or QuestGarden which provides step-by-step direction and examples and choose an appropriate WebQuest Template.
I’m experimenting it out.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans
This week I was introduced some skill-building websites for reading and writing skills. I’ve bookmarked some of them and added the website http://englishstudydirect.com/OSAC/langacrv.htm (English Study Direct) as well. This is a good website to develop reading and vocabulary skills with activities and reading materials from British Council & BBC, universities and more. I added this web-link at http://tinyurl.com/webskills-rwv where we the participants of this online course can keep it for our own sake. Thanks Robert for this.
In order to deliver a good lesson to students, as a beginning teacher, I have to plan it as detailed as possible and develop the content to match its objectives. This requires much time and effort. I’m on the go of preparing a technology-enhanced lesson plan using the template provided. Frankly speaking, it’s my first experience of planning a lesson with technology. It’s pretty interesting but challenging. :-)
I’ve known lots of useful skill-building websites so far. Therefore, on my Delicious page I’ve tagged them in such categories as listening, speaking, writing, vocabulary/reading, multi-skills, and more. Have a glance at http://www.delicious.com/phuongmainguyen. I really like the website http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ (Breaking News English) that I can take advantage of it for my off-line classes. This website has thousands of reading lessons on current events that can draw my students’ interests. I’m eager to address these skill-building websites to my students for their own skill development.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Week 3: Aural/Oral skill-building websites and Delicious page
Each week seems to be a new world to explore and the feeling of discovering and achieving something is very interesting. Up to now, I’ve created my academic blog (week 1), got to know an effective search engine that is NoodleTools (week 2) and had my Delicious page this week.
Delicious is a very useful technological tool to save and share web links online. Not only do I keep my bookmarks, but also I can have access to what others have saved and shared. Have a look at my Delicious page: http://www.delicious.com/phuongmainguyen. As you see, I’ve saved some aural/oral skill-building websites suggested Robert (my online instructor) that I find it helpful to the English teaching and self-studying. I’ve tagged a number of my bookmarks which are in categories like EFL teaching, listening and personal. In order to have multiple tags in Delicious, we use space to separate them. In addition, we can edit our tags to make it appropriate for websites searching.
For sure, I’ll introduce my Delicious page to my students and help them create their own as they get accustomed to web-skills at a certain proficiency level. Hopefully, my students get interested in those websites listed in my Delicious page so that they can improve their English skills, especially listening and speaking skill.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Week 2: Web searching (con’t)
Week 2 is more interesting than week 1 because I’ve got to know how to write ABCD learning objectives framework which is rather new to me and do step 1 – Describe a class for the Final Project. Though I’m pretty busy doing the assignments, I really like it. It seems that I’ve worked hard through reading and surfing the Net. There will be more work to do at the following weeks for sure, but I will try to do it the best.
The first time I’ve visited www.noodletools.com introduced by my instructor - Robert, I got surprised about it because I didn’t know there are a variety of search engines available for academic or other specialized needs . Up to now, I’ve tried the following websites and would like to introduce them to you all in case you haven’t visited them. Also, ideas about these search engines are welcome.
http://www.intute.ac.uk/search.html is my first choice. Topics are in alphabetical order which is very convenient for searchers. Go to http://www.intute.ac.uk/search.html and choose the topic we’re interested in, then click on the specific term and there will be links/appropriate materials that follow.
To know what’s happening in the world. Have a look at http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/.
In order to know someone’s biography, try http://www.biography.com/search/. In this website, you can find quick fact and related works, people and sites about that person.
I also suggest you having a glance at http://www.ask.cm/. The feeling of discovering the answer is really exciting. Try it! Secret of the world is on your click. CLICK IT!
Feel free to let me know other search engines or websites that you’re keen on.
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