MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) and Nearpod

MALL - What is it?

A mix of formal and informal learning, in and outside the classroom, across different devices (mobile phones, tablets, laptops, notebooks) in different settings. Such devices are used less prevalently in the classroom as they're predominately used outside the classroom. Although a definition helps to conceptualise the concept, there is no overarching, universal meaning. Why? It reflects the fact that mobile technology is forever changing and evolving therefore there isn't an agreed definition of the term. An example of this is...

Nearpod!

This is a basic, introductory tutorial on how to set it up as a teacher, which also shows the students' perspective:

Why use it?

• Increased classroom interaction, engagement, and participation.
• Easy to create and deliver customised content, or find ready-made lessons in their extensive back catalogue of materials (Explore Lessons).
• It's a good way for a teacher to manage and control a class full of Ipads.
• Real time data collection.
• Good for both deductive and inductive learning.
• Choice between live session (real time) or homework (where students can go at their own pace).
• The participation log lets the teacher know who is contributing, and who's shirking.
• Archive answers as a PDF file which could be sent to students later on for consolidation.
• Learner's don't realise they're learning half the time, they're just performing tasks, which promotes incidental learning.
• No restrictions or learning curve - it's a very dynamic and fluid tool.
• A limitless resource with so much potential for learner autonomy.
• Good for all levels and ages - but the teacher should grade it appropriately.
• Tasks include quizzes, match ups, gap fills (drag and drop), and video analysis (from youtube)
• It's free!

Limitations?

• Reliant on decent devices and durable internet connection for optimum use.
• Once the teacher shares something to the class (a correct answer maybe), the other students can no longer respond. The only way around this is for the teacher to go back and it resets itself accordingly, so it can be somewhat fiddly.
• Issue of teacher constriction - students content is controlled and they're locked into the app therefore ultimately they lack autonomy and have minimal freedom, however this will atleast keep them focused on the task at hand.

The beast in action!

Sign in, click on 'explore lessons,' pick a suitable lesson for your learners, go to 'my library' (as seen below):

Once you pick the lesson you want for that day, you can assign it as 'homework' but this is a premium feature. However, 'live session' is free and once you click on that a PIN code will appear...share this with your students and get them to join the session.

Once shared, this will then take you to the start of the activity where you can scroll through between the slides:

This really is a fantastic tool. It could be deemed quite similar to TodaysMeet but  it's possibly more advanced and technical. Yet, like any ICT tool there needs to be sufficient training, plenty of guidance at hand, and lots of patience. So what do you like/dislike about Nearpod?

Twitter

A social networking site for ELT?

The majority of us have probably heard of twitter since it first launched back in 2006. With over 500 million users, a global appeal, and a simple interface...it's inevitable that people in the ELT profession sought a piece of the pie! But first things first - here's a tutorial explaining how to use it:

So why use it?

• Encourages teacher autonomy in the sense that we should be progressive and innovative beings in control of our own destinies, hoping to avoid complacency and fossilisation.
• Promotes the idea that teacher's should be learners - active in their pursuit of collaborating with others and co-constructing knowledge to constantly trying to better ourselves.
• Helpful tool for professional development. It may not be the only/main string to your bow, but it's most definitely useful for sharing and finding out about topics of interest.
• Directly addressing/retweeting someone will reverberate globally.
• It can be used in real time like a chat room -  EG: Every Wednesday a group of teachers using the #eltchat.org meet on twitter. One of its core members is nominated on a weekly basis to discuss something of interest, which acts as a good repository for getting and sharing information in a friendly, open, online community. At the end of the discussion someone will volunteer to write up all of the links posted.
• The search function allows users to delve into the archives and back catalogues of everything ever posted, which allows you to find information and tweets both quickly and easily.
• It's free, a diverse platform to other social networking sites, and easy to use!

Words of warning

• It can be a one way process - if you follow someone (famous) they might not reciprocate, however twitter is like anything in the sense that the more you put in, the more you get out.
• It has bad press as some people use it to post about their overpriced, over hyped, over cooked brunch they regretted buying from a local cafe. The trick here is to keep it professional - if you want to post about your social life then create a different account for that.
• 140 characters isn't a lot so keep your tweet short, sharp, and snappy! However by using bitly you can post the URL of the website you want to tweet into the box and it'll automatically shorten it for you. Great tool! 
• Once you've created and set up your username you can't change it.
• Low and passive input will obviously result in less successful outcomes, so stay active!

Finally...

Follow me @gjmuddeman 

Oh, and my Taiwanese blogging buddy is also discussing a wide variety of ICT tools for ELT on his blog so check it out.

Blended Learning and Xerte

What is it?

Quite simply, blended learning (BL) is an integration of face-to-face teaching with components of technology use, which can be used to unite and support each other. There is some contention in the literature as to percentages/weightings, but the teacher predominantly designs some online activities/tasks which are linked to face-to-face, real-time classroom interaction.

Why?

• Tool for increased motivation and engagement - it's different to face-to-face, and offers students an alternative to the traditional classroom setting.
• Students can work at their own pace, and go over difficult concepts to increase understanding.
• Practicality aspect - exposure to authentic, real-life experience.
• Time saving tool for both the teacher and student.
• Students who miss face-to-face class can catch up online.
• Learning objectives might be obtained quicker with supplementary online exercises.
• Pedagogical richness of material and better access to knowledge.
• Appeals to a host of different personalities - shy students and lower level learners would especially like this approach as they might have more of a 'voice.'
• Role of personal agency heightened - element of control and choice over how students navigate their learning, which could increase autonomy levels.
• It serves as an extra teacher outside the classroom - further reading, reinforcement etc.
• Flipped classrooms are becoming more and more prevalent and popular - getting students to do some pre-reading before class will save time in class, and they'll be ready to contribute as soon as they arrive. Getting students to get into the habit of this is the tricky part, but it will undoubtedly aid learning in the long run.

Why not?

• Expensive to start and implement a BL course (£50k approx in the initial stages)
• Lots of planning and preparation involved
• High pressure - more so than purely face to face teaching as there's an aesthetic element involved, and clients are paying for quality with no hiccups - it's a high stakes business
• Crucially, the teacher isn't there to physically monitor online (inevitable constraints) therefore you're putting a lot of faith in the students/facilitator
• Reliance on the clients having good technology to make full use of the online aspect

Xerte

Linked with the University of Nottingham, the Xerte project is an enterprise that is aimed at offering top quality, free software to educators the world over. In terms of creating a blended learning course, this seems to be the go-to tool. About Xerte:

• The software is free, but there's a charge of £500 for the institution to host it every year.
• There's a desktop version but it's tricky to use.
• Predominately Ipad and Mobile phone friendly.
• Lots of options when creating - ranging from gap fills to video use.
• Limited interface - you can change the colour but the fonts are fairly standard, so it's not overly aesthetic.
• When you're setting up the course there are step-by-step instructions regarding content and editing, which is very handy!

Articulate Storyline 2 is a more advanced and superior platform to create a BL course, but it costs considerably more money (£1000 for one licence) so obviously justifications have to be made.

My Context

I'm currently involved with a BL franchise called EtonX where the course consists of face-to-face teaching in China, E-Learning, and online tutorials which is where I come in. My students have nothing but praise for this BL approach of learning, and as a Teacher I can honestly say it's an incredibly powerful concept that will only continue to grow and become more prominent within education.

Online Collaboration Tools - Stormboard and Etherpad

Advantages for learners:

• Co-construction of knowledge (Vygotsky,1978,p.90) and a community of practice - students are able to pool their ideas together and learn off each other. It's perfect for group work. Teaming up weaker students with stronger students would help the former as they're able to see the latter's thoughts on screen, then they can go away and research more if necessary.
• Process oriented approach which makes it easier and straightforward to follow
• They can challenge ideas in a faceless environment where they may feel more confident. Shy students are less likely to question things in a face-to-face setting so this gives them more licence to dispute ideas and notions.
• Potentially more L2 use online, than in a face-to-face setting where students could slip into their L1. Teacher intervention is important here though so they should monitor as and when required.
• Autonomy is encouraged in a learner-centred environment - students have real freedom to express themselves in a safe environment.
• Could be a really useful way of summarising something collaboratively that you did in class. It could almost act as an extra class. The teacher could nominate one student per week to review what they learnt, and then get other students to comment on it, in a forum-like setting.
• Cost and time effective - most tools (definitely the ones I mention below) are free, and as it's online, people don't have to travel for a meeting. This way, they can just brainstorm on an online platform where everything is permanently logged forever, and can go back to when needed. Ultimately this encourages learners to revise key concepts which helps with the language learning process.
• Increased motivation, which in turn makes students more engaged (but could this be down to how the teacher sets up the task?)

Potential problems for learners:

• They need to learn how to use such tools, and develop their skills - it involves patience both from the teacher and learner.
• Cultural and gender issues such as marginalisation - teachers should therefore keep tabs on this and deal with sensitive issues as they arise.
• Informal use of language is usually prevalent, which doesn't encourage 'academic' English per se, but they'd be using 'real world' English.
• Danger of some students dominating, or alternatively zoning out (a dangerous dichotomy) - teacher intervention is important here.

Essentially, with reference to most online collaboration tools, what this means is that teachers need to take responsibility for sparking debate, mediating issues and ensuring full class participation; teachers need to be judicious, show awareness, and know when to intervene in order for such tasks to be effective and successful.

Two examples:

Stormboard

Here's one I made earlier:

You can:

• Generate it in real time
• Capture it anywhere on any device
• Add, organise, discuss, vote, brainstorm and act on ideas
• Communicate easily
• Personalise your page
• Prioritise the best ideas
• Export final group projects or tasks

Etherpad (MoPad)

Here's another I made earlier:

You can:

• Jump straight into it as you don't need a login, and people don't need accounts
• Contribute in a group with colour coded contributions
• Use the chat box to talk informally or plan potential contributions
• Easily share the URL with people, and invite others 
• Use the time slider to review the progression of contributions
• Import/export other things
• Edit in real time

Both are free, easy to use, and really useful when encouraging your students to collaborate online. The former is very popular in the business world, so if you were to teach an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) class in business English then your students would most probably be familiar with this platform. The latter is similar to Google docs in some respects, but this offers a different platform with a potentially simpler interface. Give both a go!

Introducing WebQuests

A Complete Overview – The 5W’s and 1H

What

A WebQuest (WQ) is drawn from the internet, which is designed by teachers before a lesson, and it asks students to show high level thinking, progress their understanding and transform ideas in order to complete a task. They’re created using a number of different programmes such as Microsoft office which includes links to various websites online.

The structure of a WQ can differ due to time constraints, teaching context, culture, or one’s own individualism, yet the general consensus on QuestGarden seems to imply that a WQ contains 6 essential stages:

• Introduction – A brief presentation of the focus/task

• Task – A full and formal outline of what the students will be doing

• Process – A step by step break down of what the students are expected to perform, with examples and demonstrations, if necessary, to consolidate or clarify understanding

• Evaluation – A systematic model of assessment criteria

• Conclusion – Reflection, and possibly further discussion of extension activities

• Credits – Acknowledgements, author biography and permissions

A task focus can range from writing persuasive messages to policy briefings, or from creating travel plans to implementing genre analysis. Therefore the teacher can be as zany or wacky as they wish, but like any other task, they should always keep in mind lesson objectives and student goals.

An Example

There is already a wealth of resources on the web for teachers to use and modify. It's fine to adapt WQ's, but you should always recognise the original author/creator at the top of the page.

In terms of making WQ's, become a member and follow the on screen instructions. There is a really useful rubric which tells you exactly what you have to do, every step of the way. And it even stops you at different intervals in the creation process by asking if you're sticking to your aims and objectives...

Where

This a classroom-based concept, which is carried out online. However, as it's all online you could encourage students to proceed with their WQ at home, or during their own time for homework.

Who

Students are expected to show high order thinking when faced with WQ’s. Bloom's taxonomy (Krathwohl,2002,p.212) probably best describes who such a task is aimed at and what it requires – the upper levels (analysis, synthesis and evaluation) should all be shown – therefore huge emphasis is put on students being critical, analytical and hopefully creative! Most tasks predominantly involve group work, with various roles being split between members. If you have multi-levelled classes then it is probably best to team up the weaker students with stronger students to encourage peer learning, and collaboration.

Why

There are many reasons why teachers should incorporate WQ’s into their classrooms:

• It gets students engaged in notions and concepts which require higher level thinking. This criticality and analytical cognitive processing helps progress language learning.

• The resources are given to students therefore this avoids them searching for information online; where they could quite easily copy and paste useless information and not internalise the required aims.

• Authentic, genuine, and every day topics of focus are usually designed by teachers to avoid tasks being artificial, like so many mundane classroom activities…

• Giving students roles will help them to personalise and really embrace the activity. If there were weaker students in the class, you could assign the less taxing roles to those students. 

• Can be used to introduce, conclude or consolidate a topic/unit.

• Motivation tool to encourage independent reasoning and autonomy.

• Makes students more aware of, and to intensify their use of, technology in the classroom. Ultimately this will give them a very real and practical advantage over others.

• Encourages cooperative and collaborative learning through group projects. Getting students to co-construct knowledge and negotiate meaning are key pillars of language learning.

• Once groups have finished their WQ's you could get them to present what they've discovered to the group. Not only does this build confidence, but reflects everyday authenticity which is linked to the outside world.

• Offers students inspiration to go and create their own WQ’s, and be autonomous.

Why not?

• Clearly WQ's rely on the internet so make sure you have a secure connection.

• Not everyone is ICT savvy so training and patience is required.

• They’re not appropriate for every learning aim, so they could potentially be used sparingly to keep it fresh and novel.

• They necessitate competent reading skills so possibly not suitable for young/lower level learners, but teachers can simplify concepts and grade language to fit their students’ needs

How?

Get yourself to QuestGarden!

Check out the resources, examples and tutorials on their website. They offer a free 30-day trial, and once you're hooked you can sign up to a 2-year subscription for only $20. Watch the first video here, and the proceeding three for further information.

When?

Now! Create a WQ and send your students on a quest of the web that they’ll never forget.