Making Classrooms Work

So here we are in the 21st Century and still stuck with 18th century schoolrooms and 19th century desks.

I've been exploring different seating arrangements for groups, and still like the easy mobility of wheeled chairs, central gathering places, and ways to quickly create breakouts of small groups that can still see the teacher/board and report back without too much furniture noise.

This younger children's class (described by Amy Spies at TeachingChannel  shows a nice option using the furniture at hand:

The groups of four are open-ended at the side facing the teacher/board, and the space between the desks holds a 3-drawer cabinet with supplies like paper, pencils and crayons:

SteelCase offers a much higher tech option, adopted at the U of Oregon's Yamada Language Lab, that is sleek and classy. Three boards/projection screens allow students sitting in any direction to see what is happening. The teacher is no longer fronting the class--at least in theory--though the computer/projector now seems to be the center:

From the Steelcase video

What students have to say about it is very interesting:

From the Steelcase video

With the flipped classroom, the projection multiplication may be a bit of overkill, but at least there is a strong move to put students' heads together.

EduMOOC

Google's EduMOOC is astounding and fun. You can be in touch with 2500 teachers and learners in the grand experiment in volunteer, free, online learning.

Although the MOOC is just for this summer (July-August), you can use the discussions, videos, and resources (Diigo group) asynchronously. Read all about it at Polly Peterson's Education-Portal blog.
Sign in to Google first to access everything.

EFL CLASSROOM MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

This monthly blog/newsletter from EFL Classroom gives you ideas, resources, and a place to set up your own online classroom. Links to video talks, new online resources, ongoing discussions and blogs, student-created content, ideas for current seasonal holidays, and their own Diigo Group, et al.

EFL Classroom has developed well over the past year or so, and is well worth following.

TED: John Underkoffler points to the future of User Interface

This video from the TED (Technology, Education, and Design)conference in February (Long Beach, CA) has some astonishing new ways to look at user wetware-computer connections.




It's amazing to see Tom Cruise's Minority Report interface now displayed with many different ramifications. The new interfaces use computations that are "space-soluable and network-soluable," allowing a user to drag/send their visual information from one "monitor" to another,both co-located and in space, with a hand gesture. In five years' time will this be the computer we get??

For more TED Talks see http://www.TED.com.

Pranav Mistry's Sixth Sense Technology

These wearable technologies were seen about 10 yrs ago at the MIT Media Lab, but this goes even farther (and smaller). Clever, and Mistry wants them to be open source. (About 13 min., but a must-see.)



Thanks to Webhead Andy Picon for the tip!

Archival Video Sites

Both OurMedia and the Internet Archive are unbelievably slow and have made their interfaces much more difficult to use. OurMedia just transferred my video to a new address without telling me, and I can't find it at all on the Internet Archive. In OurMedia, a search for tags and for titles and for owner--none of them--didn't come up with the video, but it was still there. Go figure!

I also tried to edit the description in OurMedia to include the Web address of the wiki that also contains the presentation, but with no luck. I was asked to join a group before I could edit my own work--couldn't find any with "education" through the search engine, though I could see a few with that word in the title from a list. I then was told I hadn't completed the CSID (the test of human user), but that box wasn't available at the page where I was doing the editing. No win!

I hope to get the video from the 2008 TESOL presentation embedded here in the blog below. We'll see how long it lasts as a real link!

The address is now http://www.ourmedia.org/node/88432



Another video archive site, AuthorStream is also very slow. My presentation there (no audio) is at
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/ElizabethHS-224813-effect-tech-sla-entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/. The sound version apparently has just vanished or was never accepted as an unload because it was too large or the wrong format.

Blip.tv still has the presentation, and seemed to load about the fastest. Unfortunately, it's not a place to take the children...

These sites are very frustrating, and I'm glad I uploaded the presentation to multiple venues. With the economic downturn in 2009, there has been a lot of moving and shaking, and I think there will be more changes in store in early 2010.

CALL-IS Virtual Software List

I've started a Virtual Software List on Diigo for the CALL Interest Section of TESOL. So far the bookmark site has been pretty lively. I've set up a list of possible tags in the Group Forum, but of course, everyone is using whatever they want. Luckily, Diigo lets me add a few more. I've recommended that at least the VSL tag should be used to put it in our group list.

The idea is to pool our communal wisdom about good sites for teachers and learners of EFL/ESL. Both CALL IS members and Webheads are using the site, and anyone can join in the fun. The address is http://www.diigo.com/user/call_is_vsl (click on the ALL tab to see the bookmarks).




You need to be a member of Diigo and join the CALL_IS_VSL group to add to the list.

You can see the list of recommended tags in the Group Forum, or open the Tags tab on the right side of any page in the group and click on a tag to see related sites.

It's a nice example of Web 2.0 at work in the education community.

Using Mobile Technologies for Education

There was some discussion of using mobile technologies (cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, etc.) at TESOL Denver this year, but the following is the most succinct list I have seen:

Forwarding an edited mail from the Wikieducator list (Randy Fischer)

Randy found this 2008 University of Nottingham study on Mobile Phones
and secondary education, and thought it might be of interest.
http://emergingtech nologies. becta.org. uk/upload- dir/downloads/ page_documents/ research/ lsri_report. pdf

Several interesting things caught his eye:

1. the fact that in many schools, students 'own' their mobile phones,
not necessarily the computers. (Physical ownership and use feels
good);

2. the list of 15 Useful Things Students Do with Mobile Phones (below)

Could we use some of the 15 or more useful things to design
appropriate and culturallly- relevant learning activities?

What role could WikiEducator play in learning that uses mobile phones?

Fifteen useful things students did with mobile phones
1 Timing experiments with stopwatch
2 Photographing apparatus and results of experiments for reports
3 Photographing development of design models for eportfolios
4 Photographing texts/whiteboards for future review
5 Bluetoothing project material between group members
6 Receiving SMS & email reminders from teachers
7 Synchronising calendar/timetable and setting reminders
8 Connecting remotely to school learning platform
9 Recording a teacher reading a poem for revision
10 Accessing revision sites on the Internet
11 Creating short narrative movies
12 Downloading and listening to foreign language podcasts
13 Logging into the school email system
14 Using GPS to identify locations
15 Transferring files between school and home

--Thanks to Bee Dieu on the Webheads' list for this report

Movie Segments to Assess Grammar Goals

...is really something of a misnomer, since it is more a blog where students can practice various grammar and syntax items using questions and exercises set by the teacher, Claudio Azevedo (Casa Thomas Jefferson, Brasilia), with the prompt being video clips (professional), rather than a textbook.

The video at Movie Segments is a really nice motivator, and the questions and exercises have a good deal of subtlety, deploying a cognitive approach that engages the student and goes beyond sheer grammar. It is also a nice expression of how a blog can be used instructionally. Frequent updates are promised.

--Thanks to Ronaldo Lima, Jr., on the Webheads' list for the referral

Online Magazines

Webheads have been collecting ideas for creating e-zines. Here is the list of potential Internet sites and software that might be used for free or cheaply:

To create a magazine online
http://www.formatpi xel.com/go/ en/index. php
http://www.presspub lisher.com/

To publish in the form of magazine (first you need to create the
contents and export to pdf)
http://issuu. com/
http://www.yudu. com/
http://www.mixbook. com/

To export to pdf (an example):
pdfcreator:
http://sourceforge. net/project/ downloading. php?group_ id=57796& use_mirror= switch&filename= PDFCreator- 0_9_7_setup. exe&a=75987836

For desktop publishing
Scribus (locally in your computer)
http://sourceforge. net/project/ downloading. php?group_ id=125235& use_mirror= dfn&filename= scribus-1. 3.3.12-win32- install.exe& a=17416234

to draw a poster
inkscape (Vector Graphics Editor)
http://sourceforge. net/project/ downloading. php?groupname= inkscape& filename= Inkscape- 0.46.win32. exe&use_mirror= garr

OpenOfice Draw
Download: http://download. openoffice. org/

to create posters online
http://www.glogster .com/

Thanks to Fernanda Rodrigues in Portugal for summarizing this thread.

Acer Netbook a Star!

We are back from travels in South America and were absolutely delighted with the mini-laptop. It connected flawlessly to wireless in all the various hotels (and ship) where we stayed, unlike our older PC, which tried to get back to our home network, no matter where we set up. And being under 2 lbs, it was a cinch to carry around. It also worked perfectly with Skype--one of the real pleasures of the trip was being able to call home from anywhere with crystal clear sound quality.

The lack of a CD ROM drive is occasionally a pain. For instance, I can't upload pictures and burn a CD, so we may eventually have to buy a CD burner--however, it has a Flash card port, so pix can be uploaded directly to, say, Kodak Gallery, without first loading them into the computer. Very convenient. I'm thinking of getting it out and setting it up at home (with fibre optic cable) in order to upload stuff while I work on one of the other computers.

So, size, convenience, and speed--what more could be asked for? Oh, it's free if you buy a cell/satellite mobile connection through AT&T, which requires a 2-yr contract. Otherwise, it's $350, which is what I paid for it at Office Depot.

New Netbook!

I bought a little (9-1/2 X 7 X 1") netbook from Office Depot--an Acer One with 160 GB hard drive, excellent RAM and accelerated cache for video--and only 2 lbs.

Here's what I said about it to the Webheads:

I spent the first day downloading the things I like to use, e.g.,
Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice. (That's why I wanted the big hard
drive--earlier models come with only 8 GB.) The second day I spent
trying to get the USB fax modem to work because I will be on dialup in
places. Acer doesn't come with an internal modem, so I bought an
external. I had to download the US Robotics driver, since Acer doesn't
have a CD drive to load the software either. But Windows reports a
.dll file missing, and I have been unable to find it online. Meantime
the modem blew out a phone line, that is, it couldn't hang up the line
when it didn't succeed in connecting. Very annoying--US Robotics says
it's the phone line and my phone provider says it's the modem. As I
was leaving and couldn't return it to the store, I brought the modem
with me, and will try to find someone with an external CD drive to
load the software for me. I wouldn't recommend USR. I'll also find
someone else's phone line to try it on!

I think Acer is correct in going with the non-phone modem concept--and
most software should be downloadable from the Internet.

I didn't have time to research the USR modem, but I realize now it is
probably 2004 technology. Meantime, the wireless and ethernet
connections on the Acer are functioning fine in several cities where I
traveled today from Sacto to Nashville to Ft Lauderdale. (I have no
idea what time zone my brain is in...)

Someone asked about price--$350 in the US at Office Depot. This was
much better than I saw for the DELL mini (online) and others, because
it included the larger HD. A similarly equipped Dell was over $450. It
was another $30 for the (so far) non-functioning external USR modem.
They can't keep the Acers on the shelf. In the 3 days it took for me
to decide to buy one, they had sold 11--just one left for me. [I checked
out the Acer here in Marathon, FL, and they had a deal--free if you buy
an AT&T cellphone modem, or $450 without it. Too pricey for me.]

One really neat thing--I could open it up fully on the airline tray
table--I've found increasingly that I couldn't use a 15" laptop on a
plane at all. Battery is only about 2-1/2 hrs, but I don't need the
upgrade that Gavin mentions, as I rarely use it unplugged.

One minor annoyance. I frequently increase the font/type size on
various Websites, but then they tend to readjust themselves if my
fingertips stray over the mousepad. I'm not sure why. It should only
change with Cntrl-+.

I've since found that the keyboard is a little small for my husband's fingers (he is losing dexterity because of peripheral neuropathy), and I've spent a long time with Outlook Express setup--why can't this be a Mac????? But otherwise, it is operating very well. I picked up the broadband connection from Comcast here in our Florida retreat by downloading online (it also came with a CD). So it's only the older technology of dial-up that I will have a problem with.

I'm wondering if this netbook--with a 24" monitor connected by one of the 3 USB ports--can't replace a regular-size computer. Of course their prices are plummeting.

And it's cute.

My Interview on Absolutely Intercultural

I was very pleased to be interviewed by Anne Fox for Absolutely intercultural. It's a great podcast for learners, carefully planned and executed, and Anne has a terrific speaking voice.

Our interview topic was language learning websites, and I spoke about my experiences with using Babbel (see my earlier blog on that). Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the time to keep up with it, but I notice I am getting a lot better at following conversations on TV programs in Spanish, so I guess it was of some use.

Free Digital Photos

This looks like it might be a useful site to find imagess for a vocabulary exercise or for student projects. Photos are free and copyright free. Of course, there is always the option to add the extra $$ for a print version. Also, student photographers can upload their work and ask for money. Good potential.

Daily English Activities

Nik Peachey's new blog, Daily English Activities, for students and teachers (with teacher lesson plans and support) is developing beautifully. I especially like the way he finds interesting sites, like Yolango (which has video trailers with scripts and subtitles), and creates ready-to-use lesson plans making use of them; or points students to ways to enhance or make regular use of the resource.


Hope he keeps on with this development. It's also an interesting use for a blog.

WikiEducator

The WikiEducator site purports to be a clearinghouse for free and open source learning. Some of the projects seem very promising, but it is difficult to find one that is already complete. The content-based learning, including computer/IT look like they have potential. Let's hope the bandwagon takes off (is that a mixed metaphor?)

These are the goals:

The WikiEducator is an evolving community intended for the collaborative:

* planning of education projects linked with the development of free content;
* development of free content on Wikieducator for e-learning;
* work on building open education resources (OERs) on how to create OERs.
* networking on funding proposals developed as free content.

Nik Peachey's Technology Blogs

Today I had a chance to explore Nik's blogs in more depth. These are very rich because he indicates ways to use the technology with students and/or for teacher training. Following through with each of his blog entries is like a full course in IT for teachers.

His two blogs are

Quick Shout

and the more cumbersomely named

Learning technology teacher development blog for ELT

Enjoy!

Embedded Chat Widgets

Although I have found it inconvenient for users (and me) to have interactive widgets on this blog, one of these might be useful for a wiki page as it could be more self-contained.

Suggestions from the Webhead elist include (from Robert Squires):

Yackpack - the Walkie Talkie Widget formerly available directly on PBWiki, and which has Voicegroups.

Meebo - you create your own chatroom and paste the code into the sidebar of your wiki or blog.

Gabbly - the PBWiki default, was mentioned several times as having horrible advertisements that you can't get rid of. However, any person who visits the wiki can chat with other visitors who are there at the same time while with Gtalk or Meebo, the visitors can only chat with the owner of that widget (ie.e, the creator of the wiki) but not with each other (per Negiz in a responding email).

Robert also offered an interesting blog site with a list of ten more chat widgets: ReadWriteWeb.

I followed this breadcrumb trail and found an interesting site, built by Kiernan, that strings together YouTube videos so that you get continuous play, one after another, on a particular subject (in this case rock groups). Anyone can add a video without a password, though this feature might present problems in a school setting. Nice code, though a little removed from the original subject, chat widgets: http://www.chann3lz.com/.

Websites for Teaching the Blind

These links are from Dottuta (Kuwait Univ) of the Webheads, based on work with a blind student. The voice potential of the Web (and for Deaf students, the visual/closed captioning potential) should really make a difference. I have added some annotation to the list of sites, which are mainly British and American. The most promising of these is first on the list. I'd love to hear from anyone with information about sites in other languages, or additional English language sites.

Camera Obscura has lists of links to a wide variety of text-to-audio friendly sites, including hypertext archives, museums, query-submission forms for search engines, news readers, government resources, etc. Relatively conveniently organized by type of resource.

WWW Resources and Homepages [for the Blind] - a list of useful links, unfortunately in no particular order, but with helpful descriptions.

The Braille Institute's page of links (alpha-sorted) to various non-profit organizations that assist the blind, with a brief description of the mission of each. It would take some initiative to further explore and sort through the links on each of these pages.

Action for Blind People, according to this site, "is an expert national (UK) organisation, ensuring blind and partially sighted people receive practical support in all aspects of their lives." News and information relevant to issues affecting people with this disability, all with audio recordings. (Wouldn't a podcast feature to be nice?)

Tom Lorimer's Home Page, "has been set up to assist the Visually Impaired computer user locate information and services relating to blindness." The site is mainly focused on computer, software, and Internet issues and resources, but also has links to other useful sites. Useful links, though not well organized.

VIP Games Zone offers "accessible sound games for blinds [sics] and visually impaired people," and includes some free games and an e-list to converse with other players. Appears to be home-made software, but I haven't had a chance to try it out.

And this from Nergiz, also of the Webheads:

Odiogo claims to create text-to-speech podcasts for your blogs with a "Listen Button feature deployed in next to no time for WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, BlogEngine.NET and Terapad platforms."

And see the previous entry also [yeah, here's where I need a wiki instead!]

By the way, this blog also has an audio text-to-speech feature, though it usually takes a few days for the audio to be compiled and linked to my posts.

Oddcast TTS

Text-to-speech (TTS) might be a great way for students to hear what they are trying to say. SitePal now has a version of TTS that sounds pretty authentic. Try it out at
Oddcast.