Let Pictures Speak!

Blabberize is a web 2.0 tool that allows users to upload a picture, draw a "mouth" on that picture, and then record or upload a sound clip to make it speak or sing along with the sound. 

Give Students a Voice by Audioboo

listen to ‘Give Students a Voice by Audioboo’ on Audioboo

As I said in my boo above, Audioboo is a free tool that allows users to create podcasts or audio files up to 3 minutes in length using the website directly or the mobile app. There are a lot of features that make me choose this tool to use with my students:

Make Your Collages Interactive by ThingLink

Retrieved July 23, 2013 from here

is a free and user-friendly digital tool that provides users with the ability to turn any image into an interactive graphic. It enables you to create multiple “hot spots” on specific parts of an image and turn that image into a multimedia launcher. You can include video, record audio or provide a link to any website with the click of a button. You can easily embed an interactive ThingLink graphic into any blog or website. ThingLink is a truly amazing tool that allows users to pack a lot of content into a normal space (Susan Oxnevad, 2012). To create your own interactive images, here is a great tutorial shared by our instructors in the GE4L Micro-MOOC:

Video-Based Quizzes

Videos are visual-audio tools that can bring pleasure and fun into our traditional EFL classroom. Reading an article by Canning-Wilson, I discovered a lot of uses and effects of videos that I never recognized before.  Here is a list of what videos can do for foreign language learners:

1. The use of video and sound conditions is important for the story perception. The visual cues are important, since they either facilitated or distracted from understanding.
2. Visual organizers based on videos help learners improve comprehension and aid in the retention of information.
3. Videos offer contextual support and/or help learners visualize words as well as meanings.
4. Visuals can be used to enhance the meaning of the message trying to be conveyed by the speakers through the use of paralinguistic cues.
5. The use of visuals in videos can help learners to predict information and infer ideas.
6. Videos can stimulate and motivate student interest.
7. Videos can help enhance clarity and give meaning to an auditory text.
8. Videos can act as a stimulus or catalyst to help integrate materials or aspects of the language.
9. Videos can give students realistic models to imitate for role-play; can increase awareness of other cultures by teaching appropriateness and suitability; can offer a visual reinforcement of the target language and can lower anxiety when practicing the skill of listening.

YouTube is a great website where you can find a variety of videos that can be used with your students. You can upload and download whatever is suitable for their levels, interest and motivation. However, sometimes you need some sort of interaction between students and the video. This will help students to be focused and practice some skills while watching. One of the interesting websites that allow users to interact with videos is ESLvideo.com. Browsing this rich resource, you will find a variety of ready-made quizzes based on videos. There are a lot of them based on your students' levels. You can also create your own quizzes to match your objectives. Here are some ideas using this website with my students:

• I can use The Power of Words quiz as a pre-speaking activity. Students will watch the video, then think about a personal story where the words changed their entire lives.
• Students can complete the quiz The life of Charles Dickens as a post-activity after reading about Charles Dickens. They will improve their skill to listen for specific information and listen to the correct pronunciation of new words.
• Using this website, I created my first quiz titled Tell me Why? Students will listen to the song and complete the quiz. It helps them to build new vocabulary. Then, they respond to the post-question in groups. They will talk about the ways they can help each other. 
• Students can create their own quizzes and send them to the class wiki to practice listening with a focus on specific information or grammatical items.  

If you have any suggestions using this website with your students, it will be more welcome to share them with us here. 

How to Digitalize What you Read?

Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once in the first few years of school. All what teachers do is just to teach only new vocabulary and concepts relevant to new content. Seen this way, reading is a simple process: readers decode each word in a text and then automatically comprehend the meaning of the words. Do you think … this is the right understanding of reading?

Think for a moment about the last thing you read … an essay, a newspaper analysis, a report, a novel? If you could recapture your mental processing, you would notice that you read with reference to a particular world of knowledge and experience related to the text. The text evoked voices, memories, knowledge, and experiences from other times and places. As experienced readers read, they begin to generate a mental representation, or gist, of the text, which serves as an evolving framework for understanding subsequent parts of the text. As they read further, they test this evolving meaning and monitor their understanding, paying attention to inconsistencies that arise as they interact with the text. If they notice they are losing the meaning as they read, they draw on a variety of strategies to readjust their understandings ... an article about reading by Christine Cziko et al.

Reading, according to this view, is not only knowing some new words and concepts, but also knowing new experiences, cultures and other voices. Students need to adopt some strategies that can help them to learn how to read to make connections and build new perspectives. Week 5 provides me a variety of tools and ways to involve my students in reading texts and novels. Let's know more about how to make your students want to read not just for understanding but also for pleasure!

Objectives of Week 5:

During this week participants will:

• have an overview of the possibilities for developing learner's reading skills in a digital world
• discuss what they've acquired for their teaching toolkit and assess their own learning during the session

Tasks of Week 5:

Task 1 Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts

During this task, we read a very great lesson plan. It is a comprehensive plan where you can find objectives, resources, tools and steps. Then, we were asked to choose an article from this link. It is really a very rich link where you can find a variety of articles that can be a guide for your teaching in the 21st century with its numerous requirements. The third step was to choose one of the following tools .. ReadWriteThink interactive tool, Fodey or Bighugelabs to create a magazine cover, news page, or brochure to summarize the article we chose earlier. I took a lot of time and effort to choose an article. All of them are so rich with ideas and thoughts.  At last, I selected an article by Marc Prensky "The 21st-Century Digital Learner". 

This article talks about involving students in making decisions about their learning. I do this with my students all the time. I listen to their views about their way to learn and what make them involved and like their school. We have to do this, because we talk about the life of a person not a pot. We have to give them a VOICE to tell us what they feel, what they need, and what they want to do. I just want to send this message to all teachers from all over the world .... PLEASE GIVE YOUR STUDENTS A VOICE .... I'M SURE THEY WILL SURPRISE YOU! Here is its cover using Bighugelabs. It is an innovative way to make connections and visualize new concepts. 

Task ... Cool Extra Idea: Publish Your E-book

In this task, we were asked to use Epubbud to publish our e-books. It is a great idea where we can feel ownership by creating our own books and let all people around the world read them and leave comments. By this tool, you will give your students a chance to e-publish themselves and create their own world. While surfing the internet about how to use Epubbud in my teaching, I found a wiki about this tool. It can be a beneficial resource for you to read and create your e-books to enrich your classrooms. For me, I created an e-book about some of the tools that we have explored during our Digital Tools e-course. Here is the link .... Happy Reading!

This is not the last task to do. There is another thing that I have to do before saying Good Bye EVO 2012. The next post will discuss how to use such tools adapting a lesson plan provided by our moderators in my own teaching context.

Bring Life into Your Classes by TalkTools

Week 4 reminds me with a research that I did in my Special Diploma 8 years ago. Our professor asked us to find a problem that our students face while learning the English language as a foreign language. That time, I was a novice teacher for just a year. This means that I have no any expertise with students and the difficulties that may face in their learning process. Thus, I decided to meet those students and talk about their experiences and learning problems. One of the most difficult skills that most of my students talked about is "HOW TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES IN ENGLISH FLUENTLY". 

I never forget one of my students' words, "I want to express my ideas and feelings freely, but what If I made a mistake, what if I didn't  find the word that I need, what if my colleagues laughed at me, what if you didn't say well done ...... ".  Then, I felt that the problem is not my students' way to learn, but my way of teaching. I'm the only blamed person because I couldn't break the ice between my students and the Giant Fear of Speaking. From that time, I began to create a safe environment where students can convey their thoughts and emotions more easily. This is what makes week 4 important for me because it provides me with a variety of tools that help my students to speak and forget about the barrier between their tongues and words. 

Objectives of Week 4:

During this week, participants will:

• explore online tools to enhance learners' speaking skills
• have a hands-on activity to learn how to use the tool of their choice
• share their findings with their peers

Task 1: Learning about Speaking Tools

In this task, we were asked  to watch a video created by Ana to know more about speaking tools that we can use with our students. She differentiated between two kinds of tools: Synchronous and Asynchronous. Here is the video:

 

According to our moderators, there are a lot of Synchronous and Asynchronous tools. Here are two lists of them:

ASYNCHRONOUS TOOLS:

http://mailvu.com/ (video mail) 

http://www.keek.com/ (post your status in video) 

http://www.aviary.com/tools/myna# (create podcasts) 

http://screenr.com (create screencasts) 

SYNCHRONOUS TOOLS:

http://wiziq.com (platform for online classes) 

http://www.socialhangouts.me/ (online video chat) 

http://trendtok.opentok.com/ (twitter video chat) 

http://www.slideshare.net/zipcast (turn a slideshare pres. into a webinar) 

http://skype.com  

http://www.hoot.me/ (study with a facebook contact)   

 

Task 2: Video Interview

We were asked to use http://recordr.tv, a site which allows us to record videos with our webcams or with our microphones only. The task is to listen to Ana's 2 questions (Why did you choose to be a teacher? & What do you like most about being a teacher?), then answer them using the same website. Really, I feel so sad because I couldn't use it at all. I tried it out many times, but  there was an error message that appeared after clicking "upload". So, I used another tool that allows us to record our voice and capture the screen at the same time. It is www.screenr.com. Here is my screencast.

Task 3: A Video Questionnaire

intervue.me allows you to create questionnaires and then have students leave video replies. In task 3, we were asked to use this tool to record a video reply answering the question of Ana (How do you celebrate Christmas with your family?). I created an account and created my questionnaire that included just one question "Which tools do you like most in our DigiTools e-course?". However, it didn't work well when I wanted to record a video reply to Ana's question. Again and again, I selected another tool that I regularly used with my students. It is audacity; an audio editor for recording, slicing, and mixing audio.

Task 4: Draw your Family

Two new tools were provided to complete task 4. One of them is Sketchcast that  allows us to record our voices while we draw on a virtual white board. Another alternative is Educreations. It is a site where you can create and share great video lessons with your iPad or browser. I tried Sketchcast, but it didn't work well. I think that there are some missing programs or updates in my laptop. Then, I tried Educreations. Really, it so fantastic and easy to use. Sometimes, I like to play with colors, voices and pictures like my students. That's why I'm so close to their hearts. In 5 minutes, I created my video lesson describing my family. I think that my students will like this tool so much as they like drawing and hearing their voices.

This is not the end of week 4, there are a lot of tools that I have to explore before choosing one or two to create my lesson plan. I know that this will take more time, but I enjoy time with these treasures.

Let's Try Glogging!

During my wiki project, I wanted to make a poster including the work team photos, goal of the project, the tasks required and and my students' voices. Then, I remembered a tool that I have learned about it in one of EVO2011 courses. This tool is called Glogster. Let's know more about it.

What is a Glogster?

It an online tool that allows you to create digital, interactive posters. These posters incorporate text, audio, graphics and video. Here is the the glog that I have created during my wiki project:

How to use Glogster in the classroom?

Instead of using powerpoint to present your lecture- try using glogster! You can include text and images that relate to the material. You can link to additional web resources. It’s an easy, clean way to present information to students. When you finish lecturing, the glogs can be posted online for the students to refer back to later to study for the test.

Glogs can also be used as part of a webquest activity. Teachers can link to websites that contain valuable information. Videos and graphics can be embedded right into the glog so the information is neatly in one place. These webquests are easy to create and the students will have fun exploring the glog.

Students will also love to create their own glogs! Instead of printing our pictures and messing with scissors and glue, images and video can be added right to their glogs. They can express an event in history, a science concept, characters in a story, or math concepts. The value they will get out of the project will depend on the assignment they are given. Assignment should be structured so that they are providing valuable information, but can also use they creativity and express themselves!

How to Create a Poster on Glogster?

It is so easy to create your first glog. Please follow these instuctions and videos and you can do it in ten minutes:

1. Go to Glogster.com and set up your account. The first screen you will see is your dashboard. Choose the "Create a new Glog" button.
2. Select "Wall" from the magnet toolbar that sits on top of your Glog to the left. This changes the background art on your poster. There are several genres from which to choose, ranging from emo to goth to hippie.
3. Select "Images" from the magnet toolbar. Choose a picture from your computer and upload it. Glogster also allows you to link to online media or using the Grab feature, Glogster will initialize the camera or video equipment on your computer to create new media.
4. Position your photo by dragging it to the desired location within your Glog. A new toolbar will now appear, allowing you to add special effects, frames and experiment with color work.
5. Add graphics to your Glog by selecting the button on the toolbar. Hundreds of themed graphic and animated images are available as stock options in Glogster. Simply drag and drop them where appropriate.
6. Add text by selecting the button on your magnet toolbar. This will open a box allowing you to choose a text frame. Drag and drop it at the location you desire. Select Edit on the new toolbar that is found near the top of the frame. You will now be able to type in your text, change the font style and size, and use other special effects.
7. Add video and sound in the same way as the other features. Select the appropriate feature from the toolbar. Select upload, link or grab. Add special effects.
8. Continue adding images and other effect to create your Glog. Glogster has thousands of examples available from which to draw inspiration. Once you are pleased with your Glog, select the preview button and finally the publish button.

Glogster in 90 seconds

Adding Wall

Adding Text

Adding Graphics

Adding Sounds

Adding Videos

Adding Links

Examples of Educational Glogs:

Here are some glogs created by other teachers. You can use them with your students or consider them as a model for you:

• Teacher's Glog
• Student's Glog
• Class Glogs

By using this tool, I think that teachers can integrate all language skills in a way that make students feel very happy. This tool allows students to play with colors, texts, sounds and videos. Of course, this is what students need. Try it and find the difference.

Resources:

1. http://cnx.org/content/m32202/latest/
2. http://www.slideshare.net/catherinelambert/using-glogster-in-the-classroom-2550646
3. http://www.ehow.com/how_5941261_create-poster-glogster.html

Week 8: Hot Potatoes!

The most wonderful tool that I've used during this week is the "Hot Potatoes Program". Its name attracts me as I fond of potatoes, but when I tried it out, my fondness increases more and more. Surfing the web, I’ve found many manuals and ideas of using it efficiently in the classroom. I just want to share these ideas with you. Here is a detailed description of Hot Potatoes Program:

What is “Hot Potatoes”?

This is a popular set of educational software tools which have been developed by the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre. The purpose of the Hot Potatoes is to enable you to create interactive Web-based teaching exercises which can be delivered to any Internet-connected computer equipped with a browser. The exercises use HTML and JavaScript to implement their interactivity, but you do NOT need to know anything about these languages in order to use the programs. All you need to do is to enter the data for your exercises (questions, answers, responses etc.), and press a button. The program will create the Web pages for you, and you can then upload them to your server.

What are the Applications of “Hot Potatoes”?

It includes six applications enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and fill-in the gap exercises. Here is a detailed description of these applications:

1. JQuiz:
It creates question-based quizzes. Questions can be of four different types, including multiple-choice and short-answer. Specific feedback can be provided both for right answers and predicted wrong answers or distractors. In short-answer questions, the student's guess is intelligently parsed and helpful feedback to show what part of a guess is right and what part is wrong. The student can ask for a hint in the form of a "free letter" from the answer.

2. JCloze:

It is used to create gap-filled exercises (or ‘Fill in the gaps’). The users can enter their answers into the gaps, and click on the Check button to check their answers. All the answers are checked at the same time, which could be undesirable in certain cases. (Use JQuiz for such cases.). The designer can customize this exercise in various ways. Each gap can be assigned multiple correct answers. Hints may be assigned for each gap, which either gives clues, or displays the letter after every click..

3. JCross:

It creates crossword puzzles which can be completed online. You can use a grid of virtually any size. As in JQuiz and JCloze, a hint button allows the student to request a free letter if help is needed.

4. JMix:

It creates jumbled-sentence exercises. You can specify as many different correct answers as you want, based on the words and punctuation in the base sentence, and a hint button prompts the student with the next correct word or segment of the sentence if needed.

5. JMatch:
It is used to create ordering or matching exercises. The ordered/matched objects may be either text or images or a combination. This application can produce either listing exercises, for example placing frequency adverbs in order, or matching exercises, such as linking countries and nationalities. You can specify as many different correct answers as you want, based on the words and punctuation in the base sentence, and a hint button prompts the student with the next correct word or segment of the sentence if needed.

6. The Masher:

In addition, there is a sixth application called the Masher. This is designed to create complete units of material in one simple operation. If you are creating sequences of exercises and other pages that should form a unit, you may find the Masher useful. The Masher can also be used to upload Web pages not created with Hot Potatoes to the www.hotpotatoes.net server.

How do these applications work?

There are three stages in creating exercises with these applications:

1. Enter your data:
You type in the questions, answers, feedback etc. which forms the basis of the exercise.

2. Adjust the configuration:
The "configuration" is a set of information used to compile the Web pages. It includes instructions for the student, captions for navigation buttons, and other information which is not likely to change much between exercises.

3. Create your Web pages:
This is simply a matter of pressing the "Export to Web" button on the toolbar, choosing a file name, and letting the program do the rest.

Strongest Advantage of Hot Potatoes:

The developers have consciously avoided the ‘one-click right or wrong’ feedback system, strongly criticized about most other systems. Progressive feedback is given to the student either as hints or allowing checking of their answers in phases. This allows the student to be involved in a more cognitive process and to figure out the correct answer in a constructive manner.

The Main Pitfalls of Hot Potatoes:

a. Tendency of the learners to operate a binary correction strategy (If X is wrong, then Y must be the answer).
b. Any reasonably computer literate student can easily gain access to the HTML source code and hence the answers.
c. This could only be used as a self-learning or a self-assessment tool, but does not have merit as a testing tool.

Ready-made Hot Potatoes Exercises:

Surfing the internet, I’ve found a very fantastic website that includes hundreds of exercises using Hot Potatoes program. If you have no time to create your own, you can use them. Here is the link: http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Quizzes/Hot_Potatoes/.

Resources Used:

For more information and manuals for using Hot Potatoes, you can visit the following links:

- http://ited.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/ITinEd304/Hot%20Potatoes_rev_.pdf
- http://gregling.net/articles/hot_potatoes.pdf
- http://hotpot.uvic.ca/hotpot6_help.pdf
- http://umbc.uoregon.edu/eteacher/webskills/material/hotpotatoes6-howto.pdf
- http://www.ictcentre.wikispaces.net/file/view/Hot+Potatoes.pdf
- http://files.comeniuseb23sa.webnode.com/200000036-2fad330a73/WorkshopHotPotFx1GUIAO.pdf