The Physical versus the Virtual

"Given that both E-Books and online courses be used for the sole purpose of learning, which one would you say was a more effective option?"

I don't see this as being "either...or" (it's like asking what's better, a book or a course). An ebook is a resource and an online course is a means of delivery that includes a whole host of possible resources, learning theories, and types of communication (i.e., asynchronous and synchronous communication).

We might ask: 1) What do you prefer, ebooks or physical books? 2) What do you prefer, online, blended, or face-to-face courses?

Heidi says, "...I know my team would not be receptive to e-books as a form of learning".

When I think of ebooks, I think of books found in Google Books, ebrary, etc. where parts or entire books can be accessible via the web. If someone rejects the use of ebooks, I'd be interested in knowing how much of it is a personal preference and how much of it is due to accessibility and know-how of the Internet and technology as a whole. It would be interesting to know Heidi's corporate learning environment, but I would say that if I have limited access to the Internet and/or I do not know much about technology, that's one thing. If I have access to the web, I'm technologically savvy, and I prefer not to use ebooks, that's a different notion.

Would like to hear additional thoughts on the matter.

Academic paragraph assignment

A writing assignment as part of an open academic writing course...

Watch the video below and create one academic paragraph related to a topic being discussed. The academic paragraph will include three main points with adequate support for each. The main points can come from the video below or from any other reliable source. Your citations and references should follow APA. You are to post your paragraph here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr64l4FjvBQ&feature=related

Learning4Content - The WikiEducator "Invite them and they will come" Online Workshop

I'm very happy to be co-facilitating the next Learning4Content - "Invite them and they will come" Online Wikieducator (WE) workshop!  If you are interested in learning WE skills, register today!  You'll quickly find that there is plenty of support throughout the WE family should you need it which includes contacting me directly.

See how others have used Wikieducator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc9-CNlIqsY

We'll see you in the wiki!

Learning4Content - The WikiEducator "Invite them and they will come" Online Workshop

I'm very happy to be co-facilitating the next Learning4Content - "Invite them and they will come" Online Wikieducator (WE) workshop!  If you are interested in learning WE skills, register today!  You'll quickly find that there is plenty of support throughout the WE family should you need it which includes contacting me directly.

See how others have used Wikieducator:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc9-CNlIqsY

We'll see you in the wiki!

Letting Go in the Classroom

[brightcove vid=14109949001&exp3=11490813001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=10228042001&w=486&h=412]

For many teachers, letting go of both classroom control and well-designed lesson plans seems extremely difficult. It also seems like a really bad idea. But teachers need to "embrace the messiness that is learning," says master teacher and author Robyn Jackson.

Blogs and language learning

Some questions have been surfacing recently (as part of a TESOL online workshop) about the use of blogs.  When deciding whether to use a blog or not, an educator typically must ask the following two questions (among others):

1. How can I use a blog to further my own teaching practice?

2. How can I use a blog to further the achievement of my students?

Understanding that there is some overlap in asking both questions, I will focus more on the former.  Notice how the video below presents a discourse among individuals interested in language learning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQdQSISB8E8

The benefit of a blog is that individuals can create discourse through asynchronous communication on topics of interest.

What are your thoughts on using blogs, either as a means for promoting your own learning or as a means for promoting student achievement?

Digital native and the usefulness of the term in language teaching/learning

Recent quotes from an ongoing PD treatment for EFL educators...

Techonology seems something generational.

I am not using blogs currently as a teacher, because I think I need to practice more in order to get all habilities so I can be able to guide my students through all the process.

Quotes for the term digital native...

Wikipedia entry...(notice authors)

Quotes against the term digital native...

It seems that it is impossible to generalise about teenagers

...students they studied displayed an inordinate level of trust in search engine brand as a measure of credibility.

So, is the term digital native relevant to today's teaching and learning of another language?  Is there a positive correlation between a teachers age and the way in which technology is used to increase student achievement (i.e., language development)?

Digital native and the usefulness of the term in language teaching/learning

Recent quotes from an ongoing PD treatment for EFL educators...

Techonology seems something generational.

I am not using blogs currently as a teacher, because I think I need to practice more in order to get all habilities so I can be able to guide my students through all the process.

Quotes for the term digital native...

Wikipedia entry...(notice authors)

Quotes against the term digital native...

It seems that it is impossible to generalise about teenagers

...students they studied displayed an inordinate level of trust in search engine brand as a measure of credibility.

So, is the term digital native relevant to today's teaching and learning of another language?  Is there a positive correlation between a teachers age and the way in which technology is used to increase student achievement (i.e., language development)?

Is Teaching a “Class” a Big Mistake?

Learning is social.

I think most would agree that learning occurs through social interaction, but I see this as being different than learning being social.  One can intuitively see how this is the case when considering how one learns how to play a musical instrument.  If I study from the same music teacher, the same number of hours, the exact same instrument, under all the same conditions as my friend, the two of us would still not play music in the same way, with the same musical style, etc.  Learning is personal.

A problem with class sizes of 25 – 30 is the peer group is often too small to be functional. Not everyone is ready to give feedback when a learner needs it. Larger group sizes are needed for peer review to work. From our experience groups of around 50 – 60 students should be considered as a minimum, groups of 90 – 120 or more is even better.

This really depends on how one defines a group.  Since "virtual learning enviroments" is being considered, I would argue that we are really looking at a network as opposed to a group whereby peers become not only the classmates within the same school, but peers that extend beyond the classroom.  Regardless, it's the type of interaction between the students that counts, and not the number of students that make up the learner's network. 

Teachers (and schools) have the obligation to find innovative ways to connect students and experts in ways that bring about multiple perspectives.  Teaching a class is not a mistake, teaching a finite group is.

The Social versus the Personal

The Yin and Yang of Ideas and Creativity

My response...

Is social creativity more productive than individual productivity?

It depends on how one views “social creativity”. This made me think of Siemens’s collective/connective or Downes’s group/network distinction. Social creativity (in terms of degree) is the result of the individuals’ creativity. If some individuals are marginalized in any way, the misconception is that social creativity is representative of each person. As Downes has referred to a connective community as being open, diverse, autonomous, and interactive; as I see it, these same attributes are required when promoting creativity in general.

Personally, I tend to avoid terms like “social learning” and “social creativity” – both happen at an individual level through social interaction.

Dealing with the Three Cs in English Language Learning and Teaching

Recent response to an interesting exchange...

With regard to FL teacher education, how do you attempt and/or manage to balance the three important perspectives or goals you are referring to, i.e. “creativity”, “criticality” and “caring”?

Teachers have to use discretion based on the maturity, academic, and linguistic levels of the students, but choices can come in a variety of ways:

1. choosing which content from the Internet to use in class and why the content is appropriate

2. choosing which groups will form and how they are to work together (e.g., team charter)

3. deciding which products to produce (e.g., video, brochure, presentation, etc.)

4. determining how to express empathy and perspective

By pursuing understandings (Wiggins and Mctighe, 2005), teachers can use a variety of assessment methods (e.g., Socratic method, instructional conversations, tests, quizzes, academic prompts, performance tasks, etc.) for making more informed inferences on a student's achievement.  This also implies the need to set expressive outcomes instead of behavioral outcomes in ways that make learning and the assessment of learning more of a ill-defined, non-linear, and emergent (i.e., authentic) phenomenon.  Thus, we are requiring students to know more than discrete facts and figures that they likely will find on standardized tests; it also makes stakeholders more conscious of a learner's capacity (as a matter of degree) instead of a competence (either you have it or you don't).

As for language teaching and learning go, I label communicative and linguistic knowledge and skill as being (to use Popham's words, 2008) enabling knowledge and subskills respectively in terms of how they relate to understandings.  In other words, language becomes both a means and an end much like ESL and content teachers working together in the US when teaching English language learners (i.e., Sheltered Content Instruction or CLIL).

Day one in WordPress!

Well,  I finally made the move.  This is officially day one in WordPress, and I really like what I see.   I look forward to continued discussions related to all things education.

Open course for EFL educators (Wikieducator)

Here's a recent message to EFL educators in Mexico taking an open (to anyone) course on professional development in Wikieducator...

Hello everyone! We are completing the second week of the Wikieducator workshop which you should now have a working knowledge of the following skills:

• Create bold and italicized text
• Create headings and lists (i.e., bullets, number, and indentions)
• Upload and insert photos respecting copyright laws (e.g., using creative commons search and/or Wikimedia Commons)
• Create internal/external links
• Begin working on your user page

The central question we are focusing on during this workshop relates to the following question: How to become a better EFL educator? The answer to this question, which will be unique for each of you, will be in the form of a personal learning network (PLN). This workshop is intended to help you develop your own PLN and to share it with others.

In your user page, add a section (i.e., heading) where you share your goals in becoming a better EFL educator in terms of being a better communicator of English, increasing your pedagogical skill set, and/or increasing your knowledge of how languages are learned. Follow up by stating what you plan to do to accomplish these goals. If your goals change over the course of the semester, which they might, just update your user page to reflect these changes.

The first of three modules, the communicator of the English language module is meant to review various web 2.0 tools that might assist you in becoming a better communicator of the English language (both in written and spoken discourse). Weekly activities will be populated throughout each module and everyone is encouraged to participate in at least two activities per module. We will schedule several face-to-face sessions as well, but these sessions are meant for those who need assistance in getting around Wikieducator.

Finally, make sure your name appears in the list and that all of your information is correct. You'll notice that we are tracking edits so you can easily see how others are contributing. You can also refer to this list to find a colleague's user page.

Well, that's it for now. Keep asking questions and we'll see you in the wiki!