June 2011
Teaching with Tecnology Newsletter
[ the Integrating Technology edition ]
Dear Colleague ,
Welcome to our Teaching with Technology Newsletter which explores the world of ICT in education, online training & development. In this issue we look at an especially challenging areas for teachers, and one that provokes much debate - how to integrate technology in a principled and effective way, into classroom practice.
You'll find the following sections in this newsletter:
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STOP PRESS
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INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY: 8 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
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COMPANY NEWS & UPDATE
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UPCOMING ONLINE COURSES
We hope you'll enjoy this newsletter. Please note that you've received it because you signed up for mailings from us on our website, or have done a course with us. If you no longer want to receive newsletters or mailings, please use the options at the bottom of this mail to manage your subscriptions with us.
STOP PRESS… STOP PRESS… STOP PRESS… STOP PRESS…
Our popular 2-week summer courses are filling up fast. If you'd like to learn how to set up and use Blogs, Wikis or Podcasting with your students, please get in touch with us to reserve a place on any of these courses!
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INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY:
8 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
As teachers living and working in the 21st-century, we all know that technology is part of our students' daily lives. And our students increasingly expect technology to be part of their language learning too. Many of your students probably already use dictionaries on their smart phones, or access websites to watch the news or videos in English.
We increasingly have access to technology in our classrooms. And our students are increasingly bringing their own technology into the classroom in the form of mobile devices. But we often need help with integrating technology effectively into communicative classroom practice.
The problem is we have often received little or no training in how to integrate technology into our regular classroom practice. We know we should be using it more, but we're not sure how! Here are the million dollar questions for teachers:
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How do I to integrate technology into my classroom?
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Why am I using it?
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How do I make it work well?
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When do I use it?
Where to start? Below are some more focused questions you can ask yourself. This can help with the initial planning stages of not just individual lessons, but they can also be asked when but looking at an overall syllabus, and working out where to slot in specific technology-related tasks and tools.
1. Outcomes: What do students learn?
Be clear on the main aims of the lesson. These are usually primarily linguistic in our field, but they also could relate to digital literacy skills, such as enhancing students' search skills via an activity. Once you are clear on the aims, ask yourself what the use of this particular technology bring this to the learning outcomes, and how it enhances learning.
2. Added value: What does the technology bring to the activity?
Check that the technology you are using enhances the activity in some way. For example if you use a free online poster site such as Glogster, students will be able to add multimedia such as videos, audio and digital photos. You wouldn't be able to achieve the same results with a traditional cardboard poster with magazine pictures cut out and stuck on it. The end product in Glogster will look a lot more professional, and you can share it with a wider audience – who can leave comments on the posters themselves.
3. Time & effort: Is the time spent on the tool worth it? Will it be for long-term or short-term use?
Ensure that using a tool is not going to take up more time and energy than the language actually being produced. With any technology tool, if it's a very complicated to use, and students are going to get bogged down in the mechanics, use something simpler, or use paper! Ask yourself how much mileage you are going to get out of the tool. If you're going to use a class blog for students to work on their writing, you will probably want to include it as part of a longer term project, rather than for a one-off writing exercise.
4. Syllabus: What´s the fit?
Using technology randomly with no clear overall purpose is going to frustrate learners, and make you look disorganised. Take a look at your syllabus and think about what tools you could use, at what points in your syllabus, and to achieve what results. Make a copy of your syllabus, and pencil in ideas for tools and activities on the syllabus itself. Show this to your colleagues and discuss the alternatives.
5. Skills: What do the teacher and students need to know how to do?
Think about the technical and digital literacy skills both you and your students need to be able to successfully use the technology/tool. For example, the technical skills involved in using a blog include: setting it up, adding multimedia to postings, enabling comments, etc. And the digital literacy skills include: writing for an online audience, appropriate length and style, appropriate use of hyperlinking, balancing images/video and text on the page, use of images and copyright, etc.
6. Location: Where and when will the tool(s) be used?
Depending on your context, you may want to take students to the computer room for specific activities. Or share activities in the one computer classroom, with additional tech work done at home (assuming they have access there). Or you may have students use their own mobile devices – inside and/or outside the classroom. Where and when tools are used is an important part of basic classroom management.
7. Role: Do students consume or produce?
Keep in mind that using technology does not mean simply accessing webpages, or consuming information via YouTube videos. The really interesting developments in web 2.0 enable your students to become producers of online content. Blogs, pod casts, online posters, videos... Your students can easily produce, and share it with a wider audience online. Ensure that your use of technology across the syllabus balances consumption with production.
8. Resources: What tools are available?
Have a range or repertoire of tools and techniques to draw on. And for each of technology tools you decide to use, design effective task types for it, and consider how these tasks fit into the wider picture above. This is where training can help. Access informal training via contact with fellow teachers, either online through social or personal learning networks, or chatting in the staff room. Consider formal training, such as workshops or courses, either online or face-to-face. Check out the rest of this newsletter for some online training course options that can help!
Read more
And if you’ve missed our previous Newsletters, check them out in the Newsletter Archive on our website.
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COMPANY NEWS & UPDATE
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Website Update
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IATEFL
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Publications
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Conferences
Website Update
Our new website has proved to be a big hit with everyone and we're constantly making updates with new resources, lesson plans and activities, etc. If you haven't visited for a while, check out our new mLearning (mobile and handheld learning) Lesson Repository from our popular six-week 'Introduction to mLearning' course, as well as our ICT Lesson Repository from the CertICT course. Don't forget we also have a great library of webquests from our Webquest course, too!
IATEFL
We had a great IATEFL conference this year, with many members of TCE speaking and giving presentations. Check out some of the interviews with TCE people:
You can also find resources connected to the talks we did:
Quite a few of us are active members of IATEFL, with Gavin as Chair of ElCom (the Electronics Committee), Nicky as Online events Organiser for the LTSIG (Learning Technologies Special Interest Group), Carl as Web Developer for BESIG (Business English) and Ana as Assistant Newsletter Editor for RESIG (Research)
Publications
Nicky and Gavin are hard at work on a new publication for Pearson. They're writing a book on digital literacies along with Dr. Mark Pegrum of the University of Western Australia and this is due out in the spring of 2012. The publication will coincide with a digital literacies tour for Gavin and Mark, taking in Australia, seven countries in south-east Asia and on through Europe to finish at IATEFL in Glasgow.
Conferences
You can find us at these upcoming conferences:
Navitas Big Day In (Sydney), July 2011
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UPCOMING COURSES
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Short courses: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasting
17 Jun - 02 Jul | 01 - 15 July | 15 - 30 July
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10 hours over two weeks (each course).
Blogs, wikis, and podcasts are ICT tools which are being used by increasingly numbers of teachers in the classroom – these separate short courses will teach you how to use them with your own learners! Each of these short two weeks courses looks at one ICT tool (blogs, wikis, and podcasts) in depth. You will learn not only how the tool works, but how to set up projects with and for your own learners. Each course is hands-on and practical. With plenty of tutor guidance and support, you will learn to set up a project with these free Internet-based tools for your own learners. You will leave each course ready to try out the tool with your own classes [ More... ]
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Blended CertICT - Certificate in Teaching Languages with Technology
in Barcelona | 04 July - 18 December 2011 |
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120 hours
The Blended Cert ICT: Certificate in teaching Languages is an online international qualification, designed and developed by The Consultants-E. This course examines a range of useful technology-related skills and tools which are immediately applicable in the language classroom. Course participants develop basic computer literacy skills, learn about various approaches to using technology in the classroom, explore (free) online tools, and have the opportunity to put these into practice over the duration of the course itself. The Blended Cert ICT is run in blended mode, which means that part of the course is offered face-to-face (f2f), and part of the course offered online. Of the total 120 houras, 50 hours are offered f2f intensively over two weeks, and 70 houras are then offered online. Please see below the dates for the Blended Cert ICT in Barcelona:
Face-to-face: 04 -15 July, 2011 (50 hours, 5 every day over two weeks)
Online: 03 October - 18 december, 2011 (70 hours over ten weeks, online)
Location: International House Barcelona, c/ Trafalgar, Barcelona
[ More...]
[ professional qualification jointly managed and validated by ]
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WebQuests
01 - 30 July 2011
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30 hours over four weeks.
The WebQuests course examines the theory and practice of WebQuests, and looks at real examples of WebQuests created for language learners. Participants design, plan and create their own WebQuest, for use in their own teaching context with their own learners, and put their WebQuest online using free WebQuest generator tools. [ more... ]
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E-Moderation: A Training Course For Online Tutors
01 - 30 September 2011
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30 hours over four weeks.
This course is aimed at teachers, trainers, tutors, facilitators, lecturers and mentors from any discipline and any level of education, who are interested in developing the skills necessary to become an effective e-moderator in online cours.
With the launch of the Cambridge ESOL Online CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), CELTA online tutors are required to have emoderation skills training. Our E-Moderation course is specifically recommended by Cambridge ESOL for this training. Tutors from certified training centres are offered a 15% discount on the E-Moderation course fees. Find out more on our website.
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CertIBET - Certificate in Business English Training
03 October 2011 - 19 December 2011 |
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70 hours over ten weeks
The CertIBET (Certificate in International Business English Training) aims to meet the needs of business English trainers to enhance their skills and expertise, to increase their employability prospects in the sector, and improve their ability to deliver a quality product to potential clients. The CertIBET course looks at a range of useful techniques, tools and resources for teaching Business English to learners, in 10 modules. [ More... ]
[ professional qualification jointly managed and validated by ]
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CertICT - Certificate in Teaching Languages with Technology
03 October 2011 - 06 March 2012 |
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120 hours over twenty weeks
The Cert ICT: Certificate in teaching Languages is an online international qualification, designed and developed by The Consultants-E. This course examines a range of useful technology-related skills and tools which are immediately applicable in the language classroom. Course participants develop basic computer literacy skills, learn about various approaches to using technology in the classroom, explore (free) online tools, and have the opportunity to put these into practice over the duration of the course itself.
[ More...]
[ professional qualification jointly managed and validated by ]
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Moodle Starter: An Introductory Course to Learn How to Use Moodle
10 October - 12 December 20114
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40 hours over eight weeks.
This course is aimed at teachers, trainers, tutors, facilitators, lecturers and mentors from any discipline and any level of education, who are interested in learning how to set up and use Moodle to offer online courses. The course is run entirely online, in Moodle itself. [ More... ]
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Moodle Smarter: An Introductory Course to Learn How to Use Moodle
10 October - 12 December 20114
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40 hours over eight weeks.
This more advanced training course teaches you to use some of the more complex Moodle tools and functions, which are not covered in our Moodle Starter course. It is aimed at educators who already have a solid grounding in Moodle, and would like to expand their repertoire by learning about other administrative tools. The focus of the course is squarely on good pedagogical practice and course design, and how advanced Moodle functions relate to this. [ More... ]
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mLearning in Practice
01 November - 12 December 20114
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30 hours over six weeks.
mLearning in Practice is a course about mobile learning, or 'mlearning' - learning with mobile or handheld devices. The course aims to explore mLearning from both the learner's and the educator's perspective. [ More... ]
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That's it for this edition. We hope you've enjoyed the newsletter.
[ TCE Blog | TCE on Facebook | TCE on Twitter | TCE on YouTube ]
June 2011
The Consultants-E Team
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