Message pasted below as posted by Graham Stanley on Webheads and Twittermates FB page:
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Graham Stanley Jun 12
aPLaNet Live from Athens - Meeting Online today 3:30 PM GTB with Partners (13:30 GMT) http://www.facebook.com/l/64c99cCBo5tfU_DuePP-swlR_sA/bit.ly/mzqAxZ - come and find out how you can join in - http://www.facebook.com/l/64c99_XO8VhpivGTPUhZY3wn5Zw/aplanet-project.org/
Showing posts with label Webheads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Webheads. Show all posts
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Webinar: International Collaborative Project
Recording of the Session is available at
Eluminate http://tinyurl.com/2011jun12l2g
* and the full URL is: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-06-12.0657.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
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Pasted here is the message posted by Vance Stevens on the EVonline Webheads list.
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Sunday June 12,
Ayat Al-Tawel (from Egypt) and Maria Bossa (from Argentina) are two EFL teachers who would like to share their international collaboration project. They have both worked with their students so they can interact with each other, not only to practise their English, but also to go beyond the walls of the traditional classroom to meet other cultures, customs, traditions and likes. This Sunday they'll tell us about their students' collaborations between Egypt and Argentina; e.g. http://photopeach.com/album/17qcpq4?ref=fb
When and where:
* noon GMT, start gathering at http://tappedin.org for distance coordination and setup
* 13:00 GMT, start the discussion in Elluminate
o Time where you are: http://tinyurl.com/2011jun12gmt1300
o or: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Learning2gether+Live+Online+Webinar&iso=20110612T13&ah=1
* Eluminate is at http://tinyurl.com/y3eh,
and the full URL is http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=273662
Announcements
* http://taedtech.ning.com/events/learning2gether-with-ayat
Here are some screenshots taken during today's webinar:
Eluminate http://tinyurl.com/2011jun12l2g
* and the full URL is: https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2011-06-12.0657.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
--------------
Pasted here is the message posted by Vance Stevens on the EVonline Webheads list.
--------------
Sunday June 12,
Ayat Al-Tawel (from Egypt) and Maria Bossa (from Argentina) are two EFL teachers who would like to share their international collaboration project. They have both worked with their students so they can interact with each other, not only to practise their English, but also to go beyond the walls of the traditional classroom to meet other cultures, customs, traditions and likes. This Sunday they'll tell us about their students' collaborations between Egypt and Argentina; e.g. http://photopeach.com/album/17qcpq4?ref=fb
When and where:
* noon GMT, start gathering at http://tappedin.org for distance coordination and setup
* 13:00 GMT, start the discussion in Elluminate
o Time where you are: http://tinyurl.com/2011jun12gmt1300
o or: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Learning2gether+Live+Online+Webinar&iso=20110612T13&ah=1
* Eluminate is at http://tinyurl.com/y3eh,
and the full URL is http://home.learningtimes.net/learningtimes?go=273662
Announcements
* http://taedtech.ning.com/events/learning2gether-with-ayat
Here are some screenshots taken during today's webinar:
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Free Online Conference sponsored by Flexible Learning in Australia
As posted by Michael Coghlan to the Webheads' listserv.
---------------------
A free 3 day conference begins today at
http://networksevents.flexiblelearning.net.au/
Everybody welcome :-)
- Michael
---------------------
A free 3 day conference begins today at
Everybody welcome :-)
- Michael
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Reflections on Claire's ESL-WOW Project Presentation
Claire B. Siskin did a presentation about the ESL-Writing Online Workshop (WOW) Project that she's involved in, which is funded by FIPSE, Funding for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (see http://buxiban.blogspot.com/2010/10/esl-wow-project.html). FIPSE usually awards grants in projects where 'innovation' is involved. ESL-WOW is somewhat similar to PURDUE's ONLINE WRITING LAB (OWL) project (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/), but the difference is ESL-WOW is completely devoted to ESL. According to Claire, they plan to have all the materials and learning resources completely available to everyone- but this won't materialize until 2013! Although, she hopes that they would be able to make some of the materials available online in 2012 :-) Basically, ESL-WOW develops materials for ESL students that are easy to understand; they hope to employ ESL (live) tutors for the first year, and they hope that the site would become a place where students can 'interact' with the available materials on their own; in other words, students will have to be autonomous learners making use of 'computer scaffolding'. In the chat discussion, Dennis O. provided some good examples of 'computer scaffolding' i.e. glossary, peer editing, etc. Vance and others also suggested the use of twitter applications on their site, creating a Facebook group where students could meet and learn together. While human scaffolding i.e. asking people/teachers for support is always desirable, sometimes in projects like this, it would be very difficult to maintain. Claire pointed out two of her main concerns: dissemination (informing people about this) and sustainability (making sure that the site survives the test of time). I think getting the word out won't be much of a problem since basic marketing and promotional techniques can be employed. Besides, with the advent of personal learning networks (PLNs) and social networks, the simple word-of-mouth advertising will do- so long as people keep on sharing information about ESL-WOW. Claire's second concern, sustainability, is I think more problematic, as she pointed some good examples of NING sites that were created but ultimately met untimely death since people did not bother to go back or pay them a visit. In other words, without the human support/following, the site full of wonderful and available resources can just become a memorial site for those lost ESL souls. What they hope is for students to keep on coming back and making use of these resources; well I think as long as they are free and downloadable, students (new and old) will keep on coming back. The thing is, we're talking about second language writing. For ESL students, writing is extremely difficult. And sometimes, no matter what resources are available to them, they do not see how they can successfully make use of them. In some cases, students are perenially lazy. It's easier to ask, than do the search themselves. Only those who are extremely motivated will go out of their way to search and make sense of the resources they've found online.
The open resources will be archived in a Moodle, and for the first few years, live tutors will also be available on the moodle site to offer virtual support.
The recording of Claire's is available at http://tinyurl.com/24oct2010claire
You can read the chat transcript here,
http://evo-training.pbworks.com/w/page/Tapped-in-transcript-October-24th
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The ESL-WOW Project
The recording is available at http://tinyurl.com/24oct2010claire
You can read the chat transcript here,
http://evo-training.pbworks.com/w/page/Tapped-in-transcript-October-24th
-----------------
Hi all,
This is just reposting Vance's message on EVONLINE WEBHEADS:
You can read the chat transcript here,
http://evo-training.pbworks.com/w/page/Tapped-in-transcript-October-24th
-----------------
Hi all,
This is just reposting Vance's message on EVONLINE WEBHEADS:
Here are the details:
http://taedtech.ning.com/events/claire-bradin-siskin-describes
Title: The ESL-WOW Project
Description: Claire Bradin Siskin will describe the ESL Writing Online
Workshop (ESL-WOW) Project, which she directs. ESL-WOW, currently under
development, will be a website designed to guide non-native speakers of
English through each stage of the pre-writing, while-writing, and
post-writing processes. Once the materials have been created, ESL-WOW will
be available to all individuals and educational institutions across the
country. Siskin will outline the development process, and she will also seek
feedback and suggestions from her fellow Webheads.
This event is part of a participant-driven professional development series
planned as a part of the ongoing (since 1998) Webheads in Action
professional development series, most recently with the involvement of the
TESOL Arabia EdTech SIG. The events take place at 13:00 GMT each Sunday (5 pm in UAE).
The event actually starts at noon GMT (4 p.m. in the UAE) when teaching
practitioners gather at http://tappedin.org for informal text chat. At 13:00
GMT (5 p.m. in the UAE) we move to the presentation venue, either Elluminate
at http://tinyurl.com/y3eh, or Adobe Connect at
http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech.
The event this week will take place in Elluminate http://tinyurl.com/y3eh
Please note, Elluminate is generously provided to us by Learning Times, and
prior registration is required (non-intrusive, takes only minutes).
All are welcome and hope to see you there,
Vance
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Reflections on Use of MOODLE and Web 2.0 tools in the EFL e-learning courses Session
Here are the things I've learned in Vance Steven's weekly speed geek that took place last Sunday Oct 3 at 13:00 GMT in Adobe Connect, http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech. This particular session was about the use of moodle and web 2.0 tools in the EFL e-learning course at a Casa Tomas in Brazilia, Brazil. The lead presenters were Carla Arena and Erika Cruvinel, both long-time webheads.
Being a webhead, I've have seen the many class projects that Carla and Erika have designed for their EFL courses. I have also worked with Carla in numerous online endeavors i.e. Electronic Village Online (http://evosessions.pbworks.com/) and she also presented for the EFL-NNEST Intersession in Boston early this year, http://eflnnest2010.pbworks.com/ So I knew that they'll be presenting effective practices of techology integration in traditional F2F classroom. What I wasn't expecting, and surely it was a very welcome surprise was the inclusion of teacher training which uses both traditional methods and online teacher training strategies. So this is what I'll be focusing on in today's entry.
The discussion on teacher training was raised almost at the very end of their session, and it was brought up by Wendy Arnold, IATEFL Young Learner Sig. She asked, "how long it takes online training teachers up to speed on how to use tools?" It was an interesting question and a valid one, too. Erika responded to this and she said that it (teacher training) is a process and the first thing they do as trainers is to teach the teachers how to use these tools. It's pretty common sense that to be able to use the tools effectively in the classroom, the teachers have got to be proficient and confident in using the tools themselves!
To support the teachers' training needs in Casa Tomas, they developed the 'Web tools course/E-tutoring course' which is patterned to the EVO style of mentoring and training. This I think is the best complement for EVO, which I believe is a testament to the benefits of doing free online professional development for language teachers who may not have access to TPD in their local teaching/learning environment. Carla also emphasized that it takes some time for teachers to get used to the different tools- since there are hundreds of them! She also pointed out that teachers have to experience how to be online students themselves so they could 1) familiarize themselves with the tools and the technical aspects of web tools application, and 2) realize the students' difficulties Again this is very important because having experienced the same trials and frustrations in using the tools in learning that students face, teachers would be able to provide better support and guidelines to make the students' learning experience a positive one. Sometimes when teachers get so used to using a tool it becomes second nature to them- they coud probably do a task with their eyes closed! For a digital-native teacher, technology integration comes with ease. But surely, before one becomes so good in something there's has got to be a point where they started off as totally ignoramus. So before becoming digital natives, they must have experienced how it was to be digital immigrants. I once was-- back in 2001- until I met Vance Stevens and joined his EVO-Webheads session; the rest is history. Carla and Erika also took the same path- through EVO and webheads they experienced informal mentoring from web-savvy webheads EFL teachers, and once they got the knack of it they started doing the same thing their informal mentors were doing- they were involved in informal teaching/mentoring/participating/sharing. This is a crucial point not only in the survival of a communty of practice (Webheads), but in the language profession as well. Teachers join online groups/networks/CoPs or whatever you want to call them because they feel there's a need to participate, to learn something, to update their skills, etc. and in most occassions, this kind of teacher-support and learning opportunities do not come handy in their workplace. A motivated teacher looks out for ways to improve her/his craft- and they sometimes find them online. It would be ideal if such learning/teaching support is provided by the employing institution, but with the economic setback that many countries are experiencing, even providing basic teacher training is not available just to cut cost. But not for Casa Tomas.
This is why I admire Isabel Villasboas, Carla's and Erika's head manager, because she makes it possible to blend theory and practice; she allows the use of social networking sites and other web 2.0 tools creating their own (Casa Tomas) personal learning networking which is shared with other teachers across the globe. Teacher training is not only done online but face-to-face as well- this I believe is the icing on the cake. The more local teachers are given access to teacher professional development the better it gets for the local ELT community. When you improve the kind of teacher quality in your own local network, particularly non-native English teachers, you also improve the quality of English learning students get. I wish there are Isabel Villasboas in Taiwan- but I still have yet to find one :-(
/a
Being a webhead, I've have seen the many class projects that Carla and Erika have designed for their EFL courses. I have also worked with Carla in numerous online endeavors i.e. Electronic Village Online (http://evosessions.pbworks.com/) and she also presented for the EFL-NNEST Intersession in Boston early this year, http://eflnnest2010.pbworks.com/ So I knew that they'll be presenting effective practices of techology integration in traditional F2F classroom. What I wasn't expecting, and surely it was a very welcome surprise was the inclusion of teacher training which uses both traditional methods and online teacher training strategies. So this is what I'll be focusing on in today's entry.
The discussion on teacher training was raised almost at the very end of their session, and it was brought up by Wendy Arnold, IATEFL Young Learner Sig. She asked, "how long it takes online training teachers up to speed on how to use tools?" It was an interesting question and a valid one, too. Erika responded to this and she said that it (teacher training) is a process and the first thing they do as trainers is to teach the teachers how to use these tools. It's pretty common sense that to be able to use the tools effectively in the classroom, the teachers have got to be proficient and confident in using the tools themselves!
To support the teachers' training needs in Casa Tomas, they developed the 'Web tools course/E-tutoring course' which is patterned to the EVO style of mentoring and training. This I think is the best complement for EVO, which I believe is a testament to the benefits of doing free online professional development for language teachers who may not have access to TPD in their local teaching/learning environment. Carla also emphasized that it takes some time for teachers to get used to the different tools- since there are hundreds of them! She also pointed out that teachers have to experience how to be online students themselves so they could 1) familiarize themselves with the tools and the technical aspects of web tools application, and 2) realize the students' difficulties Again this is very important because having experienced the same trials and frustrations in using the tools in learning that students face, teachers would be able to provide better support and guidelines to make the students' learning experience a positive one. Sometimes when teachers get so used to using a tool it becomes second nature to them- they coud probably do a task with their eyes closed! For a digital-native teacher, technology integration comes with ease. But surely, before one becomes so good in something there's has got to be a point where they started off as totally ignoramus. So before becoming digital natives, they must have experienced how it was to be digital immigrants. I once was-- back in 2001- until I met Vance Stevens and joined his EVO-Webheads session; the rest is history. Carla and Erika also took the same path- through EVO and webheads they experienced informal mentoring from web-savvy webheads EFL teachers, and once they got the knack of it they started doing the same thing their informal mentors were doing- they were involved in informal teaching/mentoring/participating/sharing. This is a crucial point not only in the survival of a communty of practice (Webheads), but in the language profession as well. Teachers join online groups/networks/CoPs or whatever you want to call them because they feel there's a need to participate, to learn something, to update their skills, etc. and in most occassions, this kind of teacher-support and learning opportunities do not come handy in their workplace. A motivated teacher looks out for ways to improve her/his craft- and they sometimes find them online. It would be ideal if such learning/teaching support is provided by the employing institution, but with the economic setback that many countries are experiencing, even providing basic teacher training is not available just to cut cost. But not for Casa Tomas.
This is why I admire Isabel Villasboas, Carla's and Erika's head manager, because she makes it possible to blend theory and practice; she allows the use of social networking sites and other web 2.0 tools creating their own (Casa Tomas) personal learning networking which is shared with other teachers across the globe. Teacher training is not only done online but face-to-face as well- this I believe is the icing on the cake. The more local teachers are given access to teacher professional development the better it gets for the local ELT community. When you improve the kind of teacher quality in your own local network, particularly non-native English teachers, you also improve the quality of English learning students get. I wish there are Isabel Villasboas in Taiwan- but I still have yet to find one :-(
/a
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Webheads' Idioms in English Project on Flickr
The "Idioms in English" project on Flickr started by the Webheads is an interesting idea that can easily be used in a blended learning EFL class. Look at the examples Webheads did and you can actually do the same- or even better!
Here's the link to the Idioms in English page, http://www.flickr.com/groups/1383087@N24/pool/with/5059716650/
Below is my message posted today to the Webheads Yahoo! Group regarding my contribution to the Webheads' Idioms Project on Flickr!
--------------------------------------------------
Hi All,
Just thought of sharing a picture that Michael Coghlan took back in 2008 but I couldn't figure out how to link it. So I took a screenshot and added it to the idioms stream. I added a description right below the meaning of the idiom expression; I also provided the direct link to Michael's photostream where you could see all the past comments on my shoe. There's an interesing comment made by Nergiz :-) and I just responded to that. Interesting though to find out that Graham wears high heels! :-)
Link to Walk a mile in my shoes! http://www.flickr.com/photos/14329959@N00/5059716650/in/pool-1383087@N24
To Michael's stream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/2388083213/in/set-72157604359818827/
hugs to all,
Aiden
p.s.
what a wonderful project!
Here's the link to the Idioms in English page, http://www.flickr.com/groups/1383087@N24/pool/with/5059716650/
Below is my message posted today to the Webheads Yahoo! Group regarding my contribution to the Webheads' Idioms Project on Flickr!
--------------------------------------------------
Hi All,
Just thought of sharing a picture that Michael Coghlan took back in 2008 but I couldn't figure out how to link it. So I took a screenshot and added it to the idioms stream. I added a description right below the meaning of the idiom expression; I also provided the direct link to Michael's photostream where you could see all the past comments on my shoe. There's an interesing comment made by Nergiz :-) and I just responded to that. Interesting though to find out that Graham wears high heels! :-)
Link to Walk a mile in my shoes! http://www.flickr.com/photos/14329959@N00/5059716650/in/pool-1383087@N24
To Michael's stream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/2388083213/in/set-72157604359818827/
hugs to all,
Aiden
p.s.
what a wonderful project!
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Use of MOODLE and Web 2.0 tools in the EFL e-learning courses, Oct 3, 13 GMT
Recording is available at http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p55432632/
Pasting announcement from Vance Stevens via Webheads YG:
Pasting announcement from Vance Stevens via Webheads YG:
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=3&month=10&year=2010&hour=13&min=0&sec=0&p1=0weekly speed geek to take place on Sunday Oct 3 at 13:00 GMT in Adobe Connect, http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech
Carla Arena, Claudio Fleury, Erika Cruvinel and Ronaldo Júnior are a group of educators at Casa Thomas Jefferson, Brasilia. They will be sharing a bit of their experience of mixing the use of MOODLE and Web 2.0 tools in the EFL e-learning courses they devised and teach, of which this is one example: http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume14/ej54/ej54int/. Please have a look at this article and come talk with the Brazilian Webheads about how they integrate Web 2.0 and multiliteracies into their teaching.
This event is part of a participant-driven professional development series planned for the TESOL Arabia EdTech SIG at 13:00 GMT each Sunday (5 pm in UAE). Between Sept 6 and Oct 3, 2010 the event coincides with the TESOL PPOT 107 Multiliteracies course.
The event starts at noon GMT (4 p.m. in the UAE) when teaching practitioners gather at http://tappedin.org/ for informal professional development text chat. At 13:00 GMT (5 p.m. in the UAE) we move to the presentation venue.
Venue confirmed for http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech.
Please feed back to us on your preference for Adobe Connect or Elluminate, as we have both available to us.
All are welcome of course, hope to see you there,
Vance
NOTE: 13 GMT is 21:00 Taiwan time
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Chat with Mark Pegrum and Gavin Dudeney Wed Sept 29, 2010 08:00 GMT all welcome
Hi. I'm just copying and pasting Vance Steven's message (below). If you are free during this time, please join the chat!
--------------------------------
Make sure you get the time right; check out this link to find out what time it'll be in your part of the world.
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=29&month=9&year=2010&hour=8&min=0&sec=0&p1=0
/aiden
--------------------------------
From VANCE STEVENS via Webheads YG
http://taedtech.ning.com/events/discussion-with-mark-pegrum
Mark Pegrum's book From Blogs to Bombs (http://e-language.wikispaces.com/mr2) was used recently as core reading in the multiliteracies course whose portal is here: http://goodbyegutenberg.pbworks.com/
More recently, Mark has been touring Australia with Gavin Dudeney giving workshops on Digital Literacies. Mark and Gavin have agreed to reunite to discuss this topic with Vance Stevens and any other colleagues who would like to drop by and chat online.
Date: Wednesday, Sept 29, 2010
Time: 08:00 a.m. GMT, noon in UAE, and time where you are: http://tinyurl.com/2010sep19gmt08
Venue: Elluminate: http://tinyurl.com/y3eh
In preparation, check out these links:
* The flyer from the joint session: http://www.pearson.com.au/marketingimages/ELT/PD_workshop.pdf
* A wiki with links to a dozen artifacts worth perusing in preparation for the discussion at http://e-language.wikispaces.com/mr3
* A Google Doc prepared in collaboration with workshop participants on the Gold Coast, Australia: http://tinyurl.com/25394pu
All colleagues interested in participating are welcome
===============================
Make sure you get the time right; check out this link to find out what time it'll be in your part of the world.
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=29&month=9&year=2010&hour=8&min=0&sec=0&p1=0
/aiden
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Jennifer Verschoor on Technology Integration in EFL learning (Sept 25)
Jennifer Verschoor is giving an informal talk today, September 25 at 13:00 GMT (10 am in Bs.As.) on Technology Integration. There will be two special guests, her daughters, who blog at http://www.vickylearningenglish.blogspot.com/
Please click the following link to join this session http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech
Check out time differences here, http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=25&month=9&year=2010&hour=13&min=0&sec=0&p1=0
Note: This posting was based on Jennifer Verschoor's message posted on her Facebook wall.
-------------------
Recording: http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p5
Please click the following link to join this session http://connect.pi.ac.ae/taedtech
Check out time differences here, http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=25&month=9&year=2010&hour=13&min=0&sec=0&p1=0
Note: This posting was based on Jennifer Verschoor's message posted on her Facebook wall.
-------------------
Recording: http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p5
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