Saturday, October 5, 2013

Paper.li

Web-based resource tools allow teachers and students to share, analyze, develop, and locate content across a wide-range of subject matters and fields. These web tools can be quite useful in an online or blended course by supporting student learning and facilitation of the course. Paper.li, a content curation service based in Switzerland, is a sharing/resource tool that can help teachers to consolidate course content or that can help students to locate new trends and information in their fields of study.

In terms of ELT (English Language Teaching), Paper.li can perfectly be used twofold. In language learning, for instance, this tool can be used in the creation of a newspaper for one’s community of practice and/or learning. By creating the paper, instructors and learners can keep current on what is going on around English teaching and education-related topics. In one’s courses, Paper.li can also be employed to spot relevant information from leading authorities, organizations, or publishing houses. In ELT [or in any field], this paper-creating site can help us connect with authors, worldwide colleagues, and foreign communities of practice.

If Paper.li can become a great tool used by ELT professionals [or people in any other field of study], how much can it do for students? As soon as learners become users of this tool, they can start sharing resources with their peers. ELT students, when working on research projects or term papers, can easily identify new tendencies in methodology, classroom management, student language performance, sample activities, or sites to evaluate or use ready-made material. Conversely, students can –no doubt- cover or develop course content on their own or guided by their instructors.

As it can be seen, Paper.li can be a great tool for students as well as for instructors. As soon as teachers and learners can sign for an account on this website, they can start curating a topic of their interest and report to the class their findings and share useful sites for themselves and for their partners. When writing a paper, research, report, and the like, instructors can assess the use of this information-gathering tool by requesting bibliographical references containing quite recent publications from organizations, magazines, independent authors, bloggers, and so on. Paper.li can indeed be a great tool to explore and use with one’s students.


Sample Activity with Paper.li
Paper.li is actually an app that can either work with people’s accounts on Facebook or Twitter. By allowing the account to access this curation platform, students –as well as instructors- are ready to create an online paper.

Depending on your course content, ask your students to follow the following step:

·        Sign in to Paper.li by either using their personal accounts on Facebook or Twitter.
·        Have them watch the paper-setting tutorial so they can guide themselves to start their own paper.
·        Have them keep in mind the importance of using hash tags to allow the system to track content shared by friends/followers, companies, NGOs, publishing houses, magazines, newspapers, etc.
·        Ask them to be ready to present their newly produced online paper in class and talk about the kind of information they are interested in finding on the web.

The teacher should create a wiki within the LMS platform, so all members of the class can have access to all partners’ papers’ web address.
Introduction









Instructions




























Suggestion
Activity designed by Prof. Jonathan Acuña

E To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:
1
Web sharing tools for learners
2
Web resource tools for learners
3
Web assessment tools for instructors
4
Paper.li papers by their fields
5
Paper.li widgets for papers

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
NCTE - Costa Rica Affiliate
Resource Teacher at CCCN
Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are:

Get new ELT material and ideas by visiting my curated topics on http://paper.li/ and http://scoop.it/

 

Published on October 5, 2013


Tung, R. (07/26/2011). Paper.li Tutorial. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTjLX1KDyFk



Get a copy of "Paper.li by Jonathan Acuña" right over here.


at No comments:

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Resource Tools in Moodle


Resource Tools in Moodle
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña
Sharing and analyzing content is indeed a crucial part of any teaching and learning experience and scenario [F2F, Blended, VLE, etc.]. In an online setting, selecting and implementing tools that support these educational processes is vital, but it is also necessary to assess teacher and student needs and abilities prior to the implementation of any chosen tool. While cautious gathering of such tools can enhance student learning experiences, the selection may imply that instructors can face challenges and potential failure.
Let’s now analyze three Moodle resource tools in terms of their potential uses within an online or blende learning course and the challenges instructors may encounter when deciding on the best use of each one. All changes made to improve student learning experiences may imply that instructor have to face with a variety of challenges to be successful.
Moodle Resource Tools
Uses
Challenges

Wikis
·        Sharing of web links with relevant and updated information regarding class content: Vocabulary sites, grammar practices, etc.
·        Collaborative writing or assignments  in EFL/ESL contexts
·        Sharing of documents among students or with the instructor
·        The organization of different pages in the wiki seems to be not very user friendly for a first timer or an amateur student or instructor.
·        Some sort of training on the use of the tool is a must to ensure proper and effective use of it.
Once both types of participants get the knack of how to use the wiki option in Moodle, they won’t have much trouble making it work. It just takes a bit of patience to get confident on the use of the tool.

Blogs
·        If used as a journal, they can be a great tool to encourage and foster reflective thinking among students.
·        In ELT contexts, they can also be used to ensure reflective teaching and critical thinking in the search of answers to their teaching queries.
·        They provide some room for students who barely voice opinions or comments in a F2F class setting.
·        For the first timer, keeping a blog can be a bit of a problem. As in any kind of Moodle tool, some sort of modeling by the instructor is a need. This might subtract some teaching time for class but can be the solution to potential arising problems.
·        Many times students have claimed that their blog entries cannot be accessed or “reutilized” after a course is over. It’s always smart to ask them to keep a copy of their entries for themselves.
Blogs are great tools for reflection, voicing opinions and thoughts, commenting, etc. It is indispensable that instructors take some time off their regular teaching to train students on the correct, optimal use of the tool to be successful and profit from the blogging experience for their own learning.

Media embedding
·        With some basic knowledge of html teachers and learners can contribute greatly to course content along with their blog entries, wiki contributions, glossaries, and the like.
·        Sample media that can be displayed with this Moodle tool are:
o    Videos from Youtube, Vimeo, TeacherTube, etc.
o    Docs from Scribd, SlideShare, etc.
o    Widgets
·        Training is a must. Students and instructors lacking the basic notions of html use will find themselves incapable of using this tool to enhance content within their lessons, homework assignments, forums, etc.
·        This tool for the neophyte is or can be a headache.
From the many options that Moodle provides educators, media embedding is the one that really does need some sort of training to assess instructors’ understanding.


Training oneself as an instructor, whether that is by self-instructing yourself or by being trained by one’s school is the first step to get really acquainted with a learning platform. The second step is to take some time off one’s class to train students who are new to the system and need some extra assistance. After all this you online or blended learning scenario is going to be easy and highly productive for both the instructor and the learners.
E To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:
1
Moodle tools
2
Moodle training for educators
3
Training students to use a Moodle LMS
4
Embedding media in Moodle
5
Html training for Moodle users

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
NCTE - Costa Rica Affiliate
Resource Teacher at CCCN
Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are:

 

Get new ELT material and ideas by visiting my curated topics on http://paper.li/ and http://scoop.it/

 

Published on October 3, 2013


Language Learning with Moodle? Of course! http://lingedutainment.com/welcome/tag/moodle/

Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers
http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/MoodleToolGuideforTeachers



Get a copy of "Resource tools in moodle from jonacuso" over here.

at No comments:

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Reflecting Upon LMS Use and Web 2.0 Tools


Reflecting Upon LMS Use and Web 2.0 Tools

Professionally speaking, I have been working with the concept of VLE since 2008, and part of my training has been geared towards the use of LMS platforms and Web 2.0 tools to enhance student learning in the courses that I teach on a regular basis. Still I have a couple of concerns that somehow trouble me: my own ability in the use of tools to communicate with students and the lack of formal training by the IT Department at my teaching work place.

Working on a self-assessment of my own abilities to use Web 2.0 tools to communicate with students and to develop course content for my learners, I decided to use the benchmarks already established by the LoTi[1] Connection, which is an American educational consulting firm that specializes in the integration of 21st Century skills into learning curricula. I started with the LoTi idea long ago when being trained by Prof. Deborah Healey and Prof. Sandra Jeffs from the American English Institute / Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon. LoTi has marked my Web 2.0 skills development to fully become an innovative user of technology to promote course content and assist students to achieve learning goals via technology. Based on the LoTi’s Level of Teaching Innovation Framework, I am now at the LoTi 6: Refinement level.



[1] LoTi = Levels of Technology Implementation


A LoTi 6: Refinement level is that one in which an instructors believes in “the pervasive use of and access to advanced digital resources [which] provides a seamless medium for information queries, creative problem-solving, student reflection, and/or product development. [Instructors] have ready access to and a complete understanding of a vast array of collaboration tools and related resources to accomplish learning outcomes beyond conventional strategies” (LoTi Connection 2011). With this in my professional and technological background, I feel quite confident in the use of virtual learning environments (VLES) and the use of Web 2.0 tools to enhance social, teaching, and cognitive presence within these teaching scenarios.

Barely have I been trained by the IT Department at my teaching site in the use of the university’s Moodle LMS platform; for this reason I now ask, “will we teachers get relevant and concise learning experiences [training] to become fully competent in how to really profit from our virtual classrooms? When the new Moodle platform was introduced at our university, we were given a very brief introduction on how to add content to its various features such as homework, chats, forums, and the like. However, the 60-minute training is not enough to become an “expert” user of the tool. For that reason I decided to enroll in a Moodle user’s free course to get really acquainted of how the platform can be fully used at its most potential. Although I feel confident with the things I have tried so far and with the results I have obtained, how could my learning have been if we teachers have at least been trained online on how to use all Moodle features?

As a conclusion, I must say that technologically and psychologically speaking I feel much more prepared to deal with VLEs now that I am taking my third module of the Online Hybrid and Blended Education Certificate. I really look forward to continue advancing through the rest of the modules to complete my formal training and become a much more competent and complete online instructor. 
E To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:
1
LoTi Framework
2
Self-assessment with LoTi
3
Moodle Training
4
IT Training for teachers
5
Moodle features for education

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
NCTE - Costa Rica Affiliate
Resource Teacher at CCCN
Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina
Freelance ELT Consultant four OUP in Central America

For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
jonacuso@gmail.com – Gmail

Other blogs and sites I often write for my students at the university are:

 

Get new ELT material and ideas by visiting my curated topics on http://paper.li/ and http://scoop.it/

 

Published on October 1, 2013



LoTi Connection (2011). Level of Teaching Innovation Framework. Retrieved from http://loticonnection.cachefly.net/global_documents/LoTi_Framework_Sniff_Test.pdf

Get a copy of "LoTi Framework Sniff Test" uploaded by Jonathan Acuña right here.


at No comments: