Sharing multi-media content

I have provided a few links below of different ways of sharing information - via audio, video and visual material. By providing learners with a variety of different media with which to work, you are more likely to be inclusive as learners can receive information in different ways. For example, I have a learner in one of my classes who is visually-impaired so providing the information in an audio format makes the information more accessible for her. It is also important to differentiate in the classroom to accommodate different ways of learning and to spice up the lesson. Teachers, and I know I am guilty of this, can be stale in our approach. Teacher trainers, in particular, often resort to using the PowerPoint to deliver sessions. I attended a session today where this was used; the session was still interactive as we were encouraged to share our ideas but there is an element of predictability about the tool. Sometimes it feels that we share our ideas and then we are provided with the correct responses. Did I really need to attend the session? All the information was provided on the slides; I could have read the information in my own time. Last week in one of my sessions, I used flipchart paper (old fashioned, I know) for the learners to share their tips on teaching different levels of ESOL learners. Probably in the past I would have asked the learners to share their responses and then we would have forgotten about it. However, this time, one of the learners used their mobile to take a photo of what had been produced and I uploaded the pictures to our blog. This meant that the learners were to access their responses via a shared forum. The blog has been a useful way of consolidating knowledge, reminding learners of homework they have to do and, generally, sharing views. It has been a great way of facilitating discusson and participating. Another aspect I have found beneficial with regard to using a blog is that the learners can be more self-sufficient. For example, as I mentioned in an earlier post, some of my learners have used Linoit and Padlet to record ideas/provide examples of websites etc. This is more useful than my providing everything. However, as with everything, there are downsides to sharing multi-media. Some learners are fearful of using technology in the classroom: just mentioning the word 'technology' can make them want to run out of the classroom screaming. Nevertheless, there is no getting away from the fact that technology is all around us, we need to embrace it if we are going to move forward in our teaching and not be left behind; just because one or two students are afraid of using it does not mean that we shouldn't integrate it in our lessons. The important thing is to recognise that some learners may be afraid of using technology, they may be embarrassed as they do not have the latest up to date technology, they may come from disadvantaged backgrounds so they can not afford technology etc. We can not ignore these factors. I personally believe that technology needs to be integrated gradually and, as with all lessons, we need to differentiate appropriately. Learners can help each other, more able or technically-confident learners can be given more challenging roles, less confident learners can be provided with more support etc. Once learners see how technology can be used,they should feel more adept at using it and take more risks. Using a blog with my learners has so far been a positive experience and I plan on using more multi-media in the future once I have gained more proficiency and have a clear understanding of how best to exploit it in my lessons. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am keen to try out using mobile phones in the classroom. I have a few old techy ex-colleagues who I hope are going to provide me with a few more ideas. Watch this space!

Using push technology

I hadn't come across push technology before really until this week; I had come across the term but didn't really know what it meant. However, learning about the differences between push and pull technology wass enlightening and has helped me make sense of RSS feeds, Facebook notifications etc. So what is 'push technology'? Push technology is essentially a way of information being pushed onto the user without the need for him/her to actively search for information. Pull technology on the other hand is the more traditional approach; when you search for information on the web, e.g. using a search engine such as Google or Bing, you are looking for specific information. You need to know exactly what information you are looking for and it is time-consuming and tedious to continually search for information on a regular basis. Push technology enables users to access information as soon as it becomes available. In other words, the information is pushed onto you. One way of using push technology in the classroom is to create an online paper; I did this using paper li. This is very easy to do and looks as though you have spent a lot more effort creating something than you have. Paper li is a curation platform which allows you to select resources from Twitter, Youtube etc. and turn them into an online paper. I wanted to create a kind of online further education online journal and selected resources from EducationGuardian, the TES and twitter users who always post practical ideas. The paper is updated automatically and daily, and provides you with an interesting read. The only downside I can really see is that the paper can appear a bit chaotic. You have had no control over the selection of the articles so not all of them will be useful. Still, overall, I found the exercise very worthwhile. The latest edition of the paper is provided below.

Using box

I had never used Box before this course began, but I find it really useful. Obviously, it's a great way of storing files and being able to access them anywhere.hi also like how you can ask people to colloborate on your 'creations'. I have organised my file under different folders. I am only teaching on two courses at the moment and have organised my files accordingly: CELTA and the 6255 (The level 3 award in Language for ESOL and Literacy teaching).

Summary of evaluation responses

Newspaper

Embedding audioboo

I created this audioboo for my CELTA learners to do some self-study work re legislation.

listen to ‘legislation’ on Audioboo

The learners need to listen to the audioboo and then answer two questions on the following Youtube clips, created using the playlists section.

Embedding a Youtube video

I created this video for my CELTA learners with the help of my colleagues on the Level 3 e-teaching course. They kindly assisted me in voicing their opinions on pronunciation. This clip will help lead into the topic of intonation and attitudes towards pronunciation teaching. I have also uploaded it to our New Learning site.