Teacher training videos

Teacher Training Videos Get training on how to use Web 2.0 Tools

By Prof. Jonathan AcuĂąa-Solano, M. Ed. School of English Faculty of Social Sciences Universidad Latina de Costa Rica Sunday, April 3, 2016 Post 248

On the web a lot different kind of information can be spotted, some of which has a tremendous value for professional development. For those who are autonomous learners, Russell Stannard’s Teacher Training Videos (TTV) are the door to get a whole lot to learn and then experience with Web 2.0 tools that can be used in higher education.

Among the gamut of videos that Stannard has to train learners, one about Edmodo caught my eye. In spite of the fact the we faculty members at the university where I work do use a Moodle platform, this virtual learning space is an institutional content management system (CMS) students do not have access after finishing their major. Moreover, once a course is finished and the quarter is over, the virtual classroom is disabled; neither do students nor the teacher have access to information that was posted nor the projects that were uploaded. Edmodo could be a way out to have students experiment with a different CMS and learn to use it for their future teaching endeavors.

What I have in my mind for this tool is to engage students in also uploading their projects on this platform, so they can refer to them later on in their teaching careers.

As it can be seen in the snapshot above, as an instructor I can create a new group, manage it, design an assignment, quiz students, poll them, etc. It is a very complete platform though it is a free one.

I see my pre-service students creating their own virtual classroom at Edmodo.

Since most of my learners during their Teaching Practicum do not have a place to store

information for their courses in high schools, learning how to work with this platform can help them provide students with more than simply classroom instruction. Now they can create their own content, put it online, make it accessible for their learners, grade them, make their classrooms flipped, and enjoy their student learning beyond comparison.

I would have my pre-service learn how to create their course or courses at Edmodo. Then, I would like to have their other Teaching Practicum partners see the results of their activity in the platform to evaluate their teaching performance and student learning. No doubt this free platform can give my ELT university students room to improve in their electracy skills and competences.