BEST PRACTICES IN EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING
Welcome!
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elcome to YEUR Teaching Methods. This publication is born as a part of the Comenius project "Young European Reporters". Its main goal is to be a means through which teachers of the 6 countries involved in this project can share their best practises as far as Educational Computing is regarded and to help diseminating their most valuable experiences, so that others can take advantage of them.
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hroughout the last decade, ICT has become an essential part of teaching. In an educational context in which it's becoming harder and harder to keep alive students' interest towards learning, teachers all over the world have discovered ICT's great potential to develop students' motivation, as well as other important educational aspects such as bilateral thinking and problem solving ability. But in most cases teachers are like isolated isles in the middle of the ocean, with no communication between them. And if we don't share our knowledge, we are taking the risk of having to reinvent the wheel, wasting time and efforts in finding out things that had been already discovered by others.
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EUR Teaching Methods is an attempt to avoid this to happen. Apart from the obvious benefits from sharing our experiences, hopefully we will be able to extract, from the articles written by teachers of 6 different nationalities, general ideas about how different European countries are incorporating ICT to their educational systems. We hope that you find useful this compilation of ICT best practices and that you contribute to it with your own articles.
CONTENTS
1. Developing Information Literacy with PHP Webquest
PHP Webquest allows teachers to create Webquest in minutes without the need of writing any HTML code. By Antonio Temprano, Spain.
3. MyScrapbook, virtual books in the classroom.
Improve your students' motivation towards writing by using MyScrapbook, recently adapted to the educational users' needs. By Antonio Temprano, Spain.
5. Social Media at School.
We must accept social media and learn how to use them and reflect upon them in order to manage to make use of them pedagogically. By Stine Jeppesen, Norway.
7. Videoconference in language teaching.
Can videoconference be used in language teching situations? Our experience says that the answer is positive. By Minna Oksanen, Finland.
9. Learning Managemente Systems (LMS).
LMS’ have played an important role in the development of ICT and new pedagogical ideas. By SvendErik Svendsen, Norway.
11. Social Networks in Education.
Results of the online survey about Social Networks in Education. By the Spanish Team.
17. Using podcasts to better students' learning.
Podcasts provide a means for students to get access to “authentic” listening sources about almost any subject. By Skirmante Petraitiene, Lithuania.
19. ICT in the biology classroom.
Virtual environments give way to new models of learning. ”Second Life" represents such approaches to education. By Rasa Dagien, Lithuania.
21. Teaching and larning within virtual environments.
Virtual environments give way to new models of learning. ”Second Life" represents such approaches to education. By Mihaela Chiribau, Romania.
23. Audacity in the classroom
Audacity gives the language teacher many different possibilities when it comes to working with audio. And it's free!. By Mihaela Chiribau, Romania.
Developing Information Literacy with
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he technological advances of the last decades involve big challenges and opportunities for the educational systems. The main challenge is the exigence of new competences for the XXI century citizens, competences whose learning and development must be fulfilled by the educational systems. Some of those competences are related to the appropiate use of ICT and the development of the Information Literacy, in a background of overinformation that we will shortly describe next.
organized. But they must also be able to analize the obtained data, to assess its importance, quality and appropiateness, so that they are able to finish the whole proccess in the only way that makes sense, which is converting the information into knowledge. Information is nothing in itself, it only makes sense when it can be transformed into valid knowledge for post reusing it in problem solving o decission
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e have very quickly past from a situation in which there was a very short availability of information and it was essentially written to another one in which the Internet offers us extremely big amounts of it and it is very easy to access. At the moment, the amount of available information gets doubled every 5 years, and, according to a study by Minnesota University, by 2020 it will double every 73 days. In this context, it seems to be absolutely neccesary to develop in the students an Information Literacy (IL) that allows them to face the search, evaluation, organization and use of information coming from very different sources.
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proper IL requires that the students have the skills to clearly define a subject or area of research, find keywords that express a concept in order to make the search as quick and effective as possible, and design a search strategy that Not only is PHP includes different Webquest a free sources of software, but it information and a can be used deep online without understanding of having to install it the way in which on your computer. those sources are YEUR Teaching Methods
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making. ts also essential to speak about the most important skill related to information use: the necessity that the student is able to face a piece of information with an analytical mind, not taking it for granted that everything published on the Internet has to be necessarily true. The learning of all the previously described skills must be provided to students through programmes orientated to the development of Information Literacy. For this purpose, teachers can use activities based on the use of the Internet, which allow to exercise in
a friendly environment the skills related to IL, thus getting the students involved in their own learning process and achieving specially meaningful learnings. Amongst these activities based on the use of the Internet, the Webquest stands out as one of the most powerful tools for developing the skills that the students will need to carry out in the Information Society.
ADVANTAGES
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• Free software. • Not only Webquest can be created, but also Treasure Hunts and Miniquests. • It can be installed in your own server. • Extremely easy to use. • It's not neccesary to install it on your computer. • 6 different templates and unlimited color combinations. • Translated to 11 languages. • Selfresizing of images. • Possibility to embed videos and flash files.
Webquest is a guided research, held on the Internet. It's usually presented to the students as a web site where they can find the different stages of which that Webquest is composed. It's a researchoriented activity in which most of the information used by the students is downloaded from the Internet. Webquests have an outstanding educational potential, but, from a technical point of view, they are difficult to create, since they require a teacher who can write HTML code and has a space on the Internet where to upload the activity once it has been created. Fortunately enough, today it's possible to find programmes through which any teacher can easily develop their own activities, even if they only know the very basics about computing. One of these programmes is PHP Webquest, a free software that can be downloaded or used in
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http://phpwebquest.org
URL:
here are many webquest generators, all of them with their advantages and disadvantages. After testing 15 of them, we have reached the conclussion that PHP Webquest is the one which keeps the best balance between easiness of use and available features. Anyone willing to give it a try can visit this
DISADVANTAGES
http://phpwebquest.org/english/ where they can request a user account. Once the account is approved, the
• It's not possible to backup the activities the user creates. • The templates should be updated to meet the new web 2.0 look. • There is a limitation in size of 256 KB for user's images.
user can create for free as many activities as they want. Those users
representing an Educational Institution can also download the software, adapt it to
their needs and get it working in their own school's server. Or, if the programme is not translated to your language, you can contact the author, who will give you easy directions to translate it in a short time. Antonio Temprano, Spain
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VIRTUAL BOOKS IN THE CLASSROOM WITH
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n the last years, the Educational Institutions are finding it very difficult to keep the students' motivation towards learning at a good level. The reasons for this situation are deeply rooted in the very heart of the Society itself, and are, consequently, very difficult to fight. Some studies, though, have shown that students's predisposition towards school is dramatically improved when teachers use in their theaching proccess technologies based on the use of the Internet. By teachers doing that, students feel that they are being taught using the XXI century means, which greatly improve their involvement on what's going on in the class.
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n that sense, a program that has proven to be especially effective is MyScrapbook, a free software designed to create digital books. Although it wasn't originally orientated to its use YEUR Teaching Methods
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in an educational context, it has been redesigned to meet the educational user's requirements and now it's fully appropiate to work with the students. It has also been translated to 4 languages: English, Spanish, CatalĂĄ and French, and a language file has been created so that it can quickly and easily be translated into any other language.
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he overall concept is as follows: an educational institution has a virtual book in which every teacher can create chapters where the students can write articles. Those articles are easily formatted by using the built in HTML editor (recently added for the educational version) and users can without any difficulty attach images to the articles created, since those images are automatically resized by the program itself to suit in the book format. An extra feature added in the last version is the possibility to embed into the articles, videos or any other kind of multimedia content.
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he program, and some other resources related to it, can be
downloaded from http://milibrovirtual.com . Once downloaded, it must be installed
Students tend to write much more accurately when they know that their essays can be read by a larger public. in a server, which must support PHP and MySQL. The only other requirement is that the PHP's GD2 libraries enabled in that server. All these features are indeed very basic; therefore it's fair to say that almost every server can run a copy of MyScrapbook. There are two main reasons to use this kind of software in our classes:
to be stored in a shelf or, in the
published, which is a
On the contrary, if students are
• At the moment, users can't write
worst of the cases, in the dust bin. asked to write that work in the
School’s Digital Book, they know that their work is going to be
inmediatley available to millions
of people all over the world. They can show it to their parents,
considerable extra work.
comments to other users' articles. This doesn't help to create a
collaborative culture in the class and somehow doesn't take advantage of the extra
motivation that the students feel if
relatives or friends. Therefore, they they know that their writings can feel proud of what they have
done. This approach improves their selfesteem and,
consequently, their motivation towards learning, which is
absolutely essential to their
learning process.
be commented by their
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classmates.
ossibly, the best way to understand what MyScrapbbok does, and how, is by seeing some examples. Please find below links to two actual
• The students tend to write
more accurately when they
know that their works can be read by a larger potential audience.
• It makes the students’ work meaningful. For instance: if a
teacher asks the students to write a work about whatever
subject and to hand it in to them, they
know that, most
likely, that work will be stored in one
drawer of the
teacher's desk,
and that it will
take the teacher no less
than one or perhaps two weeks
to mark it. Then, that work is likely
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A digital book created with MyScrapbook
here are some features of MyScrapbook, though, that could be improved: • The articles written by the
students don't show the author's name, which makes it more
difficult to control possible misuses from the students. They feel they are annonymous and can write whatever they want without
being identified. This obligues the theacher to have to aprove the articles before they are actually
Scrapbooks with different interfaces (they can be chosen by the system's admin):
• Classic Interface
• Workbook Interface
Antonio Temprano, Spain.
The builtin HTML editor allows the students to apply different formats to the text, in a similar way to that of text processors. YEUR Teaching Methods
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In Norway all students in Upper Secondary School have their own laptop to use in their learning processes. Furthermore, in most schools students have access to wireless internet anywhere and at all times. The situation forces us to plan and organize our lessons and learning processes in new ways. In this essay I will argue that we must accept social media and learn how to use them and reflect upon them in order to manage to make use of them pedagogically.
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mportant aspects to consider
t is important to make clear what prerequisites are necessary in order for digital tools and social media to become a success in school. Here I want to point to two different aspects and then I will point to some examples of how to use social media. First of all, studies show that the teacher is the most important factor in successful education. He or she has to be a skilled and clear manager of the activities that take place in the classroom. Furthermore, we have to be able to adjust to a situation, where new methods will entail changes in the teacher role and the development in Norwegian schools towards a more learner oriented type of teaching than earlier. The pedagogical principles of this perspective on learning are that the students must be actively involved and cooperating in order for valuable learning to take place. In this respect digital tools and social media offer great possibilities. Secondly, the teachers need the necessary qualification to make use of digital tools and social media in a pedagogical manner. PC’s and access to the internet is a relatively new phenomenon and in many schools elsewhere it is still the future. To many teachers the PC functions as a disturbance and the students are only asked to use it to write
To many teachers the PC functions as a disturbance and the students are only asked to use it to write simple documents and upload assignments to the LMS YEUR Teaching Methods
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simple documents and upload assignments to the LMS. Many teachers have yet to discover the vast number of possibilities that social media offer. Meanwhile, it is necessary that the teacher functions as an editor, who helps the students to sort out learning material of high and low quality. Therefore, teachers must be highly qualified in using digital tools and navigate in a jungle of garbage and gold.
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logs  an example
n my own lessons I am still exploring the different possibilities that social media offer. My students are for example using blogs, and they are encouraged to reflect upon subject related themes of their own choosing. This is important of several reasons. First of all, reflection is a very individual process and I want
the students to be as motivated as possible. Secondly, this is a way for me to gain knowledge of what really interests my students within the field of my subject. This is knowledge I will be able to exploit when planning my lessons. The students are also free to choose whether to cooperate with others or work alone on their blog. To some students writing is a private process, whereas others think of cooperation as an advantage. However, I do ask the students to share all their addresses with the others in class and to follow and comment on each other’s blogs. I also follow all the blogs and write comments regularly. My pedagogical argument for using blogs as a tool for reflection in teaching is based on a socio cultural theory of learning. The students gain knowledge and learn during the process of cooperating and exchanging view points. Dialogue is central to this point of view, because it offers room for exchanging both knowledge and points of view. This is an excellent opportunity for the students to learn how to handle the role of being public persons as there are on the internet. They have to consider the fact that the information reaches a wide audience and what rules and ethics must be considered in the process. To most students this is fairly easy, whereas others need a little help in seeking the limits. One example is to explore the rules of
ICT has been catalyzing the process of globalization, which now demands that we educate our students to a completely different society as compared to 20 years ago.
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ot easy, but inevitable and necessary
t is by no means an easy task to incorporate social media into teaching today and it may seem frightening to many teachers. Yet, the modern school must adjust to the development in society locally as well as nationally and internationally. ICT has been catalyzing the process of globalization, which now demands that we educate our students to a completely different society as compare to 20 years ago. At the same time students come to school today with different precognitions and interests as compared to previously. This must pivotal to the development of pedagogies and the planning of good lessons with greatest possible learning profit. Stine Jappesen, Norway
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V I D EO C O N F ER EN C E I N L A N G U A M Y EX P ER I EN C E T
he secondary schools in Finland can be very small, because it has been quite usual so far that also smaller communes have their own upper secondary school. The cooperation between the schools and for example the video conference teaching are therefore a necessity and a solution for them to be able to organize teaching for example in voluntary languages.
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worked at a smaller upper secondary school earlier, which was then unified with Äänekoski senior secondary school some years ago. At this smaller school I taught several video conference courses in German (2004 2006) because the German students only in our own school were so few. The video conference was used only between two schools (our own school and an other school) at first , but after the connection and the equipment became better, I did have pupils in three schools at the same time.
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t the beginning I had a little sceptical attitude towards the video conference teaching because it was something new and very rare in Finland, and I didn`t know if it really could work in language teaching, because there are so many different skills to be trained when teaching a language. But our school had invested in this new method of teaching, and we even had a technical assistant at school, who was responsible for making everything work properly and he trained me to use the equipment and helped if there were some problems. I think is was/is very important that the teacher could concentrate on the teaching. But of course I had to know how to use the equipment also by myself. And I think that YEUR Teaching Methods
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a video conference teacher has to have some desire to learn to use the equipment. If you constantly have a very negative attitude towards it, it doesn`t work in the long run. I`m not so good with computers or any technical devices, but I got used to doing that and by doing it, I learned more and more. And at the same time the equipment became more effective, functional and easier to use.
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ut there was also always the element of surprise, uncertainty, and therefore it was more stressful than teaching faceto face. For example, we could suddenly lose the connection, but the distancepupils and I were conscious of that possibility and we knew what to do in that case. Generally the technical assistant was in the school building and he came immediately and fixed the problem. Or then I phoned the distancepupils and gave some advice what to do by themselves. Or if the Internet connection was okay, I could use our platform and advice the pupils that way. It is therefore very important that also the pupils get guidance and support with the equipment. Many times the distance pupils were in the classroom by themselves and had to switch on the equipment. But the pupils today are usually very good with computers and used to handling them, so it wasn`t any problem for my pupils, either, and they were generally very interested in that kind of learning.
A G E T EA C H I N G : T
he distance teacher has to be ready for sudden changes, but on the other hand, I think planning the lessons in advance is even more important in video conference teaching than for traditional lessons. Anyway, it took me some extra time to handle the equipment, and it didn`t always work so well. So it was very important that the teaching itself was smooth and wellplanned without any ”blackouts”. The teacher also has to take care of sending the distancepupils the needed materials for every lesson. Therefore it`s highly desirable to have a contact at the distance school, who could help if necessary, for example by bringing some materials to the pupils. I couldn`t transmit every piece of material via the platform/Internet, such as the tests or listening comprehensive tests. But nowadays it`s also more possible, I think. And it was also necessary that everybody was punctual for the lessons, especially the distance students. But it wasn`t always so easy because the schools could have different schedules. Therefor it was most essential to agree on the schedule and rules beforehand and make sure that everybody also followed them with care. And because there are so many aspects in language teaching, it´s not only lecture by the teacher, I considered video conference very challenging and not so suitable for every task. In every language lesson it`s important that the pupils can use the language orally. But in a video conference situation it was not always so easy to make it possible because sometimes there was only one pupil in the distance school and he had nobody to talk with. And especially when I was teaching students in three different schools at the
It was very important that the teaching itself was smooth and wellplanned without any ”blackouts”
same time, it was very hard to follow and hear what the distance students were saying. But I think the equipment has become better, so there can already be a solution also to this problem today.
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he video conference teaching burdens the teacher with extra work, but I think that in many schools which use it the teachers are paid a little bonus for it. That was the case at least in my school. It´s very important to sign an agreement stating these facts beforehand. Despite all the extra work it was very interesting and rewarding to teach by using the video conferencesystem. It was so nice to see that you really could learn to use the equipment and become better and more skillful with that. I made it for a couple of years and got used to it. I think it can never replace the traditional classrooms, but it`s a good form of co operation between smaller schools and it can make it possible for them to offer their pupils for example voluntary language courses.
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ould video conferencing be used in other situations? Some schools have used the techniques for international cooperation: the students can have a direct contact to another country for example during language lessons. They are able to practice their oral and listening comprehension skills in a real, live situation without leaving the school premises. And why not use video conferencing to get in touch with other teachers around the world? It would be a cheap and timesaving way of contacting colleagues or organizing negotiations among partners of an international project, listening to lectures etc. Minna Oksanen, Finland YEUR Teaching Methods
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LEARNING MANAGEMENT S
and increased awareness of ICT in Educ We find many different LMS’ in use today. In Norway there are 3 main LMS’. Most upper secondary schools, colleges and universities use Fronter or It’s Learning, whereas most primary schools use Moodle. In my opinion all these LMS’ have played an important role in the development of ICT and new pedagogical ideas related to new technologies and digital media.
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n Trysil we have had experiences with different LMS’ since 1999. In 1999 we became participants in a national project, where all the schools should try out new pedagogical technologies with ICT. We decided to go for laptops and WiFi. LMS was not very well developed at that time, and we started by trying out systems used by enterprises and in higher education, mostly in the USA. We found a Norwegian system, SmartLearn, used by some big insurance companies in self studies for their employers.
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ur strategy for installing and developing ICT in our teaching was to give all the teachers a laptop, competence in using the network, access to the Internet and software related to working with students, before we gave the students laptops.
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he process of developing the LMS and ICT competences has been a very important period for us to see the consequences of ICT in education. We became aware of the possibilities, but also the problems. The teachers work with the subjects and the work with the students has got a new focus, when everything has to be presented on a computer, and the blackboard changed into a screen. The survey of the ICTsituation in Norwegian schools, done by the Norwegian Center for ICT in Education, shows that the implementation of LMS has increased the ICTcompetences tremendously. Schools without an LMS are far behind in their ICTcompetences.
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e had to organize the work in new ways and the LMS became crucial to the distribution of learning materials, students work and teachers comments to each student. Today we may say that the development of the LMS is in the direction of a more administrative system than a pedagogical tool. Our need for an LMS was not the need of a tool for online courses. Our need was to distribute materials, instructions, students work and to organize and administrate students
SYSTEM (LMS)
cation
content of pictures, films, music and social networking, the LMS has become an important part of structuring the teaching.
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he future LMS must integrate seamlessly all this content, and at the same time organize the content for educational purposes. Why should the teacher embed content from YouTube into an LMS, where the student must logon to see the film, when it is much easier to go directly to YouTube? Why put a blog into the LMS, when the students can sign up for hundreds of blogs for free?
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and courses. The enormous growth in content on the Internet and new administrative tasks for the teachers in regard to documentation of having fulfilled the administrative tasks related to each of the students raised new demands for the LMS.
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he main pedagogical theory in Norway today is that the students learn through own efforts in working with tasks related to a subject, more than just listening to a teacher, reading books on a screen and write word足documents. The teacher is still presenting the subject, distributing the learning materials and organizing the curriculum, but with the growth of the Internet, and especially the
he best LMS足 system is one that is best prepared for evolution and change, and one which facilitate the administrative tasks for the teachers and administration in the school. The LMS supports learning, because it is important for creating a common standard for the students in the classroom and giving a survey of all the subjects the students are working on during the day. Structure is important for all kinds of education. The LMS gives this structure and supports creativity if the instructions given are inspiring. Nothing is produced in the LMS, but the LMS can be formed by each teacher to give an identity to a subject, and let the student be more conscious of the learning process and the progression. Svend足Erik Svendsen, Norway
The main pedagogical theory in Norway today is that the students learn through own efforts in working with tasks related to a subject, more than just listening to a teacher, reading books on a screen and write word足documents. YEUR Teaching Methods
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he survey included 20 questions about YEUR people's opinions on social networks and its relationships with the world of education. The answers tend to be slightly different between teachers and students,
and no major differences have been found betwwen men and women. There seem to be, though, some variations between the different countries. But the best way to get a good interpretation of the data is probably to read this article and post your feedback in our Facebook site.
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After the meeting in Norway, YEUR published a survey in our Facebook site in order to find out our students and teachers' opinions on social networking in education. 133 people filled it in and the results can be seen in this article.
Why do you prefer that specific network better than the others? • There are more well known people in it. • I don't know. Because everyone has Facebook. • Most of my friends and family have a facebook profile, so it's easy to stay in touch with friends and family who dosn't live in Trysil. • I haven't tried any of the others. • Design, Easy to use, Posibility to chat while browsing, Game platform. • It seems to be the most serious one and most of my "friends" are using Facebook. • It's much easier to use and has many activities that could keep you in touch with your friends (such as games, quizzes, causes, etc). • Because I can see the pictures my friends took and I can stay in touch with them. And I also like the quizzes. YEUR Teaching Methods
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Is there any network you would never use, and why? • Twitter, I hate having to write short. • I don't know. • Do not need any other network. • Twitter, it takes too much time. • Hi5...Too many compatriots there and too many children with money and no mind! • Myspace its to complicate to post a comment ;) • Netlog because it seems like an underground site and you almost never hear anyone talk about it. • Hi5 because it's difficult to see the new comments of your friends and it's more difficult to use .
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Do you think that Social Networks may be useful for Education? Can you explain your answer? • Not specially. • Yes, they can be useful if they are used properly. We can learn from the other people interesting things about their traditions and hobbies and so on.. • Why not :) They are filled with different kind of activities so that publishing of media content (lesson videos ?), for example, is made easy by that way. • I'm not sure really. I think the computer disturbs many of the students! • Yes, because it would be more intresting to us ,students, if the lessons were more modern. • Yes, I agree that Social Networks may be useful for Education as students can get information from their teachers or share the information about a subject. • I don't think so. To me, Social Networks is free time activity. • No, it draws the attention away from what you actually should pay attention to.
If you answered "I'd never add a teacher as one of my contacts", can you please explain why? • I don't like my teachers to see pictures from parties I have been to and such. • Because i don't wanna be friends with them. Not because I don't like them, but it's my privatelife. • It seems unprofessional and inappropriate for a teacher to have the same (online) relationship with a student as the student would have with one of their peers. • Because I don't want them to know what I'm doing in my sparetime. • Because if I write a swear (that's how I feel atm), when I go to school the teacher puts the mark "bad language" on me. • Because I haven't found their accounts on the network I use and moreover, the relationship between a teacher and the students should be a bit stricter than that, in my viewpoint. • Because they are teachers. Not my friends actually. • I haven't found any of my teachers in my favourite social network. YEUR Teaching Methods
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If you answered: "I'd never add a student as one of my contacts", can you explain why? • If it started by initiativ from the students, no problem with this. Sharing ideas and interests is alwais interesting. • I want to have my private life. • My life is so different from theirs. Perhaps I want to keep the contacts official. I've given them my e-mail address so that they can contact me and I have their. I have had contacts to some of my students after they have left our school. This has mainly based on same hobbies. • I want to separate my work on private life. • So, I don't use social networks. • I don't want students to think of me as a "colleague". • I'd rather not know what's going on in students' minds. YEUR Teaching Methods
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Is there anything you'd like to add? • Nope. • I don´t use any Social Networks. • I'm unsure where the learning elements (school activities) could be operated by the teacher. • The students are using Facebook for chatting about the school as well. • I think Tuenti and Facebook are very useful! • It is better to try and make people who are in this social network meet "live" face to face, because some may tend to fake how they really are and by meeting they bond and make a strong connection. • There could be a website that is meant that students and teachers can meet each others. • Yes, social networks are usualy to entertaiment so, I think that learn with'em something it's absolutly impossible! Really, I think so... • I should say that it was really interesting to answer these questions. • Have a nice day! • Mery springtime!
This data seem to suggest that most participants in our survey filled it in during a class, as there are 4 important peaks in different days, which probably coincide with the days in which different groups of students were given some time to fill in the survey during a class. Thank you very much to the teachers who made that possible, and, in general thank you very much to everyone who has taken some time to let us know their opinion.
Please let us know your opinion about the general results of this survey in our website yeur.eu or in our Facebook page.
Survey designed by the Spanish Team Layout by Antonio Temprano
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USING PODCAST TO B STUDENTS’ LEARNING A
Podcast can be defined as a media file that is freely available for download from the Internet automatically with software that can handle RSS feeds. This file is then played on a personal computer or mobile device at the listener’s convenience.
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odcasts are becoming increasingly popular but this technique is not widely used in classes for educational purposes in Lithuania. I have learnt about Podcasting participating in the project for Adults education in which secondary school teachers from ten European countries were learning these techniques and trying to apply in their practice.
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odcasts provide a means for students to get access to “authentic” listening sources about almost any subject they may interest them. Therefore I have taken advantages of Podcasts as a basis for listening comprehension exercises. I chose material on the Internet, the topic I chose was related to the theme we were learning at that moment. The students could download podcasts (mp3 files) onto their computers and transfer these recordings automatically to portable music players. The users could listen to the files anytime and anywhere they chose.
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his approach to improve listening skills might be prepared for each learning topic. The work which has to be done by the teacher is to YEUR Teaching Methods
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choose the material from the Internet (sometimes summarized the key points) or produces herself related to a learning topic then uses it in the class, later it can be uploaded on a site where the podcast could be published and listened to. Students subscribe to the podcast through the site and can listen or transfer to portable music players.
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odcasting has an instant application potential for education since young people have mobile music players. In addition, the most important pedagogic characteristics offered by podcasting is learning through listening. For students; listening may be more attractive and less tedious than reading, moreover, listening may motivate students who do not like reading.
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nother beneficial idea of using podcast in a learning process is to substitute the teacher in the class. The teacher prepares the lesson as a podcast file with the material and explanations of the theme. The students can listen to the lesson staying at home or it can also help for students who are ill or miss lessons for some other problems. In addition, this approach can also help for students who have difficulties in understanding the topic during the class and after their class they can listen to the lesson several times; they can stop the lesson, “rewind” to a previous part, and start again. Controls also
BETTER G allow the student to skip forward to a specific point in the lesson.
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ll approaches have their benefits and drawbacks but everyone would agree on the attractiveness of the mobile learning. Podcasting as a new technology has huge potential in enhancing second language learner’s communication skills.
ADVANTAGES
• Focuses on important grammar and vocabulary subjects. • Provides great listening practice. • Ability to sign up for the podcast in any podcatching software. • Can be quickly and inexpensively created and uploaded to any website. • Can easily be accessed regardless of time and location. • Excellent for intermediate and advanced level learners (those who are interested in an idiomatic language).
DISADVANTAGES • Takes time checking the files and data published are verified (it is time consuming for larger files). • File formats might be compatible to other devices. • Takes time as the teacher has to prepare material and create the podcast for the class not all students might have a mobile device.
LITERATURE USED • What's podcast?
• Effects of Podcast in listening comprehension • Developing student's listening and speaking comprehension through podcast
• Introduction to English Learning Podcasts Skirmante Petraitiene, Lithuania. YEUR Teaching Methods
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The idea to use a podcast in the class came after I saw how the students started bringing MP3 players to school. But I was not very good at ITC by then.
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he idea came to use a podcast in the class after I had seen the students started bringing MP3 players to school but I was not very good at ITC at that moment. I read several articles and understood that MP3 player and podcast technology can offer something different. What is more I found that podcasting is giving teachers another way to meet today’s students. As I am the deputy and it sometimes happens I miss my classes for different purposes, my colleagues have to substitute me and it is often quite complicated to find a substitute teacher for a class. Therefore the use of podcasting in the class is an effective way to solve the problem.
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he topic of the class was HIV infected in our school. I asked two students to help me organize the class devoted to HIV. I asked then to prepare a podcast file about the students who got into a confusing situation and made a reasonable decision. I informed the students about the different lesson which would take at their convenience (any place and any time). The time limit was given to finish the tasks by the following class. After the students had created a podcast file I uploaded on the Moodle. The content of the complicated situation was presented:
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wo friends, Vytas and Adomas are pupils at the same gymnasium. Vytas has been using drugs for a year already. Adomas does not use
them but his friend persuaded him, so he tried and used his friend‘s syringe. Having tried it he decides not to do that again. After a year it appears that Vytas is ill with AIDS. Vytas suggests his friend to have his health checked. The answer is positive Adomas is HIV infected. The staff at the AIDS Center informs the youngsters how to behave at home and at school. Both boys are not sure if to inform their families and friends about this fact.
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he students were also given the questions to prepare for the discussion after the listening to the podcast file:
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1. Did the pupils tell their friends/ parents about HIV infection? 2. Why did they do so? 3. How do you evaluate their behavior? 4. Should they have revealed their secret? 5. What would you do in their place? 6. How will their friends‘ and family members‘ attitudes change towards them? 7. What would you advise them if you were their classmates? 8. Other possible questions.
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he next lesson was devoted to the discussion It went on in accordance with accepted rules: all opinions were respected, any criticism was avoided, all had to keep strictly to the topic, speak one at a time, and listen attentively (a pupil was appointed, who monitors compliance of the rules).
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omework for the students’ following class was to present the audio answers, prepared with podcast program, which I gave to the following questions: “How has your attitude towards a HIV infected pupil changed?” “What would you suggest doing if you were the teacher of the HIV infected?” Students’ podcasts could enrich my other classes and other class students could find them on the Internet.
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fter this experiment I was very satisfied as the classes were very effective. I felt my students were more motivated and it encouraged me to use this technique more often in my Biology and Psychology classes. Rasa Dagiené , Lithuania.
• "How has your attitude towards a HIV infected student changed?”
• “What would you suggest doing if you were the teacher of the HIV infected?" YEUR Teaching Methods
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TEACHING AND LEARNIN WITHIN VIRTUAL ENVIRON
Virtual environments give way to new models of learning. ”Second L alternatives to traditional approaches on education, bringing teach
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espite its layout, ”Second Life” is not a game, it is a persistent virtual world suitable for learning. It comes in two versions, the ”adult” one, not censored and a teen version which has strict controles over who cand use it and close guiding of potentially unsuitable content. When starting using ”Second Life” an avatar needs to be created. This character represents the virtual version of the real person and it can visit various sims (simulations based in areas of virtual land).
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ithin ”Second Life” the avatar can do many kinds of activities: study at a university, visit a museum, go skiing, meet friends and chat etc. This content is not made by the proveiders but is entirely user created. It takes a while to learn to use ”Second Life” – typically the first hours are taken up with learning basic movement and viewing controls and with exploring different environments. Applications allow the avatar freedom of speech, movement and interaction as he/she can walk, talk, change clothing, hairstyle but most importantly communicate with other avatars. ”Second Life” relies on four basic elements: proactivity (avatars must be “doing” something at all times), interaction (avatars must be interacting with the environment, tools, objects and others while working), collaboration (avatars must be working in groups which become communities of practice, supported by the facilitator) and constructivism (avatars must engage with experiment, test and explore activities without predefined learning paths, methodologies and solutions).
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sers feel they are part of the virtual community, reflect on their role and context within the engagement (imagination) and negotiate their role within the community so that they can work collaboratively and gain more YEUR Teaching Methods
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than if they were operating individually. Second Life offers opportunities for this level of engagement through avatar communications which has not been possible with online 2D text based interaction previously because the 3D constructed environment and visual/kinesthetic sense of ’body’ and ’place’ allows students to interpret this environment through their physical sense of presence, space and self gleaned from the real world. In this way the community of practice can be seen to underpin learning on the island in formal and informal contexts.
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econd Life is seen as a great tool for immersing students in an environment where they can explore, experiment and discuss without the barriers that real life can present. Activities that could prove expensive or dangerous in real life can be simulated at lower cost and risk than in real life. If the teacher wishes to create a lesson about animals there are virtual zoos, if he/she wants to practise shopping language there are ”real” (well, virtual but real) shops to visit and buy things. Students reluctant to speak up and take part in face to face discussions can find the virtual world an easier place to
NG COMMUNICATION NMENTS
Life” represents such new hers and students closer together.
contribute in. Both teacher and students escape traditional routine classes to visit various places in order to practise speaking, language functions and discourse elements. There are multiple advantages: visual support , voice etc. But most importantly, students are ”hidden” behind the avatar which lessens the burden of stress. Besides being entertainin g and highly engaging, ”Second Life” also has the quality of supporting crosscurric ular approach es on learning as students can cross the barriers of their real school, of language and subject content. The virtual classroom enables geographic barriers to be broken down and a sense of community to be built amongst disperse students. On a higher level, it can improve students’ social skills such as tollerance, communication, adaptability, selfesteem, self confidence etc. Interactivity and social networking are built into learning activities used in the virtual environment. Vygotsky emphasized that social interaction plays a primary role in the development of learner understanding of the
subject matter. Through this understanding of cognitive development and the proximal zone for the development of understanding as structured by the learner, instructor, and surrounding influences, the environment is fundamental to providing the structure in which learning can take place.
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earners are motivated to join the community of practice and therefore motivated to participate in the learning activities in a way that also does not happen with asynchronous activities because they instantly have metaphors they can understand – talking, sitting, moving for example – and because the learning is done by the group not to the group. A 3D online virtual universe such as “Second Life” offers extensive opportunities for fantasy as well – avatar identity becomes a central element of the fantasy and the control offered by the environment. This also leads inevitably to the heuristic of ’interpersonal motivation’ since, as has already been established, this is fundamental to Second Life.
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econd Life virtual environment is becoming significantly common within education institutions many of which have already set up a virtual campus, conducting virtual lessons in Second Life, enabling students to meet, attend classes, and create content together. Many educational establishments are now using Second Life as a meeting space, research various teaching and learning opportunities, test bed and, more importantly, a teaching and learning environment in which learners can participate in collaborative learning activities supported and guided by a facilitator.
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reparing students for life in virtual environments is no longer an aim in itself as such places tend to become, through their constant presence in our lives, less and less ”virtual”, as what we call ”real” relies on a sense of ”reality”. MihaelaAlina ChiribauAlbu, Romania Diana Popa, Romania YEUR Teaching Methods
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AUDACITY IN THE CLASSROOM
Audacity gives the language teacher many possibilities when it comes to working with audio in the classroom. And it's free!
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udacity is a free audio recorder and editor that can be downloaded very easily from the web. It’s a fantastic tool for teachers who want to record texts in preparation for lessons, and for students to record themselves in class. To download Audacity go to: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
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nce the programme has downloaded, install it, plug in your microphone, open Audacity and simply start working! Use these tips to help you to record your voice.
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Playback hen you play the recording back, it’ll start from the beginning. If you want to start from the middle of the recording, place your cursor there and a line will appear.
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Making a mistake f you make a mistake, highlight the section you want to delete and press the DELETE button on your keyboard. Place your cursor where you want to start the recording from again and press the RECORD button. Another track will appear but when you play it back and once it’s saved, it’ll be one complete recording.
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Features here are many different features with Audacity. The only one I use is to increase the sound level by highlighting the entire recording, clicking EFFECT on the top tool bar and choosing AMPLIFY. But you can create other sound effects which may be fun. You can also slow down and speed up audio by choosing CHANGE TEMPO option. NB. You cannot edit or use these features if you have paused the audio. You must have stopped the audio for these to be available.
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Saving audio files ou can save the file as a .aup file. This means the file will open in Audacity and allow you to edit it or add to it. If you want to use the programme as a language laboratory then this is the best way to save files. You do this by clicking FILE, SAVE PROJECT AS.If you want to play the audio on programmes other than Audacity (e.g. Windows media player, real player) then save the file as a .wav file. Click FILE and EXPORT AS WAV.You can also download the audio as an MP3 file. To do this, you need to download a plugin. The Audacity website can help with this. YEUR Teaching Methods
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Microphone problems
Exploiting Audacity for language learning
f you find it difficult to hear what you record because the microphone seems quiet, try opening up your computer volume options (you can usually do this by clicking on Start, Control Panel, Sound options). Click on Advanced Options for your microphone and click the box which says Microphone Boost. This should make it louder.
ere are a few ideas of ways in which you can use Audacity in the classroom to benefit language learning. I’m sure there are many more which you could add! Pronunciation • Minimal pairs • Intonation • Stress Linking Grammar and vocabulary • Drills • Complete the sentence about you • Guess the definition The four skills
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Recording external audio o record audio from the Internet, make sure that Audacity is set to STEREO MIX or WAVE MIX and not MICROPHONE as above. Start playing the audio from the Internet and immediately press the RECORD button on Audacity.
Activities can be graded
according to level so that stronger learners are
challenged and weaker students are supported
• Record dialogues/conversations with your colleagues for listening practice • Record audio from the web. Be aware of copyright laws, but great if you don’t have the Internet in your classroom • Question and answers • Describing an object/a person/a place • Creating a news report • Speaking exam practice • Recording and assessing speaking skills • Half a dialogue • Dictation/dictogloss • Parallel reading • Half a story • Make a podcast • Make a digital story • Record a play • Voice messages • Note taking • Read and record a summary of an article
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he key benefit of these activities is that each learner is working at their own pace. Speaking tasks can be repeated so that accuracy or fluency are improved; listening texts can be repeated more than once if necessary and parts can be listened to again if missed. Activities can be graded according to level so that stronger learners are challenged and weaker students are supported. MihaelaAlina ChiribauAlbu, Romania YEUR Teaching Methods
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