Bored with your default Twitter background? Why not change it to something more individual? Here are some sites to give you the perfect makeover!
For those who prefer the DIY approach, check out these videos which should give you the background info you'll need. Good luck!
If you are interested in exploring the possibilities of using Twitter in the classroom, you may find these four tutorials by Timo Elliott from SAP helpful. They describe how to install different free Flash plugins which allow you to automatically send and display live tweets in PowerPoint as well as conduct online surveys to poll the opinions of your pupils.
For more ideas on how to display live tweets or use Twitter for educational purposes, have a look at this four part presentation by Petra Pointer at the recent IATEFL Conference in Harrogate called What students can get out of Twitter
Just to clarify, I think Twitter is a wonderful CPD tool for teachers, but I wouldn't recommend pupils having their own accounts. Peta is referring to post-16 students in her session and I think that's OK, but I would suggest for school-aged pupils that they use Edmodo instead or a VLE for home-school links to protect their own privacy.
I do think however teachers using Twitter to ask questions or crowdsource followers as a way of providing a class with live feedback is a good idea and I have blogged about the possibilities here.
To get some more ideas on how to use Twitter for CPD or with pupils, check out Carol Cooper-Taylor's presentation from Plymouth eLearning Conference 2010 which includes some great suggestions.
This week on Palm Breeze Cafe, the presenters of the popular YouTube edtech show have been showcasing different types of technology for enhancing language learning. Lee Keller chose to talk about Radio Lingua Network and described it as his favourite language learning site!
As you would expect from this sort of praise, Lee gives a glowing review of the site although he does make the odd mistake in his presentation namely who actually owns the resource! He particularly highlights the quality of the Coffee Break Spanish audio lessons and cannot believe that they are freely available for listeners to access and use at their leisure.
Lee then shows viewers just how easy it is to subscribe to the podcast in the iTunes Store and choose individual episodes to download.
Managing director of Radio Lingua Network, Mark Pentleton a.k.a 'the Scottish guy' referred to in the clip should be very pleased with the recognition he and his co-presenters have received! Well-deserved praise indeed!
Convincing Joe Public that Twitter is more than a frivolous tool for keeping abreast of the daily routine of your favourite celebrity can be a challenge, but it is a challenge worth taking as the rewards can be transformational for your continuing professional development and classroom practice.
Some language teachers have been using Twitter since 2007, collaborating with like-minded colleagues from all over the world, forging powerful cross-curricular links and being regularly engaged and supported by the inspirational people they are following. Many have followed suit, developing their own personal learning networks along the way and more are signing up all the time to find out what all the fuss is about.
To help colleagues interested in joining the Twitterverse, I have used the free service TweepML to create a list of MFL professionals who can be easily followed by ticking a box next to their profile picture. Take a moment to peruse the list. I'm sure you'll see many familiar faces if you are already a fan of online communities although you'll also see lots of new people too!
The "MFL Twitterati" as they are commonly known by the language teachers who interact with Twitter on a daily basis are over one hundred strong now and growing all the time. I have also recently created another list using Twitter itself with the same usernames which allows you to get a flavour of the sorts of messages MFL colleagues are sending each other at the moment.
Please note that only unprotected tweets are being displayed. To see other messages you would first need request permission from the person you wanted to follow, have it granted and then login to your own account.
If you would like to add the widget displayed at the right of my blog, go to this link, put in joedale for Username, click find lists and select MFL Twitterers under List Name. You can then customise the Preferences, Appearance and Dimensions on the left hand side and generate the embed code you will need to put it on your blog.
I suggest you use a free tool like Twhirl, TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop which will help you organise your tweets and keep on top of replies, direct messages and any lists you may have created.
If you still need persuading about the value of joining Twitter have a look at this great clip by Chris Betcher which makes the important point that you need to make sure you are following enough people to make the experience worthwhile.
I hope this post encourages you to dip your toes into the Twitterverse if you haven't done already and discover what an incredibly collaborative environment it is. It will be well worth your time and effort and you'll wonder what you ever did without it once you get going, honest ;)
Come on! Join the conversation!
This morning, Mark Smith, the CEO of iPadio phlogged the latest updates to the free phonecasting tool popular amongst MFL mobloggers and phonic enthusiasts including being able to:
Thanks to Mark for the update and for creating such a great tool which makes capturing audio so easy wherever you are and whenever you want!
Scott Duarte from Michigan State University has created an engaging clip on the Hows and Whys of Podcasting based on his work with students who are learning English as a second language. Originally published as a slideshare, Scott has added music and really brought the presentation to life showing the importance of an active approach towards language learning.
I particularly like the slides which show how audio and video podcasting cater to a greater range of learning styles than typical lessons, lectures and classroom discussions as this evidence ties in with Andrew Churches' research which suggests that podcasting helps pupils to access higher order thinking skills.
Scott has also published a five part video presentation of a talk he gave with Scott Shinall at the 2008 TESOL conference in New York. You can find the links here:
Tony Vincent from Learning in Hand has been looking at podcasting recently too and has posted this clip explaining how easy it is to email up to 1GB of audio files from an iPod Touch on to the free blogging tool Posterous and include a link allowing others to subscribe in iTunes in a click.
Kenley Neufeld has also created a useful guide on podcasting with Posterous as has Doug Belshaw here. In fact if you are looking for an indepth discussion on the topic, check out this 'guerilla' podcast from the Chris and Ray Show and drill down to the nitty gritty of using Posterous as a podasting platform!
John Johnston was the first person who really opened my eyes to the simplicity of using Posterous for podcasting in the short interview we did at the Scottish Learning Festival last year for his SLFtalk project with David Noble.
José Picardo chose Posterous to moblog his recent trip to Spain as did David Noble (a different David Noble) and Chris Harte. Alice Ayel uses the tool for her main Spanish blog which includes the classic clip La ropa de Augustin from claseidiomas. James Padvis, Diannah Miller and Mary Cooch have gone down the same route too as a place to post their thoughts and reflections and in the latest installment of BBC Click which can be watched on iPlayer for the next week or so, you'll find a section about Posterous towards the end of the programme.
So if you've been convinced about why you should be thinking about podcasting in the languages classroom then Posterous could be the way to get you started. I can't think of a simpler podcasting/blogging solution and it's free!
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