In light of the current economic downturn and the difficulty teachers have of getting out of school to attend courses, I felt it was apposite at this year's Language World to promote the myriad ways colleagues can improve their own continuing professional development by taking advantage of powerful online tools such as Twitter to nurture a personal learning network.
In an ideal world, it would be great to receive training during the school day in a centre or hotel paid for by your school, but in the current climate, these opportunities are simply becoming less and less viable. Finding alternative sources of CPD is becoming increasingly important and teachers need to be more pro-active if they want to keep up with the latest developments in their field.
To finish off, I'd like to quote primary deputy headteacher Julian S Wood from Sheffield who in May delivered a thought-provoking TeachMeet presentation about PLNs in which he concluded that
As a follow up to my participation in last month's innovative ICT Day at Medina High School on the Isle of Wight, I spent last Monday afternoon with the MFL department looking at ways they could use a class set of iPod Touches to engage their pupils and enhance language learning.
To give some structure to the training, I created a new page on the Posterous blog I set up to publish the podcasts we made during the two workshops in June.
Referring to Sharon Tonner's wonderful explanations on her I-C-T wiki, I demonstrated how easy it was to make different types of QR code with the site Sparqcode and within minutes we had created one linking to a URL and the other to some text. The advantage of the latter being that it will work offline as well as on. To read the codes, I recommended the free app I-nigma which works instantaneously when pointed in the right direction.
We then discussed how we could employ QR codes in language lessons.
e.g. For a URL QR code
To launch an mp3 file
To play a video
To visit an authentic website and answer some comprehension exercises
My favourite idea was to give students cards with QR codes on them linking to a text response whereby they would have to find their partner who had the answer to their question or the same information as them. Preparing the exercise wouldn't be too time-consuming as you could use the Teachers Pet toolbar to make picture flashcards in a few clicks or copy and paste multiple QR codes into a Word document, print it off on to card and cut them up from there.
Alternatively, you could just use Russell Tarr's wonderful QR Treasure Hunt Generator! which simplifies the process even more by creating the necessary QR codes for each question along with an answer sheet. Moreover, your devices don't have to be online for this to work and you need to input a minimum of five questions and answers. Try out his bookmarklet too which can generate a QR code of the web page you are on or any highlighted text on that page! The QR codes can then be copied and pasted into a document, printed off and cut up as previously suggested. The beauty of the text ones is that they don't need a connected device to work. Just think of the exciting exercises this could generate in MFL and yes QR codes can deal with accents!
Have a look too at QR code voting with Qwikvotes! The idea is a teacher sets the question, students scan generated QR code of their choice and then teacher clicks on show results.
For QR codes which link to URLs, another way of saving time would be to create a customised URL using the link shortening service Snipurl. This would mean you could use the same QR code, but change the URL it launches each time.
By clicking on the Manage Snips tab and Edit, you can see that you can change the Long URL and hit the Save Changes button without changing the shortened form. In this way, you can create a range of customised links with different nicknames e.g medinamfl1, medinamfl2 etc and generate QR codes for each one. These QR codes will not need to change because they will always link to the same customised URL. However, by changing the Long URL, the link that opens as a result can be different and so could be regularly updated for different purposes.
If you add a Private Key to your customised link, you will need to enter it and click Fetch my URL before being able to access the desired web page. To avoid this extra step, but keep your snipping private, you can add your Private Key after your link e.g. http://sn.im/medinamfl-medina
Both methods will ensure your snippings will not appear in the public timeline so it's up to you to choose which you prefer. Unfortunately, this will not work with text QR Codes only URL ones.
There are various apps which allow you to generate a QR code directly from your iPod Touch. Easy QR is my favourite as it is free and has a very simple clean interface. Using the text option, you can create QR codes for texts as well as URLs and save them as images in your Camera Roll so they can be scanned later.
One idea would be to make a QR code from a long piece of text and display the image on the board. Pupils could scan it in and then complete a Google Form also accessed via a QR code to show they had understood the contents. To finish, you could display the results on the board and go over the answers. Alternatively, pupils could generate their own QR codes and do a pair or group work activity which you would traditionally complete on paper.
To inspire us with further possibilities we checked out the wonderful 40 interesting ways of using QR codes in education to see which ideas lent themselves well to MFL. Vicky Davis's post QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide is also full of good advice and recommends Kaywa and FireFox add-on Mobile Barcoder for generating QR codes. The latter works straight from the bottom right corner of the browser which could be useful when presenting on an interactive whiteboard and asking students to scan from their devices.
Use Russel Tarr’s bookmarklet to create giant URL QR codes in one click on the interactive whiteboard so students can quickly scan them and transfer the content on to their handheld device. See this process in action in this clip from Ollie Bray published in 2008. To create a text QR code, highlight the text in question first before clicking the bookmarklet.
Give students QR codes which link to revision PowerPoint presentations you’ve published on Slideshare so they can watch them on their mobile devices. You could embed a YouTube clip containing supplementary material which runs on one of the slides. This would work fine unless you wanted to make a Slidecast by synchronising an mp3 file with your presentation in which case, you could add a QR code on the slide in question and ask students to pause, watch the clip and then press play again. The QR code linking to the SlideShare version of a class presentation could be added to the last slide as a matter of course.
To enhance a departmental portfolio of levelled pieces of work, use QR codes to launch audio or video clips as evidence of speaking. Likewise, add QR codes to your prospectus linking to impressive multimedia outcomes highlighting the strengths of the school.
Use Sparqcode to generate a set of QR codes linking to Google Maps for a lesson on directions. Give pupils written or spoken instructions for where they need to go via a text or URL QR code and ask them to label the final destination they reach having followed the instructions.
Give pupils a QR code which launches the email client on their handheld device as a way of simplifying the process of handing in work or sending you the URL of a web based project they’ve completed. This could be the email they need to publish resources on to a class Posterous site although they could use the dedicated app for this as well.
Create a text QR code for the login details needed to access a site or resource so they are always kept in the device’s history. In the same way, use a QR code to access the school’s wifi system!
Stick a URL QR code linking to work carried out in an ICT suite as proof of outcomes in pupils’ exercise books.
Create a QR code of an RSS feed to make it easier for students to subscribe to blogs and podcasts.
Use Snap.vu or BWScan to find out how many times a QR code has been scanned and by how many unique visitors. Choose the former if you want to clear results and receive email notifications. Choose the latter for more detailed analytics
For ILILC 2012, I’ve been reflecting on the possibilities of integrating QR codes into procedures and so far have come up with the following:
Create a QR code which links to a mobile friendly WebDoc full of multimedia goodness. Thanks to Shelly Terrell for the inspiration for this idea. This could be incorporated into a blog badge or added to any paper literature about the conference.
Put a QR code next to speaker’s bios in the conference programme which link to their respective blogs.
Create a multimedia QR code quiz to be completed between presentations at the MFL Show and Tell. Pub Quiz for the 21st century?
Here is an example Free Text poll to show you how it works with the iPod Touch or any other handheld device connected to the web.
click Save new poll.
On the right hand side, untick the box next to Text messages from and make sure there is a tick in the box by Web devices on.
Make a note of the number you need to use for your web response and go to http://pollev.com to submit it with your answer.
Return to the page where the answers to your poll are displayed to see your response.
Please note you can carry out a poll without being registered and your answers will be deleted after two weeks. Once the poll is finished though you can choose to click the Stop Poll button. You can also download a PowerPoint slide which contains the poll too and include it in a presentation.
Next we looked at recording audio on the iPod Touch. There are many apps which allow you to do this including the default Voice Memos app. One issue is the format the audio records in (m4a, AIFF, mp3, caf etc) and the second is how to transfer it off the device, if it needs editing and publishing.
John Johnston is an expert in this field and has recommended two apps to me. The first is iTalk recorder which is free, allows you to rename your files on the device and lets you sync your recordings with your PC with the free iTalk Sync program. It records audio as AIFF files which means they can be edited in Audacity and converted to mp3 using the Lame encoder.
The second app is VR+ Voice which costs £1.19 on the app store and records directly as mp3. You can also transfer the files wirelessly from the device to a computer using a URL. Listen to John singing its praises here as well as Wifi Photo Transfer which works in the same way, but for images.
I demoed iTalk and showed how to download files from the iPod Touch. They were suitably impressed!
To finish the session we talked about file management using DropBox and touched upon the digital storytelling apps SonicPics and Our Story. The latter looks particularly good and was designed by the Open University to promote reading.
Check out as well my MFLedapps blog which features links and video clips of many apps I feel could be useful in enhancing language learning. I've used tags on the right hand side to specify in which skill area they could be particularly effective, if they are free or not and if they are for the iPod or iPad. A good place to find educational apps is on Twitter. Search for edapps and you're bound to find some gems!
I'll be very interested to hear how the MFL department at Medina get on with the iPods next academic year and see what impact they have on the pupils' learning. I hope they keep in Touch ;-)
Newly qualified teacher, Gemma Dobson from Tiverton High School in Devon describes herself in her Blogger and Twitter profile as "an enthusiastic NQT keen to try out fresh, new ideas to get pupils excited about languages".
Tiverton has been an Apple Regional Training Centre since 2006 and Gemma was lucky enough to attend this year's Apple Teacher Institute in Cheltenham where she learnt along with other educators how to use the iPod Touch, iPad and MacBook as learning tools in the classroom. It was here she found out about Puppet Pals, a free app for the iPod Touch or iPad which allows you to make a customised animation using your own images and audio recordings. You can check out examples her Yr 9 pupils produced in German during the project on their own blog here.
To give everyone a real sense of autonomy and ownership, Gemma decided to let her pupils select who they wanted to work with and how they wanted to employ the iPod Touch they were allocated. One group chose to use the multi-functional device principally as a video camera to make a film which they then edited and subtitled in iMovie. One group created a slideshow of images taken around the school to illustrate school subjects in German. Another group translated the song Friday by Rebecca Black into German and applied effects to it in GarageBand and finally a less keen group simply recorded an audio soundtrack and embedded it into PowerPoint to practise their German.
According to Gemma, the pupils liked being trusted to use the handheld tools to produce personalised resources in creative and independent ways and were almost unanimously positive about what they had achieved in the process. Following this success, Gemma is now considering new ways of using the iPod Touches as well as incorporating other technolologies into her lessons such as Edmodo.
Gemma has found blogging about her classroom practice a great way of reflecting on what she does and analysing what she needs to do to improve. Her honest approach has generated a lot of positive feedback from her readers which she finds motivating and encourages her to explore further possibilities. She also finds reading other colleagues' blogs and using Twitter fantastic for getting ideas and peer support.
"I think when you're writing online to a wider audience, you really think about what you're putting on there and you really think about what you've been doing in a different way and it's helped me to stay motivated by knowing that people have been reading my blog and I've got a lot of positive feedback from it as well, but also I think it's really good as a reflective practitioner in terms of writing down what you do and analysing whether it was good and admitting to yourself that you've made a terrible mistake for all to see and that kind of thing really. It's been a really good experience and it's something that I try to promote to other colleagues as well because I think it's something you can gain a lot from."
Considering Gemma is at the beginning of her teaching career, I think she has achieved a great deal so far, motivating her pupils and helping them improve their language learning with technologies they love to engage with in their own time. She also represents a new type of 21st century practitioner who is willing to blog about what she is doing in her classroom as a way of consolidating her own thoughts and connecting with a global audience.
Wouldn't it be great if all NQTs had the opportunity and desire to embrace new technologies in this way. Josh Milne from South Alabama certainly thinks along those lines!
With the go ahead she needed, Katie began by getting her pupils to record their speaking assessments on Voki.com and filming each other saying phrases in Spanish. She is quoted as saying:
“Specifically for a foreign language, it’s a great way to both formally and informally access speaking abilities, which is really hard to do on a regular basis because of class sizes and lack of time.”
Buoyed by this success, Katie then chose to use the tool Poll Everywhere to help them practise their writing skills through text messaging and displaying the results on the interactive whiteboard. As she points out in our interview, this means that pupils can answer anonymously and therefore not feel singled out or embarrassed if they make a mistake. Katie intends to create multiple choice with Poll Everywhere too replicating a kind of classroom response system where she can immediately assess her students’ understanding and see what they need to work on.
"Being able to text in class is just something new and in a way rejuvenates us because it is not the usual 'take notes, then do homework,' like we do in the rest of our classes," 16-year-old Pulaski student Kevin Dunford said. "It's a new flavor."
Not content with simply exploring the potential of mobile phones in lesson time, Katie has been creating distance learning resources for her students to access in their own time outside of the school day. For example, Señora Titler has uploaded her own grammar PowerPoints to VoiceThread and added a voiceover recorded from her mobile.
Please note that the phone numbers Katie uses for Voki and VoiceThread are US numbers and so for those who don't live in the States, I would suggest you record with a microphone instead or upload mp3 files you've already created. However, don't despair as Poll Everywhere and Gabcast do have a range of international numbers you can ring, if you fancy trying out some of the ideas presented here! Gabcast has also recently received new sponsorship and is again free to use which is great news for fans of the phonecasting tool.
A number of trailblazing language teachers have also been exploring the use of audio in the MFL classroom and how it can offer a new approach to language learning. Isabelle Jones spoke on the topic at the recent TeachMeetNW and subsequently created a wonderful slidecast to illustrate her ideas.
Lesley Welsh dipped her toe into podcasting with Podomatic to help a Year 10 pupil revise for her speaking test.
Esther Hardman ran some training on Easi-speak microphones, Audacity and podcasting recently to support local primary colleagues and judging by the Wallwisher she published it was certainly effective!
Florence Lyons blogged about her Easi-speak microphone too saying how impressed she was by it and Alice Ayel described recording audio in her classroom as a joy!
This is an interesting report by Christie Canter who provides evidence of the benefits of using mp3 players to support learners in reading assessments. Her findings suggest that pupils who listen to their teacher via an mp3 player are likely to do better than those that do not.
She concludes:
"The use of MP3 players to improve reading comprehension is a valuable asset in the media center and the classroom. It is virtually the same assistance as being read to by faculty, yet saves time and staff. Another added benefit is the ability to pause the recording between questions to think about the answers rather than raising a hand for more time while others are ready to move on."
Interesting ...
Have a look too at three two posts that draw similar conclusions.
AudioBoo is a British designed free iPhone app which allows you to record voice messages of up to 5 minutes and post them online along with an image and your location on a Google Map. 'Boos' as they are known are automatically saved in users' accounts as mp3 files and joined to the same RSS feed meaning they can be subscribed to in iTunes or Google Reader. See this screencast for more information. Individual messages can also be embedded on a blog or website and their links cross-posted to Twitter.
Conceived & developed by Best Before Media and partly funded by Channel 4's 4iP project, AudioBoo also works on an iPod Touch with a wifi connection and external microphone. However, for those who don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch, but still wish to create short podcasts on the move, the team has created a new service PhoneBoo which can be accessed by ringing a UK number from any mobile phone, landline or Skype. All you need to do is register a number on the website, obtain your access code and you're good to go.
Phonecasting of course is not a new phenomenon and has been possible for quite a while for those wanting to create simple podcasts without the need of a computer. Have a look at this earlier post for a great example and listen to this Wes Fryer podcast comparing different ways of producing digital recordings via cell phone.
Unfortunately for UK based audio mobloggers, platforms such as GCast, Drop.io, GabCast and Utterli present certain drawbacks because they either only support US numbers or require paid for credits to use. The latter is possibly due to the worldwide economic downturn, but is frustrating none the less for teachers wishing to regularly create audio from their mobile phones without costing them a fortune. No such problem with PhoneBoo though.
Early adopter, Neville Hobson admits the audio quality of PhoneBoo is not as good as AudioBoo but this is because the latter saves the file locally before uploading it to the web whereas the former captures the sound remotely which typically produces a poorer outcome due to the limitations of recording on a phone. Listen to Neville talking about this in more detail on his FIR podcast with Shel Holtz.
John Johnston has been reflecting on how AudioBoo could be used in education allowing pupils to make short audio recordings as podcasts and have others subscribe to them. To hear more of John's thoughts listen here.
AudioBoo is still very much a work in progress at the moment and has experienced growing pains in the first few months. Once these are ironed out and the infrastructure is established, Mark Rock, CEO of Best Before Media will be encouraging others to develop third party apps to create a range of exciting possibilities for users to share their boos in the future. Bootiful!
So if ever language teachers and iPhone owners such as Lisa Stevens, José Picardo, Alex Blagona, Chris Holbrook, Laura Walker or Suzi Bewell ever find themselves disheartened by the state of language learning in this country, my advice to them would be to just start 'booing' and I'm sure they'd feel a whole lot better afterwards :)
Monday night's MFL Flashmeeting was a special occasion in so many ways. It was the first time as far as I am aware that 20 plus language teachers from the UK, the USA and New Zealand had met up in a videoconferencing session to talk about their passion for using ICT in the classroom. Secondly, it facilitated a huge amount of sharing and honest discussion about many practical issues we face on a daily basis in our teaching. Thirdly, it generated a great deal of excitement and reinforced the power of Twitter to help people connect with each and be part of a community.
Hearing about everyone's experiences was a joy and a validation of how much language teaching can be enhanced by the use of technology. The discussion was supportive and encouraging throughout and as I said at the time the learning was palpable. One of the tools which seemed to receive the most praise was Edmodo which according to Alex Bellars, Kath Holton and José Picardo, their pupils LOVE to use. Love was also a word used by Val McIntyre about her Flip Video camera and by Amanda Salt when describing her pupils publishing their Vokis and GoAnimate presentations on her Spanish wiki.
It was also wonderful to hear how colleagues have been offering their pupils distance learning opportunities by recording model questions as mp3 files and publishing them on blogs, wikis or Edmodo for them to download. Likewise, it was great to learn how excited Lisa Steven's primary pupils had got listening to themselves on their iPods and on their parents' iPods and on their next door neighbour's iPods to boot!
The most flattering comment for me was when Alex Bellars described the combination of my blog and Twitter as being the best CPD in the world! Wow! (I'll pay you later Alex ;))
So thanks to everyone for giving up your Monday evening to take part in developing your own CPD and I hope to see you all again soon on Flashmeeting, Twitter, in the blogosphere or even face to face (perish the thought!).
describing your favourite technology for enhancing language learning
creating mp3 or wav files quickly and easily with USB microphone or digital voice recorder
uploading speaking practice to class blog
using Twitter in class to ask questions from your personal learning network
recording mp3 files on the fly and playing them back in class
using Flip video cameras and dealing with playback issues
using YouTube to raise awareness of culture and bringing language learning to life
improving pupils' listening and speaking skills with Audacity and improving their independance
motivating pupils by playing games and making lessons more interactive with Smart Notebook
recording GCSE speaking tests with Audacity
making revision podcasts for younger pupils (vocabulary lists and role-plays with accompanying worksheets)
using a wiki to publish Vokis and GoAnimate presentations
pupils getting excited about listening to themselves on their iPods
listening to a bank of model GCSE questions as individual mp3 files on 'shuffle' to create an authentically difficult testing process
pupils recording their GCSE speaking presentations on their mobile phones
uploading teacher-produced model questions to Edmodo
allowing pupils to export their speaking presentation as mp3 files so they can take them home on their mobile players
describing Edmodo as a microblogging tool for education which also allows you to upload files and embed media
using Edmodo to send and mark homework
trialling Edmodo and then rolling it out to all year groups because of its simplicity and security
learning how to use Fronter and comparing it to Moodle
why language teachers tend to be more ICT-literate than colleagues from other subjects and feeling under pressure about exam results
the importance of developing skills outside of language learning and dealing with the stress of the speaking exam
involving languages in cross-curricular projects and creating programmes for the school's tv channel
using VoiceThread, GoAnimate and Voki in the languages classroom
recording mp3 files in Audacity or with USB microphone and uploading to Voki
using the text-to-speech feature of Voki to check the sounds of Spanish
dealing with the terms of service by creating Vokis directly on the site without registering
recording the voice first before customising your Voki avatar
creating a teacher VoiceThread and avatars for each year group instead of paying to register individual pupils
using VoiceThread as part of an eTwinning project or as an assessment tool
explaining different ways of commenting with VoiceThread and annotating with the doodler tool
making VoiceThreads private, public or moderated
creating a Voki and asking pupils to leave comments for homework as audio files from their mobile phones or text-to-speech answers (Kath's pupils prefer hearing real voices than TTS ones)
using Voki comments for assessment for learning purposes (a practice recently praised by Estyn during inspection at Kath's school in Wales)
finding that shy pupils are the first to want to use Voki
using Qipit to take photos with a mobile phone of text on your interactive whiteboard, converting them to pdf documents and publishing them directly to the web
creating cartoons with ToonDoo and being able to include accents
focusing on producing good language instead of spending too much time on creating cartoons
encouraging pupils to make their own creations in their own time
drafting dialogues first in exercise books before going to the ICT suite, using word-processing software to write up work and then copying and pasting text into ToonDoo to stop wasting time in the creation of cartoons
seeing reluctant learners getting excited about Glogster, being proud of their results and embedding them on their Bebo sites
uploading audio files to Glogster
sharing annotated links with students using social bookmarking tool Diigo
using Wordle with Yr 7 pupils and trying to the making the word je the largest item by asking them to write about themselves
putting song lyrics into Wordle for 6th form students as a pre-reading exercise
making Wordle posters 'for fun' for corridor display
using Wordle to discuss keywords as a way into a new topic, to link words and build sentences creatively
pasting a short piece of French text and English translation into Wordle as a pre-reading comprehension exercise
having a 'butterfly' mind and not following through with ideas you've find out about in the blogosphere or via Twitter
rewriting schemes of work to encourage the use of Web 2.0 tools across a department
grasping opportunities and fighting against the frustration of websites being blocked
dividing the class in two, giving each half the Wordle of an article and asking them to draw out vocabulary before giving them the original text in full
discussing the proposal in the recent Rose Review that ICT should become a core subject and play a central role in the new primary curriculum
surveying pupils to gauge the type of technology they are using in their free time and teaching them about other exciting ways of communicating
'selling' the value of ICT to secondary colleagues and using the leverage that pupils will be coming into KS3 with expectations that they will be using new technologies in lessons
the danger of overestimating how ICT-literate pupils are and appreciating that technology is not motivating to all
using Edmodo across the MFL department
having themed weeks and interweaving subjects together
parents enjoying seeing their children's work published on the school website or wiki
exciting pupils and colleagues about the use of ICT
finding the funding for suitable training to get primary staff on board
the danger of seeing ICT as a panacea and losing track of tried and tested methodology
changing the attitude of some staff who may think that booking a lesson in the ICT suite is an excuse for not working
improving ICT skills in the 21st century by drawing on different forms of CPD models (face to face or virtual)
seeing Twitter as a cornerstone of personal and professional development for teachers
finding the drip feed 'patchwork' effect of constantly sharing information more valuable and accessible than traditional face to face training which forms part of a wider personal learning network (Blogs, RSS feeds, The TES)
Alex describing this blog and Twitter as the best CPD in the world!
the importance of face to face contact for local networks and using Twitter to forge national and international links
avoiding one way conversations by following those who follow you on Twitter
attending TeachMeets as a valuable form of CPD
using Twitter as a great way to connect and communicate with an immediate pool of like-minded people
rationalising your time and restricting the desire to always be checking out the latest tools
meeting up for cake, cocktails and CPD like a mini TeachMeet
discussing the possibilities of future face to face meet ups as a replacement for the Isle of Wight Conference
tailouring CPD to individual needs using face to face contacts, Twitter and Flashmeeting
requesting open-ended questions for a film project in the streets of Marseille where the answers of passers by can be used for speaking and writing practice for GCSE or A' level students
a few final thoughts
(José Picardo contemplating the prospect of inspiring his department next year by rewriting the schemes of work and including lots of references to the use of Web 2.0 tools)
This clip describes the benefits of podcasting in the classroom namely:
an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom
a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them
it allows for differentiation and project based learning
students can access the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy
it promotes creativity and innovation
it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students
the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy
students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable
parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school
Links for podcasting video tutorials Podcasting using GarageBand and How to Podcast are provided at the end of the clip and these should help you get started if you are a Mac or PC user.
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