MMVC19 :Supporting student writing with the help of voice-to-text

Streamline correction and feedback on student writing utilizing Google Docs and voice

Vance Stevens made his presentation on 4th August but I watched the recording online this week as I did not follow the events on the day they were scheduled.

The video presented how you can support learners when using  Google Doc and also  Google Slides while educators  can post their comments on the students' own writing.
Correction and feedback are crucial for  learners and Google apps can really help you. The approach was simple and   he made me realize that in some ways I could work on some activities  in class in the same way.
I had not thought about the feature of  using  voice and this was a new feature for me.   I usually print documents and correct them. Thanks to  comments on a document learners can share the tasks and be given feedback or streamline correction. Going paper is important and  working online is really good.

When I watched the recording I thought that learners need to have a Google account and now most of  my students do have one but  I also teach  a lot of students so as  a result I do need to rely on  a lot of  time. Not having to print and to write on a piece of  paper is  fine, I will have to work on the way I want them to share the documents with me. My students are not good at using some apps and will have to be taught how to work.

While working online  I realized that some features of  Google Docs had been  presented by Eric  Curts who  is a specialist of   Google  apps.

I checked among the  links I had  collected and  found out that there are some interesting ways for providing feedback.

Some use  video recording   https://screencastify.com  to record the document and the comment on the document online and then share the video.

What I can say is that I am going to explore more the tools as probably  I am not aware of what is offered now and  hopefully many tools are   free.

• Link to the document which was shared by the  presenter : Presentation document of the workshop 

http://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej75/int.pdf

• Other useful links which I have  found about  Google tools and feedback

Eric Curts
http://ti.apps.sparcc.org/videopd/20160922-docs-feedback
In an online session he explored four fantastic tools to provide feedback that is more detailed, engaging, and personal. Tools included Google Doc text comments, voice comments with Read&Write for Google, video feedback with Screencastify, and natural handwriting feedback with the Google Classroom mobile app.
Session resources: http://tiny.cc/sparcc238

https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2017/03/keep-grading-comments.html

• Using  Google Keep for  feedback

https://www.edtechteam.com/blog/2018/01/google-keep-quick-student-feedback-google-docs-slides/

MMVC19 :Moodle for Blended Learning: Hands-On Workshop

The event took place on 4th  August and the speaker was Edoardo  Lina.
I watched the recording online later and I was sure it would be an interesting report about his experience.
Its main theme was presenting  Moodle in education in Israel. He focussed on the hard work he has been doing for " Going Moodle" supported by his government .  The training was for all educators and what is really interesting is to learn that  Moodle is used in secondary schools and also at university in Israel.

Here you can see some more links  related to his  great work in Israel.

Edoardo  recorded also this podcast two years ago. It was an interesting  experience to share his ideas online too.

https://www.elearningworld.org/moodle-podcast-eduardo-lina-israel/


The Department of Education of his country has  worked together with the  Chief  Inspector to have more educators involved in teaching and  learning  thanks to Moodle.
The idea was to work on a blended learning approach and to support educators  who would become teachers who would work in English and also in projects thanks to this LMS.


My reflections on the webinar were positive: I also like  Moodle as a LMS  but in most secondary schools in my country we are  using  Google Classroom or  Weschool.   Both systems provide  collaborative  activities and you can monitor the students' progress and provide grading. Moodle is used for CPD on line for educators and at university in Italy.

Since  Moodle  requires people who can work well online  I think that for some learners starting working online should be done when they are 14-15 years old.  For university students it is the perfect tool for managing courses and working online too. They can find resources and work on projects or  activities, they can post comments and  I feel that they are more used to working online as this is required in most universities.

The next step for me is to continue my exploration into  LMS and check which one  is the best and the easiest one to use. In particular I would never use Moodle with students who are  ten  years old or younger.
I must add that for some  educators who are  not  experts it would be difficult for them to use Moodle in Italy.


Link to the presentation

MMVC19 “To Read Books or Not to Read...That is The Question!!”

To read or not to read…………… That is the Question!!

Reflecting on the Webinar of Judy Wong

The event took place on 3rd August and it was a reflection on the ideas about teaching reading and what makes reading something which is not loved by the learners. I am familiar with this as most of my students love watching videos and interacting online but they seem to hate reading books.

Her talk was focussed on the benefits of book readings in person versus a book reading in a video.

As I was not at home I watched the recording, I must confess that Judy is a loving person and I like the strategies that she uses to get her learners interested in reading regardless of the students' age.

She shares her ideas in her blog where she also keeps the main recordings of the webinars she took part in and also shares her slides.

You can find more here: Judy's world- her blog Here you can find some meaningful ideas and reflections which Judy used in the presentation she made.

Some key ideas she shared with us and which made me think and reflect:

• reading as a child and reading with a child are not the same things
• when working on reading we should not pre-teach the book and also the lexis
• interest in reading is important
• everybody is different

An aspect which is important is to open the door, the mind and get the learners imagine and work on the book. Reading a book together and maybe get the learners imagine about the setting, the place and the characters Imagination is the key word. What I will do in the future I cannot do the course which Judy is going to start in autumn but I wish I could.I am starting some courses online and this implies that I will work 24/7 as we have a lot of tasks at school. I will try to find different strategies to get my students into the habit of loving reading a book. A book can be read and taken anywhere and it can really help us feel happy, ready to start a new journey and sometimes feel less lonely.

MMVC19 "OER beyond 2020 and Towards Reaching the SDG4 2030"

This is my first reflection on a webinar about  OER which was online on 2nd August 2019.
The video online is this one

Link online : Reflection 1 on OER




The slide by Ebba which has been shared online thanks to  Slideshare

Mmvc2019 ossiannilsson august2019 from Ebba Ossiannilsson

MMVC19

Another interesting conference online thanks to   Doctor  Nellie Deutsch and   a great  team of educators working online worldwide. The event was  MMVC19 and it is one of the free events that  educators can follow in the summer. I feel that it is a great  opportunity for learning and  sharing ideas about  technology, education , safety online and well-being.

The events took place in August when I was doing my training course in Dublin this year. I could only  see the events on the final day but I am going to catch up now.

I am going to watch the recordings about  these interesting events which  were online from 2nd August to 4th August and share some new contents or tips from experts and educators  who are now part of  MMVC every year.

Here is the presentation by  Nellie, one of the greatest educators in the  world who loves collaborating and sharing online.





Read to start now!
It is still summer time and I am working on my  CPD