MMVC Using QR codes in education

6th  August 2016
  
Day 2
Webinar by Sibel Taskin Simsek

       "  Using   QR codes in education "

An interesting presentation was made by  Sibel Taskin Simsek and I could see it online.
She presented the use of QR codes in education. I had the opportunity to see  QR codes in a seminar in Italy this spring but I did not think that they could be so helpful. This webinar made me realize that education has really changed and more and more new technologies and apps can help us reach any learner. 

Sibel is an expert in the use of modern technology and she explained to us  how she could use QR codes with her students, who are older than mine ,while learning online and sharing materials for studying. Tablets and smartphones are now a reality and  she teaches at university, so she has to face fewer problems than us in secondary schools.
Here you can find a short introduction to the biography of the presenter who is  a modern teacher of  English while she is also an expert in technology. 

The webinar focussed on the use of  QR codes  and how people   started to use them in the auto industry in Japan:

http://www.qrcode.com/en/history/


Today  QR codes can be used in different  fields, not only in education and industry.

She made a nice presentation of  what we need to have installed in our browsers or in our  devices, mainly  smartphones  and tablets today :
we do need some apps that can scan and read  QR codes and we do need to have  a tool online that helps us create the QR code:

Online we can find easily  a service that enables us to create  a   QR code:  it is a free service  and we can  easily  share documents and links:  http://goqr.me/


 Why  should we use   QR codes?  Because they are simple and they  enable us to provide  links to materials which we cannot  upload in emails and which can be  easily  read online thanks to the apps which we have in our devices.


They can also facilitate the task of the teacher who will share the bar code with all the links that might be useful for homework, tasks to be carried out from home and in groups.

  Here are some useful tips for  ESL/EFL teachers which we were given online:

This webinar was really challenging for me: I thought I had  learnt a lot before I did this online conference and that QR codes would not be necessary in my teaching situations. I was wrong : most of my students have smartphones and use the new apps so they will facilitate my teaching too.
I felt interested and I must say that I have no words  how to thank
Sibel as she was a really good speaker and made a lovely presentation with clear ideas about the best practices she wanted to share with us!! 
The challenges for me
I need to use bar codes, they are so easy and simple and they can meet my students' needs who are looking for new ways of learning and working.
I have already downloaded the apps for scanning and reading bar codes in my browser - Chrome- in my desktop and in the notebooks which I have. I will see what to do  with my smartphone as I have a simple one, a Windows phone - just need to check if I can find the apps.

The future? I will try to work with the new devices and create  new activities. I really loved what I saw online.

Further research about  QR codes and  education

I have already started searching online and it seems that abroad more  and more   teachers are working with them:

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.it/2015/09/20-things-you-can-do-with-qr-codes-in.html

https://educationqrcodes.wikispaces.com/QR+Code+Generator

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/QR-codes-teaching-andrew-miller


http://www.schrockguide.net/qr-codes-in-the-classroom.html


http://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/12/25-ways-to-use-qr-codes-for-teaching-learning/


http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/qrcodes2



Useful videos  to share with other teachers:

To conclude, I would suggest using them to teachers and learners as they are very useful and do not require any special training- just some tutorials and then a lot of practice  :

MMVC16 Proverbs brought to life in an integrated classroom

 6th August 2016

DAY 2

Webinar by Judy Wong :

                                     " Proverbs  brought to life
           in an integrated  classroom "

I could watch online the webinar by Judy Wong. I must confess that I had been looking forward to the event as I had had the opportunity of watching other presentations she had made online and I had appreciated the great competence and the tips she had provided.
Today I was not disappointed as she made a " cool" introduction to the best ways for using technology while introducing idioms and proverbs in an integrated skills classroom. 
Here is a short presentation about her. I could not but check also her blog online as she is a great master in ELT and I would say also in creativity.   See her blog :http://judysworld.edublogs.org/

The key ideas  for teaching by using proverbs:she shared this simple way for introducing and also practising proverbs in our classes: using pictures and writing a story based on a proverb.

She  showed us some examples of works which had been done by her students and they were good as students used web tools for making their presentations but they also created a text while using the idioms.
She also suggested some apps : some are known to me as I have tried them and I think that they could provide interesting ways for enhancing also the students' creativity in the process of writing.

Finally we were given resources for finding proverbs:

This is the video online which was posted later :

I was connected and found her presentation really inspiring for teaching and learning proverbs in English and other  foreign languages.

I could see that it is possible to find and to teach some proverbs as today we are given a list of idioms and we can see what others have tried to do.
Powtoons and  Storybird are very popular now and I might try to use them in my classes. I really love the first tool while Storybird is more aimed at children's stories but I might check online and see what we can do. 
As a learner I have always loved learning proverbs and the first thoughts that came to my mind when watching the webinar were how to find some videos and see what had already been done by others.
I searched online and found these videos: they were made by educators but they were not the students' works.

I must say that teaching idioms is a bit difficult for me as I am  not a mother tongue speaker, I am a teacher of English and I have learnt some idioms but idioms can vary from one country to the other.
As a result I felt that teaching simple proverbs can be easy for me and I could use them with my lower level students and help them write some stories where they use them.

The challenges

It would be more difficult to teach them at an advanced level:  I might try to see what idioms are more likely to be used and try to introduce them.  As a teacher I am still learning now so I will have something new to learn too.

I have found this interesting video online which might explain what I mean by  difficulties in teaching upper-intermediate or advanced learners:

In the future I would like to collect some interesting proverbs and idioms based on topics- I feel that it might be a sort of  dictionary of idioms which I could use with my advanced students.

I have already researched online and my next question is :  can I find more shared resources online which can help me teach idioms in English?  

Here are some interesting links which I have just found:

http://blog.tesol.org/using-proverbs-in-a-writing-class/

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/English_proverbs#Cup        (   a list of English  proverbs)

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/sites/default/files/proverbs.pdf

http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/

http://www.lingolex.com/proverbs.html

http://www.phrasemix.com/collections/the-50-most-important-english-proverbs

A free dictionary online :

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39281/39281-h/39281-h.htm

Idioms in English from  the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms and the Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms:

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/

MMVC16 Together we learn more

Friday 5th August  2016

Day 1  Webinar by  Professor Ludmila Smirnova 
" Together  We learn More: Creating Learning Communities in F-2-F and Blended Moodle courses"  

I watched the webinar online and it was a great presentation!!
It was focussed on the idea of learning together, a sort of a slogan while learning also online. It was really " engaging" as she described her activities and what to do while teaching to get the students interested. She wanted her students to become active learners while working in groups too. 

Who is the Presenter?

It was a presentation which focussed on the features of creating a good collaborating learning environment while the tutor online cared and thought about the best ways for running the course online.

I really liked the video which she shared with us online: a great metaphor of what students can achieve while working in projects or collaborative tasks. It focussed on the necessity of helping other students to achieve the same objective. This is the best way for learning online:

The key ideas which were presented were aimed to an educator who works online but they  are similar to what we do in class: we start lessons by introducing ourselves and by asking our students to tell us something about themselves when we first meet them in class. The same happened online as the tutor wanted to focus on course interaction and to create activities that would motivate the learners online. It is more difficult or it could be more difficult but if we care, we can manage.

From the beginning she had to create a community of learners, so she presented tools which could be used by the learners to introduce themselves. They had to socialize online and she was really great as she created a friendly learning environment. To begin with, she used ice-breakers  to get them enter the new learning environment and she also provided a lot of help online - course orientation - from the beginning. Socialization online was crucial as learners had to work and interact online and later they would present their project work online.  

I really liked the idea of self-presentations made by the students by using modern tools : see some examples

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/gkWiu7WU3LY/?mode=movie

https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/bxlk0twlCY3/?mode=movie

Ludmila had created the setting- the framework- for them : they could work on the web tools and she had introduced some tools and the students  used them to work in the first stages of the course.

She had to establish rules about the best ways for working online and I really liked the idea of writing a self-reflection after the students had finished their  group projects online.

I cannot but appreciate what she reached at the end of the course online: she had been successful as the learners had worked online and had worked together!! They had learnt a lot and relied on collaboration.

I connected online and really understood what the presenter wanted us to realize. She could establish relationships with the learners and among the learners who worked together.

I think that the content is not similar to what I have experienced so far- I have always worked in class with face to face lessons and I have only started some flipped learning  but what has been presented in the conference might provide me ideas for helping my learners when working with PBL. 

I do not work on any  LMS right now but I am thinking of starting something new so I might rely on the way the presenter has faced blended learning.

How I felt while watching and chatting online

I felt engaged and really liked what I saw but I also thought that  teachers and educators are required to work hard in order to meet the learners' needs.

The challenges

I would like to underline that  professional development and new approaches to learning and  working in the cloud require a lot of training. Teachers need to learn and I am aware that more and more web 2.0 tools and new LMS are now offered to educators.

Next steps

Learning more about  Moodle  and other LMS so that I can find the ideal learning environment where I could start my first experience. I might be interested to start it in my next n a new, so  I will have to check what I can do.

What I am going to do   

I am going to start working more in the cloud and I will think about ways for getting my students more engaged, I am also worried as some students might not be interested and might decide to  be less active. I might use  Padlet or Google tools for creating online activities where my students can work online and share their tasks.   

Now I am going to search more about other LMS or  Virtual Learning Environments so that I can see which ones might best suit my classes in September.

  Link to the video: 

https://youtu.be/WR3Bo5aiT84

MMVC 16 Day 1

Friday 5th August 2016
Day1

                    Beginning the journey into MMVC16

We are going to start our trip into this  VIRTUAL CONFERENCE. Here you can see a  detailed
 list of  the  activities online - some will be  later found on the Youtube.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MNsMz8M68eGdNK4UjYoRIyHjKtDkkyZ4pRv_JUIr0w8/edit?usp=sharing


 

MMVC16 Opening Ceremony from Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D)

The Conference is run by  Nellie  Deutsch -  a lover of online learning and great supporter for teachers who love to enhance their  learning by using technology.

How Nellie has guided us as regards the reflections online  which we are required to write at the end of the conference.

Reflective practice from Dr. Nellie Deutsch (Ed.D)


I will write my reflections on what I have  seen  and  learnt and  I will try to reflect on  what has provided food for thought......  for my  CPD and for  my  development as regards best  practices.
It will be  a great opportunity for learning this  summer!!

FLIPPED CLASSROOM

Teaching in the  XXI Century : the Flipped Classroom


In my previous post I wrote about my experience about  flipping and the course which I took thanks to EVO SESSIONS 2016. I was introduced to something new which I feel is important for me and my activities in ELT.

Since I finished the course I carried out my research online and I am going to do a MOOC in September to learn more about this approach. Meanwhile I have browsed the web and I have found interesting videos and a lot of tutorials.

I will try to use more flipping in my new classes next  year. I will also try to learn more about the tools which can help me and facilitate my work. It will be a new way of working but  I want to see how students can get more engaged and I hope they will learn much better than now.


Here you can find some  videos which can support the new approach as education is changing and it will follow new paths.  
What is really important is  the students and their way of learning: the role of the teacher is changing but  teachers will continue their work as a guide into the world of knowledge.   


               Bring on the Learning Revolution 

                    
                      Flipped Classroom

                     The flipped classroom explained
                     to Italian teachers - Prof. Piero Gallo
              Flipped Classroom e didattica inclusiva

                     
          How to find  videos - for Italian teachers                   

                     Reframing the Role of the
             Teacher - A  Webinar by  D. Marsh 

                    
              What a  Flipped Classroom look like

Creating the flipped 'lecture' for at-home use 

               
                     Video Making- tools 

                         Resources online

Tools
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/flipped-classroom/flipped-classroom.html
https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/flipped_classroom.pdf

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-learning-lets-talk-tech-jon-bergmann
http://strut.io/

https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-apps-and-websites-for-the-flipped-classroom?utm_source=What%2527s_New_in_EdTech_2016_6_24&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly



Information about  FL
http://flippedclassroomtutorials.blogspot.it/
https://www.powtoon.com/blog/flip-classroom/
http://www.flippedclassroomworkshop.com/


Presentations
https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/ernest.reynolds/cic70300/flipped-classroom-powerpoint-show-presentation/view
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IOI5-tXZvOEVCFhoN5hlsccnRa-8_77nx3GDdB6C-tE/edit?pref=2&pli=1

A Teacher's Practical Guide to the Flipped Classroom from Juste Semetaite



My  symbaloo collection with important weblinks for FL: 

link http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/flippedclassroom75

EVO 2016 FLIPPED LEARNING

What is the flipped classroom?  This infographic can help us understand it. 



Created by Knewton

This video can help understand why we should work in a different way to get our students more engaged and we could care for different levels  of learners by providing also support or individualized learning if necessary. We know that learners can learn in a different way and that it is important to reach all our  learners.

More sources online which can explain   FLIPPED LEARNING :

http://flippedinstitute.org/how-to-flip

Tips and ideas about  flipping a teacher should know:

1^ create a video
2^ share it with your students
3^ spend class time differently



Last February I was engaged online and did some EVO sessions dealing with different issues and interesting topics: Clil, writing ebooks and  a lot of new  topics like  flipping.

I also did the EVO SESSION about  FLIPPPED LEARNING. I took up the activity late but could learn a lot and I watched most of the reflections online which the tutor suggested us.
We were guided by teachers who were working online and shared their ideas about what they had been doing  and  which tools we might use to flip our classes.

In some way  I am a person who has started flipping lessons as I would like my students to learn on their own.  I also think that we should work from home and that students should be more engaged in class.

I have  learnt that you need to know well what to do when you decide to change the approach of teaching.  My students do not have  technology at school and sometimes not even at home. This is a great  problem.

Flipped learning implies that your students have access to  videos and the internet but  you do not need to work only online.

We were guided and we developed our sample lesson/module by choosing an activity which should follow the principles of FL: here is my final product.
I tried to use many tools but the great problem was to choose what the students could see from home: most of my students have poor internet access and they use mobile devices like smartphones but in most cases they do not have a tablet or their  computer can be not the most  updated.
I used Zaption for some activities, now  ZAPTION is going to disappear and I will have to find a new way for  presenting  videos with questions: edpuzzle might be ok but  I am looking for new tools. I really like using new tools but  I am also interested in free apps as  I cannot pay for a lot of subscriptions and what's more we do not have many teachers who are working on FL.

This is the Link to the activity which I have devised and need improving

http://padlet.com/Tizianateacher/ylxvfacgfwyo

Created with Padlet

I have collected some interesting materials online which I feel might be useful and which are the key and most important ideas we might bear in mind  when we decide to flip our  classes or lessons.


Blended learning and flipping classroom: what you can blend 

• a lesson
• a discussion
• a  research
• a collaboration
• assessment      

                                         TOOLS

LMS, by italianteacher




ONLINE WHITEBOARDS, by italianteacher



SEARCH ENGINES, by italianteacher


                             USING  SCREENCAST O'MATIC  
                            FOR CREATING VIDEOS

Useful link for creating  videos with   VIZIA:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2016/07/vizia-create-interactive-video-quizzes.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=freetech4teachers#.V525gOiLS1t


Tools which we can use to create  video presentations online

Reference 

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/video-creation-resources.html#.V53BA-iLS1s

1. https://vizia.co/

      2. the Learnia

  3. Blendspace

                               
                                          Other tools

http://pen.io/                  A useful tool for creating a blog post in just a few seconds

                                                               CLOUDSCHOOL
https://www.cloudschool.org/          A free platform for teachers and learners

I will present  some interesting  ideas and videos in my next post. I really think that flipping can make us work in a different way.

Blogging

The Art of  Blogging

Blogging is an Art, people love writing about their life or they may choose to write about important events that are related to their interests and their work.
Blogging is now easy to start as there are a lot of  tutorials online. There are plenty of  platforms that enable people to start blogging.

I started blogging as I was asked to write my learning diary online when I did my first MOOCs with Coursera. Once I started I never gave up and continued as I had found a way for writing and reflecting about  school, education and about what I had learnt online.
When I was doing some webinars I learnt about teachers who were blogging too and I realized that I could write about my online experience. There is a growing community of teachers and  bloggers who write about  ELT, technology, education and I like to learn from them. 
I could watch some webinars about blogging in the event SPRING BLOG FESTIVAL in  2014  and 2015: you can find some interesting videos online which are related to the events.

                       LINDA JOLLIS ON STUDENTS
                       BLOGGING

                          WHY DO I BLOG?

             Sylvia Guinan on Reflective Blogging   

                    
                     
There are a lot of platforms, some are really easy to start blogging while with others you need to be an expert and know more. Here are some tutorials which have been presented online by Nellie Deutsch who shared them as she usually required people to write their reflections about the Moocs or the festivals which she ran.  

BLOGGER

TUMBLR

WORDPRESS

                     
These are popular ones and you do not need to pay while for others you need to . A more detailed comparison of the many platforms  which are available can be found in this recent article:

http://makeawebsitehub.com/choose-right-blogging-platform/

BLOGGING AND ELT

 Why is blogging important for teachers and students?
Students can write more about what  they are doing and they can write a sort of learning journal online where they share materials, activities and also pictures they have taken or chosen to illustrate their homework.
Blogs can be used to write reflections too and this is important in education as more and more we want our students to be active learners who can monitor what they have achieved or if they have made mistakes. It is important to remember that learning occurs when we make mistakes too. Language practice is enhanced while students are free to write about what they have done or they can cooperate online and write together.

If we decide to start a  class blog we can have a lot of materials and readings online which can be shared and which can be used also for expressing ideas and free discussions online. 

Blogs & wikis applied to ELT from Paula Ledesma

In ELT we can have plenty of activities which we can run thanks to the use of modern technology:

- students can develop their reading skills 
- writing skills are enhanced as  students  are usually required to write, to summarize or describe what they have learnt about
- students can present their work: it can be an article, a presentation  with a slide or video where they showcase what they have done
- blogs can showcase what classes have done and in some cases we can have a student's porfolio online

Both students and teachers can use blogs as a reflective writing.
In general  blogs and wikis can enhance communication online and this is important today.

Other tools used for writing and collaborating online

Today we can use other tools : I have learnt about padlet as a place where students can discuss and present their ideas, tackk is also used for sharing materials and people can make comments on what you have done and presented online.

Some teachers now use  Moodle or  Edmodo for class activities. These are LMS that provide you with more tools and you can do more online in a safe environment. We must bear in mind that with blogging and wikis we need to check what is posted online unless we choose to  provide the links only to registered users. 


References and further reading

about  WIKIS and WEBSITES used in ELT

https://www.tesol.org/read-and-publish/journals/other-serial-publications/compleat-links/compleat-links-volume-6-issue-3-4-(october-2009)/wikis-one-more-great-tool
http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume16/ej62/ej62m2/  

http://jefflebow.net/node/331     (ELT  Live Webcast#2  Hows, Whats, and Whys (or why nots)

of class websites and other online resources. September 2, 2014 )