AudioPal Widget

I am trying out a audio recording tool called AudioPal.  This recording I made on my iPhone.  I would like to try out other ways of recording as well soon.

AudioPal Widget

Playing with Powtoon

The Powtoon site has a lot of potential for creating motivational presentations.

Digital Media for Teaching and Learning

I am currently taking Digital Media for Teaching and Learning.  Since I teach a similar semester-long online course, I am interested in how they structure the course and which projects they have designed.  I also hope to meet other second language teachers to add to my personal learning network.

What I find especially intriguing is that this MOOC (as I understand it) has been designed by graduate students of Dr. Torrey Trust.  Talk about project-based learning!  What a fantastic idea - to have your own students learn about web design by creating something that can be of real benefit to others around the world.

Tips for Participating in MOOCS

I have taken quite a few MOOCs since they were originally started by George Siemens and Steven Downes in 2008. With them I took Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (2008) and Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge (2010)

Now MOOCS are mostly run by organizations such as Coursera, Edx and Udacity.   Through Coursera I took Video Games and Learning (2013), Understanding Video Games (2014) and am presently taking Emerging  Trends & Technology in the Virtual k-12 Classroom (2015).  Through Edx I took Design and Development of Educational Technology (2014). 

On the basis of these experiences I have come up with some tips for participating that I plan to employ in all future MOOCS and which may be useful to others as well.

1.  Read through the syllabus carefully to see what parts are going to be of interest to you.  You don't have to do all the assignments.  Be picky and devote time to those activities that will be a good use of your limited time.

2.  Write a detailed  introduction in the discussion forums so that others with similar interests can find you.  You can often make very valuable connections with people in these forums.

3.  Read and contribute to discussions.  You learn by putting your thoughts in written form.   You can also learn and grow from the responses that others write to your posts.  In addition, your own learning or teaching experiences may be really be valuable to others, so be sure to post some replies to what others post.

On of the best aspects of MOOCS if not taken for credit or certificates of achievement is that you get to choose your own level of participation.  So how much you learn is up to you!

Screencasting

I recently felt the need to create a screencast to help one of my students understand the steps to follow in creating a blogroll in Blogger.  Previously I had always found already created Youtube videos sufficient and didn't see any reason to "reinvent the wheel."

However,  I thought that this time I would try creating my own screencast through a free took called Screencastomatic since I wanted to personalize the screencast using examples the student was familiar with.

I was surprised to find the recorder exceptionally easy to use and will consider using it more in the future.  I think that instead of  or in addition to writing out a long list of steps to follow in my future syllabi, I may start creating more screencasts.  

I think that seeing a screencast may be a useful enhancement for the learners in my course.  I'm definitely going to look at the upcoming mods in my course to see if some screencasts might be helpful.

Electronic Village Online

Time to sign up for some of the best, free professional development courses for second and foreign language teachers.  The Electronic Village Online (EVO) is offered each year by groups of experienced teachers who volunteer to share their expertise.  This year's selection of 5-week courses for EVO 2014 includes mini-courses on The Use of Mobile applications in Language Classes, Podcasting for the ESL-EFL Classroom, Using Technology for Content and Language Learning Integrated Learning, and many more.

Although aimed primarily at teachers of English, many of the courses work equally well for world language teachers.  Check out all the offerings.  Registration begins on January 6.

How to Embed a Storybird Tale

In order to embed a story you have created in Storybird you can follow these steps:

1.  View the title page of your story.
2.  Click on the three-pronged icon on the bottom right of the screen which displays the word share when you mouse over it.
3.  Copy the embed code.  It's quite long!
4.  Go to the Blogger blog post where you want to embed the story.
5.  Click the HTML tab.
6.  Choose a place in your post where you want to embed the story and paste.