Chiphen Rigpel Project

Sanjiv's Web Skills Reflection: Chiphen Rigpel Project: This is fifth day of Chiphen Rigpel Project (CRP) I am attending at Gelephu LSS, Sarpang. The CRP is an Indian Government initiative t...

Chiphen Rigpel Project

This is fifth day of Chiphen Rigpel Project (CRP) I am attending at Gelephu LSS, Sarpang. The CRP is an Indian Government initiative to promote basic ICT literacy to Bhutanese in different agencies, especially to the teachers across country.  The project was launched in 2010 by the Prime Minister of India and Bhutan on the sideline of the SAARC summit in Bhutan.


The CRP has set up computer labs in 168 schools in Bhutan and is providing training to children in classes 7-12. It has also developed curriculum textbook from which teachers are trained in winter. Apart from training teachers and students in schools it has also built up 100 Playground Learning Stations across communities in Bhutan to provide ICT skills to underprivileged sections of the society. 

Here in Gelephu LSS center, Mr. Namgay a teacher from Lango MSS is resourcing 8 teachers of Kendrup HSS, Gelephu including me. Well, I was not the listed candidate of this course but having skipped the training earlier because of my studies outside I had to take the opportunity this winter. And somehow it has been rumored that the course certificate is must to produce in our professional carrier. Therefore, I am attending with keen. 

In this 10 days training time teachers are trained to integrate ICT skills in language learning and whole teaching and learning process. It not only saves time and resources at school but keep our teachers updated to 21^st century trend in educating learners. 

National Day of Bhutan

Today, Dec. 17 is a historic day in Bhutan. It was in Dec.17, 1907 the first Hereditary Monarchy was established, Sir, Ugyen Wangchuk was crowned as First King of Bhutan. We celebrate this day as National Day of Bhutan. All schools of a Dzongkhag (state) come together to celebrate and pay tribute to our monarchs and pray for peace and harmony of the country.

We had a celebration in a public ground in Paro, where the chief guest was the head of state (Dasho Dzongdha). There was march pass by the students from different schools and gathering waited for a live speech of our present King from the capital. His Majesty Jigme Ksher Namgyel Wangchuk addressed  the nation and talked about the current situation of the country. His majesty expressed great concern of people, government and the nation, His Majesty is truly "a People's King".

Starting from this year, Royal Civil Servant Commission (RCSE) initiated awarding medals to civil servants who have served the government more than 10 years and above. The medals are in bronze, silver and gold. This is a  true recognition of serving Tsa-Wa-Sum (a triple gem) and all civil servant are overwhelmed. Unfortunately I was not a part of it, I hope to receive the honor after two year only.

All schools across the country will close for winter vacation from tomorrow after having done the declaration of annual examination result. Students and teachers will enjoy the break until 10 Feb. 2014. But for the teachers it is a professional development time in Bhutan, there will be many workshops, seminars and training organised by different sectors and most of the teachers will be engaged. I will be moving to south-central Bhutan to attain Art orientation workshop conducted by Department of Curriculum and Research Division for few days and after that it will all be a break for me to rejoice, relax and come fresh next academic.

I wish all my Webskills friends, teachers & students of University of Oregon and Ms.Courtney a very warm New Year, also Happy Christmas.
All the best to everyone!  

Regards,
Sanjiv

Final Reflection!

This is not in anyways an end to our Webskills course offered through American English Institute at the University of Oregon, this is indeed an embankment to continue the new skills and knowledge hereafter. First of all, I would like to thank the Embassy for providing this opportunity for me who belongs to a distant and very developing country. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the University, particularly to our course instructor Ms.Courtney and all friend participants with whose all spirits the course was a success.

  

My words are very less to express what I have got during these 10 weeks learning, I feel blessed that I could participate in subject that I am interested at and I honestly affirm that my learning was a real acquisition of new knowledge and skills. During the course we were taken through discussions, tasks, reading, writing, reflecting, commenting, creating and lots more. What is a very distinct characteristic of this course is like I mentioned earlier that it is making learning a continuous process, we will now never stop to find, explore and learn but will never relinquish.

In this Webskills course, all topics and the tools we used were very appropriate and even thought provoking. Topics like learner Autonomy, One Computer Class, Project Based Learning (PBL), Oral/aural skill Building and Multiple Intelligence Theory were most successful in the course. Among many tools used during the course, I would like to implement all of these but with the progression of competency level in students. Blogs, WebQuest and Wiki are really meaningful. Besides that, setting ABCD objectives, technology enhanced lesson planning and creating rubrics was extra acquisition for me. And I did not see anything in the course that was not relevant instead I began to feel less.

Well, to talk about the internet and the tools, it is always less, there are so many information and tools available online, sometimes it becomes embracement of richness as said by Tom March. What is important is the selection and gradations of the tool at par our activity and lesson.  But somehow I did feel less in this course was about having some synchronous discussion at least once in two weeks or so or may we have some voice conferencing, tool like ANVILL might be also used. More or less, all was fare and great.

My sincere acknowledgment will always go to the people who were in background of completing this course and they cannot be ignored. They have directly or indirectly contributed either by their stimulating comments or by encouraging my morale.

I am particularly grateful to my  Instructor, Ms. Courtney for her enthusiasm to venture into the new areas of learning that have taught me to view simple teaching and learning in a new perspective. Using technology into classroom is really fantastic and fascinating. I also thank all my Webskills friends for their valuable feedback and support rendered.

To all my teacher friends and Principal of Drukgyel LS School, Paro for understanding and encouraging me to peruse in this course.  Thank you all for egging me towards the finish line of this project.

Last but not the least, I love and thank my family for their unrelenting support. It was through their love and affection I could stay late night working besides my own teaching and other chores to reach the destination.

Thank You All and Miss You All,

Happy New Year!

Sanjiv Kr. Alay

Bhutan 

Week 9 Reflection

Learning new skills and reflecting what we have learned makes one feel so good. Now it is almost time we shut down this habit we have crept into. We are almost at verge of completing our webskills course after having explored many teaching skills using interactive websites or technology. Our discussion this week was on how technology can help or address different able learners.

Being aware of Gardner’s 8 Multiple Intelligence, we were prompt to think what particular technology can be more useful and ease to cater to different able learners. Having known that technology can do better in promoting learner styles since it can provide learners with variety of aids and sensitize their memory to stimulate to new approaches that traditional classroom can merely do. Using audio, visual, video and graphics are some prominent examples that technology can offer at hand. Well, interactive quiz, games and online activities also instigates variety of learning experiences besides providing learning at children’s pace and place.

Nevertheless, technology offers choice to cater to different learning styles, it is equally important to consider what kind of learning style a teacher possesses. I agreed when our instructor Courtney said that teachers’ trait does influence his or her approach to teaching. Therefore, it is very important to conduct survey for both teacher and students to find out what intelligence is at risk or at promise. Having known our styles we will be able to focus or should be able change our approaches to teaching and bring variety in lesson which will be beneficial to different able learners. We also know that intelligence does not remain fixed, it also tend to change as we practice doing new things and adapt to new environment.

Beside the discussion, this week was the submission of our final project. Well, I can’t say that I did best in my project but certainly would say I tried my best to bring my project a result of this course. Having done this project is just like having received certificate after the course. I am glad that I could now use many technological aspects in my classroom and being able to incorporate the acquired skills in my project made me feel full of learning.

This is really a new experience for me, I loved learning from this course.

Thank you,

With Regards…

10-2=8 ! Week 8 Reflection

I posted first draft of my project after much toil over the week.  And it was really like a draft when I looked at it again after getting sober. Many things to change and add again but in conscious now, I will have to turn into a new leaf.

It was because of the draft project submission, we did not have much to do this week, only a task that was creating a course site. And I got full satisfaction doing this task, I am proud that I created a Wiki site on Google which in fact was one of my awaited task- it just happened like I needed someone to tell me! Otherwise I knew within myself that I needed this. Creating Wiki site was a really firsthand experience, only then I realized this will be more useful than just having in mind to have one. I am going to use this for my project as a means to blend technology with my normal classes and have planned lot many for my Wiki.

Beside the task, we also had a guest on our discussion, it was Mr. Jeff Magoto, Director of the language center at UO. He is also an expert on Webskills and as well an experience in teaching ESL/EFL students across the globe. His recent development is a creation of ANVILL, a virtual language lab. This ANVILL as a tool can be great to use in language learning, especially on speaking skills. It has text, voice and video recording that can be shared among users. This will be very useful for distant or hybrid learner course to communicate or develop aural/oral skills. Jeff has much to share, his knowledge is just unimaginable for me right now. I know no better resource like a Jeff can we ever have in our course. Thanks to him so much, besides my less contribution but honestly I did not miss a single thread of discussion, I was a good reader this week.

Thank you Courtney, Jeff and all my Dear friends.

Regards,

Sanjiv

Week 7 Reflection

Week 7 comprises Learner Autonomy, One Computer Classroom, Mobile Assisted Language Learning and posting on Padlet.  Oh! and partner sign-up for final project peer review.

First of all, reading articles and participating in the discussion on learner autonomy, I came to understand that learner autonomy is the ability of learner to take charge of his/her own learning, it is also making learner independent and responsible of his action in order to acquire knowledge and skills. I also learned that teacher needs to foster and help children attain a stage where learner becomes autonomous. It takes a huge and heavy responsibility over a course of time for a good teacher to promote learner autonomy considering various factors. It was in everybody’s point or discussion that task like PBL will build learner autonomy.

Using one computer and mobile devices in classroom also looked much into providing better assistance and facilitation in language learning. And gathering as much information from the reading and from the discussion I realized that using one computer in a classroom is more better than having many because teacher can keep the lesson focused and manage the class more effectively. One computer also has equal strength to provide and promote independent learning and learner autonomous.  Likewise, mobile do have handy advantage over its portability to make learning easy and fast. The rich collection of apps for smartphones are so much suitable and appropriate for classroom language learning but one very important issue is on how teacher and parents grades ,selects and assess the uses of such devices which can sometime become problematic.

I also enjoyed designing tasks using one computer and mobile or using Padlet. Having done two activities, more ideas were emerging, I never realized that one computer would have so much to do in a class. From today I will make a resolution that I will never complain having just a computer in a class, I would rather explore more possibilities to utilize in my class for my students.  Regarding the Padlet, when Courtney introduced us and I was going through the description and at the back of my mind I was thinking about a tool called Wallwisher. Ops! It’s same, I did not know that Walwisher has become a Padlet (I am outdated). Felt nice to paste sticky notes like in Padlet. Many more uses can be explored on Padlet to use in schools and in classroom.

Lastly, I felt like in Election, giving away portfolio about our Project Topic to find peer partner to review our project. However, with my appeal on topic, I could woe someone (Thanks to Diana) to be my partner and I to her for reviewing our works.

I know everyone will be busy outlaying the project, I haven’t started yet. Have a school gathering/party tonight and hope my Sunday, tomorrow will be a start to scratch some points for my project.

Wish everyone good luck and enjoy the weekends.

Best!

Wallwisher (Padlet)

To all my Webskills participants,

Wallwisher  is changed to Padlet, a tool where we can share and information in one location. It serves like a notice board in a school.

Find it more!

Wallwisher is a Web 2.0 online collaborative tool for creating notices and information to share ideas, resources and thought on a particular topic. It is like building a wall with using various multimedia features like video, audio, text and web page links. We can also stick post and organize the wall as per the needs and requirement. It was initially designed to create wishing cards electronically, but due to so many possibilities that it has for using it in the classroom; it is now used for virtual classroom activities. One can also attach PDF documents, excel spreadsheets and power points in wallwisher.

It is free online tool and very easy to use it, does not need to create account, one can directly go to web site and start building a wall. The wall can be shared through emails, blogs and wiki and can invite friends to work on it is very collaborative in nature especially working with small groups and classmates.

The tool has its own gallery to select pictures and themes, one just need to type in topic and subtopic for discussion and has option to upload video, sound, bookmaking sites and links to other wed pages. The very prominent feature in the tool has a teacher control over the post that enables security of learners and provide friendly learning environment. It also has option for the privacy of publishing or viewing and commenting on the post. There is lots of fun and its great collaborative tool. There are so many possibilities for the classroom, and its usefulness to teachers is made even stronger based on the fact that posts can be locked so that they are only view-able once approved. At the same time, posts can be either anonymous or not, making it easy to have students’ input on issues that would normally be too difficult. Wallwisher makes it easy to post links, pictures, or audio. The only limit is that posts have to be under 160 characters, which isn't always a bad thing.

This particular tool will be best to use in classroom for brainstorming or ice breaker in the class, posting homework, assignments and discuss it next day. It is also good for writing activities but having the limit make the writing very precise, so good for summarizing, note taking, poems and memos. Using audio and video would definitely help pupil to learn grammar and vocabulary. Speaking activity can also be done by recording, students can post the debate topic and start the discussion and it is really great for posting notification, information, rules, profiles, and plans.

While reflecting on the Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy for the level of skills that Wallwisher would have impact on students or learners, this tool do fall on higher level of Bloom’s thinking skills. It involves right from Remembering, Understanding, and Analyzing to Creating stages of thinking process. As students respond to the prompt in wallwisher and the information they acquire from the post helps remember and understand the concept posted. When a student posts their topic or a statement, it must be in line with what has been posted earlier and giving rational for the concepts requires analyzing skills and finally when they decide to create their own wall, add appropriate information, links and videos and respond to the post will involve in creating skills of the student.

Let’s look at the some of the affordances it has on using it for classroom learning.

Features	Affordances
Privacy for publishing, viewing and commenting posts	Enables security for learners and provide safe environment to learn.
Ability for teacher to approve the post before posting it in the wall.	Provide authentic and appropriate materials only. Chance for correction and screening.
Flexibility to move or arrange the post on the wall but only the author has the authority to do so.	Makes the wall organized and gives sequences of the post. Helps in ordering the ideas and thoughts.
Multimedia features and uploading or sharing web links	Helps develop LSRW skills, makes student creative and affords collaborative learning.
Galleries and graphics like selecting themes.	Develops creative thinking. Student can customize their wall for appropriate content and there is fun learning.
Word limit	Only 160 character allowed in writing cuts chances for overcrowding the wall. It affords focused writing.
Wallwisher can be shared (collaborative)	Of course general affordance. It promotes high level of learning through collaboration.

Week Six Reflection

Week 6 is so far so best, very interesting project to do and loved the discussion on Nicenet. The discussion particularly came from lots of reading and navigating so many hyperlinks. The discussion was on the teaching large classes and using technology to teach large classes. I will try to give a gist of teaching and using technology in large classes here.

There are ways, methods, strategies and skills that teacher can use or implement in a large classroom to engage learners effectively. Role-plays, group activities, and giving/asking questions that are usually interactive and cooperative in nature are very effective in large classroom. No doubt that technology can easily facilitate and tackle better to large classroom. Especially, online website like Wiki, blog, WebQuest, Blackboard and many online tools are effective handling large classes to engage and motivate learners.

The very best was as I stated in the beginning, the task of creating interactive Power Point. Power Point has always been a great name in terms of technology in our school. We all use PowerPoint but creating a Jeopardy Game was something new. I made one and tried with the students, the response was very good and they often want such break-up activities like this. It was wonderful!

This week I am very hard on thoughts about implementing new technology to the issues that I have described to bring a change. I am in the horns of dilemma what I should do as my school and students are very busy preparing for the upcoming final/annual examination that starts from 24^th Nov. And on top of that I was also little confused of the final project but I learned clearly from our instructor that I can prepare a project plan that can be implemented later on. 

So, I decided to prepare project plan for my final project and this week I was hovering over many websites and tools besides the tool I decided to use. I glad that Courtney gave me two tools that can be really useful for me to help my students overcome problems of pronunciation. Right now I am going in details of “Voki” which is my primary tool that I will be using to help student with pronunciation problem. I am also looking at its more functions and affordance.

This is it for the week and lots more to do for the final project.

All the best to everyone,

Happy working!

Reflection: Week 5

What a great week this was!
Learned something very new and fantastic but challenging as always. Now no anticipation anymore of becoming our task lighter, ready to shift the gear once again.

Assignments in week 5 were the discussion, task, a project step task and the extra credit task. Of all these task I enjoyed the extra credit task (creating Webquest) most because I learned more about the PBL which was also the new thing but not the concept and in the task itself  I discovered the kernel of learning online.
And as always, our discussion is so incredible. This time it was on assessment, rubrics and PBL. PBL was of course a new term for me but not the concept. I found out that conducting task in PBL is more systematic and synchronized. Well, the assessment becomes a part of the PBL and then rubrics remain within the assessment. A carefully designed PBL and the Webquest will automate learner where by the learner become independent, cooperative and contributing member in a group or a community of learning. Another interesting thing was creating a rubrics. Well, everyone expressed excitement over creating rubrics online but rather it was more of learning to be specific and accurate in evaluating task.  

The project task was taking further shape; I was of course contended with what Courtney recommended me about choosing a new tool to bring a potential change for the issue(s) identified earlier but found myself browsing for more. Though I found similar tools but weighing its advantages and its strength to cope the issue, I came to the final placement to choose the same tool that was recommended.

I hope now that my selection of a tool, planning further and implementing it will help solve the issue. I look forward for the next week assignment which will further take me to my destination.
  

Week 4 Reflection

Every week is taking us ahead but with very less notice that we are approaching the gate to our final destination. Connection and the flow of task is  progressing so swiftly that we hardly feel a pinch of boredom, instead full of new experiences and knowledge but yes keeps us intact.

Week 4 has been different for us because of a person who despite of her own scheduled joined us as a  guest moderator in our discussion. I thank  Andrea Banickius for joining the group this week and for especially liking my line in Nicenet.

The first task of week was to read articles and search other websites that will be useful or can be integrated in classroom to help students acquire skills in English language. I browsed two websites "Lauris ESL Website" and "Interesting Things for ESL Student", and both got so many stuffs that are unimaginable worthy for students and teachers practicing different skills to learn in English language. Activities in both the websites caters to different level of learners but nevertheless the core concept of the websites is to provide a bountiful resources through games, puzzles, quizzes, audio & video, questions and pictures making a self-assessed activities and motivating learners. The first task also carried forward on developing and enhancing our knowledge on framing ABCD objectives which was of course worth practicing.

Second task was completely new to me but  did make a lasting impression. Though it went tough on me to make a technology enhanced lesson plan but it was well deserving to make one. Without the additional resources and references given for the technology enhanced lesson plan it would not have been  possible for me to  make such lesson plan. What I learned is that any interactive websites (techonology) in lesson should be incorporated to help in learning but not  to get the essence of technology itself. It was  also interesting to find out the alternative of the lesson/activity if the technology fails in class. All the components of the lesson plan are well furnished to tack are of a classroom teaching with or without technology. 

The last one, was ideally leading us to our final project. It was very important to identify the problem that we have in our present classroom and how and what are the means to overcome the problem. Its not only about the using technology to the issues but  it should be leading us  to make use of new technology to address the issue.  I  also learned that our class situation, types of learners and particularly the issues has to be clearly mentioned to find, create and collaborate technology to overcome many problems with our students.

No the least, this reflection itself is so much witty that makes us think, reflect and  rags us at the end to combine a whole week learning. 

Good Bye Week 4!

Week 3 Reflection

This week was very baffling for me as I am also attending workshop for Health and Physical Education curriculum review and racking my brain hard but at the end of every successful work one feel very satisfied and relief.  The 3^rd week’s tasks were creating a page on delicious and adding our links; discussion on aural/oral skill building; and read and comment on past sample project. All of these tasks were gearing towards to building our competence in web skills.

   

Firstly, I am particularly glad to get introduced to delicious.com, a social bookmarking page. When our computer cannot display enough bookmarks it is of tremendous benefit to store our favorites and important websites for our references and to share with others.

Secondly, in discussion on aural/oral skill building, it was very enriching going through article and finding approaches to listening and speaking using CALL.  I realized that there are thousand and plus interactive websites that can help build learner’s listening, speaking, writing and reading skills (LSWR). Such websites are called web 2.0 tools. A properly graded tool can bring much benefit to learners and also to teachers through collaboration and creation. It was also great exploring VoiceThread which is a great tool to develop speaking and other skills as well.

Lastly, Reading a sample project like the one our finale project will look like was infact guiding experience for me. In the project written by Aleyda Linares from National Pedagogical University, Honduras tries to find a technological solution to overcome her students’ problem in speaking English and grammar.  She makes her debut blog for her class and a gmail account for all students to collaborate learning from website for first time.  It was interesting to learn how she copes with those students who were novice on using internet and later on becomes motivated to use blogs and other websites.

All those three tasks were really contributing to our web skill building and I enjoy doing it despite of racking my brain and other chores that I have to do. 

Week 2 Reflection

Week 2 made be really busy, with awaited festival, writing assignments and the regular classes. It was just difficult to catch all my mates who are very active, enthusiastic and prompt in Nicenet and Blogs.

This week’s strengths were finding search engines and writing learning objectives in ABCD style. It was very rich experiences going through many good web sites and exploring it. My selection of engine was “SweetSearch” and it was so nice have discover such engine beside our favorite and popular “Google”. What makes Nicenet unique is the quality of search it makes which is approved through experts and caters the search to different category s of learners. It also has different hyperlinks on the home page to navigate into different source of ones need and areas.

What I had to drudge this week was to understanding the new concept of ABCD style of constructing learning objectives but it was worthwhile doing it. The kind of learning objectives is based on different domains of learning and caters to different abilities and types of learners. No doubt, this learning is going to be fantastic and enriching. I hope many more are stored in our course where we can be enlightened at the end.

Looking forward for greater challenges and trying to remain ever young to learn and not to lack.

See you all next week...

Web 2.0 Tool for Developing Speaking Skills

I particularly thank Paramita, my E-Teacher course mate having interest in Web 2.0 tools and I do love sharing it to all my friends. The tool I am sharing is called "Audioboo". I believe some of you already know about it, nevertheless go through it once, I have given detail description of the tool, how to use it and a sample lesson plan to be used in Blended Classroom.

           www.audioboo.fm

Description of the Tool

Audioboo is a software developed for mobile application. The web site for the tool also allows equal usage of the application, however, recording and sharing is easier in the mobile application. This tool enables users to record audio and upload images that can be shared in different websites.  Aduioboo has a very clear and smooth interface and is very easy to use in the classroom. It can be used to create voice discussions within classroom and also search knowledge base articles and browse public issues in any area of discussion. However, it is only by creating an account that one will be able to post private issues and follow existing issues or discussion in the website, otherwise the user is limited to recording.

Functions and Affordance

This simple tool allows teachers and students to communicate ideas and information. It can be used in classrooms for developing speaking skills and assigning homework and other tasks. This application allows students to create voice discussion, and share information with images they want. In classroom it is best used for interviews, storytelling, making news and voice message or instructions.

Audioboo provides the functionality to pause while recording thus giving extra time for students to think and organize their ideas to present them better.  It has recording features that can be reverted to re-recording if a student thinks something is not worth publishing, thus enabling a second chance to prepare for better recording. Both these features greatly help learners to practice speaking and acquire competence over spoken language. It also boosts students’ confidence and prepares them to be good speakers. These features completely allow students to make self-correction, and also make necessary changes to their recording before the final copy is published. Such repetition of work makes student more reflective and better performer.

The second noteworthy functionality is the ability to leave comments over the recorded files. Comments can be either made by recording voice or text. This helps to reflect on others’ speaking and contribute to discussion. From the teacher’s point of view this helps provide suggestions and feedback to students.

While publishing the content, this tool allows the functionality to choose and select a category of the topic of recording. This facilitates search/browsing and easy retrieving of all published recordings.

One disadvantage is that audioboo allows only three minutes of recording thus hindering longer content for discussion and presentation of elaborate activities. Secondly, recordings are not threaded and comments posted may not be responded to at the same time-it lacks synchronous discussion.

How to Use

1. Create an account on Audioboo at http://audioboo.fm/ using your e-mail address and real name to make it easier for your friends and teachers to know who you are. You can also use a profile picture.
2. On the website, click on the record /upload button, which will open another window where you can start recording or upload recorded file.
3. Click on the box that says “get your mic ready?” for a new recording (Note# for the first time, you will be asked to allow access to computer’s recording settings. Click on “Allow”)
4. Now you can start recording by clicking on the green start recording button. You can pause recording or end recording by clicking on Pause Recording button. And Preview Recording button will allow you to listen to your recording that will help you to make decision on publishing the recording.
5. If you are not happy with the recording, you can delete the recording by clicking on Restart Recording and that will enable you to record new recording again.
6. When you are happy with your recording and ready to publish it, click on the green Happy? Add a Title button.
7. Now you can give a title and tags to help you and others identify it. You can also add an image and location. When you are finally ready, click on the green Publish button that will appear on another screen.
8. Once the file is uploaded, you will get a link to embed, share and email the recording. You can also play it to listen to your recording in the Audioboo website. To save the recording in the website, you need to sign up and log in to your account that will also help you to receive comments.

Sample Task

Topic               : News Broadcast                                           

Level               : Intermediate

Materials         : Computer with net connection, head phone and microphone.

Objectives        : Students will be able to;

-          script the news for recording

-          interview different people

-          create news using Audioboo and share to class

Introduction

[Teacher can get students to create their own radio news broadcasts. This could be a regular show that they produce together in small groups. They could collect the news together, decide what items they will include in their news broadcast and then script it.]

Activity

-          Teacher divides students in 4 groups of three members each and assigns different roles to members like data collector or reporter, editor and news reader. [Data collector (reporter) collects news and the facts, editor revises, checks and corrects news to finalize for broadcasting, and the news reader gives a voice to record news.]

-          Teacher assigns each groups different news category (e.g. sports, crime, fashion, local news, etc.) and ask them to prepare draft script of the news. Students can refer to news bulletin or listen to news in the internet to learn more about news broadcasting.

-          Students are asked to carry out their own responsibility and make a first draft of the news. They are expected to review the draft and make final write up for recording the news. Students are also reminded to use appropriate language and grammar.

-          Teacher asks students to use Audioboo to record their news and publish it in the website or they can also share it on Facebook group if the class has one.

Closure

Once the news is published, each group is expected to leave comments on every other group’s output and the teacher might open a free discussion in the next class.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I Hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading. 

Advantages of Web-based Learning

Learning from the internet should be seen as a transition from traditional to modern, 21^st century teaching and learning skills. Like machine has replaced carts and bulls in order to get better yields in lesser amount of time or reducing effort. Using computer and internet is similar to that of educating in completely new and fascinating ways. One major advantage of the Internet is the amount of resources it makes available to its users. Access to all the tools and services of the Internet removes hindrance faced by learners. Moreover, not only does the Internet expand the amount of resources available to the user, it also makes the process of acquiring materials much quicker than traditional methods. In addition to increasing resources, the Internet also fosters and enhances various skills of its users. Communication skills and writing skills can be directly affected through its use. Depending on its incorporation in classroom activities, it may also contribute to the improvement of skills related to critical thinking, problem solving, and group work. Even cognitive learning can be done better on the Internet; the learning includes facts, data, knowledge, mental skills and test. And information transfer and cognitive learning can be achieved faster, cheaper and better online. Learners can learn during her or his peak learning time; at learner’s own pace and speed; can focus on specific content area; can do self evaluation and learners can interact more with teachers and peers.

No doubt that internet expands the resources available and decreases the time and location dependencies that can be limiting factors in schools. It offers powerful and varied ways for students and teachers to interact, manipulate data, and conduct research. However, Internet is not an approach to education, but rather a tool that can be used with almost any educational theory. It makes additional information resources available, it enhances dynamic communication, and it makes collaboration easier by reducing the need for collaborators to be in the same place at the same time.

My new blog...for the first time

It is a great start and yes, I already started feeling of learning. Well, I have heard about blog often but never used it somehow. So, this is the place where we can create, share and collaborate our information, knowledge and skills.

Although I have had a module during my MA on online learning and I do have few stuff to share with all my friends here, especially this web skills participants about the Web 2.0 tools. Hopefully, I can keep on posting few from next time but as an introductory about web 2.0 tools, it is an interactive tool that are very good for teaching learning purposes. Teacher and student can create, collaborate, and  share knowledge through web 2.0 tools.

More next time….and do keep posting all of you….

Sanjiv