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.

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I Hope you all liked it. Thanks for reading.