tacho: March 2006

Over the summertime I was running a issue of 2 calendar week ICT inwards linguistic communication teaching courses for teachers from to a greater extent than or less the world. The courses were utilisation of the Bell summertime campus at Homerton College Cambridge. This was the initiative off fourth dimension inwards a spell I had been asked to instruct such long courses as well as i thought it was a non bad chance to consider if I could fundamentally alter the agency the teachers related to technology, non precisely inwards the classroom equally a tool for teaching learners, but equally a tool inside their everyday working practice.

As sub goals I laid out to run the course of educational activity alongside absolutely no paper. That meant no photocopied handouts as well as no newspaper based banker's complaint taking from trainees. I wanted to force these teachers to the betoken where they could operate totally inwards the digital medium as well as where newspaper became totally unnecessary.

I also wanted to utilisation a cast of loop input (using the engineering scientific discipline to instruct the technology) thus that teachers were learning close the technologies they could utilisation alongside students past times truly using them for themselves.

I would similar to add together that this course of educational activity took house inwards a reckoner room alongside 1 Internet connected reckoner per teacher.

What follows below is a brief outline of the tools I used to attain this as well as how I used each tool.

TodaysMeet

TodaysMeet
This was my key communication tool. It allows me to create an minute chatroom which I tin utilisation equally a backchannel thus that students tin communicate alongside each other past times text as well as contribute to the session or precisely socialise spell I'm talking. More importantly though, it enables me to portion links to websites as well as digital document without having to acquire students to re-create complex URLs into their spider web browser address bar. I but glue the URL into the chat as well as when they acquire the message they click on the link as well as the URL opens inwards a novel tab inwards their spider web browser. I tin also utilisation it equally a variety of audience response organisation to acquire opinions from the whole degree as well as to permit them to type inwards questions that I tin address later.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: TodaysMeet

Penzu

Penzu
Penzu is a rattling unproblematic spider web based somebody magazine tool that I've been using for some fourth dimension now. In this course of educational activity I asked teachers to utilisation it instead of taking newspaper based notes. Penzu is truly quite minimalist as well as it looks precisely similar a sail of paper, but it stores as well as appointment stamps each magazine entry as well as this makes it quite slow to discovery notes over again from whatever reckoner equally it is 'cloud based'. So this became ane of the 2 criterion tabs I asked the teachers to constantly maintain opened upwards on their spider web browser. That agency they could easily switch betwixt banker's complaint taking as well as investigating links as well as socialising alongside the class.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: Penzu

280Slides

280Slides
In house of PowerPoint as well as Keynote I used 280Slides to fix as well as deliver the presentations I included inwards the course. 280Slides is truly unproblematic to use, stores the presentations online as well as creates a link as well as embed code thus when I'm finished presenting I tin straight off portion the link alongside my grouping either past times embedding it into a site or passing the URL through TodaysMeet.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: 280Slides

Delicious
During the course of educational activity I shared a lot of links to background reading materials, useful follow upwards websites as well as blogs etc. The links were passed through TodaysMeet, but to brand certain these links weren't lost I got the teachers on the course of educational activity to create their ain Delicious accounts to tag as well as shop all the links thus they could discovery them afterward on whatever computer. I also taught them how to add together the bookmarking plug inwards to their browser tool bar. This truly helped equally it meant they could but click on it as well as tag as well as relieve everything alongside precisely a duet of clicks.

Here's a link to: My Delicious Bookmarks

SimplyBox

SimplyBox
Using Delicious for bookmarking articles etc was great, but for the Web 2.0 type learning tools I was introducing I wanted something to a greater extent than visual equally a reminder, thus I used SimplyBox. This is a unproblematic to utilisation tool which uses boxes inwards house of folders as well as enables you lot to view an icon from the site equally a link dorsum to it, rather than a title. The other non bad payoff of this tool is that you lot tin portion boxes as well as operate on them collaboratively as well as anyone accessing the box tin acquire out notes on each of the tools. I introduced this tool close halfway through the course of educational activity past times putting links to all the tools nosotros had used inwards ane box, as well as using this equally a revision task, I got the teachers to acquire out teaching suggestions as well as notes close how to utilisation each tool as well as what its strengths were on each of the bookmarks.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: SimplyBox
Here's an event box alongside my collection of: Vocabulary Tools

Posterous
I used Posterous equally my basic publishing tool for the teachers to construct blended learning materials on, you lot tin acquire started precisely past times sending an e-mail alongside your weblog content inwards the trunk of the e-mail as well as whatever images, videos or good equally attachments. Very few of them had done whatever blogging previous to the course of educational activity thus this was a truly unproblematic tool to acquire started on as well as it handles all kinds of media such equally video, documents as well as embedded objects truly well. So equally they were edifice examples of online learning they were also creating their ain e-portfolio.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: Posterous

Jing
Jing was some other of the inwardness tools for the course. Initially I got teachers to utilisation it to view as well as annotate images of websites thus that they could create detailed footstep past times footstep notes of how to utilisation diverse spider web tools. They as well as thus dragged the images into documents as well as uploaded these to their Posterous weblog which formatted them into spider web based documents using Scribd. As the course of educational activity progressed I moved the teachers on from making text as well as icon based instructions to using Jing to brand as well as upload video based screencasts of the websites. They could as well as thus bookmark these alongside delicious as well as afterward utilisation them to demonstrate their students how the websites worked, or they could add together the link to their Posterous weblog which would automatically embed the video into the weblog page.

Here's an event of a document uploaded to Posterous: Example
You tin download Jing gratuitous from here

Wiggio

Wiggio
Towards the destination of the course of educational activity I introduced the Wiggio VLE to the teachers. Wiggio is a rattling versatile as well as quick to create online surroundings which has a rich multifariousness of communication tools. Using this platform has enabled me to cast working groups from the courses thus that they tin remain inwards impact alongside each other as well as me after the course of educational activity as well as tumble out to portion links, videos, documents as well as to a greater extent than importantly ideas. This is a non bad tool for edifice dynamic courses as well as adds much to a greater extent than social interaction than something similar Moodle.

Here's a quick video showing how it works: Wiggio

Tricider
I used Tricider equally my needs analysis tool at the start as well as my activeness enquiry tool during the course. It's a rattling unproblematic to use, but rattling versatile polling tool. You precisely create a query as well as add together some options as well as thus portion it alongside the people you lot desire answers from. The non bad affair is that they tin add together extra options as well as add together diverse pros as well as cons of each pick equally good equally voting on the ones they like. This makes the whole procedure of polling much to a greater extent than open, social as well as interactive.
Here's a quick video showing how it works: Tricider

Firefox
Last but non to the lowest degree is the Firefox browser. I utilisation this equally a replacement for Internet Explorer. I discovery Firefox to live on fast reliable as well as consistent as well as peculiarly when working alongside Web 2.0 type tools it gives me rattling few problems. I tin state none of this close IE which I oftentimes destination upwards cursing whenever I induce got to utilisation it inwards a grooming environment.
You tin download Firefox from here

So, using this combination of tools I managed to deliver the consummate course of educational activity without using newspaper banker's complaint books or photocopying whatever materials, as well as I experience at the destination of it my trainees were the amend for it equally they had spent a calendar week challenging their ingrained written report habits as well as taking a footstep towards working inwards the variety of digital world
their students volition in all likelihood live on negotiating inwards their future. Most of all though they had a guide chances to truly utilisation the tools inwards much the same agency that their students volition as well as to brand as well as overcome the kinds of mistakes they volition induce got to bargain alongside students inwards class.

I promise you lot induce got establish something interesting hither as well as this article makes you lot cry upwards a footling to a greater extent than close how you lot deliver instructor grooming inwards full general equally the utilisation of these tools isn't precisely restricted to tech training. They could live on integrated into the delivery of whatever linguistic communication or instructor grooming course of educational activity as well as to some extent I experience that until tech tools are integrated into mainstream instructor grooming nosotros aren't going to acquire the character as well as quantity of digitally literate teachers that nosotros demand to truly supply a 21st century learning surroundings for our students.

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