Audio
and Video
Regarding
audio and video making/editing, I believe they can make great tools for helping
teachers create their own educational material. However, we need to be aware of
how time-consuming they could be. In this frame, I believe that a team should
be made up to join efforts and come up with relevant, well-elaborated and significant
educational material. What is your opinion on whether or not teachers should be
the ones creating their own videos?
Screencasting
I find
screencasting really helpful as I can make either knowledge clips or tutorials
to assist my students on line. Nowadays, MOODLE has been implemented at the
University of Cuenca to support language learning, concretely English, and I foresee
great benefits in using screencasting as I have the need to accompany my course
contents with both knowledge clips and tutorials for either instructions or
creation of projects/assignments. I will soon start creating some demo ones to
try them out once I start teaching again in December.
Do you
know what screencasting is?
Have
you experienced it?
What
else do you think screencating can be used for?
Online
resources/Videoconferencing
Nowadays,
there are plenty of educational resources out there in the web; however, we
could easily spend months trying them all out. I would like to ask both my
fellow colleagues and classmates to start commenting on the resources you have
used so far and why you have used them. If further drawbacks are to be
mentioned regarding one of them, please do not hesitate. Possible categories
could be: online platforms, websites, and applications. Please pick a category,
add the link to the site, mention what skills can be developed, list your
resource and briefly explain why you believe it is useful. For instance
Website:
Storybird https://storybird.com/ EFL
classes (English as a Foreing/second language) for developing writing and
reading. This website offers the possibility to create stories. Teachers and
students can create their own stories by means of text and pictures to build up
on both the writing and reading skills at different levels.
Website: YOUTUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aykuFhQIob4 EFL classes. I've used this kind of material to develop listening and speaking skills. These short videos that are available online and about any topics offer the opportunity to bring discussion to class allowing students the chance to enhance their while by sharing what they've learned and what they think about a certain topic.
ReplyDeleteScreencasting is a video teachers use to explain important or difficult topics to their students. I think it is an excellent tool for learners who need an extra oral and visual explanation of the topic presented in class.
ReplyDeleteI have experienced this as a student in a course I took some time ago at the University of Cuenca, and I think it is a very useful tool that teachers can use to optimize time and give students more explanation about certain topics because, in my case, it allowed me as a student to move at my own pace since I could pause or review the content anytime I wanted.
Screencasting may be a good way of integrating technology into our classes. It can help we EFL teachers demonstrate and teach our classes. Teachers and students can use this tool to create videos to explain certain topics.
Screencasting can make class time more productive, may increase student engagement, and can also provide more time in which students can work collaboratively in groups.
Students can also record videos to demonstrate the procedure for a problem solving activity for example. In this way they show others how a given task is accomplished.
Seminars may be recorded and may be available to all attendees for future reference.
I personally like videoconferencing. I have been using this website https://www.verbling.com/. That website offers English classes with navtive speakers. They use Google Hangouts to teach. This website focuses on practicing speaking. However, they have a broad approach to develop the other skills such as writing, reading and listening. This website works 24/7. It is open to all the world. That makes it an advantage because lenguage learners can develop their language skills at any time they want. Another advantage is the fact that language learners can practice as many hours as they wish. It does not have a fix schedule. Finally, videoconferencing is limited in the number of people who can participate in a session (Up to 9 or 12 students). That gives the opportunity for people to practice more the language and students have the chance to ask specific questions when required. Teachers will have time to answer those questions, making it a more pesonalize enviroment.
ReplyDeleteThis website adds a community to practice the language that you are learning. This option is free and it does not offer a teacher. People can join in a videoconferencing (Google Hangouts) and practice the language as much as that person wants. I have met people from India, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Japan. All of them practicing the English language and they get to help each other.
One curious thing I have noticed is that when taking a German class, people start using English as a lingua franca to explain some German words to grammar points.
I think that it is a good idea to create our own videos, but unfortunately it is very complicated since some of us don't have enough technological knowledge to do it. So it could be very interesting to attend any kind of course where as teachers can be taught some topics as video creation, editing, etc.
ReplyDeleteLuly Carreño
The use of technology is extremely useful to learn a foreign language. Fortunately, we are in an era in which students are immeres in a technological world. That is why, it is advisable to make use of these devices since students know how to control them , and they also like them, well, at least most of them.
ReplyDeleteThe role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), specifically the Internet, in the education scope has been important; especially in the process of introducing technology into educational activities. Technology has also become part of the syllabus. Students create their own presentations, visual aids and investigations by means of the Internet. In fact, the increasing emphasis and promotion of autonomous learning of foreign languages and the broadening role of online technologies have developed the major features in language teaching. That is why, nowadays there are plenty of resources to be used in class for any single subject. Personally, I use storybird as a good resource for creating writing and collaborative learning and slideshare, which helps me to optimize time in class by preparing material and planning classes in advance.
ReplyDeleteVeronica Leon