Here I go again, back to Moodle MOOC 4, for the fourth and last week, with the tasks within this learning experience. Today it is the turn to practise adding blocks to a Moodle 2.6 classroom, and to achieve that goal, every active participant has been upgraded to Manager, a serious responsibility one has to take with care. Anyway, the Moodle Mooc 4 organisers have been clever enough as to enable a Practice Area so nothing in the actual course can be spoiled.
And, here you are the result of my playing around with several blocks of my choice, which either because I had not used them before or because I think they are especially useful, have called my attention. Thus, I have decided to share them with you.
I hope the brief tips can be of some help for any Moodle beginner.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Accomplishing The Goal 'Learn with Passion'
This is our latest goal at The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators projects, thanks to María Bossa, from Argentina: Learn with Passion.
I think it is a very wise goal to accomplish, and so not to lose sight of learning during the summer break besides looking for further communities and networks to link to and getting ready for new connections for the coming school year.
In order to keep on learning with passion and accomplishing the goal all in one go, I would like to share with you some of those communities and networks I feel part of, both across Spain, where I come from, and across the world, since thanks to technologies, as María clearly says in her post, learning and personal links go beyond frontiers.
I feel thankful for being able to collaborate in a wide range of projects with loads of passionate peer teachers who generously share their passion for learning everyday throughout loads of virtual communities and microblogging platforms. Click on the link below and find out some of them. I will of course be happy if you care to join. You are all welcome!
I think it is a very wise goal to accomplish, and so not to lose sight of learning during the summer break besides looking for further communities and networks to link to and getting ready for new connections for the coming school year.
In order to keep on learning with passion and accomplishing the goal all in one go, I would like to share with you some of those communities and networks I feel part of, both across Spain, where I come from, and across the world, since thanks to technologies, as María clearly says in her post, learning and personal links go beyond frontiers.
I feel thankful for being able to collaborate in a wide range of projects with loads of passionate peer teachers who generously share their passion for learning everyday throughout loads of virtual communities and microblogging platforms. Click on the link below and find out some of them. I will of course be happy if you care to join. You are all welcome!
But we must not forget The 30 Goals Challenge for Educators: maybe the most awesome professional community if you are thinking of how to accomplish this goal, as you are definitely bound to find passion for learning there. Pay a visit and join the tour!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
MM4: How to build a mindmap on Moodle 2.6
Nice surprise was awaiting along week 3 at Moodle MOOC 4 For Teachers: how to set up a mindmap within an elearning classroom.
It was a revealing discovery, I must confess, the fact that an online instructor can add such an activity in just a few clicks, and quickly set up a collaborative mindmap that any course participant may edit and enrich along an elearning course.
On top of that, when accomplishing the MOOC assignment and practising with the available activities on Moodle 2.6, I also found out that one can record activities instructions instead of writing them for participants, as the text editor at the Moodle Practice Area on Moodle For Teachers includes a voice recorder that automatically inserts an embedded .mp3 file, which I thought very useful for accessibility purposes.
Here is a summary of the whole procedure in simple steps:
It was a revealing discovery, I must confess, the fact that an online instructor can add such an activity in just a few clicks, and quickly set up a collaborative mindmap that any course participant may edit and enrich along an elearning course.
On top of that, when accomplishing the MOOC assignment and practising with the available activities on Moodle 2.6, I also found out that one can record activities instructions instead of writing them for participants, as the text editor at the Moodle Practice Area on Moodle For Teachers includes a voice recorder that automatically inserts an embedded .mp3 file, which I thought very useful for accessibility purposes.
Here is a summary of the whole procedure in simple steps:
MM4: Teachers Teaching Online: Building a MOOC in WizIQ - 30 second reflection
Just after attending the invigorating 'Teachers Teaching Online: Building a MOOC in WizIQ' live session delivered by Jason R. Lavine for Moodle MOOC for Teachers 4, hosted by Dr. Nellie Deutsch on 20 June 2014, all I could think of was how to put Jason's tips in a nutshell without losing the rap rhythm he had set there, and however, all that came to my mind was the ocean, To The Ocean.
That image set a different pace, leading my imagination to produce a peaceful relaxing 30-second-reflection clip with the aim of summarizing the online session in simple frames: event description, questions, feelings and further challenges, all of which were coming to mind while watching, so here it goes:
MM4: Teachers Teaching Online: Building a MOOC in WizIQ - 30 second reflection
As I am acually doing both #moodlemooc4 and #TTOmooc at the same time, I honestly thought it was a brilliant idea to have this crossover between both. Thanks for the it, Jason and Nellie.
Teachers Teaching Online MOOC, or #TTOmooc is perfectly explained by Jason as a MOOC for busy teachers, but this learning experience is far more than that, as 19 well-known presenters willing to help educators on how to succeed as online teachers have been gathered around a single MOOC, which is not to be regarded as a simple task. As I am an online teacher myself, I perfectly understand the effort, appreciate it, I relate to the content and feel grateful for the inspiration the experts are spreading.
The questions and thoughts that came through my mind while watching the session were of different kinds:
When managing and attending some other MOOCs at some other platforms, I have observed that the main worry is social engaging generating virtual communities, learning communities, and coming up with a dynamic activity schedule; one of the main concerns seems to be the follow-up MOOC activity, what will happen after the MOOC, if participants will keep in touch, or if they will take to their lessons whatever they learned during the MOOC, itself. And, however, this TTOmooc is not as demanding as others, it's much more relaxed and easy going; TTOmooc providers here do not seem as worried as other mooc providers about figures, or how many many people actually finish the course and grab the badges.
Learning seems to be the focus here and I wonder who is on the right track. Maybe all mooc providers are, I guess; it all depends on the target audience and the goals we are pursuing.
Well, the thing is that I felt quite motivated while listening to Jason to keep it up and connect; quite encouraged to improve my online teaching. Surprised by the way the MOOC is preented and how the team has actually managed to gather such inspirational presenters together, all expert teachers and educators, and I believe this is a key issue in a course of this kind as well.
I guess the main challenge now is to find some time to catch up. Time is what I lack, but I am in love with teaching, and so with online teaching, even though you might encounter obstacles when doing online teaching, as it is IT failure sometimes: platforms that do not work well, connections that disconnect, servers that do not run smoothly, and so forth. My experience tells me, on the other hand, that one can overcome IT obstacles like those with a little bit of goodwill: practising, rehearsal, asking others for help ... those are the best steps to overcome the challenge.
It would be nice to launch a virtual course or mooc at WizIQ in the future, maybe mini-courses at the beginning with simple tips for others to learn and try themselves in their lessons. I think I'd like that in the future, too.
The question now, for further research, after viewing this session, is from my viewpoint finding out what the best MOOc model is, one that focuses on a demanding activity schedule, or an easy going one?
What should be the focus on a MOOC: the number of individuals successfully finishing the MOOC or their evidence of quality learning?
That image set a different pace, leading my imagination to produce a peaceful relaxing 30-second-reflection clip with the aim of summarizing the online session in simple frames: event description, questions, feelings and further challenges, all of which were coming to mind while watching, so here it goes:
MM4: Teachers Teaching Online: Building a MOOC in WizIQ - 30 second reflection
As I am acually doing both #moodlemooc4 and #TTOmooc at the same time, I honestly thought it was a brilliant idea to have this crossover between both. Thanks for the it, Jason and Nellie.
Teachers Teaching Online MOOC, or #TTOmooc is perfectly explained by Jason as a MOOC for busy teachers, but this learning experience is far more than that, as 19 well-known presenters willing to help educators on how to succeed as online teachers have been gathered around a single MOOC, which is not to be regarded as a simple task. As I am an online teacher myself, I perfectly understand the effort, appreciate it, I relate to the content and feel grateful for the inspiration the experts are spreading.The questions and thoughts that came through my mind while watching the session were of different kinds:
When managing and attending some other MOOCs at some other platforms, I have observed that the main worry is social engaging generating virtual communities, learning communities, and coming up with a dynamic activity schedule; one of the main concerns seems to be the follow-up MOOC activity, what will happen after the MOOC, if participants will keep in touch, or if they will take to their lessons whatever they learned during the MOOC, itself. And, however, this TTOmooc is not as demanding as others, it's much more relaxed and easy going; TTOmooc providers here do not seem as worried as other mooc providers about figures, or how many many people actually finish the course and grab the badges.
Learning seems to be the focus here and I wonder who is on the right track. Maybe all mooc providers are, I guess; it all depends on the target audience and the goals we are pursuing.
Well, the thing is that I felt quite motivated while listening to Jason to keep it up and connect; quite encouraged to improve my online teaching. Surprised by the way the MOOC is preented and how the team has actually managed to gather such inspirational presenters together, all expert teachers and educators, and I believe this is a key issue in a course of this kind as well.
I guess the main challenge now is to find some time to catch up. Time is what I lack, but I am in love with teaching, and so with online teaching, even though you might encounter obstacles when doing online teaching, as it is IT failure sometimes: platforms that do not work well, connections that disconnect, servers that do not run smoothly, and so forth. My experience tells me, on the other hand, that one can overcome IT obstacles like those with a little bit of goodwill: practising, rehearsal, asking others for help ... those are the best steps to overcome the challenge.
It would be nice to launch a virtual course or mooc at WizIQ in the future, maybe mini-courses at the beginning with simple tips for others to learn and try themselves in their lessons. I think I'd like that in the future, too.
The question now, for further research, after viewing this session, is from my viewpoint finding out what the best MOOc model is, one that focuses on a demanding activity schedule, or an easy going one?
What should be the focus on a MOOC: the number of individuals successfully finishing the MOOC or their evidence of quality learning?
Monday, June 23, 2014
International Writing Exchange
2013/2014 school year is not even over yet, and however, we teachers are already getting ready for 2014/2015.
I guess we can't help it! As a well-known colleague of mine says, 'September will be here before we know it', and so, here I am, once again, jumping into a new collaborative project for English Language Teachers to try and help learners with writing and speaking skills, connect with other teachers worldwide and develop ideas and new activities.
These are some of the reason why I have joined The International Writing Exchange (IWE) 14-15 taking place at WiziQ and Moodle, willing to learn, collaborate and come up with connected digital artifacts, which I am sure we will be able to design together and thanks to the great support by Dr. Nellie Deutsch's Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning.
Are you a teacher and would like to collaborate too? Watch the trailer below, read the course description and go for it!
All the members of the IWE are looking forward to welcoming you and your students. Don't forget: 'September will be here before we know it'.
I guess we can't help it! As a well-known colleague of mine says, 'September will be here before we know it', and so, here I am, once again, jumping into a new collaborative project for English Language Teachers to try and help learners with writing and speaking skills, connect with other teachers worldwide and develop ideas and new activities.
Are you a teacher and would like to collaborate too? Watch the trailer below, read the course description and go for it!
All the members of the IWE are looking forward to welcoming you and your students. Don't forget: 'September will be here before we know it'.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
MM4: Creating an Online Lesson Plan Pool
Here I go again, back to Moodle MOOC 4. Two days in a row, Wow, I'm starting to positively feel hooked to this MOOC!!!!
On 19 June 2014 I watched the MM4: Creating an Online Lesson Plan Pool webinar live, for a change; I do not usually have enough hours during the day to view live so I have to do with recordings, but this one was live. Good for me!!!! Or is it that my days are stretching???? Well, I honestly don't know.
The point is that now I am finally reflecting on the live webinar by Teacher Rosemery Ribera, to whom I am thankful for the tips and ideas.
And of course, thanks to Dr. Nellie and Tom for their awesome webinar hosting and MOOC organization.
Related posts
On 19 June 2014 I watched the MM4: Creating an Online Lesson Plan Pool webinar live, for a change; I do not usually have enough hours during the day to view live so I have to do with recordings, but this one was live. Good for me!!!! Or is it that my days are stretching???? Well, I honestly don't know.
The point is that now I am finally reflecting on the live webinar by Teacher Rosemery Ribera, to whom I am thankful for the tips and ideas.
And of course, thanks to Dr. Nellie and Tom for their awesome webinar hosting and MOOC organization.
Related posts
Friday, June 20, 2014
Reflection on MM4: Formative Feedback Strategies and Digital Marking
As every week since Moodle MOOC 4 started three weeks ago at WizIQ, I am reflecting on one of the live classes Dr. Nellie Deutsch so successfully hosts daily.
This time it is the turn for Formative Feedback Strategies and Digital Marking, delivered on past 5 June 2014 by Andreas Molander, who has also generously publicly shared his presentation, though unfortunately I have not been able to view the recording until June 19 2014.
Anyway, here I am podcasting my reflection on his webinar, focusing on the following items:
This time it is the turn for Formative Feedback Strategies and Digital Marking, delivered on past 5 June 2014 by Andreas Molander, who has also generously publicly shared his presentation, though unfortunately I have not been able to view the recording until June 19 2014.
Anyway, here I am podcasting my reflection on his webinar, focusing on the following items:
- Questions that came up while I watched the presentation
- How the content related to me as a teacher
- Some of the thoughts that went through my mind while I watched the presentation
- How I felt as I watched the presentation
- What challenges I might encounter in implementing some of the ideas
- What steps I can take to resolve the challenges
- What I would like to do in the future as a result of what I saw and heard
- A question I would like to look into as a result of the presentation.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Kalios 327, a new YouTuber has just landed!
YouTube Channel name and URL: Kalios327
Opening Date: May 2014
Interview Transcript:
Me: First of all, Kalios, thanks for presenting your channel in this blog, and congratulations on your work! I do believe that your initiative might become an inspiration for other kids that at your age are maybe thinking of doing the same. And now, could you start by describing the channel a little bit?
Kalios: My channel aims at entertaining all those viewers interested in video games, such as Happy Wheels, Minecraft, League of Legends, World of Warcraft and so forth, quite simple actually. If you are 7 years or older, this is the channel for you, you are welcome to suscribe!
Me: OK, and why have you opened this channel? How did you come up with the idea?
Kalios: The idea came up through a friend of mine, actually, who suggested uploading League of Legends videos to YouTube and so, I slept on it and thought of extending it a little bit and uploading various types of video clips. It took me a long time to set up the whole channel, and I know it still needs improving quite a lot, but like beta games, it is now ready to be public and tested.
Me: Could you please explain what you do before the video clip is at YouTube, step by step?
Kalios: Of course! There we go:
Step 1 - Screencasting the game with my comments about it.
Step 2 - Editing the recording to improve quality. I usually use Camtasia Studio 8 for that, altough I know there are many other tools available.
Step 3 - Viewing the outcome, revising that there are no mistakes, changing, improving it until I feel happy with the result.
Step 4 - Uploading the clip to my channel, sharing it with the audience and looking forward to the comments, which are always welcome if made with respect and good manners.
Me: But that must take a lot of time! How long does it take you to produce each clip, from the beginning until it is public at your channel?
Kalios: Well, that depends on the length of the clip. At the moment my videos are about 15 minutes long, and the whole process takes me around one hour per video.
Me: I guess you really enjoy the whole thing, but is there any part of it that you'd say it's your favourite?
Kalios: What I like best is to play the game and to know there are others that play the same game, as well as thinking that my videos might be helpful for players or that they simply make them smile if viewing them after a hard day. Sharing is the best part of it all!
Me: And what is the most difficult part of it all?
Kalios: the technical part, that is, the quality of audio, uploading and above all, having suscribers and getting to be known on the net.
Me: OK. And the easiest part of it all?
Kalios: Commenting, without any doubt at all, commenting.
Me: I see all your clips are in Spanish. Have you ever thought of commenting in English?
Kalios: Yep, the target audience is Spanish speakers, and I had not thought of commenting in English, but you never know.
Me: Well, thanks again, Kalios, for this lovely presentation. Now, let the readers view your channel opening trailer.
Kalios: You are welcome! I hope you all enjoy the trailer, and the channel, too!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
CLTV - KQED "Do Now"
Highlights from the June 12, 2014 Connected Learning TV webinar on KQED "Do Now" (#KQEDDoNow / #TeachDoNow), part of a month-long series titled "Looking Closely at Student Work in the Digital Age."
Thanks ever so much for the webinar and the mention!
#WorldPoetry - The #twima Project
Jon Smith is launching a great #globaled project, World Poetry. Searh for its hashtag on Twitter, #twima, and if you are interested, please join!
The idea is simple but awesome:
Jon would like to make a poetry iBook from all of the states and countries around the world.
Ambitious? Yes. Yes, it is ambitious for sure!
Jon would like each class, from each state and country around the world, to write a poem about their state or country. This will be combined into one HUGE iBook that will be published in Apple's iBookstore.
The project will begin as soon as you, contributors, can start. Most schools in the states are about to go on summer vacation so for them it will be a 2014-2015 project.
For all the project international friends, it's up to us all, but I guess it will also be the 2014 - 2015 school year in Spain, as we are also breaking up very very soon.
If interested in joining, please fill out the form.
By the way, have a very poetic summer!
The idea is simple but awesome:
Jon would like to make a poetry iBook from all of the states and countries around the world.
Ambitious? Yes. Yes, it is ambitious for sure!
Jon would like each class, from each state and country around the world, to write a poem about their state or country. This will be combined into one HUGE iBook that will be published in Apple's iBookstore.
The project will begin as soon as you, contributors, can start. Most schools in the states are about to go on summer vacation so for them it will be a 2014-2015 project.
For all the project international friends, it's up to us all, but I guess it will also be the 2014 - 2015 school year in Spain, as we are also breaking up very very soon.
If interested in joining, please fill out the form.
By the way, have a very poetic summer!
Koinobori - ornament of Tango no sekku. Early summer. From Wikipedia
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Have I actually got to know my students over the years?
As the facilitators from Moodle MOOC 4 proposed the "Knowing my students better" task for Week 2, I quickly wondered: 'Have I really got to know my students over all these decades dedicated to teaching?'
I looked up, let my mind think back, and as lots of good memories from the good all times filled my head and made me smile, I found myself putting my personal thoughts in writing:
After almost 30 years teaching I have had various types of students.
Back in the late 80s my students used to be teenagers who used to come to my private ESL lessons for support, either because they were failing English at school or because their parents wanted them to have extra English lessons. That was face-to-face teaching, and I knew most of them as they were basically next door neighbours; on top of that, their parents would make a full oral profile of their children when they brought them to me.
Not very motivated, I generally had to encourage them a lot, but that was the time of the record player, the tape recorder and the drilling exercises, accompanied by a lot of grammar and long lists of vocabulary (Personal computers were just coming into a few households at the time in Spain).
Soon I found out they needed encouragement and motivation. Just looking at their faces at seven in the evening, after a long school day, coming to my classroom for an extra session on ESL, exhausted after seven sessions or maybe more at regular school, one knew that the right song would do much better than a drilling activity for repetition: sort of soothing I guess...
Then there came the early 90s, and my students changed all together; they were adults that voluntarily attended ESL lessons everyday at state-run schools of languages because they wanted to learn English.
'Awesome! They are going to be motivated enough', I thought, but they came in tired, after a long day of work, and sometimes just wanted to sit down and listen.
And there we went into overhead projectors, transparencies, stickers on magnetic white boards, roleplaying with small cards, menus, brochures, leaflets that I sometimes used to pick on my trips to UK, I must confess.
I am sorry for those petty thefts at some well known restaurants, but that was the only way at the time of presenting the students with some real material when performing mini-plays in class and trying to make them feel like in the real world. And so, they got engaged, and then, videotapes and satellite TV came along; we started to connect the classroom with the outside world, and we found some peers from other state-run schools in Spain and made the first project ever: a video letter showing our town that we sent to them, and we got theirs in return.
Such a small project like that took us weeks carrying a really heavy camera on our shoulders, filming in several rather big video tapes now that one comes to think of it, lots of editing with a video recorder, a television and a sound mixer, but an awful lot of enthusiasm!
Time went by like that for a while, with various bunches of students of the kind and a lot of evolution regarding technologies: CDs, DVDs, European projects and so forth with a single aim: improving the learning environment that the students I knew needed, making them aware of the need of speaking English well, that English was the language of communication and encouraging, motivating, bringing to my side those students, adults from all walks of life, that sometimes just seemed to be interested in getting their certificates, especially when May approached, until I could teach in a computer lab, with a coming and going RTB Internet connection, but still doing my best to show adults in search of a better life that English was real, necessary and also fun, until my teaching came into blended and online teaching, fewer face-to-face sessions and more and more virtual classrooms.
Centuries changed and so did the kind of students I had, now teachers themselves and University students that one day would become teachers, and so, I had to mix different ingredients to cook the broth as I had to teach English, in English, for English teachers or other teachers from various fields, using ICT, providing them with digital competence at the same time as helping with their language skills, but without seeing their faces most of the time, just reading their messages, forum posts, emails, tweets later on, Facebook posts, Whatsapping, Googling, and if I was lucky, viewing their virtual classroom avatars or photos, so that made it more difficult to know how they felt or what they needed in a single session sometimes; it was more complex to realize if they were stressed, tired or happy, and so we dived into interaction, e-connecting, creativity and sharing so as to figure out their needs, and that’s how I came with ICT proposals such as “Where are you doing the course from?” and so having them adding their location in a Google map, or the “Say Hello” forum where all introduce ourselves to each other and express expectations at the beginning of the course, interests and wishes, or the recent Shelly-Terrel-inspired “3,2,1 Introduction” sometimes called “Your introduction in 3 steps” to gain some background information about the students and try to adapt to their learning needs, aiming at their benefiting from it all and shaping a learning community; twittering about their achievements, sharing their outcomes with others so they get in touch and establish relationships that might be become connected work.
Now that one looks back in time, once again, like almost three decades ago, one jumps into the same conclusion: it is essential to get to know one’s students, and without even realizing about it, as a teacher, that’s the first thing you do when you enter the classroom, no matter if it is face to face or online.
Helping, guiding, motivating and encouraging a student you know is easier and bound to be more successful than if it is a complete stranger, I guess, exactly as in real life: if you know others well, relationships are fluent and straight forward, everything is easier and more relaxed, you know what they need better.
So, 'why not in online life?'
Resources
Top 5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students from Scholastic, with information, tips and resources for a better knowledge of your learners.
Your introduction in 3 steps
Step 1. Make a fun and interesting introduction using web tools of your choice.
Step 2. Make sure you include in your presentation:
o 3 things we should know about you
o 2 of your favorite activities in the world
o 1 dream occupation you would have if you weren't in the field of xxxxxx
Step 3. Be creative. Feel free about how you would like to present the activity so be imaginative and creative. You could reuse this activity to introduce yourself to your students in the future!
Outcomes:
http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/accomplishing-goal-link-to-world.html
http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/2014/01/321-introduction-for-crafting-eperfect.html
I looked up, let my mind think back, and as lots of good memories from the good all times filled my head and made me smile, I found myself putting my personal thoughts in writing:
After almost 30 years teaching I have had various types of students.
Back in the late 80s my students used to be teenagers who used to come to my private ESL lessons for support, either because they were failing English at school or because their parents wanted them to have extra English lessons. That was face-to-face teaching, and I knew most of them as they were basically next door neighbours; on top of that, their parents would make a full oral profile of their children when they brought them to me.
Not very motivated, I generally had to encourage them a lot, but that was the time of the record player, the tape recorder and the drilling exercises, accompanied by a lot of grammar and long lists of vocabulary (Personal computers were just coming into a few households at the time in Spain).
Soon I found out they needed encouragement and motivation. Just looking at their faces at seven in the evening, after a long school day, coming to my classroom for an extra session on ESL, exhausted after seven sessions or maybe more at regular school, one knew that the right song would do much better than a drilling activity for repetition: sort of soothing I guess...
Then there came the early 90s, and my students changed all together; they were adults that voluntarily attended ESL lessons everyday at state-run schools of languages because they wanted to learn English.
'Awesome! They are going to be motivated enough', I thought, but they came in tired, after a long day of work, and sometimes just wanted to sit down and listen.
Was I prepared to deliver the same speech day after day, year after year? No way!
Encouragement and motivation again to the rescue!
And there we went into overhead projectors, transparencies, stickers on magnetic white boards, roleplaying with small cards, menus, brochures, leaflets that I sometimes used to pick on my trips to UK, I must confess.
I am sorry for those petty thefts at some well known restaurants, but that was the only way at the time of presenting the students with some real material when performing mini-plays in class and trying to make them feel like in the real world. And so, they got engaged, and then, videotapes and satellite TV came along; we started to connect the classroom with the outside world, and we found some peers from other state-run schools in Spain and made the first project ever: a video letter showing our town that we sent to them, and we got theirs in return.
Such a small project like that took us weeks carrying a really heavy camera on our shoulders, filming in several rather big video tapes now that one comes to think of it, lots of editing with a video recorder, a television and a sound mixer, but an awful lot of enthusiasm!
Time went by like that for a while, with various bunches of students of the kind and a lot of evolution regarding technologies: CDs, DVDs, European projects and so forth with a single aim: improving the learning environment that the students I knew needed, making them aware of the need of speaking English well, that English was the language of communication and encouraging, motivating, bringing to my side those students, adults from all walks of life, that sometimes just seemed to be interested in getting their certificates, especially when May approached, until I could teach in a computer lab, with a coming and going RTB Internet connection, but still doing my best to show adults in search of a better life that English was real, necessary and also fun, until my teaching came into blended and online teaching, fewer face-to-face sessions and more and more virtual classrooms.
Centuries changed and so did the kind of students I had, now teachers themselves and University students that one day would become teachers, and so, I had to mix different ingredients to cook the broth as I had to teach English, in English, for English teachers or other teachers from various fields, using ICT, providing them with digital competence at the same time as helping with their language skills, but without seeing their faces most of the time, just reading their messages, forum posts, emails, tweets later on, Facebook posts, Whatsapping, Googling, and if I was lucky, viewing their virtual classroom avatars or photos, so that made it more difficult to know how they felt or what they needed in a single session sometimes; it was more complex to realize if they were stressed, tired or happy, and so we dived into interaction, e-connecting, creativity and sharing so as to figure out their needs, and that’s how I came with ICT proposals such as “Where are you doing the course from?” and so having them adding their location in a Google map, or the “Say Hello” forum where all introduce ourselves to each other and express expectations at the beginning of the course, interests and wishes, or the recent Shelly-Terrel-inspired “3,2,1 Introduction” sometimes called “Your introduction in 3 steps” to gain some background information about the students and try to adapt to their learning needs, aiming at their benefiting from it all and shaping a learning community; twittering about their achievements, sharing their outcomes with others so they get in touch and establish relationships that might be become connected work.
Now that one looks back in time, once again, like almost three decades ago, one jumps into the same conclusion: it is essential to get to know one’s students, and without even realizing about it, as a teacher, that’s the first thing you do when you enter the classroom, no matter if it is face to face or online.
Helping, guiding, motivating and encouraging a student you know is easier and bound to be more successful than if it is a complete stranger, I guess, exactly as in real life: if you know others well, relationships are fluent and straight forward, everything is easier and more relaxed, you know what they need better.
So, 'why not in online life?'
Resources
Top 5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students from Scholastic, with information, tips and resources for a better knowledge of your learners.
Your introduction in 3 steps
Step 1. Make a fun and interesting introduction using web tools of your choice.
Step 2. Make sure you include in your presentation:
o 3 things we should know about you
o 2 of your favorite activities in the world
o 1 dream occupation you would have if you weren't in the field of xxxxxx
Step 3. Be creative. Feel free about how you would like to present the activity so be imaginative and creative. You could reuse this activity to introduce yourself to your students in the future!
Outcomes:
http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/2014/05/accomplishing-goal-link-to-world.html
http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/2014/01/321-introduction-for-crafting-eperfect.html
Monday, June 9, 2014
My warmest memories from MM4: Exploring Current Learning Rituals for Better E-Learning
MM4: Exploring Current Learning Rituals for Better E-Learning: just another live session at WizIQ Moodle MOOC 4 running from 1 to 30 June 2014?
No way!
Why not? Simply because @ShellTerrell was delivering it! No need to say anything else.
I guess you must all know Shelly by now, but if you still have not heard about her, you don't know what you are missing! Just follow her Twitter handle or her Teacher Reboot Camp and get ready for having your learning and teaching life transformed, because that is what she does: a generous emotional evolution of your educational experience.
However, be careful! Shelly is addictive, yep, that's the conclusion I have jumped into after a few months absorbing her brilliant ideas, a conclusion that was confirmed after viewing her live on June 08 talking about peeragogy, citizenship, networks, connections, creativity, avatars, comics, 3,2,1 introductions and so forth.
I am not really going into further reflections on her awesome presentation, as I sincerely think it'll be more beneficial if you just view, enjoy her energy and understand the way we learn and why I am so grateful for having had the chance to meet her:
However, I'd like to focus on methodoloy, which is the key word Shelly pronounced at the live session and on how 'the focus should not be on the platforms, but on the methodology used when e-teaching and e-learning'.
And now, having said that, I cannot finish this post without sending Shelly my most sincere and humble thank you message for her #storytelling_INTEF mention and for showing the teacher participants' outcomes at the session and so help us all at @educaINTEF spreading the word.
No way!
Why not? Simply because @ShellTerrell was delivering it! No need to say anything else.
I guess you must all know Shelly by now, but if you still have not heard about her, you don't know what you are missing! Just follow her Twitter handle or her Teacher Reboot Camp and get ready for having your learning and teaching life transformed, because that is what she does: a generous emotional evolution of your educational experience.
Photo viewed at http://ebookevo.pbworks.com/w/page/70371602/moderators
I am not really going into further reflections on her awesome presentation, as I sincerely think it'll be more beneficial if you just view, enjoy her energy and understand the way we learn and why I am so grateful for having had the chance to meet her:
Uploaded by Dr. Nellie Deutsch at IT4ALL on WizIQ Tutorials
However, I'd like to focus on methodoloy, which is the key word Shelly pronounced at the live session and on how 'the focus should not be on the platforms, but on the methodology used when e-teaching and e-learning'.
And now, having said that, I cannot finish this post without sending Shelly my most sincere and humble thank you message for her #storytelling_INTEF mention and for showing the teacher participants' outcomes at the session and so help us all at @educaINTEF spreading the word.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
MM4: Resources on Moodle and Creating Video Tutorials - My impressions
As part of the #moodlemooc activities within the Wiziq Moodle MOOC 4 coordinated by Dr. Nellie Deutsch from 1 to 30 June, there are daily live sessions all participants can attend or view later and so go ahead in the MOOC collaborative learning.
Last June 2, Dr. Nellie Deutsch presented 'Resources on Moodle & Creating Video Tutorials', which I could not attend live, but viewed today, Su. June 08.
Key phrases Artifact from the session:
Thus, now I am ...
Now, let's get on with questions, answers and reflections:
Last June 2, Dr. Nellie Deutsch presented 'Resources on Moodle & Creating Video Tutorials', which I could not attend live, but viewed today, Su. June 08.
Key phrases Artifact from the session:
Thus, now I am ...
...'Reflecting on the process'
The above phrase by Dr. Nellie is a key phrase, in my opinion, as only by reflecting on proceses can one improve and grow, so that's why I've chosen it as the conductive thread for this blog post.
But, first things first, I'd like to share the live session presentation Dr. Nellie actually shared with us all along the session; by the way, that's another key reflection: 'Sharing = the beauty of e-learning'.
Now, let's get on with questions, answers and reflections:
- As I was viewing the session and listening to our presenter, it called my attention the reference to the fact that when in Moodle, 'Content is Info, and it is around Content that we build the activities'. And so, I was asking myself: 'Is Content really that important when e-teaching and e-learning, or should the core of an elearning course focus on the design of the activities?'
Of course, I don't have the answer, I'm just placing the question for you to keep on reflecting, and so I will!!!!
- 'Learning Together!' - 'Yep!' I thought, 'I'm happy with that!'
Aren't you???
- Later on I could read the 'Wows!' from the audience in the chat box when course badges appeared on screen. 'Oh, oh, 4 Badges!!!' - I was springing up on my spinning chair - 'More badges for my Mozilla Open Badges collection, hooray!!!!
I suppose it's just in human nature, isn't it? Awards, being tapped on one's shoulder for appraisal, showing your achievements and so forth; we are all a bit of a show-off, aren't we? Isn't that only human? I guess so, but then I came back to reflecting and ...
- ... I faced myself with these further questions: 'If badges stand any chance of ever being regarded as the digital evidence of one's professional competence, is four too many for a single course?, is it a fair number?, is each of them actual evidence of the learning one actually gains throughout this amazing adventure, or are they just to be taken as a gamification stage in the MOOC?'
Of course, I don't have the answer for these questions either.
What about finding them in collaboration?
Let's go on reflecting on the process for a little longer!
Thanks ever so much, Dr. Nellie Deutsch, for such an interesting session, with so much food for thought!
And it is our turn to ...
Related posts:
Practising with Moodle Resources at MM4
Moodle Mooc 4 For Teachers is at full swing now, and so, after the opening ceremony and various live webinars all along the past eight days, today it is time for hands-on work and some practice.
First Moodle Assignment for MOOC participants is aimed at our playing at the Moodle Practice Area and adding some resources, so this is what I have been focusing on for a good part of my Sunday morning, and here are the video-sort-of-tutorial outcomes I'd like to share with you.
I have recorded them using MoveNote, one neat free tool for slide narration, suggested by the MOOC facilitators themselves.
Adding Resources to Moodle 2.6 - Part 1
Adding Resources to Moodle 2.6 - Part 2
Keeping my fingers crossed for you finding them useful and enjoyable somehow!
Related posts
First Moodle Assignment for MOOC participants is aimed at our playing at the Moodle Practice Area and adding some resources, so this is what I have been focusing on for a good part of my Sunday morning, and here are the video-sort-of-tutorial outcomes I'd like to share with you.
I have recorded them using MoveNote, one neat free tool for slide narration, suggested by the MOOC facilitators themselves.
Adding Resources to Moodle 2.6 - Part 1
Adding Resources to Moodle 2.6 - Part 2
Keeping my fingers crossed for you finding them useful and enjoyable somehow!
Related posts
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Moodle MOOC 4 (MM4). Starting a new massive online learning adventure
Today I have just begun a new online learning adventure: taking part in the brand new Moodle MOOC 4 (MM4) that Dr. Nellie Deutsch has just started providing at WizIQ, with the help of Thomas Hodgers, facilitator of the course.
The MOOC actually started last 1 June and will run until 30 June; it is free, and instructed in English, and I am late, I know, but I am trying to catch up and view some of the session recordings I have already missed (only 5 out of the 34 live sessions offered).
Among those missed live sessions it is the Opening Ceremony, brilliantly conducted by Dr. Nellie Deutsch, where she surfed through the learning spaces this MOOC is taking place in: Moodle 4 Teachers (Moodle 2.6) and WizIq.
The combination of these two learning spaces is very intelligent in my opinion, as the former offers you a practice area where a sandbox of resources and activities is available for MOOC participants to analyse thoroughly and actually set up, whereas the latter gives you the chance of attending various live sessions or their recordings if you are short for time, as well as having access to the whole courseware.
Besides, both spaces are linked thanks to the WizIq plugin for Moodle, which makes it quite easy to swap platforms and actively interact with other peers, MOOC providers and facilitators. On top of all that, the actual word spreading and outcome sharing goes on the cloud, e. g. sites, social networks, blogs and so forth, where one is expected to show artifacts and reflection, that is, learning evidence. Thus interacting and connecting are key issues when boarding this MOOC cruise.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch gave a clear outline about the MOOC presenters, how to view presentations, attend live sessions, accomplish the tasks, gain course badges and obtain the completion certificate, making special emphasis on the active learning methodology the MOOC implies.
I am pretty sure it is going to be an engaging collaborative learning experience that will prove highly beneficial for my future Moodle course management as well as pretty motivating from the personal side, and the first show is a sweet surprise I was given just after my first MOOC day:
Right after introducing myself to the group of MOOC participants, I received a welcome SpeakPipe message through this system I have embedded in my blog long ago.
It was a message by David F., a peer MOOC participant that audio-introduced himself in Spanish to welcome me to the course.
'How come!', I just thought, 'and how caring of him to make the effort to welcome me in my own language, without even knowing me!' And then, again, as it quite often does lately, came to mind the fact that all this would be absolutely impossible without ICT or the Internet; that is the beauty of team learning, of learning in collaboration, of sharing. Out-of-the-blue gifts like this voice message is what really makes you stop and learn, whatever it may be, but learn together.
If you are interested in Moodle, either for beginners or non beginners, you are welcome to join this new learning experience and get advantage of learning by doing while you meet over one thousand elearners from all around the world willing to be there for you.
Thanks, Nellie, for another awesome learning adventure!
Thanks, Thomas, for the support!
Warm thanks, David, for being my first MOOC peer connection!
Related posts
The MOOC actually started last 1 June and will run until 30 June; it is free, and instructed in English, and I am late, I know, but I am trying to catch up and view some of the session recordings I have already missed (only 5 out of the 34 live sessions offered).
Among those missed live sessions it is the Opening Ceremony, brilliantly conducted by Dr. Nellie Deutsch, where she surfed through the learning spaces this MOOC is taking place in: Moodle 4 Teachers (Moodle 2.6) and WizIq.
The combination of these two learning spaces is very intelligent in my opinion, as the former offers you a practice area where a sandbox of resources and activities is available for MOOC participants to analyse thoroughly and actually set up, whereas the latter gives you the chance of attending various live sessions or their recordings if you are short for time, as well as having access to the whole courseware.
Besides, both spaces are linked thanks to the WizIq plugin for Moodle, which makes it quite easy to swap platforms and actively interact with other peers, MOOC providers and facilitators. On top of all that, the actual word spreading and outcome sharing goes on the cloud, e. g. sites, social networks, blogs and so forth, where one is expected to show artifacts and reflection, that is, learning evidence. Thus interacting and connecting are key issues when boarding this MOOC cruise.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch gave a clear outline about the MOOC presenters, how to view presentations, attend live sessions, accomplish the tasks, gain course badges and obtain the completion certificate, making special emphasis on the active learning methodology the MOOC implies.
I am pretty sure it is going to be an engaging collaborative learning experience that will prove highly beneficial for my future Moodle course management as well as pretty motivating from the personal side, and the first show is a sweet surprise I was given just after my first MOOC day:
Right after introducing myself to the group of MOOC participants, I received a welcome SpeakPipe message through this system I have embedded in my blog long ago.
It was a message by David F., a peer MOOC participant that audio-introduced himself in Spanish to welcome me to the course.
'How come!', I just thought, 'and how caring of him to make the effort to welcome me in my own language, without even knowing me!' And then, again, as it quite often does lately, came to mind the fact that all this would be absolutely impossible without ICT or the Internet; that is the beauty of team learning, of learning in collaboration, of sharing. Out-of-the-blue gifts like this voice message is what really makes you stop and learn, whatever it may be, but learn together.
If you are interested in Moodle, either for beginners or non beginners, you are welcome to join this new learning experience and get advantage of learning by doing while you meet over one thousand elearners from all around the world willing to be there for you.
Thanks, Nellie, for another awesome learning adventure!
Thanks, Thomas, for the support!
Warm thanks, David, for being my first MOOC peer connection!
Related posts
Monday, June 2, 2014
Ready for Breaking Science? - Question Time
The Science Breaking team of future CLIL Primary teachers at URJC are challenging you with a quiz.
Let's see how many questions you can answer correctly!
If take the quiz, @ScienceBreaking will love to hear from you.
Comments and feedback welcome!
Cross-posted from Breaking Science
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