Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Some Thoughts from the Generation Gap

In our recent blogs ~ discussion topics have ranged from Cultural Norms to on-line degrees from Harvard.  Incorporating technology in the classroom, especially for Foreign Language Learners is clearly the here and now.  However, are we leaving out a group of students by utilizing technology in the classroom?  The following commentary by Timothy Van Slyke will explore the possible decline of education.

Some questions to think about when reading the article: 

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Some Thoughts from the Generation Gap

1. How might you, as an Foreign Language Teacher bridge the cultural and linguistic divide separating today's teachers or students in teaching or learning a foreign language using technology if teacher or student is not "fluent" in the world of technology?
2. Does our brain work differently today than that of "yesteryear," especially when it comes to technology?
3. Can Digital Immigrants learn other languages?
4. Will Digital Natives leave the Digital Immigrants behind?
5. What are your thoughts on technology ... a replacement ... or a tool ... in learning a foreign language?

Thanks!  Cat

Week 7 ~ responses due by Thursday, March 8  :)

Cultural Norms in the Classroom; yours or mine?

In our examination of the Cultura Project, we saw that the cultural nuances of an individual or a group of language learners cannot be ignored. There was one particular example that I could personally relate to from a discussion between Russian and American students. When the Americans were asked what they would do if their classmate asked for help on an exam, they all agreed that they would refuse to help. The Russians, on the other hand, were united in answering that they would assist their hypothetical classmate.
The culture in Ukraine, where I taught English for 27 months, is quite easily compared to that of Russia in this regard.  During the cultural training sessions facilitated by the Peace Corps staff, the topic of cheating in the classroom was addressed.  It was attributed in part to the many years of communist rule, which left its mark on Ukrainian culture.  Historically, Ukrainian people have seen many hard times.  If you were able to help your neighbor, it was wise to do so, as there would inevitably be a time when you too would be in need of a helping hand. 
If you were working as an English teacher in another country, one with cultural norms perpendicular to those of your home country (such as behavior concerning academic honesty), how would you meet this challenge? When you teach English (or any subject) abroad, must you impose the academic standards to which you are accustomed, or is it better to conduct your lessons within the cultural framework already in place?

The University of Wherever

I saw this article last year.  Imagine getting a degree from Harvard University from your home.  There are no admissions requirements, no minimum test scores or high school GPA.  You attend class (online), you do the work, you get the grades, you get a degree from Harvard.  There are classes now where the Lecturer is online and all the work is submitted electronically, but students need to be admitted to the institution to receive credit.  What if they opened those classes to the public?  Imagine "being" in class with tens of thousands of other students.  Would we get the same quality of education?  What would it mean to be an excellent teacher, simply someone that works at a popular institution or the teacher with the most students?  Is it a good thing for students/teachers/education, or not?  Can you imagine giving a Language Class like English Academic Writing to 100,000 students?

The article is a little long, but here are the nuts and bolts of the idea:
Thrun’s ultimate mission is a virtual university in which the best professors broadcast their lectures to tens of thousands of students. Testing, peer interaction and grading would happen online; a cadre of teaching assistants would provide some human supervision; and the price would be within reach of almost anyone. “Literally, we can probably get the same quality of education I teach in class for about 1 to 2 percent of the cost,” Thrun told me. The traditional university, in his view, serves a fortunate few, inefficiently, with a business model built on exclusivity. “I’m not at all against the on-campus experience,” he said. “I love it. It’s great. It has a lot of things which cannot be replaced by anything online. But it’s also insanely uneconomical.”

 The link to the article:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/opinion/the-university-of-wherever.html?scp=1&sq=the%20university%20of%20wherever&st=cse

Conferencing

Technology has supplied various forms of computer-mediated communication to help educators and learners in their second language learning process. Conferencing is one of the technologies I found useful for improving the listening oral skills since it is very similar to face-to-face communication, and provides an immediate feedback - as other synchronous forms. MOO is incredibly interesting for both teacher and learners who are involved in a virtual environment and exposed to a target language and culture. Apparently, most learners use the e-mails (asynchronous), where responses may delay, for submitting assignments, interacting and exchange information in their second language learning as my students used to. A common example of using this technology is “Tandem e-mail learning” where there is a balance between the roles of participants, between what they receive and what they contribute. CMC Technologies, in its effectiveness role, have a great promising future if they are pedagogically selected to achieve the planned objectives of second language learning. In general, synchronous forms of CMC develop the oral proficiency of learners and reduce the physical distance within diverse learning environments. In asynchronous tools, learners improve their linguistic quality lexically and syntactically. The individuals’ variations and the strengths and limitations of CMC material considerations should be the basis on which we choose an efficient teaching aid.

After reading the articles “Commentary: You’re Not Studying, You’re Just …. By Purushotma and Web 2.0, Synthetic Immersive Environments, and Mobile Resources for Language Education by Sykes, I realized how important it is to use games in language learning. Language learner get bored in using text books all the time by using games will keep them motivated to learn. I found this article in the internet; I like to share with you. My question is how do you feel about using games for teaching language learning? Do you find it useful or a waste of time?
http://www.teflgames.com/why.html

Incorporating Technology into Your Classroom at a Low Cost

Did you ever think about having your own website where you can control almost everything? I’m not talking about blogs, facebook, twitter and all the other social networking where you are somehow limited. Creating your own website gives your students the opportunity to learn important web skills and gives them a fun way to complete their assignments and other class work. Here are some reputable web services you can use to create your class website for a low cost:

 1- Weebly :

Weebly has a special option for creating a website for education purposes. You can create a free class website and let your students build sites too.

2- yola :

Yola is another good place to start building your classroom website.

3- ELECTA live :

Electa Live is a virtual classroom and Web conferencing real-time environment for live teaching and training over the Internet. You can arrange live classes, online meetings and Webinars. You only need a computer with an Internet connection for your live sessions.

This guy is an example of a man who's made a change to many people lives by making z free world-class education to anyone anywhere. His name is Salman Khan and he is Bangladeshi American. You can watch him talking about technology in classrooms.

Click here - Khan Academy

reference :
1

CALL minus the last L

When I first went to Japan I didn't know anything about Japanese.  But I felt that I would be okay because technology was on my side.  I had a PSP (Playstation Portable) and a game called Talkman.  I figured this game would do all the talking for me.  But the technology wasn't really advanced enough and I ended up having to take the time to learn.

But now, with technology advancing seemingly faster than ever, will there be a time when technology makes actual learning of languages obsolete? This is an old video but the technology that is being developed seems like it would make it almost unnecessary to learn new languages.   

Here's an application that is currently available for the iphone.

First Discussion for TESL CALLspot by Jeremy

Should Certain Topics be Off-Limits for Students in Classroom Blogs?

I began to think about this topic after getting my class schedule at work for the coming week.  For the first time in almost a year I will have a class with no students from Saudi Arabia.  My students from there have always been great, but I have noticed that some topics, noteably those concerning religion and politics, are avoided or you find that a student makes a statement and everyone fully agrees.  I always get the feeling that some students don't actually agree, but don't wish to raise a dissenting voice.  In a forum like blogs, where students may feel more relaxed should instructors restrict topics, even if students find them interesting?  Will there be any retaliation towards students if they post a dissenting view from their countrymen?  I tried finding articles online, but nothing really jumped out at me.  I did ,however, find a list of ten blog topics that definitely don't work well.
-Top Ten Worst Blog Topics http://dds.hubpages.com/hub/Top-ten-WORST-blog-topics

Welcome to the Class Blog

Welcome to the community blog for ESL 5073 Computer Assisted Language Learning. This community blog is for taking our discussion of topics, issues and resources in CALL beyond the classroom. All students will be responsible for participating in weekly discussions on the blog and for leading 1 blog discussion during the term.

In order to participate, you'll need to set up your own personal blog on blogger and request membership to this community. Once you do, introduce yourself here by replying to one or two of the following prompts:

1. Have you ever kept a blog before? If so, for how long?
2. Have you ever used technology in your teaching before? If so, what kind of technology did you use and for what types of classes and learners?
3. What sorts of technology are you interested in learning to use?

Spring 2011 Web-Based Lessons and Activities

We've finally come to the final post in our class blog this semester. To wrap things up and to showcase your final projects, please post a link to your group's web-based lesson or activity in the comments to this post.

ESL, From Paper to iPad, Slowdown or Go?

iPads and tables are taking over the classrooms in many school systems around the country (see links below). A lot of the media-hype stresses the idea of "paperless classrooms." This will obviously affect language learning due to classes demanding the use of technology over what would be called 'traditional' (paper-full) classrooms. View the links below to inform and guide your thoughts. 

• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/05/education/05tablets.html?_r=1
• http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/01/could_school_boards_move_to_ip.html#cmpid=v2mode_be_smoref_digg

This post will discuss both criticism and raves on CALL thru studies conducted by Ferit Kilickaya, and illicit possible ways to prevent these problem from cropping up in classrooms as they move to computer (tablet) environments. 

In a paper by "The Effect of Computer-Assisted Language Learning on Learners' Achievement on The TOEFL Exam," Ferit Kilickaya, Ph.D studied two groups who were being taught the same material (English); one thru 'traditional' and the other thru CALL. This study extend from the start of the EFL course all the way up until they took the TOEFL exam -- again one group with paper, and the other using computers. She found the following after the exam: (this is not the order presented in her paper).

For the structure section of the TOEFL:

• No significant score differences for multiple choice sections tests. 

For the reading section:

• Traditional (Control) outperformed CALL 
• Possible Reasons:
• In class: students were distracted when reading due to it being on the screen. So they avoided reading, so this lowered the score. (this was mentioned in section 5.3.2, Implications for Teaching) 
• Not possible to take notes, underline the important points. 
• Not seeing a reading passages as a whole
• Bored with scrolling up and down
• Not being used to reading passages or text on the screen. 

For the listening: 

• CALL outperformed Control (traditional)
• Generally, students reported that in a traditional course, listening was ignored. 

Overall the CALL group reported a generally good experience, stating that they "spen[t] more time on the sections they are having difficulty in" and enjoyed "getting immediate feedback." (Kilickaya 2005) (editing mine).

Since everyone knows what a 'traditional' class is, she did not include responses from her traditional students which would indicate how they felt about their experience in-order to contrast it with CALL. (They could not have contrasted with CALL as they potentially never took a CALL class.)

Question:

All of these criticism and critiques lead to the following questions: In light of the complaints regarding the reading portion, is it yet appropriate to be going to a completely "paperless" classroom? And what can be done to challenge the points made regarding the CALL group’s significant difference in score in the reading section? 

Kilickaya, F. (2005). The Effect of Computer-Assisted Language Learning on Learners' Achievement on The TOEFL Exam.

CALL Resources

We have come a long way since the beginning and I would like to thank Dr.Sauro for sharing all of her wonderful resources! I wanted to compile a list of all of the sources we have in order to help us in a CALL classroom and tell WHY we like them.

Hot Potatoes- This is a great site where you can make an assessment just for the needs of your class!

Quest Garden- A great resource for webquest! You can find a wide range of content and grade level material, not to mention you can create your very own!

FREE WIKIS!- A free site to impress your class or colleagues with! Use this site to collaborate with others to create something bigger and better.

Blabberize it! Make any project personal and engaging with this site!

First Call for CALL

First call for CALL

Laptops' Pros and Cons for Elementary School Students

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, many people who have a stake in education are interested in just how much technology there is in the nation's elementary schools, and how that technology is being used. Schools are striving to help their students become technologically literate at a young age. So let's talk about advantages and disadvantages of using laptops for young kids.

Implementing laptop use in elementary school classrooms exposes a child to the technological culture. It is clear, that if students are introduced to laptop in early age they will be better prepared for the required use of laptops in high school and college; these students when in higher grades show better typing skills and familiarity with Internet use as compared to those that have never used laptops.

Using laptops for the purpose of note taking can be very beneficial, since a strong typist can record much faster than writing by hand. So in this time and age it is prudent idea to introduce laptops to children in the classroom, especially children in grades 3-12, to give them a head-start they need to keep up with changes in technology.

But, let's think about the cost. At several hundred dollars per unit. Laptops are too expensive for many public elementary schools. According to the study, done by UCLA Department of Education, software, internet connection, maintenance, and training costs must also be considered when budgeting for a laptop program.

Good news! Laptop use encourages enthusiasm in a child when it comes to learning. Young kids may equate the use of laptop with opportunity for entertainment, but this helps to increase the child's interest in learning. In addition, laptops can assist teachers to find online programs, which can be of interest to younger students.

But computer crashes can hinder teaching and learning. If replacements are not available, the classroom time is wasted. Allowing students to use laptops in elementary schools can eliminate the need for to spend time on fundamentals of computer training in later times.

Although, there is a growing concern about the safety of the electromagnetic fields emitted from wireless devices used by laptop computers, the great benefits of use of laptop such as the developing skills to stay organized cannot be ignored. Young students need to learn how to remember school work and do home assignments. It is a great idea to ask kids to return their home works via email and to participate in internet-based classes.

Also, not all students can have an internet connection at home. Even when a laptop is borrowed from schools, it can't be used for internet-based educational activities.

The question of security also has to be taken into consideration. Laptop computers are small and lightweight and can easily be smuggled out of school and stolen.

In the above paragraphs I have tried to cover pros and cons of having laptops in elementary schools but, some questions remain unanswered for myself. Questions such as:

When is the appropriate age for introducing young students to advanced computer technology?

Do you think professional teachers need to have good understanding of negative health affects of electronic teaching aids? How to continue teaching and make best use of valuable classroom time when technical problems make computers unavailable? Does it mean elementary school teacher has to be prepared with plan B in case something goes wrong with computers?

Should teachers discuss pros and cons of laptops with parents and prepare them for unexpected events?

That's a wrap...

The end of the semester is near. With final exams just around the corner, I find it appropriate for us to share our final thoughts on CALL. Here are a few questions for you to help light the way.

1. Which CALL software/tool do you feel most comfortable with and why?

2. Which CALL software/tool are you the most excited about integrating into your current classroom/job setting?

3. Are there any other CALL issues or trends that you would like to learn more about?

4. Do you have any CALL success stories that you'd like to share with the class?

5. What do you feel is the biggest challenge with integrating CALL into today's classrooms?

6. In terms of professional development, how do you see yourself continuing to educate yourself on CALL trends after this semester?

Critical pedagogical applications of CALL

A lot of times when we think of CALL we think of it in terms of its pedagogical applications alone. Many of our ESL students, however, immigrate under various circumstances, live culturally diverse lives significant to them, and often attend low-income schools. Many ELL's find themselves in competitive public school systems that value a particular cultural norm; what E.D. Hirsch or Ruby Payne (1997; 2000) might refer to as "cultural literacy", that is different than their own. Many experience a dissonance as they are removed from their cultural roots and experience, what W.E.B. DuBois (LaRaviere, 2008) reffered to as a sense of "two-ness", as sense of living two lives, one private and one public. How might you apply CALL in your classrooms to enrich the experiences of yours students who, in addition to language, may struggle with cultural meanings as well? In other words, how can we use CALL applications to teach ELL's to navigate the complex cultural, and often divisive, realities of American public education, while still giving voice and agency to their familial, cultural, linguistic, and historic heritage?



For more information on critical pedagogy and CALL go to:
lib.utsa.edu
click on "Find Databases & Artles"
click on "Education and Human Development"
Scroll down to and click on: "Eric via Ebsco"
Check the boxes: "Full Text" and "Peer Reviewed"
Type into the box: Author & Title or "CALL" and "critical theory"

Kellner, D. and G. Kim (2010). "YouTube, Critical Pedagogy, and Media Activism." Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies 32(1): 3-36.

LaRaviere, T. (2008). Chairman Fred Hampton way: an auto ethnographic inquiry into politically relevant teaching. Qualitative Inquiry 14(3), 489-504.

Hirsch, E.D. (1987). Cultural literacy: what every American needs to know. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. 13-23.

Payne, R.K. & Solcumb, P.D. (2000). Removing the mask: giftedness in poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process Inc

TUSD Media (Creator) & YouTube (Distributor). (2011). Retrieved March 28, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZHsvbmXLY

Google as a Language Corpus?

Guoquan Sha of Sichuan Economic Management College in Chengdu, China, wrote an interesting article at the end of 2010.

His main idea is that corpora has changed language learning and language applications over the past years. But aside from this remark, he mentions one of the most common tools available on the internet- Google.

Sha argues that Google has become a great platform or springboard tool for many university students in China that are learning languages. They utilize Google first as a method to solve their language learning or writing difficulties. He also mentions that in comparison with the British National Corpus, Google has different advantages. It provides spelling checks and has far more search results than this specific corpus.

This semester, I know we have discussed a variety of different technological aspects that should be considered in language learning. What about Google? How does this serve a function in light of language learning? Sha describes how it is used easily by students for working on translations or working with writing. How do you see this applicable in your own language teaching? Would you support using a tool like this in the language classroom? Do you find it comparable to other corpora out there?

Sha, G. (2010). Using Google as a super corpus to drive written language learning: a comparison with the British National Corpus. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(5), 377 — 393.

How do you develop discipline plans for online misbehavior?

Click on the image below to hear this week's blog topic:



It's been observed that when learners feel a sense of anonymity, sometimes their comments are just awkward, and at worst can be very unwelcomed. In the article "Virtual Harassment", by Ferganchick-Neufang (1998) the challenges of online educators are explored with some possible solutions.

So, how do you enforce the limits of socially acceptable behavior to prevent students from offending you and others in chat rooms, or on Facebook, and other sites? Additionally, if you had a Blackboard site (with a discussion board) and a student started posting complaints against you, what actions would you take?

Is You tube a very good tool for learning and teaching?

You tube is a very good tool for learning and teaching.
You tube is one of the most common tools used is classrooms. By using You tube one can provide supplementary information for classrooms. You tube helps teachers to bring the lessons to life, rather than traditional reading and listening. Also, by using YouTube, an instructor can create a more engaging and context-rich classrooms environment. Doing so, creates a more comfortable setting and encourages students to pay attention.
According to R. Mullen and L. Wedwick (2008), you tube is an easily accessible and effective tool for classroom instruction. Others however, caution that using media like YouTube are subject to certain rules and regulations that teachers must consider. (R. Talab & R. Butler, 2007)
Many school s are restricted in using you tube in classrooms. Do you think that using YouTube in classrooms has advantages/disadvantages? Please explain.

Talab, R. S. and R. P. Butler (2007). shared electronic spaces in the classroom: copyright, privacy, and guidelines. TechTrends. 51(1): pgs. 12-15.

Mullen, R. and L. Wedwick (2008). Avoiding the digital abyss: getting started in the classroom with youtube, digital stories, and blogs. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas 82(2-), pgs. 66-69.

Smartpen - a good tool for learning languages?

The technology has played an important role in human beings’ life. No matter if you are eating, dressing, living, or learning, you probably use one or more techniques in the processes. For language learning, using the technique becomes common in the classroom. I found out one language learning tool which claimed that you can use the pen-based computer for the pedagogical purpose. Here is the link of the product webpage and introductions on The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/technology/30pen.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=livescribe 2007&st=Search&scp=1
http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/index.html

It just not put the camera on the top of the pen but also can record sounds for simple steps at the same time. Learners can play and watch what they record at any time and speed they want. Teachers can use it to prepare their classes or give additional instructions for some learners. Also, teachers can share the videos in blogs or use it for distance teaching. I just want to know if anyone uses this product before or similar techniques in your teaching? What do you think about the effectiveness of it in learning the foreign languages? If not, will you use it in your class? And what will be the pros and cons by using this technique?

Hello Clickers!

I have used a similar clicker 3-4 years ago for one of my undergraduate courses. It was a general (required) business course with at least 400 students in class. Our professor would start the class with a question for us to “check-in” with our clickers. (And students, of course, manage to make friends in class and assign one hardworking student who never skips class to carry 3-5 clickers to class and help them “check-in” every week...until it's midterm.) In this video, it was not clear if the students had to pay for the clickers or not. I remembered I had to pay around $30 dollars and register my clicker online.

If you were a teacher at this school, how often would you ask your students to use clickers? Would you go entirely “paperless”? What advantages and disadvantages do you see a class may have when using clickers? Specifically, how can this help/limit language learning?

* I am focusing on the clicker itself. However, please feel free to comment and give insights on the other technology (ex: video-chat across the district).