How to Attract Participation and Increase Motivation of Young Male

Transcription

How to Attract
Participation and
Increase Motivation
of Young Male
Learners
Love Language & more
Technical guidelines
PARTNERSHIP
Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto – Portugal
WIN – Wissenschaftsinitiative Niederösterreich – Austria
KTP Společnost pro kvalifikaci na trhu práce – Czech Republic
INTEGRA, Inštitut za razvoj loveških virov – Slovenia
Univerza v Mariboru – Slovenia
QUALED, Obcianske zdruzenie – Slovakia
For non-commercial purposes, a download version of this publication will be available in:
http://www.love-language-more.eu/index.php
Project number: 2010-1-PT1-LEO05-05192
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission
cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.
CONTENTS
Introduction
06
Part A / Catalogue of useful web 2.0 Applications 08
Part B / World for virtual teaching
45
Part C / Mobile applications in education
60
INTRODUCTION
This catalogue was created as a first aid box for language trainers who feel motivated
to incorporated a variety of useful tools and applications into their teaching program. It is a
menu we have selected for you taking into consideration following aspects:
• the stream of new applications, gadgets and technologies is far too fast for one individual
to follow it
• not all the new things developed within the digital on-line world is necessarily useful in
the educational context
• on the other hand, sometimes applications which seem to be designed just for fun provide
extremely inspiring framework for the fulfillment of particular educational goals
• average teacher does not have enough time to follow all the streams of news, tools and
devices that are available on the market, regardless it concerns education, entertainment
or the widest society Context.
The Love Language and more team has undertaken a trip to the world of tools and
applications, from which the majority has been designed for people to have fun in the
internet. Over months didactic experts have been browsing through the internet searching for
tools that make sense in language classes, considering mainly the interests and preferences
of male learners. We collected about a hundred of tools which sounded interesting. We
crossed out and deleted those which seemed useless or inefficient. We were thinking about
the purpose and function of each particular application. And once we decided about the
added value of each and every application chosen, we created a shortcut description, which
should guide you directly to the core of the functionality.
Besides these description, video tutorials were made for you to learn as easily as
possible. You can find them both on the website of the Love Language and more project
http://love-language-more.eu or on YouTube searching for LoveLanguage and more.
7
6
INTRODUCTION
How to use our Technical Guidelines?
• Follow our descriptions step by step
• Don´t get scared to quickly
• Try out different applications
• If you don´t like one, skip to another one immediately
• Ask your friends to join you, to assist you, to explore with you
• Test various applications in small teams designing cool products for your private life
(invitations,holiday memories presentation, etc.)
• Don´t give up after first wave of demotivation. Once you have learned to work with one
web 2.0 application, the other will be easier and easier, as their function builds a similar
principles
The bonus of the set of tools we have prepared for you is that you can use them in any
educational context, not just in language learning. It is a creative set of on-line application
equipment for every educator.
Explore and create!
Your Love Language and more Team
represented by Beáta Holá and Kača Švidrnochová
7
Part A / Catalogue of useful web 2.0 Applications
ANIMOTO
www.animoto.com
Target group:
I teacher I student I...............
About the tool: Animoto is a web application that allows the users to produce videos from
user-selected photos, video clips and music.
Animoto analyzes the provided photos, video clips and music, using them to generate a video
similar to a trailer. According to the website, the song is analyzed, producing a unique video
every time. In free plan user can create 30s videos, that can be embedded to a site, blog or
any material. It is much easier than a professional software, so everybody can use it.
Use in the teaching: Teachers can use this tool in education asking students to produce a
film from their last common event. Teachers can produce easy video invitations or process
photos from any event needed publicity. Video can be embedded in a blog, site, or send by
email.
Tutorial: available in the online database Love Language and More!
The required time to learn it:
I 10 min. I 20 min. I 30 min. I 40 min. I 50 min. I more
Accessibility: Videos up to 30 seconds for free.
Extended version 5 dolars/per month, or 30 dolars/per year. It is good to buy an extended
version if you want to create longer videos in higher resolution and download them.
Registration: necessary
9
8
DARWINATOR
www.darwinator.com
Target group:
I teacher I student I...............
About the tool: The Darwinator is a web-based system that enables people to run tournaments.
Tournaments are business processes that identify a set of winners from a large set of
contestants. For example, you can use an innovation tournament to conduct a companywide
brainstorming – employees submit ideas to the Darwinator where they get evaluated
through voting or expert assessment. Alternatively, you can use the Darwinator for
recruiting or nomination processes.
Use in the teaching: It is a virtual maping tool for contests and competitions. Participants
present ideas, the jury votes and decides about the benefits for the winners.
Tutorial: not necessary
Accessibility: for free
Registration: required
9
FACE YOUR MANGA
www.faceyourmanga.com
Target group:
I teacher I student I ...........
About the tool: FaceYourManga is a cool new site which lets you create custom avatars which
can be used on various social media sites and other online networks. FaceYourManga is flash
based and could run slow on some computers. But otherwise, it’s probably the best and
most unique avatar creator out there with a lot of customization options which you’d love to
play around with. You can download your avatars after you’ve created them and use them
on social media sites. You can also rate the work of other users in My Faces section.
Use in the teaching: Creating your own manga avatar can be used in language teaching. You
have to discuss and choose various face parts like eyes, nose, eyebrows and face expressions.
Ideal to discuss all these topics on one place.
Tutorial: http://faceyourmanga.com/page.php?id=help
I 10 min. I 20 min. I 30 min. I 40 min. I 50 min.
I more
Registration: You can create an avatar without registration but to receive the picture, you
need to insert your e-mail address.
11
10
flipsnack
www.flipsnack.com
Target group:
About the tool: Flip Snack is a free tool for turning your PDFs into ebooks with page turning
effects. To use Flip Snack you have to create an account. Once your account to create a page
turning display of your ebook you simply need to upload your PDF and select the color, style, and
size of display that you desire. The free version of Flip Snack allows you to embed your
document anywhere you like, Tweet it, email it, and post it on Facebook.
Use in the teaching: Flipsnack creates nice virtual books out off any PDF you have. You can
embaded into any website and the reader can flip the pages like in an analog book. It is a nice
tool for online presentation of year books, students portfolios, drawings or other student made
products.
Tutorial: no, the tool is intuitive
Accessibility: basic is for free, premium version without the Flipsnack logo requires payment
11
flixtime
www.flixtime.com
Target group:
About the tool: Flixtime is an application for producing videos of up to 60 seconds with images
and music. By uploading personal photos, video clips, and music or using those available on
the site, users can easily create visually interesting videos without the effort generally required
by other slideshow programs. Flixtime makes photo videos, similar to slideshows, of up to
60 seconds automatically and easily. Users choose images, videos, and music and Flixtime
generates the video with transitions between images and the selected music. The ease of use and
automatic video generation is unique to this program.
Use in the teaching: Ask your students to create videos putting together pictures, videos, music
and slides to a relevant topic. Let them work individually or in teams. You can put together a flix
during your teaching session or make it a long term project.
I10 min. I 20 min. I 30 min. I 40 min. I 50 min. I more
Accessibility: videos up to 60 seconds for free. To download the flix, it is 5 dolar/per
month or 39 dolars/per year, to add a voice track 20 dolars/per month or 149 dolars/per
year.
13
12
GOANIMATE, GOANIMATE4SCHOOLS
www.goanimate.com, http://goanimate4schools.com/
Target group:
About the tool: Access your own private and secured school environment where teachers
and students can create animations and interact. Teachers and students can create amazing
animated stories using our studio. No drawing required!
With our character creator, teacher and students can animate versions of themselves and
star in their own stories. With GoAnimate4Schools, give access to your students to a well
controlled network and teach them about how to use Web 2.0 tools for sharing and promoting
their work.
Use in the teaching: GoAnimate4Schools is a safe environment for students to fully express their
creativity through animation and a great place for educators to share their teaching approach.
Tutorial: http://goanimate.com/howdoesitwork
13
INSTABLOGG
www.instablogg.com
Target group:
About the tool: Simple Single-use blog posts. Create a blog post instantly. No need to start,
setup and maintain a blog. Just write your post and share it with your friends and followers.
Use in the teaching: It is a blogging option for those who don't want to register anywhere and
run a longterm blog. It is an interesting teaching tool for stories or textes to be published on
diverse social networks. Students write the story and present it wherever they want as an
instant blog. Suggested for short term projects. For longterm blogging see Posterous.
Registration: no
15
14
MAPUL
http://www.mapul.com/
Target group:
About the tool: Mapul is an online mind mapping software that allowed users to visualize their
thinking using the proven mind mapping method.
Use in the teaching: The same like Mindmeister. Only more creative and visually attractive.
Accessibility: basic version is for free, premium version is 4,6 USD per month (Premium
version includes extensive import and export options, the ability to create an unlimited
quantity of mind maps, upload your images, etc.).
15
MINDMEISTER
http://www.mindmeister.com/
Target group:
About the tool: MindMeister is an online mind mapping software that allowed users to
visualize their thinking using the proven mind mapping method.
Use in the teaching: First read about the use of mindmaping in education on e.g. http://www.
mindmapping.co.uk/mind-maps-examples/education.htm#Language . Than think about
similar use in your classes. Mindmaps are a great learning method for all students. Even
more, for male learners who prefer visual learning style. The mindmaps are very attractive,
you can print them and make an exhibition.
Tutorial: no
Accessibility: MindMeister provides users three free fully featured maps, but charges a
subscription fee for additional maps.
17
16
ODODSKETCH
sketch.odopod.com
Target group:
About the tool: Odosketch is a Flash drawing application to draw your own sketches in a paperlike style.
Use in teaching: This tool is primary designed for online drawing. You can use it for english
classes as an inspiration source for nice pictures. Tell your students to pick one drawing and
describe it in english. As much in detail as possible.
Registration: not required
17
OHLIFE
www.ohlife.com
Target group:
About the tool: OhLife is a web-based journal application that, while remaining completely
private, has its own little ways to prod you into writing daily. Each night at 8pm, you’ll get
an email asking “how did your day go”. Respond to that email and your daily entry is posted
in your OhLife journal.The OhLife dashboard, above, is wonderfully simple. All you have is
your entry for today,your past entries, and then some settings such as your time zone and
password.What’s really cool about the service is that, as time and entries gather, you’ll get
snippetsof past entries emailed to you as well so that you can take a moment to reflect on
whathappened.
Use in the teaching: It is an electronic diary that remains you to make an entry every evening.
OhLife sends you an e-mail every day asking how was your day. Motivate students to joint this
project and have their diary in english. They just need to enter there their e-mail address.
Once a year, they will receive a review than you can organise a workshop and talk about their
achievements.
19
18
POSTEROUS
www.posterous.com
Target group:
About the tool: Posterous is a simple blogging platform. It supports integrated and automatic posting
to other social media tools such as Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, a built-in Google Analytics package,
and custom themes. Updating to Posterous is similar to other blogging platforms. Posting can be
done by logging in to the website's rich text editor, but it is particularly designed for mobile blogging.
Mobile methods include sending an email, with attachments of photos, MP3s, documents, and video
(both links and files). Many social media pundits consider Posterous to be the leading free application
for lifestreaming. The platform received wide attention. Posterous allows posting of content directly to
one's blog via e-mail, choosing where to put the content based on the return address of the e-mail.
Use in the teaching: Great for longterm projects. Divide your class into small groupes. Each of them
is supposed to select one topic. That will become a key content for a blog. Each group is supposed to
maintain the Posterous blog for one semester or whole year including different point of view, events,
research etc. At the end of the year, the best blog will be rewarded. The advantage of Posterous is
that you write the text only once (on Posterous, per e-mail, from your mobile device), and it can be
published through many channels at the same time (Posterous, Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn).
19
STORIFY
www.storify.com
Target group:
About the tool: Storify is a platform that lets users tell stories using social media such as
Tweets, photos and videos. Storify is a relatively simple-looking tool that allows a user to pull
in content from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and other social-media services and create
a kind of story stream.
Use in the teaching: Storify is an information puzzle tool. You define a topic and than Storify
searches for all information about your topic that is available in the Internet. Storify guides
you through the story-building process. It is a great tool for history or civics classes. Give
students the same topic, let them create stories based on slightly different keywords and
them compare the outputs. And discuss. You can define which will be the information sources
for your stories (BBC, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google, RSS etc.).
Tutorial: http://youtu.be/bFLUr6QVoy8
21
20
STORYBIRD
www.storybird.com
Target group:
About the tool: Storybird offers an extensive collection of artwork, and writers are invited to
build stories around this art. Storybird calls this ‘visual storytelling’. This is ideal for authors with
limited ability to write text, but it also works well for writers and poets who are proficient with
text. Storybird’s user interface is straightforward and easy to navigate. Storybird also makes it
easy to share finished work in multiple ways, and the engagement factor is multiplied
exponentially whenever work can be shared easily with friends or with a global audience.
Use in the teaching: Storybird offers beautiful designs for stories, fairytales and poems. It looks
like children books and it's recommended to be used as such.
Tutorial: http://storybird.com/tour/
21
STRIP GENERATOR
www.stripgenerator.com
Target group:
About the tool: Comic strip creation tool - Use pre-made characters and graphics or create
new ones and share them around the community.
Use in the teaching: Same principal like Toondoo except for the caracters. In Strip Generator,
they are more graphical and simple.
Tutorial: http://stripgenerator.com/video/show/1/
23
22
TED
http://www.ted.com/
Target group:
About the tool: TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. On TED.com, they make the
best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than
900 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks are subtitled
in English, and many are subtitled in various languages. These videos are released under
a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.
Use in the teaching: TED is inspiration video library for your school. You can find there amazing
speachees about technology, entertainment, desing, bussiness, science and global issues. It is a
possibility for you and your students to learn about diverse ideas from all over the world.
You can use TED videos as discussion base, homework to be subtitled or inspiration for
school projects.
Registration: watching videos without registration, for advanced membership you have to
register
23
UNIVERSAL SUBTITLES
http://www.universalsubtitles.org/
Target group:
About the tool: Universal Subtitles is a tool that makes it possible for anyone to create subtitles
for any video from Youtube, Vimeo or other video servers. It's web based, you don't need to
download any software. You only translate the video online and synchronise the timing of
each sentense. That is all.
Use in the teaching: It is one of the best tools for homework and homeprojects. Tell the students
to select a video according to their level of english skills and let them subtitle it. Next time, they
are supposed to present the subtitled video and their classmates provide feedback and correct
them.
Tutorial: http://www.universalsubtitles.org/cs/
I10 min. I 20 min. I 30 min. I 40 min. I 50 min. I more
25
24
USTREAM.TV
www.ustream.tv
Target group:
About the tool: Ustream is a website which consists of a network of diverse channels
providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online.
Ustream allows users to broadcast from the Web site once logged in or from a mobile
device using Ustream's mobile broadcasting application. Users can watch streams live on
the Web site and on the Ustream iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7 applications.
The Web site allows users to interact, such as vote in polls, rate, chat, and so on. The
iPhone and Android applications allows users to watch and chat.
Use in the teaching: Students can stream live video from any event, video can be a part of
a education process. Ustream.tv also provides a wide source of live english speech from all
around the world and on various topics. Ideal for language learning. Teacher can provide
extravagant lecture from outside of class, while students stay at home or at classroom.
25
WIX
www.wix.com
Target group:
About the tool: Wix.com is a free online platform that allows users to create Flash websites,
Applecompatible mobile sites and customized Facebook pages through the use of professionally
designed templates and simple drag & drop tools. People who have no design skills and
no code knowledge can make web content using Wix.com.
Use in the teaching: This intuitive tool is great for creating websites about any project you want
to be published in the Internet. Students can create a website about themselves presenting a
complex portfolio of who they are. Or they can create websites about their class, their school
projects or the school in general. As for the internal use, the websites don't have to be
published, they can remain private only.
Tutorial: http://www.wix.com/support/
27
26
ZIMMERTWINS
www.zimmertwins.com
Target group:
About the tool: The Zimmer Twins is a Canadian children's website and broadcast
animation project. The Zimmer Twins is known for its unique format which combines online
participation and broadcast delivery. Children are invited to create and share 1-minute
animated episodes using a story editor and library of animation. The audience creates
endings to short, professionally-produced story-starters. Kids tell their stories by choosing
actions, characters, props and backgrounds. They can also add their own dialog and onscreen text. New clips are occasionally added.
Use in the teaching: Students can create comic movies inventing stories based on the
canadian cartoon caracters Zimmertwins. It is something like Toondoo only in a movie, not
just in a picture. It is a great option if you have no film equipement and want to create short
films.
Tutorial: http://www.zimmertwins.com/movie/howto
Registration: no
27
3DVIA SHAPE
http://www.3dvia.com/
Target group:
About the tool: No matter what your 3D skill level may be, design in 3D with ease using 3DVIA
Shape. Perfect for the beginner, yet powerful enough for the expert, Shape allows you to
easily create your ideas in 3D and share them online all for free.
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can create their avatars and play the dialogues
on the computer. They can create the places, the thinks, the situations etc. It is a great
tool for english classes. Tell the students to design any object of their desire and make 20
minutes presentation in english. It can be cars, boats, houses or fashion elements.
Tutorial: http://www.3dvia.com/products/3dvia-shape/tour/
Accessibility: basic functions for free, advanced features from 9 dolars/per month
29
28
BUBBALON
http://bubbalon.com/
Target group:
About the tool: Bubbalon is a new way to share and express your likes, loves and everything in
between about anything in your world. Bubbalon allows users to share location-based feedback via
phone apps and find trusted opinions from experts, your friends and people you trust.
Anyone can share sentiment by communicating your emotions when you experience them.
Whether from PC or a mobile device of their choice (iOS or Android), users share their
"loves and hates" on-the-fly, adding to a trusted community of opinions, get their rewards,
karma points and become "fans" and "experts" of their favorite (or not so favorite) "Social Objects".
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can express their likes and opinions about different
subjects. It is easy to manage it, you can share it on Facebook. You must be registered on the web site.
It could be used as an evaluation of the class as well. This tool can be used for entire
schools where some students or classes can define a topic or project and the whole
school rates the project and votes for it or against it.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evWa
http://www.youtube.com/user/bubbalonianWHJC_l4
Registration: required however possible through Facebook
29
BUNDLE
http://money.bundle.com/mymoney
Target group:
About the tool: Visualize and track your spending so that you can finally know where your dollars
and cents go. It's free, simple and easy to use. My Money is a complete money management
tool that allows you to consolidate all your different accounts including bank, credit card,
loan and investment accounts. Bundle automatically links to over 10,000 banks and
securely downloads your transactions, updating your daily activity and sorting it into
categories.
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can improve their financial literacy, they can create
their virtual budget, they can compare the fictional budgets in the class. Use this tool when
teaching about shopping but be aware of the american background of this tool. It helps you
visualise topics you can discuss about.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3nScbc7n0c
Accessibility: basic version for free
31
30
CREATELY
http://creately.com/
Target group:
About the tool: Real Easy - 100's of thoughtful features to make creately diagramming quick
and natural, its a joy to use. Beautiful Diagrams - One click styling, pretty shapes, curvy
connectors and more helps you create beautiful diagrams. Team Collaboration - Powerful
project collaboration, inline commenting, one click publishing and team management.
Smart Diagramming - Smart diagrams and objects suggests connectors, draws as you
type and adds data to your diagrams.
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can collaborate on different student projects,
share information. They can create diagrams on the class topics, add data, share it. It's good
for the management of projects. It is a great tool for strategic thinking. Involve it in planning
of strategic long-term projects such as My educational path. For ex. Geography – set up a
plan of all countries you want to visit and define which is first and why and what are the links
and relationships between your travelling destinations. English – create a language learning
strategy clearly describing elements you want to learn and reasons why. Civics – create a
strategic map of your happiness describing all thinks in life that should make you happy in
the future. Don't forget to link them, interconnect them.
31
Accessibility: There is a free membership which offers you five diagrammes for free.
Later you have to buy at leat personal membership 5 dolars/per month or 49 dolars/per
year. If you are a school, send an e-mail to [email protected] for special educational
prices.
Registration: try it without registration, for advanced features you have to register
33
32
SOLVR
http://www.a.freshbrain.com/solvr/
Target group:
About the tool: Solve your problems step-by-step. Share the opinion, brainstormed it.
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can solve different problems online. You define
a problem and let the students argument and discuss the problem. You can influence the
discussion inserting problems or ideas from the teachers perspective and the others can add
their opinion or advice step-by-step. Solvr is a great tool for diverse school subjects. For ex.
History - Why did Hitler want to rule in Europe?, Geography – Which is the most
polluted country in the world and why?, Civics – Which are the basic human rights you
know?, English – What is the most complicated grammair element you really hate? .
You can evaluate your students contribution according to the language, the use in the
discussion and according to the ideas or solutions their come up with.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU5M4jW_kvk&NR=1
33
TOONDOO
http://www.toondoo.com
Target group:
About the tool: This is where you can create a private virtual ToonDoo space for your educational
institution, business organization, community or group. Publish, share and discuss your
comic strips with your group members in a secure and private environment!
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can create the comics, books and story books. The
comics can be compiled from libraries of elements in Toondoo. Users can also upload their own
pictures and photographs. The comics is a great tool for enhancing discussions underlining
grammatical mistakes and rules and explaining jokes or proverbs.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgPTMP82-Hg
Registration: required but very quick and easy
35
34
ACADEMIC EARTH
www.academicearth.org
Target group:
About the tool: We are building a user-friendly educational ecosystem that will give internet
users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video
courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars. Academic Earth lets you download
the videos, but sometimes all you want is an MP3 with the audio so you can listen in the car
or on a run.
Use in the teaching: Academic Earth has the right plan around providing free course lectures.
You can watch an entire semester’s worth of lectures in a few days (if your brain can handle
it). Students will be encouraged to ask questions about the content of videos and others
will answer them. This tool is suitable for advanced level of english. The presentations are
records of the best classes of top world universities. It is a great resource for teachers to get
inspired and transfer the inspiration to their classes. On the website teachers can find free
online courses for distant learning. Therefore, it is a great inspiration tool for their carrier
developement as well.
Registration: no
35
FREE OCR
www.free-ocr.com, www.onlineocr.com
Target group:
About the tool: OCR stands for Optical character recognition. OCR software enables you to
extract text from an image and convert it into an editable text document. If you need the text from
an image you don't have to sit and type in the whole text. Just scan the text and then use our
OCR tool to convert it into editable text. Without installation on your computer. Recognize
text and characters from PDF scanned documents (including multipage files), photographs
and digital camera captured images. Free Online OCR service supports 32 recognition
languages.
Use in the teaching: Students and teachers can scan an article from the newspaper or magazine
and convert it into the text document. This tool is interesting when working with ancient
resources such as newspapers from the 19th century or resources you only have available in pdf.
Tutorial: http://showmedo.com/videotutorials/video?name=1420000&fromSeriesID=142
Registration: no
37
36
GLOGSTER
www.glogster.com
Target group:
About the tool: Simply put, a Glog is a kind of poster —fully designed by you! A Glog is a
unique creation made up of text, images, music, and video. It can be colorful, edgy, emo, or
rock—it’s up to you to make your Glog stand out. Glogster is a social network that allows
users to create free interactive posters, or glogs. A glog, short for graphical blog, is an
interactive multimedia image. It looks like a poster, but readers can interact with the content.
Use in the teaching: Glogster EDU allows teachers and pupils to use glogs as instructional
aids and share their Glogs in safe, private virtual classroom. The main benefit of Glogster
is the possibility to create multimedia posters. On one A4 page, students can create a
compilation of text, video, pictures, audio and links to any topic. Great for homework,
presentations, discussions.
Registration: required. When a teacher registers, he/she can invite students without
registration.
37
ISSUU
www.issuu.com
Target group:
I teacher I student I project and bussiness partners
About the tool: It's our mission to empower individuals, companies, and institutions to publish
their documents across all digital platforms. Issuu is the fastest growing digital publishing
platform in the world, but also a very popular destination site where people are engaging
with the web's best publications and where publishers build their audience. Many
professionals opt for Issuu Pro with additional publishing power.
Use in the teaching: It can be used as a promotion space for your course, class, school. Students
and teachers can publish their school products.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLVN4K7Nx0o&feature=related
Registration: required. For searching no registration required, for uploading and
downloading, you need to register.
39
38
PREZI
www.prezi.com
Target group:
About the tool: Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world
between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the
connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your
audience down a path of discovery.
Use in the teaching: Prezi can be used as a presentation tool for various topics. It is a simply
way to express the opinions or do homework. Compared to PowerPoint, Prezi offers a 3D
presentations space. Students can structure their presentations on diverse abstraction levels.
The presentations made in Prezi are dynamic and visualy attractive.
Tutorial: http://prezi.com/learn/
Accessibility: basic version and educational version for free, for educators it is possible to
download Prezi software and create Prezi offline.
39
SPICYODES
www.spicynodes.com
Target group:
About the tool: Fresh from the oven and piping hot, SpicyNodes is limited only by your
imagination. Entice visitors to explore and savor the experience of visiting your web site, add
visualizations to your blog, create a mindmap or organizational chart, or encourage students to
delve deeper.
Use in the teaching: SpicyNodes is a way to visualize online information that mimics that way
that people look for things in the real world. Bits of information — such as text, links, photos, and
other media — are placed into "nodes," which are then linked together in an appealing interface
that invites exploration. SpicyNodes can be used for everything from mind maps and
content portals to organizational charts and lesson plans. Using SpicyNodes, you don't only teach
students how to present in english. You also teach them how to structure their thoughts and
speach on diverse abstraction levels.
Accessibility: for individuals it is free, for organisations is 24 dolars/per month
41
40
SUPERCOOK
www.supercook.com
Target group:
About the tool: SuperCook allows you to enter in the contents of your kitchen—it assumes
you have basics like salt and pepper—and then cranks out a list of potential recipes you can
make using just what you have or with the addition of another item. There are recipes for
starters, entrées, and desserts. You can have SuperCook focus on a particular item in your
list—so if you're hungry for a chicken dish, you can click on chicken on the list and
SuperCook will show recipes featuring chicken first.
Use in the teaching: Students can create their own recipes and discuss about it. They can
learn about the national cuisines, learn the new vocabulary in a funny way.
Tutorial: http://www.supercook.com/tour.asp
Registration: not necessary
41
TEAMLAB
www.teamlab.com
Target group:
I teacher I student I project and bussiness partners
About the tool: TeamLab is a web-based platform for business collaboration and project
management. TeamLab was founded on the idea of making social networking and project
management efficient. It combines a wide range of features that assist a company team to
work as one organism at solving common tasks and achieving results.
Use in the teaching: Project management, business collaboration, document management,
instant messaging, calendar, costumer relationship manager. It is a great tool for the
management of longterm projects. Let the students manage the space in english and
supervise them.
Tutorial: www.teamlab.com
43
42
VISUWORDS
www.visuwords.com
Target group:
About the tool: Online graphical dictionary. VisuWords is a web-based visual dictionary and
thesaurus tool. Search for words to look up their meanings and associations with other words
in a visual interface.
Use in the teaching: It is a good tool for learning a language. Visualize word definitions
and derivations in an interactive colorful dashboard. See how it’s connected to other words
(synonym, antonym, derivation, etc.). Use mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Hover the mouse
cursor over word node to view its meaning. Double-click nodes to expand them even further.
When you want the students to discuss a topic, enter a keyword into VisuWords and let
them choose different words reflecting different points of view.
Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMbhgwYEyA
Registration: no
43
BAMBUSER
www.bambuser.com
Target group:
About the tool: Bambuser is an interactive live video broadcasting service, for streaming live
video from mobile phones and webcams to the internet. Bambuser enables users to quickly and
easily stream and share live mobile video using a smartphone or a PC with a webcam. It is
also possible to link the streams to social media websites and microblogging sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Wordpress and Blogspot. The Bambuser broadcasting mobile phone
application is currently available for iOS, Android phones (it means majority of devices)
Use in the teaching: Students can stream live video from any event, video can be a part of the
educational process. Ideal for language learning. Teacher can provide extravagant lecture from
outside of class, while students stay at home or at classroom. Or students can stream for their
vacations and trips with english commentary.
Tutorial: not necessary, the tool is intuitive
45
44
Second Life
For registration of the users:
www.secondlife.com
for download of the Second Life browser:
http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/
Target group:
I teacher I student
About the tool: Second Life™ is a virtual world that offers lots of opportunities for educational
activities. For language learning, SL offers plenty of additional elements that are not possible
or not so easy in traditional classroomcourses:
• Multi-channel communication: talk and type-chat at the same time; via type-chat all
students can contribute at the same time (in a face-to-face classroom only one person
can talk at a time!)
• Private communication via talking or typing with groups ad libitum
• Games and interactive objects
• Immersive environments for role plays
• Jouneys to interesting virtual places – some of them directly connected to the course
content (e.g. visiting the Czech virtual city of Bohemia), some other might be useful for
establishing social contacts with avatars of people speaking on of four project languages.
• Taking advantage of already established communities, joining their events – meeting the
people
• Bringing more of the 'real world' into the class, thus making it more relevant and
engaging for the learner
Use in the teaching: The majority of language teachers have absolutely no experience with
Second Life. However the experienct from previous educational projects in which language
45
teachers were addressed and trained in the use of Second Life, the majority of teachers were
capable of managing virtual language classes without further support of an SL expert. Of course
an initial training, motivation and guidance through the technical settings helped them to
incorporate these new technologies into their teaching schemes because of the need
expressed by their learners. However many of them expressed thoughts such as „ I only learn how
to teach distant course classes and than I immediately quit, because I hate spending the entire day in
front of the computer. I better go to a forests“, or „ I know it is necessary and very useful, but I still do
not trust virtual reality and I am afraid, my learners would get addicted to these environments“.
After some time and experience with handling a classroom in Second Life, the majority of
teachers changed their minds. According to their feedback they saw the teaching in Second Life
as a powerful additional tool to the real life activities. Real human encounters and relationships
cannot be fully replaced by Second Life, but they can be very well initiated or supported by
these environment. Under a motivating guidance they can become a useful tool not only for
pure language classes, but for many intercultural encounters and projects related to language
learning or intercultural encounters. Why to think of getting acquainted with Second Life even if
you are not fond of PC games and similar things.
There are many people who do not like virtual environments at all. They do not like computer
games, they neved understood why people would spend time playing them. They do not enjoy
virtual communication too much – unless it is really necessary. However there are certain
benefits included which make the virtual environments useful - e.g. for teachers and trainers:
Despite of the initial mistrust, one must appreciate the variety and plentitude of interesting
places, activities and events in Second Life which make teaching and learning a lot more
interesting then in traditional distance learning environments.
a) You can teleport yourself and the students to highly interesting plasces within seconds:You
can visit virtual China, virtual Mekka, virtual Paris. Despite of the rather simple PC game like
appearance of the virtual environment the virtual spaces emmanate certain specific vibration.
There is always a local community, french people in virtual Paris, people with religious interest
47
46
in Mekka, etc. This fact makes even such a virtual place highly attractive for language (and
intercultural) learning, since the native people and typical cultural events have always been a
major part of language learning.
b) You can try various things you do not typically do in your real life:You can fly around in the
space, you can ride a bike or drive a car even if you do not have a regular driver´s licence,
through your avatar you can experience feelings similar to hallucinations and you can
participate at kitchen fire simulations or first aid reanimation simulations in which you can be
actively involved. The possibilities for virtual experiences, that, although virtual, trigger real
learning, are endless.
c) Second life is a visually playful place where you can surround yourself with visual elements
which are far beyond your real life possibilities. You can change the appearance of your avatar
incredibly, as you have available all sorts of hairstyles, dresses, even dreadlocks or tatoos; of
course you can also choose to look like a famous stars, if you prefer. You can even change the
colour of your skin or your gender in order to experience the reactions of the other avatars.
There is quite a lot of academic discussion going on about this „playing with your identity“.
d) The virtual environment is not only a place for childish playing. For years, various
companies and entrepreneurs have been running their virtual companies in Second Life
earning milions of Linden dollars which you actually can exchange to real money. Already 10
years ago there was the first Second Life millionaire.
• they are similar to computer games which makes them attractive for young learners and
students but at the same time they are perfectly combinable with the teaching/learning
process.
• they make it possible to organize an intense group session no matter where the
participants and the teacher are, which is great for any kind of distant courses.
• here are great possiblities of project work, as the environment allows effective
47
collaboration between avatars, e.g. building scenarios together (e.g. an exhibition), creating
movies, developing or reheasing a theatre play.
How, where and from whom to learn the skills needed for virtual teaching
There is no simple advice for this because different people simply have different learning
styles.
Some prefer reading manuals and they do it carefully, some people prefer watching short
and efficient video tutorials which guide them through the action step by step. And other
people prefer a face to face approach being tought by a trainer whom they can constantly ask
for advice and feedback. According to the experience of the Talk with me partnership a mixed
approach is recommended:
• The basic information how to start working with Second Life is available on YouTube under
keywords „Second Life tutorials“. Furthermore many institutions offer free courses, where
advances Second Life techniques (e.g. building) are tought. We provide you with a list of
relevant links at the end of these tutorials.
• In many countries there is a national Second Life communicty which organizes plenty of
events and which has their own website. Exploring the virtual world yourself, you can feel like
a discoverer, however if you need exact tips and recommendations, the local communities are
a good address.
• In all partners countries train the trainer events will be organized. If you want to participate
at such a training, contact your local project partner and ask for further information. All the
contacts are available on the project website.
• You can get additional training by getting in touch with teachers that have already been using
Second Life sucessfully for their teaching. There are two possibilities: You can join a teacher's
community (e.g. the one of the Avalon project on http://avalon-project.ning.com/) and get
involved in their regular informal meetings. These meetings usually focus on exchange of
experience among teachers and on discussion of current relevant topics (e.g. new teaching
tools, new version of Second Life browser). They are for free. Alternately you can sign up for
49
48
an official train the trainer courses in Second Life that has been developed within the
Avalon project. These courses use Second Life and Moodle and they are taught by very
experienced Second Life tutors in English.
However these certified train the trainer courses are not for free. For further information
have a look at the links and recommendations at the end of these guidelines.
Why should you really go through the technical tutorials
Some of the trainers who participated at Second Life training tried to get familiar with
Second Life intuitivelly without having had a look at the provided tutorials. For someone who
has got advanced ICT skills or experience with PC games, the basic level is rather intuitive.
However for teaching the intuition is not enough. One can easily explore Second Life as a
user, travel around, move, look, talk and chat. But for the manipulation with the white boards,
for buying and unpacking new objects, for methodological hints, the spontaneous exploration
is not enough.
Therefore the potential trainers are highly recommended to learn the teaching skills in
accordance with the tutorials. It will make their teaching much easier mainly in following
aspects:
• they will know how to handle typical technical problems the learners usually face when
beginning with Second life
• they will be aware of many different didactic tools they can make a use of during their
classes which can strongly influence the attractivity of the classes for the participants
• they will know more different ways how to handle various settings and will be able to
provide their learners with useful short cuts and options.
• they will avoid many beginner mistakes and errors which can strengthen their position as
a teacher in front of their learners
49
Differences to the real class teaching
Besides the key benefits of Second Life and distant learning which incorporated all web
based tools there are other specific things about teaching in virtual environments. Some of them
have been experienced and valued by the Talk with me trainers during the pilot phase. Some
of them might sound trivial but they have been underlined in the feedback received from the
trainers, which means, they were highly personally relevant to them.
You can teach your course whenever a good internet connection is available.
• If it is a weekend course, you do not need to get out of your bed. You can stay in your pyjama
without make up and with a cup of coffee at your desk.
• You can continue teaching even on maternity leave (parental leave)
• You can teach physically disabled people who for various reasons could not join a real life
course in a language school without proper equipment.
Meeting native people to practice with has got a completely new dimension
If you need to find a native speaker to practice with, you do not need to invite any guests
arranging complicated schedules. You find them in one click:Teleporting yourself to a location
which is related to that language or culture. (For Czech - you can go to virtual Bohemia where
you always find Czech speaking people, for German you go to virtual Munich, etc.)
Extend your definition of what homework can be
You can give your students tasks they could not accomplish in real life. They can build houses
in Second Life, they can play quizzes, interview people, shoot movies including postproduction
– all using the equipment of the virtual world. This variety motivates the learners to involve all
senses which strenghtens the effectivity of the learning process and increases the probability the
learners would keep the experience in their memory.
51
50
Besides the benefits and opportunities, there also are challenges which have to be
taken into consideration. All of them can be managed, prevented and learned. However, as a
trainer, one has to take them seriously and incorporate them in the plan of individual skills
acquisition.
You cannot act with your complete nonverbal equipment
Being hidden behind the avatar is very different to real life teaching. You cannot use your
look, your natural hand gestures, your body movement, your typical personal energy. You have
to put as much as possible into your voice. Being a teacher of any virtual course means you
have to structure the contents very clearly while speaking and you have rely on your verbal
skills.
You can be very motivated, but if you are not able to transfer the motivation through your
voice to the virtual classroom, some learners might get different feelings about it and get
demotivated or bored.
Multitasking is an essential skill: . You have to manage listening, reading and managing at
the same time.
As a trainer of a virtual class, you have to manage different things compared with real life
classes. You have to listen to what your students say. You have to read the chat lines, which
might appear quit quickly. You have to manage the elements you have incorporated into your
actual lesson, move the slides, offer teleports to the learners, activate various Second Life
tools. You have to be able to advise a student who is having technical troubles and who has just
dropped out of the virtual classroom. Virtual teaching simply requires a different package of
teaching skills. However all of them can be aquired through practice and experience. Step by
step, managing various tools, after several lessons , the majority of trainers feel comfortable
with the average tools used during the classes. But there is also good news: In many cases
you can redefine your role: You can become an organiser, moderator and observer of what your
students experience e.g. in interaction with native speakers or actors – or with each other.
51
You see only the avatars of the learners. In order to know what they are doing, you have to ask
or to guess.
The avatars express a limited amount of activities of the person who is hidden behind them.
When the person is talking, the avatar moves its mouth in accordance with it. When the person
is typing, you can see the avatar´s hands typing. There is an endless number of gestures that an
avatar can use to express his/her opinion or mood (some are for free, thousands are offered at
various shops), but still most of the real persons activity is hidden. Therefore it is very important
to focus on the constant collection of feedback from the learners throughout the whole session.
After explaining tasks and activities, ask for feedback, ask for their opinion, contribution,
motivate them to express themselves, to get involved. If the avatar gets bored, he can start doing
other things much easier than in the real life. He/she can go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee,
write e-mails inbetween, etc. This all can be prevented by the structure of the class. By your
systematic presentation, by your captivating energy, by the content of the session and by regular
feedback.
Every now and then feedback from a co-trainer is helpful
Because of the intense involvement and many parallel activities, the teacher might loose the
overview over the quality of the teaching process. In order to maximize the effectivenes of the
virtual teaching, an intervision or supervision makes sense.
Every now and then you can invite another trainer who would observe the session and give
you feedback covering for example following criteria:
• Preparation for the session
• Amount and relevance of contents chosen for the session
• Structure of the session
• Motivation and involvement of the learners
• Feedback management
• Diversity of tools and activities used within the session
• Problems and challenges
53
52
• Opportunities to be exploited in the future
The use of Second Life in different language learning context
Language and culture course dedicated to learners who prepare for a longer stay (e.g.
Erasmus students, business people, scientist). Such a course would start 6-12 months prior
to their arrival.
• Participants will probably meet in real life - thus the projects that were elaborated during
the course can be continued in real life.
• Social motivation is different because of expected real life activities.
• All social activities can been as directly linked to their future stay.
• We see a special added value of the TWM-approach that participants can start building a
network of friends before they actually arrive. This network can enhance the ‘feeling being
at home’ and reduce the culture shock.
• Motivation: I must survive.
The tutor should keep the link between the virtual course and the expected future
reality. The students should not just learn the language basics, they should get curious
about their everyday life in the target country. Therefore the lessons should focus on reality
based contents, things and activities the learners will have to face few months later. Such a
course should cover both the necessary (visiting alien police, opening a bank account, health
insurance...) and the entertaining aspects (clubbing, food, shopping, flirting, travelling). The
tutor should keep in mind his/her role of cultural mediator who ought to prepare the learners
for a long term stay in the target country in a way that maximize the potential to benefit from
the stay and reduces the stress of migration crisis.
53
Blended learning with occasional real life meetings
This way of implementation concerns for instance partner schools. They cooperate e.g.
Within the e- Twinning programme and create all kinds of projects. Within this collaboration, the
language learning plays an important role. Elements of the Talk with me project could be very
useful for these international groups mainly because of their high attractiveness for the target
group.
In case of a long term cooperatin the time schedule of the projects is more flexible. If the
groups do not manage to finish their projects before they meet in real life, they can go on during
the next distant cooperation period and discuss the results in real during the next real life
meetings. The main benefit is the colourful possibility to keep real-life relationships alive and
continously improve them.
Pure distance course (without intention to go abroad)
Not all potencial participants of distant learning courses do intend to meet in real life. Many
of them benefit from the virtual nature of distant courses having no opportunities to travel to
distant cities to a language school or other training centre. For these people the atractiveness
and dynamic of a distant learning course is the key element. There all those various web based
tools should be implemented together with video conferences which strenghten the teambuilding
aspects and hold the group of learners together. This concerns for instance people renting
holiday accomodation to Eastern European guests.
For this kind of courses and activities, the social aspect related to any future real life meeting
is not so important. However the motiviting role of tutor is bigger than in other courses and the
contents of the classes are much more focused on on the language and the culture.
The basic motivation of the learners is making use of benefits of distance learning because they have
no opportunity for a face-to-face course.The key taks for the tutor is to keep an eye on motivation and
momentum in order to reduce drop-out rates .
55
54
55
Relevant benefits of using Second Life in language courses for various target group
student group/skills
Erasmus
students
language
cultural
social (out-of-group) *
++
++
+++
++
++
+
+
+
+++
specific knowledge
Businessmen
(doing business
in target country)
e-Twinning
school classes
Firemen (for
professional
+++
+
++
cooperation)
Farmers (who
want to sell their
products beyond
++
+
++
+
+
+++
+
+
+++
+
the border)
Virtual
socialising, e.g.
parents on
maternity leave,
senior citizens
Professional
networking for
companies or
institutions
Holiday
accomodation
providers (with
guest from target
countries)
++
++
56
this is the key aspect of the course - adress it in
+++
every session; this aspect is the driving force of
your course design: consider it in planning and
preparing each session
++
this aspect is extremly important for that group of
students, thus it should be regularly addressed
• language:
• cultural:
• social:
• language:
• cultural:
• social:
• language: only the basic lessons (1-5) and/or elements that
match the ++ +aspect of that group
+
this aspect has some relevance, but is not the
most important one
• cultural: introduce cultural topics only in relevant context
(e.g. for business people: do business etiquette but skip
historical issues)
• social: reduce activities where contacts with natives in the
target country are enforced
Examples for activities for out-group relationships:
group
technology
content
extended usage of Second Life (e.g. building), clubbing, flirting, administration
Erasmus
social network (e.g. facebook), other web 2.0
issues, mentoring, shopping,
applications, videoconferencing
travelling, ...
intercultural meetings, business
Business people
basic Second Life skills, videoconferencing,
etiquette, negotiation training,
document sharing
nonformal
communication, ...
participant’s
motivation
course type
57
social activities
e.g.
conversation
Ad hoc games, virtual projects, mixed
Blended learning,
cultural projects
virtual and real projects, virtual
pure language
distant learning,
homework
travelling and conversation, activities
learning
acompanying measures
socializing
combining various web based tools,
for present courses
learning by doing
homework, virtual testing and exams,
CLIL
virtual field trip, etc.
border-region-gourmets building an
cross-border
collaboration
Language classes or
project (developing a
interactive map of farms with direct
non – formal group of
concrete collaboration
selling possibilities; border-region
volunteers
scenario)
teachers delopping a history
project for their students.
professional
interest
National or cross
Professional projects,
Complex presentations
boarder working
virtual presentations,
using web 2.0 and 3D
nonformal
virtual competitions,
visualisations, supervision
groups of
briefings and meetins,
and intervision, job
experts
HR activities
interviews, etc.
Projects – learning element combining all tools and methods
We see projects as complex learning tasks which combine both virtual and real live activities,
introducing diverse tools, such as social networks, web 2.0, audio-visual media, Second Life and
real face-to-face encounters. Depending on the group’s motivation and technical skills the tutor
decides about the extent of guidance needed. The more experienced the students are the less
involvement of the tutor is necessary.
Those projects offer various learning possiblities: Beside language training and improving
cultural knowledge about the target country, students form real relationships, collaborate online,
perform project management and coordination tasks and finally learn about the topic of their
project.
Projects - especially on self-chosen topics - are a great way to engage students in their work,
as they give ‘ownership’ to them and allow them to become creative. Furthermore they produce
a valueable outcome - ideally something that the project team actually needs for their real life
work (e.g. cross-border school projects, developed by teachers from both sides of the border).
In regards to projects, the feasability highly depends on the participants and their shared
interest.
Tutorial:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Tutorial
I 10 min. I 20 min. I 30 min. I 40 min. I 50 min. I more (1week)
Accessibility: The use of Second Life, the download of the SL browser and the majority of basic
settings are available for free. Even clothes for the avatars and basic equipment are for free.
However there is a plentitude of services, tools and goods the users can buy in the Second Life
Store
59
58
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/
You will have to pay in case you aim to build your own classroom or island
Registration:
www.secondlife.com
The registration is for free. One has to create a virtual person called avatar who will represent
the user in the virtual World of Second Life. In order to run Second Life and to act in it, you
have to download a SL browser to your computer (similar system like Skype).
59
part c / Mobile applications in education
A digital native is a person who was born during or after the general introduction of digital
technology, and through interacting with digital technology from an early age, has a greater
understanding of its concepts. This term has been used in several different contexts, such
as education (Bennett, Maton & Kervin 2008), higher education (Jones & Shao 2011) and in
association with the term New Millennium Learners (OECD 2008).(source: Wikipedia).
The students of 21th century are digital natives and this is the reason why mobile
technologies become more integrated in classrooms. Contemporary educators and students are
looking for new ways to apply them to the learning process. Applications on all of these devices
can help automate current classroom processes or present new ways to learn that previously
had been unexplored.
However, all these devices as IPod, IPhone, Android, IPad etc. can not replace classical
education in classrooms but they can be used as its support and supplement.
Lisa Nielsen describes in her article „5 Steps to Harnessing the Power of Cells in Education
Today“ (http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/06/5-steps-to-harness-power-of-cellsin.html) five steps how to introduce mobile applications in class.
Step One: Teacher Use of Cell Phones for Professional Purposes
Step Two: Teacher Models Appropriate Use for Learning
Step Three: Strengthen the Home-School Connection with Cell Phones
Step Four: Students Use Cell Phones for Homework
Step Five: Students Use Cell Phones for Classwork
What to do with mobile devices in class?
• Record your lecture and upload it as a podcast.
• Ask a new question related to your subject and let your students use their phones to see how
quickly they can find the answer.
• Create short lists of salient points, like history dates, exam hints, short summaries, etc.,
which can be shared with students through messaging.
61
60
• Learn on-the-go, everywhere, anytime.
• Communicate with your students face-to-face via Skype or post your ideas, events,
homeworks via Twitter.
• Look at countries, cities, places in geography class via GoogleEarth.
• Search the meaning of words and word explications via Dictionary.com.
• Learn the language via Voxy.
This learning method, called m-learning, has advantages and disadvantages as well.
Advantages of mobile devices in classrooms:
• it can be used everywhere, anytime,
• it's cheaper and smaller than notebooks and computers,
• easy accessibility,
• fun, interaction and education in one educational method,
• a lot of free applications available for different mobile devices, etc.
Disadvantages:
• small screen,
• limited memory cards,
• limited battery,
• a risk to catch a virus via internet, etc.
Because apps don’t allow teachers to use their own computers to access a student device
while it is in use, a teacher who wants students to use apps on mobile devices in class must,
in most cases, trust that either the app is engaging enough to keep students on task, or that
the teacher will be able to halt any misuse of the devices by monitoring the classroom.
Despite some disadvantages that exist in each educational method, every teacher with
access to a mobile device should be taking full advantage of the many uses such devices can
serve in the classroom.
61
What is the good apps for your class?
You can be inspired by our list of educational apps or you can ask your students. Whether
students need help defining a word, locating the lumbar spine, or practicing French vocabulary,
there’s definitely an app for that. You can find some free apps or also for some fee that is not big.
Tips on education apps (free or price from $0.99 to $9.99.)
Name: Blackboard Mobile Learn
Best for: Students and teachers whose campuses already use Blackboard
Cost: Free
Features: Course listings, organizations users are involved in as well as access to any readings.
Users can enroll in any classes or organizations that they have registered for and download any
assignments their instructors have posted
Name: Today in History
Best for: History Classes
Cost: Free
Features: Lists notable events in history as well as important figures who were born or died on a
specific date. Use for trivia quizzes or facts of the day
Name: PI83 Graphing Calculator
Best for: Math Classes
Cost: $0.99
Features: Over 100 math functions, the graphing calculator.. Use in place of any calculator to
input data, make graphs or matrices.
Name: Cram
Best for: Anyone in need of test prep
Cost: $3.99
63
62
Features: Both teachers and students can create flashcards and tests and import and share
them with others. Use to study for standardized tests or exams, or create study materials for
students
Name: eClicker
Best for: Teachers looking for classroom feedback
Cost: $9.99
Features: Providing instant results, eClicker charts the class responses, showing which
areas are understood and which need more work. Students select a response to a question
composed by the instructor and are then able to participate without fear of being wrong, since
only the teacher views the results
Name: Advance English Grammar Test
Best for: Language classes
Cost: free
Features:Advance English Grammar Test is an application to help you enhance your English
expertise. It contains lots of multiple choice questions with answers. A great tool for any GRE,
TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, GMAT, MBA, CAT and other Competitive Exams aspirant.
Name: MyVocab
Best for: Language classes
Cost: free
Features: MyVocab assists you to improve your vocabulary. It saves words that you have
looked up on a dictionary of your choice. Vocabulary tests are available; automatically picking
words that you are likely to forget.
63
GoodBye advice
It is not easy to pick few best applications among the profusion available in the internet. Every day
dozens and dozens of new applications are programmed and put on display on-line.
Search for the up-to-date ones youserlf. Find your favourite ten mobile apps. Where?
1. For iPhone and iPad http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/apps/
2. For Android http://androidapplications.com/
64

How to Attract Participation and Increase Motivation of Young Male

Transcription

Similar documents

Ysart Exhibition Catalogue - Weights-n

Electronic Parts Catalogue

ELUCID Decision Support System and Field

From clay Tabrets to web: Journey of Library catarogue

PLM-PLANET • RC

Activities: Biographies: YOUTH

Brewerytown Square

UNION SQUARE MUSIC

BuggyBag - BurdaStyle.com