FCE Blended Learning

Introduction

Right after I came back from my teacher training course on Blended Learning in Norwich I was really excited and very eager to try out what I had learned with my new group of students. The first chance I got was with a group of young adults (15-18) preparing for their Cambridge First Certificate exam.

Since they hadn't started the course with me, we basically met halfway through the course and we had only two weeks to get things going. With this in mind, I decided to keep it simple. From my previous experiences teaching FCE, I knew that one of the biggest challenges while teaching the course is monitoring and giving feedback on the students' speaking performance and grading writing accurately.

Tools

After I gave it a bit of thought, I decided I would partially blend my classes.

The first thing I asked my students to do was to create a google account. This way I was sure we could use the main tools I had in mind:

- Blogger: that's our central location. Everything we did was there. It's our repository.

- Youtube: where I uploaded my video tutorials.

- Soundcloud: great website for sharing audio files (not copyrighted ones though)

- Google docs: a google tool similar to word with some more convenient features

- SnagIt: screen capture software I used to create video tutorials

Speaking

As I have already mentioned, monitoring speaking in class is quite challenging, so my blend was organised as following:

Class activity: 

Teacher boards a few simple ways of giving peer FB, in my case they were three of the following, but I would tweak them according to the specific aim of the activity (part 1, 2, 3 or 4):

- Range of vocab 1-5

- Fluency 1-5

- Interaction 1-5

- Pronunciation 1-5

- Content 1-5

For the timing part, I would use a countdown timer or a smartphone.

Homework activity:

Now, the homework for them would be simply an extension of classroom activity. What I did was to consult my tutorial blog here, watch the video and produce a podcast with their recording on it and post it on the class blog, which you can check out here.

I decided to use soundcloud for several reasons: first, it's very user-friendly. Second, it allows students to record themselves using either their phone or their own laptop/pc, third, they can share their recording and finally, and most important for me, I can give them a written feedback! If you're curious on how the whole process worked you can check my video tutorial right here.

 

Writing

Those of you who have already taught FCE prep courses probably know that grading writing is one big chunk of the work. Students usually get demotivated and you get loaded with tons of paper to mark.

I decided I wanted to step up my game by using google docs. See, this program not only allows you to simply save paper, it gives you the chance to give instant feedback as well, to clearly comment on students' mistakes on the margin and for the students to compare between versions without going through the effort of deciphering your corrections.

How I did it:

Of course you can't just walk in class and tell your students "ok, for homework write this essay at page 11 but with google docs this time". It simply won't work. Students still need directions, tips, preparation, drafting, brainstorming, etc. so we did that in class. Taking notes by hand, discussing the topic with their peers, planning are all elements I believe can be hardly thrown out of the classroom. Only once my students were ready to go, they got to know what they had to do, and they were happy and relieved to know that they had time to write their essay properly. Of course, even for this tool, I provided a guidance. Students loved it, and so did I.

Introduction to Quizlet

Quizlet

Quizlet is an incredible tool to help your students learn and revise vocabulary. Watch my video to learn how to use it.

Full intro to Sound Cloud

Sound Cloud

Sound Cloud is an extremely useful tool. It allows its users to create up to 180 minutes of free audio for free and add comments. With Sound Cloud you can also share your files on the most common social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and so on) and registering is estremely simple.

Watch the full video to see how to use this great website.

Learning chocolate - Fun vocabulary learning

Learning Chocolate

A full introduction to this interesting vocabulary learning website.

Case studies in Blended Learning

Today as a group we had a look at some case studies in Blended Learning.

I had a chance to read two articles and then listen to my classmates present their own readings. They were all taken from this book:

The first one I read was about the challenges a teacher in Istanbul faced when asked to provide a tailored course for taxi drivers with literally no material at hand.

His solution, which I think was brilliant, was to brainstorm possible questions he might ask taxi drivers and get the students build on this and record themselves during their idle time. Very little time was thus devoted to grammar explanations, and the drivers could focus solely on the language they needed and the emerging language. 

Using a 'normalised' technology + podcasting. Voilà.

The second article I analysed talked about the way a teacher training center - again in Istanbul - used moodle to deliver the content of the Cambridge DELTA module ONE online. The challenge here was to cater for different necessities and levels of digital proficiency, but what was found was that in reality most students are rather satisfied by this blended delivery model and usually ask for more content to be put it.


Anyway, I'm definitely going to continue reading this book because it offers a wide spectrum of compelling cases and I recommend you do the same if you're interested.

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

What's a VLE?

It's an online system that is designed to meet teachers' and learners' needs of an educational setting. It helps deliver content anywhere, anytime provided there's an internet connection available.

Most VLEs aim to recreate the brick-and-mortar learning experience, for example by creating teacher's accounts, learner accounts, peer groups, which are supported by communication tools such as e-mail, chat, discussion forums, and web publishing.

The full explanation is available here:

Edmodo

Edmodo's interface is very similar to Facebook so students as well as teachers will pick it up easily. Here's how it looks:

Teachers accounts are different from students accounts. Teachers can create and manage libraries and folders, create activities such as quizzes, polls, assignments and so on and obviously keep a grading book as well. It's extremely easy but at the same time limited. It's a great solution if you're not aiming for a full online but you're blending your classes only partially.

If you're interested in discovering its functions, visit this page.

All you need to know about Edmodo

VideoNot.es

VideoNotes

Do you study using videos? Do you need them to revise or maybe for a presentation? How about being able to take notes while watching it and go back to a specific point with a simple link?

All you need is a google account. The website will immediately connect your link to your google drive, where your notes will be stored forever. 

The interface of this website is pretty straightforward: load a video, watch it and type in your notes as you watch. Go back anytime you want, share the notes and write them collaboratively or go back to them whenever you want to refresh your memory or make your point during a presentation.

Here's an example of what I did in about 10 minutes while watching a TED talk.

Sir Ken Robinson - Do schools kill creativity? (notes)

Go Animate - get your students talking!

Go Animate - Fun and user-friendly

Seeking a way to get your students practice speaking in a fun way? Try GoAnimate. There are a number of features that allow different degrees of animations and the possibility to record your own voice to enact dialogues. I created this in less than 5 minutes and the result is absolutely jaw-dropping. Unfortunately I can't embed the video - that would require a subscription - but you can see it here to have an idea of how it works.

The Ark

enjoy!

Models of Blended Learning

7 different models of BL

Taken from http://www.dreambox.com/blended-learning

Blended Learning is about using elements in combination: F2F and technology. 

Now, how they combine is very important and very often an issue when it comes to deciding which 'model' best suits (or fits) our needs.

Here's a great video that explains the main models:

Discussing some modules of BL

The individual rotation model is a great model to help students revise, increase their learning autonomy and of course work at their own pace. It is a viable model in cases in which the teacher's support is not required at all stages but necessary for feedback or assessment like in summer of prep courses.

In the station rotation model students typically work in groups and each group occupies a station. So the actual image is whole groups moving around the classroom. In this environment, the T can be at any station providing support. It is a great module for elementary/primary schools because students work under constant supervision.

A typical flipped classroom is when the teacher decides to give instructions and content out of the classroom. Students learn it and come to class prepared to apply what they have learnt. 

A la carte blends are typical of training courses and distance courses offered by institutions and universities. Students can choose, just like in a restaurant menu, the amount of content they want to access online and F2F.

The EVM (Enriched-virtual model) is based on self-paced learning and online learning happens both onsite and offsite. Students are seldom onsite (differently from the flipped classroom) and it aspires to be a whole-school experience. In most cases, the F2F instructor is the same as the online instructor. That way, students will have access to a single teacher-of-record, even if they seldom attend the brick-and-mortar campus.

Bulgarian numbers - created with Quizlet

This week I want you to challenge you. Since I live in Sofia and practically nobody speaks Bulgarian outside the country, I would like you to study Bulgarian numbers from 1 to 10. Why? To make me happy, of course! :)
What you see here is just an example of a custom made quizlet wordset which I then embedded on my blog.

If you want to find out how I did it, please have a look here, where I explain how to use advanced features in Quizlet.

Jing and basic screencasting

Jing

Today we had a look at screencasting technology. In particular, we discovered a program called Jing.

Logo property of Techsmith Corp.

Jing is a freeware tool that allows you to snap pictures of your screen (or part of it) or record it. A nice plus is the chance to draw arrows/underline etc which is totally awesome and saves lots of time when giving feedback on a single image or simple item or we want to draw attention on details/parts of the screen quickly.

The main perk is that it is extremely easy to use and I recommend it as a first step if you don't have any experience in screencasting. You can download it for free here:

Download Jing

For being a free tool, Jing is a decent program. There are some serious limits to what you can do with your screencasts though. The first one concerns video storage: the finished videos are all physically stored in a server in the US and they are accessible provided we request a link. This is easily done but it's not the same as having the actual video stored on our computer or elsewhere.

The second problem is editing: you cannot add any animations/effects to the recorded video, which is something that really comes handy when/if you want to draw particular attention to something on the screen and you really want to do something different from moving the cursor around.

The perfect tool to flip your classroom

There are a number of possible applications of this technology. I will probably go for the most natural of all, that is deliver some of the "teaching stuff" online. In a word, I will use Jing to flip part of my classroom, especially those lessons that require a lot of teacher talking and learning from the students. All that, thanks to this technology, can happen away from the classroom. My students can listen to me explaining for example a grammar topic and then come to class just to ask for clarification, to confront themselves with their peers, to practice the language and really get their hands dirty. 

Quizlet

Quizlet

Quizlet Inc.

Today I wanted to talk about quizlet but instead of writing lengthy description I decided to make a small video about it. So enjoy this quick intro.

In case you're still wondering or you haven't watched the video, Quizlet is a great website for working with vocabulary. It contains an ever-expanding archive of wordsets in different languages that can be used in your class.

Here's the website:

Quizlet website

What's really interesting about this website and makes it stand out among all are its advanced features: copying set of words, embedding in your website/blog (blogger for example), creating classes and folders and creating your own sets to work with. For a detailed explanation watch this video.

I think the best way to use quizlet is involving the students themselves. They can create their own wordsets either for self study, for revision or to test each other and then share them.

Breaking News English and Blogger

Breaking News English

We started the class by having a look at a website created by Sean Balville. It is BreakingNewsEnglish.com. Now many of you may know it because it is linked and shared a lot around. 
Now, the site is not really appealing to the eye but it's got tons of content and what's even more important, it offers a variety of activities built around a single article. For this reason it represents a powerful resource if you want to get your students working with authentic material and a great way to blend your classes. Students can do text reconstruction exercises like sentence jumble, text match, spelling activities like listen and spell, or vocabulary exercises (flashcards, cloze etc.).  I could go on and on for ages but I think it's better if you have a look yourself, so here's the link.

BreakingNewsEnglish

Blogger

After that we looked at blogging. We focused on a free tool called Blogger, which is a tool provided by Google. You can make as many blogs as you want and it's free.


Now the reason this technology is relevant in EFL is that blogger represent a very affordable and flexible repository for all the content you produce online. Imagine you create a quiz or there's a video, a podcast, an assignment and you want your students to find it quickly? Do they have to browse the internet forever? No. Put it all there.

Blogger is a great recipient and it's extremely flexible and easy to navigate. Imagine you tell all your students to create a podcast: where do they share the links? Blogger. Imagine you give your students the task to create a google doc, a video on youtube, a screencast... where can you easily collect this data? Blogger of course! Does it have to be you? Not necessarily. You can get your students build their class blog a work on it! Engaging, funny, motivating. What more could you want? 

If you're still moving your first steps, Russel created a very useful intro to Blogger which is available here:

If you're  you're already familiar with the basics and you want to get funky, here's something for you as well:

Cheers.

Google Forms

We started the lesson by finishing off the section on definitions. After that, we then went onto look at Google Forms. Google Forms allows us to make questionnaires, surveys, etc. It also summarizes all the information in the questionnaire.

Watch this video to find out more about Google Forms:

Of all the possible applications of this technology, I think the most affordable and effective in an ELT perspective would be:

• creating questionnaires and quizzes

• Questionnaires are great on a first day of class to help students break the ice on the first day and for the teacher to collect data to use for assessment. Now, the Google forms allows Ss to cooperate in creating questionnaires themselves, in remote, at the same time. How cool is that?

• creating tests

• Google form can be used to create short quizzes and testing material for your class. As I already mentioned, more than one people can work on the same form at the same time. Now, I'm a fan of peer feedback, so I would consider allowing students to create their own, custom made, class tests. Easy-peasy like a squeezy lemon.

• creating surveys

• Never has been creating surveys so simple. Google Forms allows you or your students to create ad-hoc surveys for perfectly calibrated speaking activities. A few minutes behind the screens and you have it. The real innovation is the being able to see the statistics in real time. Don't forget to get your students discuss it or write about it though! ;)

Todaysmeet: Day One with Russel Stannard

Starting off

Russell welcomed us with a big smile and he immediately made it clear that it was paramount to know each other. He set up a fun and interesting activity in which we had to draw (or write) 8 things we deemed relevant about our lives and then get our partners find out about us. It was truly interesting listening to my classmates talking about themselves. Following that, Russell set another activity - a web search followed by a short presentation - to get to know him.
Following that, he introduced a few technologies. The first one was Todaysmeet, a great free tool that allows people to create temporary, private chatrooms. If you wish to learn how to use it and see its features you can watch this tutorial video created by Russell himself:

For me, Todaysmeet has a great potential. It is great tool to collect information in real time and get instant feedback all in one place. I believe it can be extremely useful when the lesson aims at getting the students to brainstorm or scaffold.