M-learning...

Source: http://mlearning2010.wikispaces.com/

Mobile learning  includes the usage of devices which are available anytime and anywhere for learning purposes; for example, cell phones, iPods, iPads etc, (article by Agnes Kukulska-Hulme & Lesley Shield, )

This kind of tools are more likely to be successful as most of the people nowadays have cell phones or other mobile devices, they are light and easy to carry with you everywhere you go. So why not use them for improving our knowledge as well?

After reading the three articles, I realized how useful the small devices that we all possess can be. Particularly in Armenia, where internet access cannot be found everywhere, these tools can be of great help, as some assignment or some options and possibilities that they have don’t require internet connection.

Research suggests that MALL has excellent potential for providing students with rich, real time, collaborative and conversational experiences both in and outside the classroom (article by Yu-Ju Lan,Yao-Ting Sung, Kuo-En Chang). According to Agnes Kukulska-Hulme & Lesley Shield article, MALL can be practiced both for synchronous and asynchronous learning situations. Meaning that the students do not need to be in the same place on the same time to do the assignment they can also complete them whenever they want, surely before the deadline…J  

The more important thing is that with the help of these small tools, learners can enhance also their listening and speaking skills, which, in my mind, are the most difficult ones. The students can listen to the podcasts whenever they want. These tools can be used to record themselves and others by interviewing them. They can shoot pictures and then reflect on them, they can record anything they want. They can take notes and then come to the class and ask questions based on their notes. These tools can be used very creatively and we know that creative assignment always engage students and they become more willing to make efforts on completing the assignments well.

Another noteworthy fact is that it is not necessary to have a “cool” cell phone. The teacher s may think of assignments which are feasible to complete with simple and ordinary phones as well.

I believe, we have to take advantage of what we have, and use whatever we possess effectively. We have to think about more creative ways of organizing our lessons so as to engage our students and motivate them to greater efforts. I am sure, these tools give us opportunities to do so. 

Second Life...

Source: http://www.gamer.ru/second-life/obschee-opisanie-igry

I was familiar with the SL games since my childhood. They were very interesting but I was not among the kids who were addicted to these games and it indeed became their second lives.

When I heard from my professor that SL can be applied in an EFL and gerenally in any class, I was impressed. I thought “what an interesting and creative way to organize classes”.  As Cynthia M Calongne mentions in her article with SL you can organize a lesson in a beach or in a forest. Another advantage of a SL can be the fact that SL games are a “mix of media-rich course materials”. The students that have missed a class can go back and learn the content they missed. Exams are places where the students have to give solutions to problems. (http://moodle.aua.am/file.php/28/Course_Materials/Virtual_World_/VirtualWorlds_Calogne_2008.pdf).

However, in spite of all the above mentioned advantages, I don’t think they can be used in an Amrneian EFL classroom successfully. Firstly, this not  a very safe space(http://moodle.aua.am/file.php/28/Course_Materials/Virtual_World_/VirtualWorlds_InterviewWelch_2008.pdf). When teacher assigns homework he/she should be sure that the content is appropriate to the students’ age and is safe. In the SL it is not safe in a way that the students can go beyond the assigned material and see different avatars doing inappropriate things. Secondly, I don’t like this second life thing at all. If we have our existing life, why do we need to go beyond and find a second life. Yes, I agree, sometime it is very fun to imagine that you are a different person, living in a totally different place, however I think that this may make our students to be afraid of the obstacles they meet in their own lives. I mean they may think “if you don’t like your real life make a second life!”.  But I don’t think this is a good idea. We have to make our students to be creative in a way, were they have to think about solutions to the life that they have. In our real life situations, we can make our classes fun and creative why should we think about making a fool life and engaging our students to pretend as if they are different people.  Technology is providing us different interesting tools which can be applied in the classroom without forgetting our real lives, were we can connect and reflect on our real lives (Like blogging for example). I like those tools more…

These SL games are fun games; the students will probably play them even without our assignments, so I don’t think that exposing them to these games even in the classroom is a good idea. Eventually they will live only in their second lives forgetting about their real ones…

Computer and Video games

Nowadays Video and computer games are widely spread all over the world. These games can be divided into two major categories; serious games and commercial games. I believe that educational games can be very useful and effective tools to learn a foreign language and other subjects as well. They are interesting, fun and very motivating. Most of them include problem solving feature and this, of course, makes the player play more and more in order to solve the problems, and as they play, they will obtain the new vocabulary or the grammar point even without noticing, as it includes repetition, visuals and this makes them easy to remember. However, internet nowadays contains not only educational games but other games as well, which, according to a research study promote violence in young learners.

Though Dr. Christopher Ferguson, a psychology professor at Texas A&M International University argues, saying that these observations don't prove the cause and effect, and that media violence doesn't correlate with real-world violence, others believe that they do correlate. I agree that some games can be seen as a virtual rehearsal for later implementation in the real-world situations, however there is no distinct evidence which proves this for 100%. According to the article '' Violent video games and young learners'' while conducting a research it is very important to take into consideration different thing: like the personality of the students, the situation and the motivation.

However Mark Prensky points out that video games are
effective. Our young generation differs from the older generation in different ways. One of the reasons can be considered the use digital media. Young learners, according to Mark Prensky multi-task better, they are able to discover rules and patters on their own. He indicates that young learners are able to think inductively rather than deductively, they are considered as active learners, who are able to perceive activities as play rather than as a work.

I agree with the points made my Mark Prensky, and taking into consideration all of this, we as English language teachers, should try to be more aware about the games and the opportunities that they may provide and integrate them in our lessons as much as it is possible. This way learning for our learners will be more fun, effective and we we'll see the results in the nearest future…

Sources of the pictures:

 http://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/2011/01/video-games-helpful-or-harmful-for-children%E2%80%99s-brains/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_s_carter/3029984740/

DIGITAL STORYTELLING AND VIDEO PRODUCTION

Wow, I see myself technologically developing very quickly since this course started, I can predict and guess how developed I will be in the end of this course!

At first I got acquainted with blogs and RSS feeds. Then I discovered the efficiency of podcasts and made one by myself. Then, I explored the wikis and soon created mine. Tried Google docs and discovered twitter…. Finally, I learnt about digital story telling and video production and tried them out by myself!!!

The idea of digital story telling is that students generate a story by using a camera and shooting pictures. It is really very fun!!! If that was fun for me I am sure it will be more fun for the kids and the students!!! It will be very motivating for the students as they will see that they are doing something meaningful, not only for the instructor but for a bigger audience. The most interesting and fun part is that nowadays computers provide variety of opportunities of creating and designing them the way you want.

Video production  is again a kind of a story telling, but here the students generate a video, they should create a footage then they have to work on it, edit it, cut unnecessary parts, add music etc.

This cool tools can be used for teaching purposes for sure. For example, in a class the teacher may give the students a topic and ask them to create a story but the most important part is that they have to use the target language… either in the written or spoken forms. The video that my group members and I have created was a tutorial. I strongly agree with my instructor that creating tutorials may be considered as the best way of using video production for teaching and learning purposes. This requires a lot of speaking, the speech should be clear in order to be understandable and very detailed.

I believe, this kind of assignments are more appropriate for the students with Intermediate and higher levels and, to my mind, for students who are 10 years old and more.

Looking forward to learning new interesting things and sharing!!!:)J