Link to Mini Project 3 Description

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddx83npd_23j69whxd6

Thoughts on Podcasting...

Second Life and Language Learning

I am not convinced that Second Life (SL) has a place in language classrooms. After experimenting with SL in class and reading the Stevens and Vickers articles, I view SL as more of an aimless wondering in a second world than a targeted activity that is conducive to learning a language. One question that I have is whether or not there is any advantage to communicating with another avatar in SL (I mean in terms of having a successful SL?). It seemed to me (during class) that the only advantage was social and that you didn't get new tools or start traveling in groups or anything when you interact with another avatar. So, maybe SL is less about social interactions and more about discovering new places and increasing your inventory. I'm not really sure, still, what the point of SL actually is.

However, I do think that virtual reality games could be good for second language learning if the point of the game were something like traveling to all the cities in a country and having to talk with people to get information that could help you pass to the next level (city?). I just think that the virtual reality game would have to be created in such a way to encourage interactions between people.

I also like the idea of using voice in a virtual reality game. However, I don't think that technology is ready to utilize voice recognition to the extent that would be necessary to make voice interactions productive in such a virtual reality.

Overall, I am more convinced about the utility of podcasts, blogs, emails, and chats for language classrooms than I am about the utility of SL.

Mini Project #2

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddx83npd_222mhp25zc

Intercultural Learning

I think that the best circumstances for intercultural learning are those where individuals are able to have personal interactions with several "others." I think that the interactions have to be somewhat personal (including personal opinions, beliefs, etc.) because otherwise instead of understanding nuanced details about the "other", the "other" may be seen as more of a flat caricature which will be more likely to inforce general stereotypes.

That being said, I do think that CMC can lead to this type of intercultural learning, but I am not sure that it can be as powerful as being submersed in the world of the other (like traveling/studying abroad). One of the activities from the articles that seemed to be especially condusive to examining what constitutes "self" vs. what constitutes "other" (the idea of recul) was the textual chats with video conferencing that centered around real (one that are likely applicable to the student) discussion topics. This seemed to promote intercultural learning since students could express and react to each other's idea in real time and focus on better understanding an aspect of their partner's worldview (in relation to their own and other people that they know).

However, one question that I have about engaging in such activities in a classroom vs. outside a classroom is how much does the fact that transcripts will be seen by a teacher affect/censor the type of conversations that students will feel comfortable engaging? I would imagine, at least from my own experience, that there is a sort of distance that is maintained so as not to share one's personal beliefs or ideas to too great a degree when a teacher will be reading the transcript. I wonder if studies have looked at this and how it has been addressed...

Video Ideas

So far I have three ideas for the final video project. My target audiance will be an ESL classroom--the proficiency level is yet to be determined. The first idea is recording a few short speeches (those with "good" and "bad" traits) and having students both make outlines of the given speeches by noting what the intro, transitions, main points, and conclusions were and then talking about strengths and weaknesses of the speeches. This idea would be good for a higher English proficiency group and would help to prepare students for giving their own speeches--which they will likely do if they continue on an enter the university.

My second idea is doing a jigsaw video were I show one half of the class the video without sound and the other half only get the audio without the picture. Then the students would be paired with someone who had heard/seen the opposite version and would be asked to reconstruct the scene. The video could be a scene that encouraged the use of certain vocabulary, such as cooking terms for a video that takes place in the kitchen. Also, students would have to negotiate meaning to reconstruct the scene--and much of the research has shown that jigsaw activities with such negotiation are beneficial to language acquisition.

Finally, a third idea is taping two couples (seperately) who are discussing something from different points of view. For example, one couple is speaking about the benefits of traveling abroad, and the other is speaking about why they would rather travel in the U.S. The students would be asked to find areas of agreement and disagreement between the two discussions and would then be divided into two groups to continue the debate/ discussion in class. This would also include target vocabulary (so it would have to be a discussion related to something being taught in class) and would encourage meaning negotiation as the students participated in the debate. It would also encourage comparing and contrasting skills which are important in academia.

Please feel free to give suggestions and/or specific ideas of topics for the second and third ideas :-)

Flickr in the Language Classroom

I think that Flickr has some promising capabilities for the language classroom. It is a primarily a social networking site that focuses on searching for and sharing photos. However, it also has a map organizer where the user can choose a map to work with and then upload pictures for the different locations on the map. So, when learning directions or studying culturally significant places in the the classroom, students could create their own maps and present them to the class. Also, if previous students are studying abroad, they could create photo maps detailing where they have already visited and embed their photo map into a blog or even post comments on their photo map to share with the current students who may be planning to study abroad in the future.

Mini Project #1

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddx83npd_3gm59mmdg

CMC: Classroom and Research

CMC can be motivating for students, beneficial for learning, and adaptable to different classrooms. For these reasons (and more) CMC can be a good investment of time for teachers and students. Many of the articles that we have read this semester indicate that CMC can motivate students since it involves meaningful interaction with real people. Also, it can be very beneficial to learning since students can proceed at their own pace and learn from the interactions that CMC affords. The adaptability of CMC is also one of its strengths because teachers can choose things like emailing, blogging, Blackboard discussions, text chats, or voice chats, depending on the learning objectives and the dynamics of a particular class.

Regarding future research, I am particularly interested in seeing more articles about how CMC can be used in ESL classrooms. For example, is blogging, emailing, or synchronous chat more likely to lead to vocabulary acquisition? I imagine that this is highly context dependant, but it seems that synchronous chat might be more conducive to vocabulary acquisition it involves negotiating of meaning, and input from another person.

Also, I am interested in virtual reality contexts for language learning. I think that ideas like role playing games in other languages could motivate students to learn and help them to improve their language skills. However, I think that these would be the best with voice recognition and it seems like there is still some technological difficulty with perfecting voice recognition software (at least from what I have read so far).

Possible Research Topic and Questions

I am leaning towards a topic related to how CMC and network environments can aid the development of reading skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Specifically, what got me started thinking about this topic was working with ESL students who either have a gap between their production skills (speaking and writing) or those who have a gap between their comprehension skills (listening and reading). It seems, at least intuitively, that using CMC and using the internet for extensive reading could be a way to motive such students to connect their speaking to writing (since chatting has been viewed as more of a conversation than a writing assignment in several of the articles that we have read). Also, it seems that CMC would be a good way for students to focus on form while receiving a written message on the computer. This could both help students to connect form to meaning and give them practice integrating the words on the page into a comprehensible message in a real-time and real-life context.

All of that being said, what does the research say? I have been finding some (not a lot) of articles that specifically focus on CMC and reading. I have posted two of them onto citeulike and have ordered several from ILL. There is one chapter in a book that focuses on how chatting can help students develop low-level reading skills such as word recognition and a better understanding of grapheme-to-phoneme processes. I am very interested in this idea since I believe that low-level and high level skills are necessary for becoming a fluent and skilled reader and that usually one form of instruction is used in exclusion to the other (but chatting could maybe help bring those two levels of reading together by integrating form and meaning).

So, two possible research questions are:

1) Can synchronous computer communication aid the development of low-level and high-level reading skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) students?

2) In what ways can synchronous computer communication and internet-based activities lead to increased reading automaticity for ESL learners? (I am specifically thinking about reduced anxiety leading to more comprehension, increased word recognition skills, and vocabulary acquisition with the uses of such tools as glosses)

I welcome any suggestions and thoughts...

Word Doc.

How do you catch a unique rabbit?

Unique up on it…….:-)

Blogrolls and Polls

I think that blogrolls can be VERY useful when they provide links to resources that a student may want to find. For example, I wanted to find the tifle website to see what the assignment was for making this post, but I did not have a syllabus with me and could not remember which website to type in. So, I googled "tifle" and "blog" and "2008" and found Anthony's class blog...which happened to have a link to the class website in its blogroll. Thanks Anthony! Similarly, if teachers add quick links for students on a blogroll, they will likely be grateful for the time that they saved searching for the resources.

As for polls, one idea that might be interesting for students (with an educational objective as well) is voting on cultural tidbits. For example, there could be a poll that said Pennsylvania's state bird is...a) the penguin, b) the robin, c) the chickadee, d) the rough-tailed grouse. This example assumes that the target culture is Pennsylvanian culture. Then, these questions could be used as extra credit for tests. This might help students to remember cultural information and provide some incentive for visiting the class blog routinely.

If you have a cat you will appreciate this...

DOG DIARY Dog emoticon


8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite!

10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite!

11:00 am - Went to the vet. Bummer.

12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite!

1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite!

5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite!

7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite!

8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with people!

My favorite!

11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite!



CAT DIARY Cat emoticon


Day 983 of my captivity.



My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.



They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed

Hash or some sort of dry nuggets.



Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I

Nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The

Only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.



In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.



Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet.



I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly

Demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made

Condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.



Bastards!



There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was

Placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I

Could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my

Confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this

Means, and how to use it to my advantage.



Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my

Tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this

Again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.



I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.



The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and

Seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.



The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the

Guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors

Have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is

Safe ---------------------------------------------------------'For now'.

Missing the "Point" in PowerPoint

I like the idea of embedding videos and internet links into PPs for class. For example, the PP that I posted is intended for an ESL class. I actually did a similar activity with my beginner Speaking and Listening class this past summer. However, we attempted the activity in a computer lab and I was quickly reminded about both technology's unpredictability (certain computers had Quicktime installed and others did not) and student's varying degrees of familiarity with technology (especially with a very culturally diverse group). In hindsight, I think that the lesson would've gone more smoothly if I would've used clips that were embedded in a PP.

Accordingly, I think that PP is useful when it is interesting to the students--as was watching movie trailers in class--and when it serves a purpose OTHER than allowing teachers to check off the "I used technology in my classroom" box on some course summary/evaluation form.

On using PP as an educational tool, I think that it is especially useful for presenting concepts visually. For example, it has helped me to understand syntactic concepts in classes where the discussions were rather abstract. I also believe that PP containing textual main points can be very useful for students who are overwhelmed by the verbiage of an instructor. However, I am less convinced that PP is necessary when each slide contains almost word-for-word what I speaker intends to say. Rather, I find this approach to be somewhat counterproductive as I often find myself reading ahead of the speaker and concentrating more on my boredom than on the subject at hand.

Overall, then, I believe that PP should add something to what is being said--and, for me, a verbatim read-along version of the day's lesson does not count.

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Cats and Computers

This is not really about cats, except to say that my cat does often try to sit on the keyboard while I am typing. Also, I wanted to post a picture of her. Also, the title Cats and Computers adds a nice alliteration touch to this title!

Here is a link to a local pet adoption agency if you want a pet too (or if you just like to look at the cute puppies and kittens)!

http://www.petsinc.org/

Nikki’s Internet Log

Tuesday (1-29-08)

sent 12 emails at work = 30 mins.
received 21 emails at work (most of which I deleted without reading) = 10 mins.
sent 3 personal emails = 10 mins.
received 5 personal emails = 10 mins.
browsed Facebook = 10 mins.
read the news at CNN and BBC = 20 mins.
used Google to search for information on the internet = 20 mins.

Total = 1 hour and fifty minutes (40 mins. work/ 70 mins. personal)

Wednesday (1-30-08)

· sent 4 personal emails = 10 mins.
· received 9 personal emails = 15 mins.
· check bank account = 5 mins.
· used Google to find information = 15 minutes
· read assignments and articles on Blackboard = 30 mins.
· read CNN and BBC news = 10 mins.
· used Dictionary.com to look up word meanings and spellings = 5 mins.
· browsed Facebook twice = 15 mins.
· edited class blog = 10 mins.

Total = 1 hour and forty-five minutes ( No work = 0 mins. work/ 105 mins. personal)

Thursday (1-31-08)

received 16 work emails = 10 mins.
sent 8 work emails = 15 mins.
received 6 personal emails = 10 mins.
sent four personal emails = 10 mins.
checked bank account = 5 mins.
browsed Facebook = 5 mins.
read CNN and BBC news = 15 mins.
used Google to search for information = 20 mins.

Total = 1 hour and ten minutes ( 45 mins. work/ 45 mins. personal)

After looking over my log, I would say that I use the internet mainly for asynchronous social interactions and as a source of information. Specifically, I regularly check my personal email account and Facebook in an attempt to stay in contact with friends that I do not see every day. However, I do not regularly use synchronous chat options.
I also check my work email account regularly while I am at work because that is the primary method for communication at my office (even when the person is in the same room as the person to whom they are writing, weird.) However, I delete most of my work emails without reading them because I get emails from every division in the office, and most of it does not concern me as a graduate assistant. Also, the work emails are obviously much more formal than my personal emails.

Regarding my use of the internet for information, I frequently read the news online, check my bank account balance, use Blackboard for finding class information, and use Google for whatever I am looking for at the moment. Since I do not get a newspaper or keep a balanced checkbook, these activities are rather regular for me.

Overall, after keeping a log I recognize that I use the internet even more than I had realized. I think that, in a way, the internet has replaced the television for me because I rarely watch TV for information or entertainment—but I do spend a good deal of time on the internet to meet those ends.

Movie Trailers for the ESL Classroom

On way that I have incorporated technology into the ESL classroom is by having students watch movie trailers in class. During a summer class that I was teaching, I directed the students to:

http://www.english-trailers.com/index.php (I recommend this site!)

and asked them to listen to trailers for 15 mins. and pick out one that they wanted to describe to the rest of the class. Since we had already reviewed movie vocabulary (plot, characters, genres) I encouraged the students to use their "movie vocabulary" in their descriptions. I then asked other students to guess which movie had been described and to state whether or not they would want to see the movie and why/why not. This technology-based activity seemed to be fun for the students and allowed them to practice listening to and producing movie related discourses.

Creating a Blog

This is me creating my blog.