Welcome to CALL spring 2007

Hi Folks,

Welcome to the CALL Class blog. I'll use this blog solely for posting reviews and "how to's" of technologies and resources that I find useful for langauge teachers. For the first few postings, I'll cover some of the sites that we are using in this course including Moodle, Blogger, & Wikispaces.

Your role as a reader (and student) is to read the postings, check out these technologies, and comment on my postings. Comments can range from, "that's great...." to "how do I..."

Let me know if you have any questions.

Wikis

What in the world is a Wiki?

This does sound a little strange, doesn't it? For an indepth description of Wikis, see the Wiki entry in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki).

The Wikipedia entry is a little verbose, however, so I'll give you the simple explanation here. A Wiki is basically a Web page (or site of connected pages) that anyone (or at least permitted users) can directly edit. Most are set up pretty much the same. There are a number of "tabs" on the page, one of which says "Edit". Clicking on this tab will open a text editor. This editor is pre-loaded with the text that currently exists on the page. You can edit this text and add more of your own. Then you click "Save" and the page then displays the entry with your changes.

I find that collaborating in this manner enables uses to create a page that represents consensus of the users. Adding, editing, and even deleting other users' works is difficult at first, but once you are used to and understand the process it is very effective. The finished product (not that it's really ever finished) is usually a piece that reflects not only the groups' understanding of a concept, but also can reflect the process that the group went through to get there (most Wikis also have a "history" tab that tracks all changes).

You will notice that I use Wikipedia quite a bit. While there is a great deal of debate as to the benefits and drawbacks of using this resource for research purposes, there it no better provider of information on current technologies and trends that Wikipedia. I often use Wikipedia and Google as jumping off points for any information gathering that I do.

How will we use Wikis in this course?

We will using two separate Wikis in this course: Moodle and Wikispaces.

Moodle has a build in Wiki that we will use for numerous purposes. I will use it to post course requirements and descriptions. You will notice that the assignment descriptions are in a Wiki. These can only be edited by the instructor, so it is probably not the best use of a Wiki, but it is an easy way to post and edit a Web page. The second use of Wikis in Moodle are ones that you will be editing. I keep these in Moodle because they contain personal information such as contact information, links to your student blogs (see the blog entry below), your MS Messenger account information, chat meeting times, group assignments, and so forth.

We will use Wikispaces (CALL Class Wiki) for more public works. This includes an assessment activity late in the semester as well as a list of CALL resources that we will keep as a class (an extension of the Website/Software Evaluation assignments). These assignments will give you the opportunity to work with and collaborate using a Wiki.

I chose to include an external Wiki (in addition to Moodle) because I wanted you to have experience using a Wiki service that you can use with your own classes. Wikispaces is a free service that can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection. The same is not true of Moodle. Similarly to the student blogs that you will keep, this makes your work public. Publishing your work in this manner makes you an active participant in the field, which will hopefully ease your transition into the CALL community. In addition to all of this, the CALL Class Wiki is a running record of CALL class activities. Not just for this semester, but for all semesters. It just so happens that this is the 2nd semester participating. Congratulations :)

Blogs

This course will utilize two sets of blogs: class and student.

The first is the one you are reading right now. This is what I have termed the CALL Class Blog in most of the course documentation. This blog will focus mainly on describing the technologies that we are going to use in this course. There will also be postings on concepts in the class and, most importantly, links to other resources (mostly other blogs) that are discussing important topics in the field.

Student blogs will be ones that you all maintain as part of the general participation requirement for the course. At minimum, you will be required to post critiques of Web/Software resources and readings (see schedule in Moodle). I would also hope that you'll go beyond these requirements and use this space to reflect on your learning in this course and to collect, reflect, and begin a discourse on the use of technology for your context and beyond.

After all this talk about blogs you may still be asking, "What the heck is Dan talking about"? Good question. I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself in this regard.

Blogs
Even if you do not watch TV, listen to the radio, or read newspapers, you have likely heard of Blogs. You may be asking yourself what this mysterious entity is that got Trent Lott to retire, Dan Rather's mistakes exposed, and even announced the birth of your nephew?

History of Blogs
Weblogs have been around for years. According to Wikipedia the first use of the term Weblog was made in 1997 on The Robot Wisdom Pages. This site is a collection of commentaries on personal and professional issues most of which relate to news articles or other postings on the Web. The Weblog peterme.com is credited with shortening the term to Blog in 2002.
Blogs have since taken on different meanings to different people. For some a Blog is a set of Internet technologies that manage the history and "business" of Blogging. Most Blogs include features for posting messages, commenting on posted messages, and archiving messages and comments. Others would contend that Blogging is a socio-technical movement that shifts the power of large media organizations to individual citizens. Both are right.

What Do Blogs Mean to Educators?
Blogs can serve many roles in education, limited only by your imagination. Blogs can act as a virtual collaborative space for teacher and students to interact with each other and the greater world. Blogs can be used to store and develop e-Portfolios, encourage peer feedback on writing assignments, or simply hold ongoing discussions with the class members or even the world. Much of this has been possible for many years, yet the focus on Blogging and Blogging technologies has given educators the ability for inexpensive (or free) and relatively easy ways to accomplish these tasks.

Extensions of Text-Based Blogging
While blogging is largely text-based, there are many extensions of this concept with other media (or combinations of media). Podcasting (audio-based blogging) is the most popular of these "other media" blogging options. Named for the ubiquitous iPod mp3 player, Podcasts are very popular and have even been integrated into iTunes (the Apple audio software that does many things including the management of files on the iPod).

Other trends include video blogging, mobile blogging (really just indicates that the blog is updated/customized for viewing on mobile devices like cell phones), picture blogging (many people use Flicker for this--I don't use this as a blog, but here is my site http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcraig), tablet blogging (using Tablet PC's), Flash blogging, and so forth.

Further Readings

• Wikipedia's definition and history of Blogging
• Google News search for "Blog"

Educator Blogging Sites

• Educational Bloggers Network
• EdBlogger Praxis

Free Blogging Services

• Blogger
• Edublogs
• Xanga.com
• eBloggy
• Blog-City

Moodle

Many of you have likely used either Oncourse or OncourseCL. These are the default course management systems (CMS) for Indiana University. I too have used both of these and I have found them both severely lacking.

OncourseCL is the newest incarnation of the IU CMS. It has a number of really useful functions, but there is one major problem with the application. The discussion forum functions (there are actually 2 in this system) are terrible. Aside from reduced functionality over the previous application (Oncourse - original), the discussion function in OncourseCL is terribly slow.

I used OncourseCL with an online class in the spring for the first (and hopefully last) time. It was a nightmare.

First these reasons, I have chosen to use an outside system (hosted on my own service) called Moodle (http://moodle.org). I used Moodle with an ESL methods course that I taught in fall 2005 as well as the CALL class last semester and it worked great on both occasions.

I think that you will find this a pleasure to use, once you get the hang of it. We will be using numerous functions build into Moodle. Primarily this space will provide discussion forums, group chats, and miscellaneous documents (readings, Web pages, and wikis) all wrapped up in a neat package.

However, you will also notice that we will not be bound to Moodle. We will be using numerous, free, online applications that will both provide us with opportunities to interact and will give you practice in using these technologies in an educational context.

Open Culture: iTunes - Foreign Language Lesson Podcast Collection

Here's a nice list of language related podcasts available on iTunes. These can be difficult to find in iTunes, so it's nice to have a list.

Unfortunately, I don't think that this has been updated for a while (Oct 2006) and these things change so fast. However there are plenty of good suggestions.

Poll: Teens, adults separated by 'IM gap' - CNN.com

So, is this surprising?

I suppose not, but I guess that folks have to know. Those 'old folks' needed to discover this fact in a survey.

I actually like IM'ing but I have to admit that I'd rather use the audio feature than the text feature.

In the end, I think that IM'ing pales in comparison to Texting (text messages on your cell phone). This is where a real difference can be seen. I don't think that many adults text, whereas most younger cellphone users likely do.

Digital Identity Mapping

This is a really neat (and useful) "Digital Identity Map". Not only is it cool to see WHAT all of these applications are, it's also cool to see HOW they fit into the Digital Identity Map.

Here's a link to a big version of the map: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=278973402&size=o

Kids' Vid: Video Production for Students

This is an interesting site for those of you with no video production experience. Now, I'll warn you that this has nothing to do with video software and how to get videos on your computer. You'll have to get that somewhere else. However, it does have a lot of good advice on HOW to video and some hardware tips.

I think that this is a good resource for younger students and, possibly, even their teachers :)

New Zealand students may 'text-speak' in exams - CNN.com

I'm among those thinking, "Are you all nuts"?

I understand that this is a valid mode of communication. I understand that it is important to allow students to express themselves. However, text-speak is likely no more than a blip on the screen (no pun intended). It will likely be disappear as technologies shift.

I think that they will look back on this and cringe.

What do you think?

Dan

Report: Number of students taking online courses rises - CNN.com

Hey, look! You're part of a trend :)

75 ESL Teaching Ideas (I-TESL-J)

This is an interesting piece. Take it or leave it, there's a bunch of good ideas in this list.

TalkAndWrite.com

TalkAndWrite is a plugin (an extra feature) for Skype. Two people have to have the application installed on their computer. If so, then you can collaborate on a document.

This isn't like working on a Word document. It is more like working on an electronic whiteboard. You can type using a textbox if you'd like and you can draw freehand using a view different 'tools'. The result can be saved as an image (.jpg or .png) or as a TalkAndWrite document.

It seems like this would be best for brainstorming or discussing concepts that would best be drawn out for the other user. I also think that you could probably bring up pictures to interact with.

I haven't been able to use this yet, but I just installed it on my computer. I just haven't found a willing partner. If you are feeling adventureous and would like to test this out with me, let me know.

Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1

Another great post that I wanted to pass on. This list would keep me busy for a month checking out, it's nice that Solution Watch did it for me.

I'm sure that you can find some useful tools in this list.

Fantasy Congress - Where People Play Politics!

This was just too cool not to pass on. Most of you are likely famililar with Fantasy Football. Well, this is Fantasy Congress. You get to pick 4 congresspeople (is that the right gender neutral plural form?) to be on your "team". You then get points based on how much of their legislation gets passed, which is weighted differently based on some criteria that I don't know.

This would be great with any civics class, but would also be neat for a topical lesson on American politics for a language class. Even for foreign languages, there's nothing your students will have to do more of in a foreign country than talk about American politics :)

Voicemail on your Blog

I added a little item to the blog today. I thought that it would be neat to test out. It is a voice comment system from a company called Mobasoft. The level at which I'm using it is free, but they do have other paid service options.

The name of the application for now is MyChingo (http://www.mychingo.com), but I have a feeling that the company is working on a replacement system called MobaTalk (http://www.mobatalk.com/). MyChingo allows users to leave audio messages on a Web page (blog). In my case, I have made these comments public. But you can choose to make them private so you are really the only person who will hear them. Might be a neat option for some activities that you run. Might be neat to work into a WebQuest if you are so inclined and it serves a purpose.

Give it a try if you have a microphone.

By the way, MobaTalk looks like it will be much cooler with audio, video, and text. Hopefully they'll make it so you can have sub-systems for individual posts. Now I'm just dreaming :)

Dan