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Syllabus

Page history last edited by Teresa Almeida d'Eca 16 years, 3 months ago

Syllabus

Syllabus
Title
Description
Objectives
Target audience
Interest Section:
Weekly content
Moderators
Co-Moderators
Communication tools to be used

Title

Becoming a Webhead. A hands-on workshop on how to use Web communication tools for language teaching and learning.

Description

Webheads in Action is a six-year-old community of practice of language teachers worldwide, coordinated by Vance Stevens. We explore Web communication tools and share the best ways of using them in our teaching practices, engage with students in virtual classes, collaborate on projects, and participate in conferences as audience and presenters. This collaboration takes place online, as we are all geographically apart. Would you like to become one of us?

Objectives

In the course of the 6 weeks, participants will learn collaboratively and hands on to:

use various synchronous and asynchronous web tools for learning and teaching EFL/ESL,

interact through e-mail, text chat, voice chat, voice and video mail, and distribution lists, among others,

create web pages, wikis, blogs, podcasts, online worksheets, surveys, and interactive exercises related to their own contexts, and,

reflect on ways of applying those tools to their teaching, either online or face to face.

Weekly chats will be held to discuss content and pre-defined topics, build rapport and create a sense of community.

Former and very active BaW participants, some of whom are now active members of Webheads in Action, will co-moderate the 6 weeks of our session.

Much of the content derived from the discussions will be made available through a wiki created during the six weeks, which will be kept online for future reference.

Towards the end of the session participants will be invited to join the Webheads in Action (WiA) community of practice.

Target audience

ESL/EFL teachers interested in using communication tools in their teaching, be it exclusively online or blended into face-to-face teaching.

LEVEL: False Beginners. Requirements: Having an e-mail account, familiarity with word processors and Internet access

Interest Section:

CALL

Weekly content

Week 1

Getting acquainted with Yahoo Groups. Introductions.

Participants will get acquainted with the Yahoo Groups platform, introduce themselves to the group and interact among each other. At the end of the week, and as an introduction to week 2, we will take a tour of Tapped In.

Guest presenter: BJ Berquist.

Week 2

Text and voice synchronous communication tools: Tapped In, Yahoo Messenger and Skype in Worldbridges.

Participants will have the opportunity to chat with other Webheads through different synchronous media such as Tapped In, Yahoo Messenger and Worldbridges. During these chats, they will learn how to use the many powerful features of each of these environments and also create their own virtual office at Tapped In, where they can later meet with students and colleagues. Voice chat and webcam-enhanced chat will be introduced in Yahoo Messenger and Skype in Worldbridges. Audacity and PowerGramo, free online tools to record audio files, will be introduced for those wishing to try recording voice sessions. It will also be a good time to introduce a volunteer system for "peer help": participants holding online hours for other participants.

Guest presenters: (Michael Coghlan, Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier).

Week 3

Building an online presence: Blogs, podcasting and wikis.

Participants will be introduced to blogs and podcasting, and will use different web blog providers (Blogger, Motime, Edublogs) to start their own blogs, and podcast providers (Podomatic, Viewpoint, and Blogcheese, EVOCA ). Wikis will be introduced using providers such as pbwiki, Wikispaces,and Wetpaint

Guest presenters: (Graham Stanley).

Week 4

Virtual classrooms. Voice and video mail.

Participants will explore the Alado, Elluminate and WiZiQ virtual classrooms, as well as user-friendly tools for sending voice messages (HandyBits, Springdoo, Wimba Voice e-mail: http://www.wimba.com/demos/voiceemail.php )

Guest presenter: (Jonathan Finkelstein).

Week 5

Developing class materials: online surveys and worksheets, and interactive exercise creators.

Participants will have the opportunity to create materials for their classes using different online exercise creators.

Guest presenter: (Rubena St. Louis).

Week 6

Blended learning. Wrap-up: conclusions and evaluation. Graduating as a Webhead in Action.

After a panel discussion on "blended learning", participants will share reflections and arrive at the main conclusions about these online Web communication tools and their role in language learning. To wrap up these six weeks, there will be a "Graduation Ceremony" chat during which participants will be invited to join the "Webheads in Action" community.

Panel: (Aiden Yeh and Rita Zeinstejer).

There will be weekly recommended readings for discussion and reflection.

Moderators

Dafne Gonzalez has been an EFL/ESP teacher for more than 30 years. She graduated in Language Teaching, has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics, and a Ph.D in Education. She is currently a Full professor at Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela where she Coordinates the Graduate Studies in Education Programs and is the Head of the Specialization in Informatics and Education. Besides teaching technology-related courses at the graduate level, she also designed and teaches the English for Architecture and Urban Planning blended courses. A webhead since 2002,she is now the coordinator of the TESOL Electronic Village Online and has co-moderated, with Teresa Almeida d'Eça the Becoming a Webhead (BaW) online Workshop since 2004. She also co-moderates with Teresa one of the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program courses: "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". E-mail: dygonza@yahoo.com

Teresa Almeida d’Eça has been an EFL teacher for 30+ years and has taught at all levels. She lives and teaches in a small town in the suburbs of Lisbon, Portugal. This year she's teaching 5th and 6th grade (1st and 2nd year EFLers). She loves teaching and finds it an even more challenging task since the arrival of ICTs. She did her first online course in October 2001 with Michael Krauss. In January 2002, she joined the Webheads in Action for the EVOnline training session, and since then she has been actively involved in the cyberworld of education! She has published two books, one on the use of the Internet in education and the other on the use of email in the classroom. She presents regularly at conferences at home and abroad. She's been coordinator and co-moderator of BaW with Dafne González since 2004. And she has also co-moderated with Dafne one of the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program courses: "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". You're welcome to visit her Web site at http://64.71.48.37/teresadeca/ and to get in touch with her at tmvaz@mail.telepac.pt