Language Teaching and Technology

Assessment

2009-03-10T10:16:00.003-05:00

So - you've set up a class blog project - now how are you going to assess it? You may consider providing a rubric that describes what a good post is and what good comments are and assign point values based on your rubric. I'm using this rubric in my ESL class this semester.

Krista Kennedy, an instructor in the Department of Writing Studies, created this presentation about using blogs in the classroom and offers good suggestions about the pros and cons of using individual, group or class blogs. At the end of the presentation, she offers examples of rubrics she's created for assessing student blogs.

In second language teaching, pointing out grammar-errors on a blog can prove to be difficult. How can you get into the post to highlight the errors? A blog doesn't offer the same flexibility as a wiki does in this respect. But, as jchambers points out in his blog post, "Using Diigo for Intensive Language Feedback" there are other tools to provide this type of feedback. We won't be covering diigo in this course, but if you're interested in using blogs and providing more pointed grammar feedback, you might consider using diigo.

How would you assess a blog?

Blogging in the Second Language Classroom

2009-03-09T13:45:00.009-05:00

As Lee LeFever points out in his Common Craft video, there are many different types of blogs out there, both for professional and personal use. And there are many different ways to use blogs in the second language classroom or to inform your teaching.

Student blogs

Check out these examples of student blogs:

Spanish students - This teacher uses the blog to make class announcements, etc. but also features a student blog of the week. Check out the links at the top of her page.
http://spanish1olah2009.edublogs.org/

ESL students at the U of M, practicing listening and summary skills (group blogs):

http://multiculture731.blogspot.com

ESL students in St. Louis, practicing vocabulary words (individual blogs):

http://websteresl.blogspot.com

A French blog for primary students in Scotland (how is this blog different from the others?)

http://mfle.typepad.com/ggs_french/

Japanese and English collaborative blog between students in Australia and Japan (class blog):
http://moshimoshigday.edublogs.org/

This previous post, Samples of Class Projects using blogs, includes a good example of an online role play and a kids book club. This post, Sample Blogs, has more examples of blogs used in education.

What do you like/dislike about these examples? What problems do you think educators face using blogs in the classroom? Have you ever used a blog in your teaching or for your personal use? How might you use a blog for educational purposes?

Video message

2008-10-22T17:26:00.001-05:00

Yackpack

2008-10-22T15:44:00.001-05:00

Use this YackPack widget for a walkie-talkie style voice-chat, similar to Wimba Voice Direct.

Sightspeed Video Conferencing

2008-10-16T16:53:00.000-05:00

Samples of class projects using blogs

2008-10-15T09:18:00.003-05:00

Role-Play Debate
This blog is an attempt for students in College Writing to take on the roles of characters in the novel as well as people involved in a current issue.
http://mascotroleplay.blogspot.com/

Kids Book Blog
This site includes book reviews in blog form by 5-6th graders. They also have podcasts about the author, and an online book club.
http://kidsbookblog.edublogs.org/

Embedding a VoiceThread

2008-10-14T14:21:00.001-05:00

Embed your Voicethread

2008-10-14T14:16:00.003-05:00

If you want to embed a Voicethread into your blog, here's how to do it!
http://voicethread.com/share/805/

Paris Daily Photo

2008-03-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

Here is a new blog I just discovered today. A guy in Paris takes a photo everyday and shares it on his blog. Many people comment on the photos, too! Check it out http://www.parisdailyphoto.com/

Welche Sprache sprichst du?

2007-02-28T15:52:00.000-06:00

Es gibt auch die Möglichkeit, Blogger in verschiedenen Sprachen zu verwenden.

Sample Blogs

2007-02-23T15:53:00.000-06:00

Take a look at several blogs created at the U. Some are associated with a particular class and open to all students in that course. Others are more personal, but still could be used for writing practice!

example of a course blog for weekly postings on assigned topics, as well as announcements and links to outside resources. http://blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/wost3307/

personal essays on a variety of topics – ability to categorize them for later recall
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/trail001/shades/

class members share tips with each other
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clyne003/arts16012006/

This example is from an architecture student’s blog. She posts images and comments on them using concepts she is studying. Language students could do similar things with images from the target culture (to discuss the culture differences), or to describe objects/scenes as a linguistic exercise.
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/abinf002/architecture/

LgTT Blog

2007-02-23T15:35:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Language Teaching and Technology blog! This blog originated during spring semester 2007 to accompany the course LgTT 5101: "Applications of Technology in Language Teaching" at the University of Minnesota.

The primary use of this blog is to experiment with blogs as a form of cmc - computer mediated communication. How could blogs be used in the second language classroom? How might a personal blog be used? How about a class blog? Who should comment on the individual entries? How could visual images, URLs, videos, etc be used within this tool?

Let's try it out!