Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom:

Let the Championships begin!

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:44:51 PDT

The Language Perfect World Championships are about to kick off and language learners from all over the globe are poised to compete with each other in the greatest cyber-battle there has ever been (ever). Over 100,000 students are primed and ready to take part in this worldwide phenomenon aiming to achieve the maximum number of points for themselves, their school and their country!

If you haven't signed up yet for the 10 day competition, there is still time to do so and if you use the JDALE registration code you can have 50 places for FREE.

HOW TO REGISTER IN 30 SECONDS:

Follow this link
Click Register my school!
Select I am a Teacher
Enter your details
NOTE: be sure to include (JDALE) in the Registration Code box
Press Submit

Language Perfect will reply with details on how to proceed.

Over 14 million questions were answered in 7 days in last year's competition. Who knows what the final result will be this time around with an extra 3 days to play with!

Like last year, I will be writing regular updates on the Language Perfect World Championships home page throughout the competition so keep your eyes peeled as you may get a mention!

I will also be using social media to promote the competition and would encourage you to post your thoughts and achievements on to the championship blog using the email languageperfectworldchamps@posterous.com. Feel free to send multimedia attachments so they will be embedded automatically for you as if by magic! You can also leave comments on the Language Perfect Facebook page and tweet using the hashtag #lpwc.

The Language Perfect team has now developed an iPad app for those who want to take part in the Championships on the move too!

I was lucky enough to attend the official launch dinner in Perth, the host city for this year's competition in March, footage of which you can see here. You'll spot me right at the end on the right ;-)

Hear more about the competiton, the certificates and the prizes you can win from the CEO himself, Craig Smith who was nominated as Young New Zealander of the Year. Go Craig!

Check out this short news item showcasing this year's Championship on TVNZ

... and finally in the words of Craig ...

Learn, Compete, Win. Let the Championships begin!

This year's championship will be even bigger and better than before. Good luck to everyone taking part. Enjoy!

Introducing the aPLaNet project!

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:43:44 PST

Autonomous personal learning networks for language teachers (aPLaNet) is a two year EU project funded by the Life Long Learning Programme designed to encourage language teachers who don't normally use social media in their professional life to see the value of nurturing a personal learning network (PLN) and the benefits of doing so for their own classroom practice.

The core idea for the project came from a Skype conversation between Joel Josephson from the University of West Scotland and e-learning consultant Shelly Terrell following the 2009 Virtual Round Table conference where Shelly showed Joel how to maximise his use of Twitter to connect with like-minded educators from around the world. Inspired by the effectiveness of this form of online mentoring, Joel decided to put together a bid to the Life Long Learning Programme along with seven partner institutions from across Europe and was fortunate enough to receive around 280,000 euros!

Here are two short recordings taken from the Virtual Round Table webinar referred to below where Joel introduces the project and talks about the value of having a PLN.

Download Joel_Josephson_introduces_aPLaNet_at_VRT

Download Joel_Josephson_on_the_value_of_a_PLN_at_VRT

With the funding in place, each team was assigned different responsibilities or work packages and began creating resources to support their different roles. Calls for associate partners were made in January 2010, and a year later the aPLaNet project website officially launched, followed by a Facebook page, Twitter account and Ning shortly afterwards. Using social media to build a community of like-minded educators around the project has resulted in over 140 institutions (associate partners) from 33 countries getting involved already!

It seems the aPLaNet team are using these drivers in the following way:

Facebook - a directory of related news, events and blog posts
Ning – a place to meet make connections, join sub-groups and access downloadable resources
Twitter – a vehicle for sharing conversations and crowd-sourcing information from the community.

There is a Google+ site too and this duplicates some of the Facebook content.

Colleagues from the seven partner institutions have met up face to face three times so far in Barcelona, Athens and Brno and each time they have fedback progress to the associate partners via video-conference. To access these webinars, click on the following links. Please note you will need to sign up for a Wiziq account.

In March 2011, the aPLaNet team comprising Shelly Terrell, Ann Forman, Joel Josephson, Marisa Constantinides, Graham Stanley and Cornelia Kreis-Meyer (Moderator) took part in an online panel discussion during Heike Philp‘s Virtual Round Table Conference and gave associate partners and other interested parties the opportunity to find out more about the project.

You can access the recording from here and here is Marisa Constantinides' prezi about PLNs.

In July 2011, the team carried out an online survey regarding the use of social networks amongst language teachers in the EU. The feedback collected using a Google Form was used to improve and extend the resources and methodologies being prepared and give an insight on how educators are currently using social networks.

One of the project's objectives is to make it easier for teachers to identify useful ICT tools for language teaching and to help teachers in this area, there will be guides, video tutorials and face to face training opportunities for them to get involved especially with respect to a PLN. Joel Josephson and his team are also going to create a Twitter tool called Language Resource Filter Application (LRFA) which will collect tweets containing the hashtag #lrfa.This could be a useful way of pooling resources although as Graham Davies points out curating the content may be time-consuming.

Another core objective is to facilitate a mentoring system via the Ning subgroups whereby volunteers choose to either mentor newbies or be mentees themselves. If they prefer, it is possible for mentees to go through the materials on their own as a self-access pilot and have a series of tasks to complete with a final evaluation. Please note due to the nature of the EU funding for the project, mentees have to come from Europe, but mentors can be from anywhere in the world.

To become a mentor or mentee, you need to sign up to the Ning, fill in your profile and join the mentor or mentee group. There are three ways in which mentors and mentees can find each other

Look for someone who is listed as wanting help in the mentees group. Contact them and offer to be their mentor
Be approached by a prospective mentee looking for someone to mentor them.
Be recommended by an aPLaNet partner to connect with a mentee or mentor

As a mentee, you will be expected to fill in a questionnaire so your mentor can analyse the areas where you need support. The job of the mentor is then to use SMART criteria to set objectives and provide the appropriate support so mentees don’t feel overwhelmed and can manage their time effectively. This could involve for example learning how to use tools like Twitter, Facebook and Ning so mentees can make connections with other like-minded teachers and in time become autonomous. Ultimately, the idea is to have an on-going cycle of mentees who become mentors themselves once they’ve been through the process.

Guides for being a mentor or mentee will be made available on the Ning very soon.

Different levels of blog badges from bronze to platinum will be awarded to mentors according to the number of mentees they have. Mentors can have as many mentees as they feel they have time for.

aPLaNet Mentoring workshop

The British Council in Barcelona is responsible for the mentoring side of the project and the first orientation meeting took place on 23rd November 2011. It was delivered by Graham Stanley from the Brno meet up and the webinar can be accessed here.

At the end of the session, we had the opportunity to make comments and I suggested it would be a good idea to encourage mentors and mentees to record their exchanges so they could refer back to useful conversations and possibly share the highlights with the community.

Download Joe_Dale_in_aPLaNet_mentoring_session

In this clip, Graham talks about the project at the 2011 IATEFL Besig Summer Symposium in Preston.

The mentoring pilot begins January 2012 and resources will be available in Bulgarian, Czech, Greek, Spanish, English, Romanian, Turkish, German, French and Italian.

aPLaNet presentation

Here is an example mentor presentation from one of the partner institutions and this clip filmed in Brno gives a nice overview of the project to date.

Undoubtedly, one of the challenges to the success of aPLaNet will be encouraging enough mentees to sign up. Joel Josephson recently wrote a guest post on Shelly Terrell’s blog concerning this very issue. He feels the two main reasons why teachers don’t use social media to connect with other educators around the world is time and privacy. Trying to reach people who don’t know about the power of PLNs or who feel they don’t have the time to engage with social media may be problematic. I hope not, as I think the premise of the project is fantastic. Time will tell though.

Joel describes a PLN as being:

"like a language teachers staff room and a supportive educational authority in one. It is a global community of language educators, just like you, that have come together to support and help each other improve and update their language teaching by using and sharing the resources that are constantly being developed on the Internet." (Joel Josephson 2010 - taken from the Associate Partner form from Graham Stanley’s post)

In the article, Social Networking - How it is shaping my professional development, Marisa Constantinides is equally enthusiastic about the value of a personal learning network:

"I am now involved in many exciting new collaborative projects, simply by being part of this global conversation. For example, by engaging with my peers on Twitter, it has become possible for me to work on aPLaNet, a major EU funded project which aims to help teachers in their autonomous professional development through the use of such social networks as Facebook, Twitter and Nings." (Marisa Constantinides Autumn 2011)

Anne Foreman, another of the official partners described PLNs as "Do-IT-Yourself Professional Development" in her presentation REAL TICE | Making sense of chaos | Madrid which I love! I also liked the text chat comment from RaquelEFL in the Virtual Round Table session where she quoted Alexander Graham Bell and described the following as a PLN Mantra!

"Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds."

In conclusion, I encourage you to listen to this 50 minute podcast interview I recorded over Skype with Graham Stanley from the British Council in Barcelona (No 2 in the picture above!) as it gives a comprehensive overview of the aPLaNet project and fills in any gaps I may have missed in this post!

Download Graham_Stanley_on_aPLaNet

Summary

introducing the aPLaNet project and explaining what the acronym stands for
explaining the reasons for launching the project as a way of bridging the gap between those language teachers who use social media and those who don't
promoting the concept of using a PLN and particularly Twitter as a professional development tool and showing the benefits of doing so
piloting a mentoring and self-access approach
explaining what is a personal learning network, the origin of the concept and the value of having a PLN
maintaining contacts and support through a PLN instead of being tied to a PLE, VLE via an institution
ways in which PLNs can help professional development
the target audience for aPLaNet - language teachers who are experienced and inexperiend users of social media
the challenge of finding mentees
involving colleagues through face to face workshops as well as online mentoring
becoming a mentor or mentee by joining the aPLaNet Ning and going on to the next step
explaining the self-access option and carrying out a webquest
translating the resources into a variety of languages and encouraging MFL teachers as well English teachers to get involved
making the Ning the hub of the project
where the idea for the aPLaNet project came from
bringing together seven partner institutions for the eu bid
asking for associate partners in January 2010 and seeing a great reponse
the benefits of the partner institutions meeting up face to face and agreeing on the first steps
preparing for the life of aPLaNet after the end of the project in order to make it sustainable for years to come
explaining the resources in more detail: (Mentor and Mentee support guides, feedback questionnaires, teacher diary template which can be completed online or on paper, 150 page teacher reference guide, series of online workshops which will be recorded, webquests, video tutorials)
explaining the differences between the mentor and mentee questionnaire and the importance of collecting data about the use of social media by language teachers to update resources and improve the effectiveness of the project
explaining what are the markers of success?
creating a cycle of mentees who become autonomous mentors themselves
presenting the results of the project at an aPLaNet themed conference in Istanbul in September 2012 and feeding back on what has been achieved
following the progress of the project and involving associate partners via webinars to maintain interest
the importance of creating a community spirit around the project and drawing on members' PLNs
sharing Twitter lists of UK language teachers and world language teachers in the first mentoring workshop webinar
creating a report on the use of social networks amongst language teachers based on the feedback from the July 2011 survey which fed into the section on social networking in the teacher guide
crowdsourcing colleagues for recommend resources and links before creating the mentor guide and seeing a great response
drawing upon the "generosity and volunteer spirit of all of these wonderful language teachers all over the world"
clarifying that during the life of the project, mentees are expected to be from the European Union due to the nature of the funding, but mentors can be from anywhere in the world
rewarding mentors with different blog badges (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) which denote the number of mentees each mentor is supporting
giving a t-shirt prize to the first mentor who mentors eleven mentees and achieves platinumn status!
presenting aPLaNet at the Virtual Round Table conference 2011 and trying to connect with as many language teachers as possible and keep their interest
explaining how the Language Resource Filter is designed to work as a way of crowdsourcing useful language specific resources and making them available on the Ning
finishing off with some thoughts on quotes from Joel and Marisa about the value of PLNs
seeing a PLN as a virtual staffroom full of connected, helpful and sharing language teachers
giving a heads up to the MFL Twitterati!
find a world of opportunities arising by simply posting on Twitter
getting involved in the iTILT project about helping language teachers make the most of interactive whiteboards
being asked to speak at a conference through Facebook
using Twitter can open up a whole new world to language teachers and broaden their horizons exponentially - they can find answers to pressing questions 24/7, help another colleague in return, gauge opinion and discover a neverending stream of useful information from their online community
concluding remarks

I hope you've enjoyed learning about the aPLaNet project and hearing testimonies of others on the value of personal learning networks.

Here are a couple of presentations which may just do the trick if you're not convinced already!

Building a Personal Learning Network

View more presentations from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

I encourage you to get involved with the aPLaNet project. It could be a wonderful opportunity for you. Developments in the new year are sure to be out of this world! Follow that pilot!

If you can't wait until then though, check out this Scoop.it! magazine I've curated which focuses on PLNs and Twitter as professional development tools. Enjoy!

Dr Lid King on Lingu@net Worldwide

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:40:36 PST

Download Dr_Lid_King_on_Lingu@net_Worldwide

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr Lid King Director of The Languages Company and National Director for Languages in England from 2003 to 2011 about the Lingu@net Worldwide project which launched in May of this year.

Aimed at adult language learners and teachers looking for useful resources and advice, the new version of the website is an evolution of the Lingu@net Europa initiative which began in 2001 and is now available in an impressive 32 languages!

As Lid explains in our short discussion, the multilingual site is divided into four sections.

What's your level?
Ways to learn
Meeting point
Search

In the first section, users have the opportunity to assess their language level to help them to evaluate which resources will be the most appropriate for their needs. The second section allows them to explore information about learning styles and read about the experiences of other language learners. The third section suggests how learners can keep in contact with each other and the final section lets them search through nearly five thousand free online resources which have been quality assessed by the Lingu@net Worldwide team.

The highlights section on the right-hand side of the main interface features links to the latest resources and underneath are the Twitter and Facebook accounts associated with the site. Lid admits that they are still experimenting with the use of social media, but ultimately would like to nurture a community of like-minded learners and teachers who wish to comment on resources and add their own.

If you'd like to get involved, the team would welcome your feedback and suggestions on how the site can further develop.

Thank you to Lid for sparing the time to raise our awareness of this exciting free resource and for giving us the opportunity to participate in its growth. Comments are welcome as always.

Going Live on Radio Edutalk!

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:58:31 PST

I have been a fan of the audio experiments of John Johnston and David Noble since I first got into podcasting five years ago. They were inspirations to me then and they still are now. So when last week, David invited me to take part in the first official broadcast of their new project Edutalk Radio, I jumped at the chance!

The idea of Edutalk Radio is twofold, first to live stream random selections of the existing bank of audio collected on the Edutalk site and secondly to offer educators the opportunity to call or Skype into a live phone in and chat about topics of their choice.

The topic of discussion last Thursday was educational podcasting and Stephen Reid from A Higher Place kicked off proceedings brilliantly by calling in on his smartphone live from his train carriage using a 3G connection while David and John endeavoured to patch the audio through into the live stream!

As you will hear, it did work and Stephen was able to share his expertise with the hosts and of course the listeners. He talked about the key messages he likes to convey to teachers when training them on the power of podcasting and how he tries to dispell their misconceptions through practical examples. I loved the way he added how pupils just go for it in his experience and don't seem to share the same concerns.

My section was recorded through Skype too and you can hear the difference in audio quality between the iPhone's microphone and my Samson CO3U below.

Download Stephen_Reid_on_Edutalk_radio

Download Joe_Dale_on_Edutalk_radio

Show notes for the episode can be found here.

Check out too John's reflections on trialling the tech and his pre-launch demo with Ian Hallahan where they discuss the evolution of the TeachMeet movement in Scotland and further a field.

Pioneers of educational podcasting in Scotland, John and David have been experimenting with the power of audio in and out of the classroom for the past six years with projects such as Radio Sandaig and Booruch. In 2009, they came up with the idea of encouraging delegates attending the Scottish Learning Festival to reflect on the event by using their mobile devices to send audio feedback to a Posterous blog. SLFtalk was born.

Download John_Johnston_on_SLF_Talk

As John explains in this short interview I recorded with him at the time, he was pleased with this first attempt of gathering the voices of educators together in the same place and the seamless way Posterous coped with the task. Using social media platforms like Twitter certainly helped to spread the word as well as specially-produced SLFtalk cards with detailed instructions we gave out over the two days.

Buoyed by this initial success and Edublog award nomination, David and John launched Edutalk, an extension of the SLFtalk idea and a further opportunity for teachers, pupils and educational professionals to capture their thoughts on a mobile device and share them with a wider audience 24/7.

To help build up a bank of user generated content, the duo challenged people to post a new recording everyday and this certainly got the ball rolling.

Not content to sit on their laurels, David and John then decided to start up Edutalkr, an online panel discussion featuring specialists in their fields such as Professor Stephen Heppell and other learning enthusiasts wishing to debate the educational issues of the day from their mobile phones, landlines or SkypeOut.

In August 2010, the TESS published the article Audio explorers right on track which catalogued the progress of the project to date and acknowledged its impact in its first year.

A month later, the team presented their findings at the Scottish Learning Festival in the session Edutalk - Mobile audio publishing by educators. I was lucky enough to be there in person and to record proceedings including the iPadio + Skype conference call test involving willing volunteers scattered around the exhibition hall!

Download Edutalk_mobile_audio_publishing_by_educators

For this year's SLF, Education Scotland joined in the fun by encouraging folk to use the Edutalk tag and to publish their thoughts through different channels. A resounding endorsement of the Edutalk project and now with the launch of Radio Edutalk, things are continuing to go from strength to strength!

ducation Scotland is encouraging the use of Edutalk tagging through different channels

ililc 2012: Quality CPD on a budget

joedale@talk21.com (Joe Dale) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 05:39:41 PDT

Languages South East are delighted to announce details of speakers and workshops for this year’s ICT and Languages conference. Taking place at Southampton University on 25th-26th February, ililc 2012 is THE must attend event of the year. A smorgasbord of exciting seminars and hands-on workshops await the lucky delegates and the opportunities to network with like-minded colleagues will be immense.

Book by the end of this month for the amazing early bird rate and start sorting your transport and accommodation now!

Come along too to the free MFL Show and Tell event on the Saturday night at The Highfield House Hotel where everyone is welcome to speak, sing a song or play the ukulele, if you fancy (at no additional cost)!

For those arriving on the Friday, we will be having a get together at Ceno restaurant as well. Would be great to see you there!

Check out this Google Map for more details and contact Zena Hilton on languagessoutheast@soton.ac.uk or call 023 8059 9135 if you have any queries. Follow #ililc2 on Twitter too to find out about the latest developments!

View ICT and Languages Conference #ililc 2012 in a larger map

Laurence Georgin has kindly made some ililc blog badges for speakers and delegates which we would encourage you to use on your own sites.

You are also free to use this QR code which links to a WebDoc I created to help promote ililc 2012. Enjoy!