Welcome to ICT in ELT Module Blog

Hi everybody,

Now that we have learned how to create blogs, I will post here references, sources and other interesting things that go with the rest of our lessons. Feel free to comment and help me improve this blog.

I hope this blog is useful for you when you leave the program and go back home.

Change the blog settings to the L2

One of the main reasons why we create blogs in language class is to expose students to the digital tool (and the vocabulary that comes with it) in the L2.
We then need the students to change their blogger to the L2 so that the input is in the L2. It may be a bit more difficult for them to find things but this is ok. It is part of the process of negotiating with the language and it is a good process for learning.

How to do this. Supereasy!
Go to SETTINGS, USER SETTINGS and then change the language :)

Embeding Google forms in your blog

If you want to embed a Google form is your blog.
Go to the entry. Create a text introducing the form.

Then Click on HTML next to COMPOSE

In Google forms, when you have finished your form, go to SEND FORM and click on the < > symbol at the end of the choices of how to save it.

Copy the text in the EMBED HTML text. Pay attention to the width and height. Go back to Blogger

Back to Blogger, paste (Control +V) what you have copied at the very bottom on the HTML window of your post . Click back to COMPOSE to see what it looks like.  If it is too big or to small, you can go back to the Google form and adjust the width and height, copy the embedded code and come back, delete the form, click back into HTML and copy the new one.

Delete your blog

To delete your blog, click on SETINGS at the end of the left menu, The select OTHER and under Delete blog , click on. the blue delete blog. Then click the SAVE SETTINGS orange right (top or bottom) button.

EDpuzzle

One of the best new tools I have found lately!
EDpuzzle is a great tool to bring interactive videos into your lesson. It allows to create embedded questions within videos to test content or language comprehension.




Look at this tutorial created by one of my students in the Brunei-US Language Enrichment Project of how to create an EDPuzzle

How to share your PREZI presentation

There are three different ways to share your presentation:

1-   You can provide the person with the link to the presentation 
[requires that the person has Internet connection]

2-   You can download the presentation as an Adobe PDF file 
[does not require that the recipient has Internet]

3-  You can save the presentation as a PORTABLE PREZI
 [does not require that the recipient has Internet] - See the next blog entry about this

 

1- LINK to the PRESENTATION [The other person will need to have Internet connection to see the presentation]

Go to http://prezi.com and Login your account (top right corner).

Make sure the presentation you want to share has a chain link symbol and not a lock

 

If you have the educational version and the presentation has a lock symbol, and you want to share it, you can change it by dragging the bar to Hidden (you need to share the link) or public (anybody with a Prezi account can see it). 
If you have the free version, then your presentations will be public.

Then, click SHARE

 

 

2-Save as a PDF file [save your Prezi to be able to use it WITHOUT internet connection]

A window will open for you to save the PREZI. Pay attention to where you are saving it (desktop, documents,…) and that is where you can find it afterwards to send via email.

Save your PREZI to be able use it without INternet Connection

When you are finished with your presentation or if you want to save it again, click FILE and select EXPORT as PORTABLE PREZI

A new screen opens- Give it a name that includes your names like FINAL PRESENTAION NAME & NAME and pay attention to where you are saving it (desktop, flashdrive,…)

Then go that folder, find the folder. IT should be a ZIP file. It is then ready to be uploaded to our DROPBOX.

It may take a bit of time, so make sure you have Internet connection and the time to do it.

Then go that folder, find the ZIP folder (it is a compressed file). This is the file that you can send via email as an attachment or copy it into a USB to play it later.

When you want to use the presentation, you need to click on the ZIP file and EXTRACT ALL files before you can use it.

Getting a PREZI account

PREZI has different licenses that will give you different options and amount of storage in their server. There is a PUBLIC free license where you create your PREZIs online (so you have to be connected to the Internet to work but you can present OFFLINE) and there are other options:

They have an education license for teachers and students (but they have to be able to recognize your institutional email (for example @hawaii.edu )

We will try first to get you this license and if the email of your institutions is not recognize then you can get the free public option (you can always upgrade later if you want to pay or your school wants to pay).  Click on Student & Teachers license.

 The difference is that the PRO Edu would let you work OFFLINE- It downloads a software into your desktop and you can work there without using the Internet AT ALL- You can build your presentations and save them to use them in other computers (without the need of theInternet). You can also download it as a pdf to print or present.

If when you try your school address it does not recognize the email, then come back to the previous page and click on the grey PUBLIC option. You can sign with your Google email. You will receive an email form PREZI. Follow instructions carefully to sign in.

Free survey tools on the Internet

There are a few tools that you can use to develop your surveys for your needs analysis.
The most popular one is SurveyMonkey.

The free version has limitations but it may be sufficient for your purpose. If you need more questions, more responses you can purchase the month to month (only for the months that you will need to collect the data) (SELCT). If you want SurveyMonkey to create a report with graphics that you can download, then you need to pay for the one year version (GOLD)
 

A second free option is Surveygizmo

Create a free account

The program is very easy to use and you can see what the survey looks like as you create it

Activities using the word cloud Wordle

is an interesting tool to look at word frequency in texts. You can type words or you can copy texts and paste them to create a Wordle. The larger the words, the more frequent in the text.

 

Go  to Wordle.net and click on CREATE

The type your text or paste it here (Ctrl+v) after you have copies from a document, pdf or website (Ctrl+c). Then click GO

 

You can change the font, the color and the Layout of your Wordle, and then you can save your Wordle as a PNG and use it in a document, proyect it in the class, insert in your blog, etc.

Stop those related videos at the end of your video

Watch this video to learn how to stop realted videos to appear at the end of your video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZXVd_Rjm_s

Google Hangouts in Google +

What is it?

It is a space from Google to meet via video connection with other people that have Google+ accounts and are part of your circle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo390-3ohW4

I want to Hangout! What do I need?

There are several ways to get to your Hangout area. Here is one:

1-   You need a Google account [Your @hawaii.edu will not work]

2-   Once you have a Google account you need Google+ à Click on the very left item of the black bar at the top of your Google account +YOU 

3-   Fill up the information and add the people that you want to your circle

  

 You can also find Google + by going to the last item of the menu on the black bar and choose MORE. If you don’t see Google, then click EVEN MORE and find it on the opening page.

 

4-   Once you have created your + account and have a few people in your circle, then you can start a

Hangout

 

You will see all your friends and you can select who you want to include in your Hangout (as well as you camera on the bottom of the screen). Green dots show who is connected. Click on their images and start the conversation. You can have up to 9 people on a Hangout but it is not recommendable J

What can I do with it?

It works for almost any activity that you would do in pairs and groups in the language class but the students can do it outside of the class. Interactive collaborative homework!

A few ideas:

•      [Intermediate to advanced] –Telecollaboration- Use Hangouts to connect students in your language class with students in faraway places that speak the L2 to work collaborative in telecollaborative projects. For example:

o  Prepare a trip together

o  Discuss a movie/book that can be found in both languages

o  A number of intercultural activities to discover each others’ cultures (word association, concept comparison, ...)

o  Develop a power point or webpage on a topic/famous person/place/…

o  Anything that students would do otherwise in groups or pairs in the class

•      [Intermediate to advanced] –Culture topics- Ask them to respond and compare questions about culture/art/music (holidays, pop music...).

•      [Intermediate to advanced] – A mystery speaker- Have two or three students connect and interview a

"guest speaker" to practice questions and find out information to then write a biography.

•      [Intermediate] – Gap tasks- Students work in pairs or groups of three. One describes a picture (that

the teacher can send ahead of time or they can draw it themselves) and the other ones draw what it is

being described in the L2. Then they show the result and discuss the differences.

•      [Beginner] - What am I holding in my hand?- Ask one participant to turn off the camera and describe an object in her/his hand and answer questions until one of the other students guess what it is.

•      Other ideas?