Voice Thread Presentation - Distant Learners' needs and teacher's responses

Our group topic:

What specific needs does a distant learner have? What specific skills does a teacher need in an online environment to meet the needs of students?

Group members: 

Glen, Amanda, Sandra, & Trang (group leader)

Link to Voicethread: 

http://voicethread.com/?#u3795256.b5877175.i30146971

Collaboration work: 

We started with deciding the amount of content (number of slides) for the presentation and who would be in charge of which part. We decided to have 2 pairs to focus on 2 questions and then we would meet up online to look at the whole content together and decide on the presentation format. Glen and I worked on the same question 1 except we focused on 2 different interpretations: 1) characteristics of a successful distant learner and 2) extra difficulties that a distant learner might encounter compared to a traditional one. Amanda and Sandra's tasks were to provide responses on the teacher's standpoint on the 2 interpretations of question 1.

What we did during the online meeting on Google + Hangout included content revision, citation, format, and to make sure the 2nd question is really responsive to the 1st one.

Experience with Voice Thread:

I didn't struggle that much with Voicethread maybe because I did the basic things and follow the tutorials. I like the various options for giving comments, especially the recording one. You can record, save it if you like it, cancel and do it again if you're not happy with it. All happen in a blink on the spot. I also like the sharing setting features of Voicethread that you can decide to allow the people you invite to view, edit, or add slides to your presentation.

I will have to learn more about Voice Thread to know its negative sides.

Possible Voice Thread educational use: 

I can imagine using it quite regularly as a supplement of in-class lecture that needs more focus in case the students want the instruction or part of the lecture again.

I think it can also be a very good tool to provide feedback to students' graded performance.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Tool Review

https://cacoo.com/diagrams/

A picture is worth a thousand words. A picture-like visual presentation of information with short, precise text is probably worth more. Diagrams have been appreciated for a long time for its power to demonstrate user’s creative and critical thinking. The diagrams creation tools which are now added with collaboration features have had a higher contribution in the dynamic, fast-pace learning environment. Cacoo is tool like that. It is a web-based diagram creation tool that allows many people to work together simultaneously on the same diagram in real time. Diagrams can be published directly to websites, wikis, and blogs. 

Description

Simply with a browser, Cacoo enables you to create and insert beautiful diagrams easily into an online document and modifications will appear instantly and most recent version of the diagram is always displayed. Features that Cacoo offers to its users can be categorized into 1) Diagram creation and 2) collaboration in which you will find detailed description below.

Features

Creating a diagram is very easy. You don’t need any extra 
downloads or any supplement software to run the tool. 
All you need is to drop a stencil you like and finish up the 
diagram with connectors if necessary.

The options for the stencils are various and serve multiple purposes. As long as you have an image in mind that you want it to be visualize, making it happen on Cacoo is a piece of cake.

Cacoo also enables you to draw a balanced diagram easily by aligning and distributing nearby objects automatically and evenly.

You can also view the history of your diagram 
creation in which modifications are highlighted.

Diagrams created on Cacoo can be embedded 
in your blog or Wiki in PNG format. If you edit 
the diagram on Cacoo, the embedded image will be converted automatically. 



.

Diagrams can also be exported into PDF or SVG which can be printed out or re-edited on other graphic editors later.

You can also share your diagram with anyone you want by choosing the privacy setting. Your diagram can be shared public where everyone can have access to and edit it, or it can only be viewed by invited people on your list.

Cacoo enables collaboration and communication among the invited audience. Users can edit the diagram simultaneously in real time and communicate with each other by posting their comments or chatting. 

How - to

Step 1: Create New Diagram

Step 2: Create a Folder

Step 3: Create a Shared Folder

Step 4: Share a Diagram with your friends

Step 5: Set your icon

Strength and Weakness

Cacoo tool obviously offers a lot to its users compared to other concept mapping tools (Mind Map, Inspiration): aligning the objects, diagram creation history, embedded pictures online in various formats and the advanced strength is to allow collaboration among the users.

Cacoo does have some requirements for the system but I don’t think these are the weakness of the tool.

• Processor: 2.5 GHz or more
•  Memory: 4GB or more
• Storage: 100GB or more (Note: The storage space required will vary according to the number and size of your diagrams.)

One last thing: Cacoo does offer 2 types of accounts: Cacoo regular and Cacoo Enterprise. Cacoo regular runs on an ASP framework where all users are sharing an identical server through the Internet. Cacoo Enterprise allows users to install Cacoo on their own server, giving them control over the access to the network, set rules on how Cacoo is used or how diagrams are save according to the network’s security requirements. And Cacoo Enterprise is not free. Cacoo Enterprise Annual User License corresponds with the number of users in the organization. 

Use of Zimmer Twins to facilitate foreign language learning

Why is the study important?

Encouraging young students to express their thoughts and ideas in a creative and innovative way is an important task of K-12 teachers, especially primary school teachers. Kids explore and learn in an amazingly fast speed if they are facilitated to do so. One of the tools that can really empower young learners’ creativity and innovation is Zimmer Twins, tool for creating one’s own story. It is a site devoted to kids who want to create and share their animated digital story.

I would like to investigate the use of Zimmer Twins in a foreign language classroom, specifically in a Basic English class. It is important for any language learners to be able to express their inner self and ideas/concepts innovatively and uniquely in the target language. I would like to find out how they would do this conversationally and narratively through hands-on experience with this tool.

Who are the subjects/participants of the study?

Even Zimmer Twins is specially designed for students of 8-14 years of age; however, this study will take students’ English language proficiency as a moderator variable. Therefore, participants’ age can be of a wide range, as long as they are foreign speakers of English and their English proficiency level are intermediate.

This will be an experimental study. Participants will be divided into control and treatment groups who both receive the same content instruction. The difference is, control group will be asked to do and submit assignments in a traditional way whereas treatment group will carry out their assignments using Zimmer Twins after being trained on how to use the tool.

What is/are the basic research question/s?

Is Zimmer Twins an effective tool to promote English conversational and narrative writing among language learners?

Where would the study be conducted?

In a foreign language classroom, intermediate level, focus on skills (reading, writing, listening) development.

What is the time frame of the study?

2 months of Basic English, focus on skills development

What type of data would be collected?

The assignments are to produce conversational or narrative writings on the topics of instruction (i.e. tenses in English, unconditional sentences, English verbs of motion, state, think, English adjectives, etc.)

Data to be collected would be

·         Writing pretest scores

·         Writing posttest scores

·         Survey about students’ experience with Zimmer Twins (treatment group)

How might the data be analysed?

Pretest scores will be compared with posttest ones to find out whether there is a significant difference in the performance between the control and treatment group.

Survey result analysis would be used to explore treatment group’s experience with the tool, and to help explain the difference in the two group’s performance (if any).

Inspired by the following source:

Admin, (2014), iLearn Technology, an edublog about integrating technology into the classroom, retrieved from http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=2180

Creativity Tool Review

http://zimmertwinsatschool.com/

Encouraging young students to express their thoughts and ideas in a creative and innovative way is an important task of K-12 teachers, especially primary school teachers. Kids explore and learn in an amazingly fast speed if they are facilitated to do so. One of the tools that can really empower young learners’ creativity and innovation is Zimmer Twins, tool for creating one’s own digital story.

Description:

Zimmer Twins is a site devoted to kids who want to create and share their animated digital story. The Zimmer Twins is the brainchild of Jason Krogh, founder of Zinc Roe design. Jason set out a tool that allowed kids to use their imagination and exercise their storytelling powers. Jason teamed up with director Aaron Leighton, who developed the characters and designed the visual styles for the stories.

The Zimmer Twins was launched in 2005 and selected movies from the TELETOON site. Their next partners were ABC in Australia, and qubo/NBC in the U.S.

The unique feature of the Zimmer Twins format is it combines online participants with broadcast delivery. Children are invited to create and share up to 1 minute movie using a story editor and a library of animation. Kids tell their stories by choosing actions, characters, and background for each of the scene. The scene can be inserted, deleted or its order can be altered in the series. They can also add their own dialogue and on-screen texts. New clips can be added, or removed from an existing one.

Additional download/ installation/skills

No downloads or additional installation is needed in order to use Zimmer Twins. As many other Web 2.0 Tools, users (kids from 8-17 or adults) would need an account. Their usernames will be displayed on the story when it’s broadcasted.

No specific skills are required in order to use this tool.

How to make a movie on Zimmer Twins: http://zimmertwinsatschool.com/movie/howto

And here is the most simple movie that I created using 3 types of animation. http://zimmertwinsatschool.com/node/103841

Application scenario

I believe there’s a wide range of instructional applications of Zimmer Twins, just as digital storytelling can be applied to various teaching subjects. Story creating on Zimmber Twins seems simple, but requires and allows a lot of creativity, and thus autonomy, imagination and independent thinking from the students on the go.

I would use this tool in a Basic English language class. A snapshot example would be in a basic grammar class about tense in English in integration to conversational or narrative writing. Teachers can ask students to create a 1 minute story of what they dreamed the night before, including dialogues of the characters in their dreams (if teaching Simple Past Tense), or a most unrealistic thing that they can imagine (teaching Unconditional Sentences), etc, for example.

Would I recommend this tool?

Absolutely!

Tool Review Module 1 - DotSUB

Name of the Tool Review: DotSUB

URL of the Tool: http://dotsub.com/about

Primary category for this tool: Communication Tool but it can also be Presentation Tool

Tool Description

Dotsub is web-based used for creating and viewing subtitles for videos in multiple languages across all platforms and mobile devices. By this, it means one can upload a video of her own, or share a URL of an existing video for capturing and translation. The video can be translated from or into any languages of your choice provided you are equipped to type the target language (for example, you need Unikey software that allows you to type Vietnamese with diacritic marks).

Dotsub basically is very easy to use and require no additional downloading or installation for the tool to work. Dotsub allows you to do two major things: 1) to transcribe and allow caption to appear on the screen as the video goes, and/or 2) to translate and show the caption in the target language.

Steps to dotSUB:

1. Upload videos to dotSUB:

- Sign in or first create an account

- Click on “Upload your video”, decide on the license language, genre and how you want to share your video (public or private)

- Decide further on “Video Properties” as you wish and click “save”

2. Capture videos on dotSUB

- Be sure you are logged in

 

- Click on “Caption” option

- Hit “CTRL + SHIFT + P” to start and stop the video, or simply hit the “Play” button.

- Type what you hear in the box, then hit CTRL + SHIFT + ↓ to enter the "out" point for this caption line. (You will notice that the 00:00 numbers to the left of the caption line box change when you do this. Then hit the "enter" key. You will see the line you just typed move up in the cue, and this will save your work).

- Repeat the procedure for every caption line whose length is up to your choice.

- To set the in point for a caption line you can hit CTRL + SHIFT + ↑. 

- To rewind 1 second hit CTRL + SHIFT + ←,

- For higher speed rewind, hit CTRL + SHIFT + ← for a few times or hold the ←  arrow

Tips:

Try to keep the captions to 2 lines. 3 lines can sometimes get in the way of the picture. Also, make sure your captions are up for enough time so that the viewer can read them. Once you get the hang of it you'll find it quite easy and even fun!

3. How to translate a video on dotSUB:

- Go to the video and look for the blue "Caption/Translate" tab

- Look for the drop down menu next to the yellow “Translate” button, select the language you want to translate it into and hit the “Translate” button.

- Click on the blue text that says “Click here to translate into [language] under every caption line

Note:

You can translate as many lines at a time as you like, hit the enter key, just be sure to hit “enter” key for your work to be saved.

You can go “back to video” to see your translation against the video and publish the video if you wish.

What do you need to know before using this tool?

- No advanced skilled. As basic skills as hitting the “play” button to start and stop the video, or pull the drop down button.

- You don’t need any additional supplement devices as transcribing and translating the video basically manual work.

I used dotSUB to transcribed, captioned, translated and published the “Intro to Digital Storytelling” video of Dr. Robin (the publishing is just meant to temporarily showcase this assignment. The video will be taken down after this Module). Make sure to choose the language on the CC button so that you can see the caption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4G16EI64f4

Please describe a scenario of how you might use this tool in a teaching environment

Obviously, DotSUB is a great tool to use, especially in a language classroom with low level of language proficiency students. With dotSUB caption in source or translated language, teachers face less limitation on which videos to use and less be headache if the target language is over the top of the students’ command.

dotSUB caption and translated subtitles will also benefit classroom instruction with a variety of students’ learning styles (i.e. a number of students are visual learners who like to see the texts while some others are auditory who want to listen, for example).

DotSUB also directly benefit language learners in developing their two language skills (reading and listening) simultaneously, especially with challenging materials.

And yes, in the time of MOOCs, captioned and translated videos help to decrease the language barriers and thus attract a bigger group of global audience. As dotSUB slogan says “a localized video is a smart video”.

Disadvantages of using this tool in a formal or informal teaching environment

However, risk or negative consequence of using dotSUB can derive from one of its own advantages, that is, it can hinder language learners from striving to obtain the target language through listening, for example if/when subtitles are provided. Or, it will be less work than necessary for the students to digest the target language if the translation is provided. However, this disadvantage isn’t always the case. It is only disadvantageous when the students could process the language alone without the need to be supported with captions or translation.

Would you recommend this Web 2.0 tool to others, or suggest that they explore a

different tool?

Absolutely! 

Promote Learning with ePals

Effects of Using ePals SchoolMail365 to Supplement Social and Language Studies

Background

ePals is intended to be used for and by K-12 students in the classroom and at home with innovative web-based tools and digital media on the Web. The idea is to create real world, culturally-enriching learning experiences for the students involved by matching classroom students of different languages and cultures to work on a project together. For example, a high school class studying Vietnamese in the U.S. can connect with a class studying English in Vietnam to do cultural, historical, and language exchanges authentically; or to work on a project together.

SchoolMail365 is a safe and protected space for students to interact with each other. Educators can manage and monitor what students see, whom they communicate with and how they interact.

This proposed case study would seek to examine connections between a diverse high-school student-body in an American classroom with a Vietnamese high school classroom from a prestigious high school (where majority students can speak fluent English). The study would be aimed to look at the following aspects: 1) topical knowledge; 2) technological issues; 3) culture-derived communication issues; 4) written English language proficiency; and 5) critical thinking.

Importance

This particular study will look into the perceived effects of a one-to-one, authentic cultural and language exchanges between the two groups of participants under the 5 above factors. The ultimate goal of this proposed study is to encourage students’ a proactive approach to learning and promote authentic learning and information exchange beyond the classroom. It is important to find out what role each of the five factors above plays in the learning procedure, and to detect any possible barriers to this learning process.

Participants

Approximately 30 American and 30 Vietnamese high school students

Prerequisites

Students have access to the internet at school and at home

Qualified written English language command

Research question

Is ePals SchoolMail365 an effective tool to promote language and culture exchange among the American and Vietnamese high school students?

Setting/Procedure

Participants will take part in the learning exchange for 2 months using ePals SchoolMail365 under their teachers’ supervision. Connections among teachers on both ends are mandatory. Topical knowledge is supposed to be current and under control and there is a need to assure the content of the email exchange is appropriate.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data for analysis include two parts of students’ performance after the experiment: 1) students’ exchange emails on the assigned topics of the project, and 2) students’ presentation on the topic at the end of the experiment.

Inspiration for the Study

Korycinski, J. (2001). Promoting Learning with ePals: A Case Study (A diverse Florida classroom connects with European peers). Retrieved from http://images.epals.com/downloads/esm_case_study.pdf

http://www.epals.com/#!/info/about/

About me

So, this is me, one official name and a number of nick names, but please call me Trang! :-) Welcome to my blog!

I got an MA degree in ESL in 2010 and did a number of things that I really appreciated doing before coming back to America for my doctoral degree, i.e. Taught college writing for a year in the States after graduation, saved enough to travel for a few months in Europe and in South East Asia, and taught English for a hotel and resort group in Vietnam.

I love traveling as you can tell, to learn as I go about different cultures and peoples. And I do love nature and national parks. I am an outdoor person but I can also stick on my desk for 3 nights in a row (used to do so when I wrote my MA thesis) if I have to.

I deeply enjoyed being a teacher of English, but as I realized my passion could be extended, I decided to go for an educational technology degree. I believed when I decided for it that this would broaden my job horizon (since I never see myself doing one single job for the rest of my life) a great deal and support my original interest in English language teaching technologically. Sure it has! My current job as a graduate assistant is to work on our MOOCs projects, support the Joint Master program and to teach linguistics courses at the same time. I am very grateful to my LDT professors for the opportunity to do all these.

My next career goal includes working in the academic field. I want to become a professor, preferably in a dynamic, multicultural university environment.

Thanks for reading!