Week 5 Assignment 1 Games, Simulations, and Virtual Environments

Games, Simulations, and Virtual Environments

This week, I want to introduce a virtual environment and a game that have the potential to enhance adult education. Second Life is available on http://secondlife.com/, and the Restaurant Game can be reached via http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/restaurantgame.htm.

Second Life is an online virtual world. Everyone can create an avatar by entering the site for free and start exploring this world. It is not a game, but more of an online social environment to meet people and visit places. Users can get as creative as they can while creating their avatar and their virtual home. I selected this medium because learners can practice English while communicating with their classmates or strangers in a relaxed environment that does not involve competition. To incorporate this technology into my professional practice, I would inform the learners that are at intermediate level and above in the Preparatory Program about Second Life and encourage them to join it. Then, I would start a Second Life Fun Club, which learners can join as an extra-curricular activity, after class hours. I would have scheduled meetings with the learners there, to assign them specific tasks every week, such as “visit London and note down the most interesting person you met there”. In our next meeting, learners would describe this person. Another way I would use it is to ask my learners to reflect on their experiences in Second Life, comparing them to their real life. I would ask them to write a weekly reflection and submit it to me. I think learners who volunteer to join this club would benefit from this experience tremendously because they would be practicing English in a real-like environment according to their preferences. I would just be there to guide them in this adventure. The website http://www.avatarlanguages.com/teaching/virtualworld.php offers more ideas for using Second Life for educative purposes for those who are interested.

The Restaurant Game is great for English language learners to learn about the British culture. The player acts as a newly employed waiter at the Brit Café, who is trying to serve customers the right food. The menu consists of traditional British food, and the main aim is to familiarize the player with these dishes. There are three categories in the menu: starters, main course, and pudding and each has a number of scenarios in it once you click. I selected this game because I think it is important for learners of English to learn about the culture of the language they are studying, and food is a big part of the culture. I could use this game in class in my lessons for teaching purposes or I could assign certain scenarios as homework for my learners to learn some meals by exploring themselves, depending on how independent my learners are. I could test their achievement by giving them a quick True/False test in class. Another way of incorporating this game into my teaching is to turn certain scenarios into role-play activities in class. I could assign a different scenario to pairs of learners and ask them to learn every food on their menu. Then, in class, pairs could act out this scenario. I think this game is a fun way to teach learners of English about the British culture, and it could be integrated into the lesson in many ways.

Week 4 Assignment 1 Mobile Learning Technologies

Mobile Learning Technologies

The mobile learning technologies that I want to introduce are two applications available in iTunes App Store. Flashcards Deluxe can be viewed and downloaded on iPhone and iPad from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards-deluxe/id307840670?mt=8 and Notes Plus can be viewed and downloaded on  iPad from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notes-plus/id374211477?mt=8

Flashcards Deluxe is designed for both iPhone and iPad. It is not free, but it is not expensive; it costs $3.99, and there is a lite version available, which is free. This application is great because, as well as creating their own flashcards within the application, the users can download 4 million+ flashcard sets from Quizlet.com and FlashcardExchange.com easily. This application can especially benefit language learners. They can practice vocabulary, grammar, listening and speaking (there is a text to speech audio in 18 languages), and spelling in a fun way. I could incorporate this technology into my professional practice in a number of ways. In my reading lessons, before studying a text, I could assign a number of words from the text to each learner, which they should learn at that level. Each learner then would prepare flashcards for his words using Flashcards Deluxe. We would set some standards for this; for instance, all learners will include the part of speech, meaning, other forms of the word and an example sentence for each word that they are assigned. Then, learners can present and share their flashcards in class, and everyone in class will be responsible for learning these words. I would also benefit from this application to improve my learners’ spelling. Turkish learners usually have difficulty learning the spelling of English words, and they generally need extra practice in this area. I would record a list of commonly misspelled words that we studied, like acquire, conscious, foreign, and the like, and send it to my learners to upload on their application. Then, they would listen to them on their headphones in class and try to write them with the correct spelling. I could do this in class as a practice activity or as an exam.

Notes Plus is designed only for iPad and is not cheap; it costs $7.99, but the excellent ratings and the customer reviews it has received show that it is worth the price. Users of this application can handwrite smoothly using their fingers, mix handwriting with typed text, record audio while taking notes, import a PDF file, and insert images easily. My learners could use this application to take notes in class. While I am teaching grammar or writing, my learners either stop listening to me and start copying what they see on the board or they focus on listening to me but fail to take notes, so they do not remember anything the next day. Notes Plus is a perfect solution for this. My learners can record my voice and take a picture of what is on the board and take notes on it at the same time. This would give them both the audio and the visual account of the lesson, so when they go home, they can easily revise what was studied. I can also make use of this application in my reading lessons. Once my learners upload the text that we will study in class onto this application, they do not need to bring their textbooks to class. Then, they can practice reading for main ideas, skimming/scanning a text, reading for details easily. For instance, they can highlight the main idea of the text in yellow, underline the places X visited, order the jumbled paragraphs, make inferences by taking notes in the margins, and the like. When they do these on a printed text, it gets messy after a point, but with this application, they can use different colors, fonts, handwriting, and other features for every type of question, so it would look more organized.  

Week 3 Assignment 1 Social Networking Technologies

Social Networking Technologies

The two social networking technologies that have the potential to enhance adult education, which I want to introduce are Edublogs and Wikispaces.

As the name suggests, Edublogs (http://edublogs.org/) is an education blogging service. In addition to blogging, learners can participate in discussions, post videos, podcasts and documents, and create their own class publication. I have selected this technology because it is designed for educational purposes, so it does not include any advertisements or inappropriate content; it is easy to use; and it offers a variety of learning tools. I might incorporate this technology to my professional practice by creating a class on the page. This would enable me to monitor every entry that my learners make to their blogs and their peers’ blogs. I would give my learners weekly assignments to prepare and post on their blog, related to the content we cover in class. They would also be responsible for reading a selection of their peers’ blogs and commenting at least on two of them. I would grade these entries and give my learners feedback on a weekly basis. Another way I would incorporate this technology into my teaching is by asking my learners to download the IOS or Android application on their mobile phones. Then, I would give them short homework tasks, such as “Report the most delicious food you have had today” or “Write about the most boring part of your day” and ask my learners to write short entries on their blogs for these, using their mobile phones. This would improve their fluency in using the language, since they would not have the time to plan their writing, and it would be fun to read one another’s entries.

Wikispaces Private Label Education (http://www.wikispaces.com/) allows schools to create their own space, but it is also possible for instructors to start with their own classroom wiki on Wikispaces. Through a wiki, learners can easily add and edit written work, as well as sharing ideas, photos, links, and the like. I have selected Wikispaces, because it can be reached on every device, it enables the addition of widgets, it has a discussion board, it logs every change made onto a document, and it has adjustable permissions, so the educator can control who sees what. I have been using this technology in my writing courses to encourage collaborative learning. It works well, especially with projects where I assign my learners to gather information from various sources. I provide them the link of articles and videos on the wiki, and assign my learners different parts of each source. Then, I give them the essay topic and ask my learners to share the parts of their source that they feel are important and can be used when writing this essay. They all comment on one another’s notes, add, edit, or delete them. Once they are comfortable with the information they will use, they write their essays individually and share them on the wiki. The second way I incorporate this technology into my teaching is by engaging my learners in peer feedback. Once every learner shares his/her essay, I ask my learners to read at least two of their peers’ essays and provide feedback according to the criteria discussed beforehand. Learners write their second drafts according to the feedback they receive from their friends and submit me this revised draft. That way, learners become more independent, as they take responsibility of their learning.

Week 2 Assignment 1 Applications and Media Resources

Applications and Multimedia Resources

There is a vast number of applications and multimedia resources available on the Internet. This week, I am going to focus on two of these that have the potential to enhance adult education.

The first one, Interactive English, which is available in the Apple store, is a free application designed both for iPhone and iPad. There is a new edition every month, and it is designed for three distinct levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. I have downloaded it onto my iPad to see what the November edition includes. In this edition, for basic level learners, there are some interactive vocabulary exercises related to ages and a basic news story; for intermediate level learners there are some interactive vocabulary exercises related to remembering and an intermediate news story; and for advanced level learners there are some interactive vocabulary exercises related to groups and quantities, an advanced news story, and a video discussion. I have selected this technology because it is free, easy to use, and offers materials for English language learners at three levels. I also liked that it offers new materials every month. One way I could incorporate this technology into my professional practice is by assigning the vocabulary exercises as homework. Then, in class, I would ask my learners to produce a dialogue, a paragraph, or a short story (depending on my learners’ level) in pairs, using these words. Another way I would incorporate this technology into my teaching is by assigning my learners to read the news story as homework. Then, in class, I would group my learners and give each group some questions related to the news story to discuss. Finally, I would ask my learners to reflect on the story in written form and submit it to me. You can reach this application by following this link: https://itunes.apple.com/tr/app/interactive-english/id481624098?mt=8

The second technology I have selected is BBC Learning English. This is a wonderful site that offers links to a variety of learning sources, such as blogs, Facebook pages, podcasts, videos, and the like. One reason I liked it is this variety it offers. In addition, it is up-to-date; the links take you to current news. There are many ways I would incorporate this technology into my professional practice. One way would be to assign my learners to do a mini-presentation of something they learn via this page (such as an idiom, news, information about a topic of their interest, and the like) every week. I would not limit them with what to present, because the site offers sources for people with various interest areas. I think my learners would enjoy to learn about something they are interested in and to share this with their peers. Another way I would use it is to ask my learners to communicate with other learners around the world, using the “Community” link. Once they follow this link and sign in, my learners will be able to make a new entry and write a comment to another learner’s entry. I would ask my learners to make two contributions to this discussion board every week, as a part of our course. This would give them a chance to establish genuine communication with other learners of English. You can explore this site by following this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

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