Teaching With Technology: Plan B

Teaching With Technology Plan B Sue Lyon-Jones ESOL Courses.com

Teaching With Technology… The What’s Big Deal? Why is it that some teachers are reluctant to use technology in their lessons?

All technology breaks down … sometimes You would never hear a teacher saying “I’m never going to use a photocopier again. They’re unreliable!”

“ As teachers, we need basic troubleshooting skills ” Nicky Hockly, IATEFL 2011 You don’t need to be an expert in using technology; you only need to understand the basics of the technology you plan to use, and have a back up plan for if things go wrong.

If we are promotinglearner autonomy… Then we should be practicing teacher autonomyAs teachers, we need to stop waitingfor people to fix things for us and getproactive!

Effective Preparation• Check out the equipment in your classroom• Make sure you understand the basics of how it works• Check any equipment/software you plan to use before your lesson, to make sure it’s working

• Prepare a cheat sheet – print it out laminate it, and have it handy• Make sure you know who to call if the tech breaks down• Establish a good relationship with your tech support people

Com mon issues: No InternetPossible solutions …

Pre-load any mediayou plan to use inyour browser,before the lesson

Use your phone to connectto the Internet… …or buy a dongle

Image credit: Graham Stanley

ICT UnpluggedInvolve learners and use their expertiseUse tech fails as an opportunity to exploit language that emergesFor example: to learn parts of computer, related grammar, etc

Or stick to the well trodden path… and prepare activities to use if things don’t go as planned

Faff FillersFind someone who… Has a smart phoneand…ask them to show you what it can do.

Badly Behaved Browsers

Com mon issues: “I sometimes haveproblems playing files due to missing plug-ins ”

Com mon issues:“I share a classroom, and other people keep changing the browser settings” (how very dare they!)

One way around this… use portable applications

Mozilla Firefox Portable… Install onto a USB memory stick and take your browser settings and plugins with you, wherever you go!

Video Download HelperMozilla Firefox plug-in which enables you todownload videos and save them as .flv files(though be mindful of copyright issues!)

Free FLV PlayerInstall onto a USB memory stick, launchFLV player, and then drag .flv files into theplayer window to watch the video

Replay ConverterAnother useful free tool, for convertingbetween different audio & video fileformats

Com mon issues: Blocked Sites

One solution… use proxy serversExample: use Jogtheweb.com to bookmarksites you plan to use in lessons – getsaround site blocking in some situations

Free Offline Tools: BloggingThingamablog can be used to create offlineblog pages which can be saved and uploadedlater, if required

Demo page example:

A word of caution: Assume nothing!

Yay!!!!Don’t assume a tool will work without aninternet connection because the website youdownloaded it from says it will…

Grrrrr!!!!Make sure you test any offline tools you planto use in the classroom beforehand, to doublecheck that they will work as you expected!

Free Offline Tools: WikisTiddlyWiki is a free app for creating Wikisthat can be installed on your computer orUSB memory stick, for offline use

Free Offline Tools: Songsmith Microsoft Songsmith is free for educators and really simple to use. Tap into your student’s creativity and get them writing song lyrics!

Full-on Tech Fail?Don’t sweat it! Give into the inevitable andeither go with the flow, or switch to using anoffline Plan B.

Thank you for listening! Sue Lyon-Jones sue.lyon-jones@esolcourses.com Website Esol Courses - Free English Lessons Online http://www.esolcourses.com/ Blogs Free English Lessons Online – Blog http://esolcourses.blogspot.com/ Teaching Blog http://the-pln-staff-lounge.blogspot.com/ Teaching With Technology Blog http://edtech-hub.blogspot.com/ Facebook Esol Courses http://www.facebook.com/esolcourses Twitter Teachers http://twitter.com/esolcourses Students http://twitter.com/english247

Image CreditsSnake TMBhttp://media.photobucket.com/image/the%20matrix/snakeTMB/matrix-animated.gif?o=11ar.go.nauthttp://www.flickr.com/photos/argonauta/2182096218/Morguefilehttp://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/682363Graham Stanleyhttp://blog-efl.blogspot.com/Simonsbathhttp://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/445738CHEEZburgerhttp://icanhascheezburger.com/

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Teaching With Technology: Plan B

by esolcourses on Apr 28, 2011

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