A short presentation on web-based resources for EFl teachers

1. Blogs, Wikis, and
Podcast.
Language Learning Resources
University of Caldas
School of Arts and Humanities
Foreign Languages Department
Master in English Language Teaching
Instructor:
Yamith José Fandiño Parra
Presenters:
Paola Andrea Lizarralde Duque
Luz Dary López Chica
Maria Eugenia Martinez Tabares
Luz Alieth Naranjo Cardona

2. Blogs, wikis, and
podcast
✦ Social software
✦ Blogs in language teachings
✦ How to start using blogs with learners
✦ Wikis in language teaching
✦ How to start using a wiki with learners
✦ Podcasts in language teaching
✦ How to create learner podcasts

3. Social Software
“Computer tools which allow people to connect, to
communicate, and collaborate online”.
Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly (86)
Conversational
interaction
Social
networks
Social feedback
groupsIndividuals
Estimates
contribution to a
group
Visible links
between groups
and individuals
Group communication
software

4. Previous knowledge
Match
Blog An audio or video file that is
broadcast via the internet and can be
downloaded
Wiki A web page with regular diary or
journal entries.
Podcast A collaborative web space,
consisting of a number of pages that
can be edited by any user.

5. Blogs

6. Edublogs

7. Blogs in Language
TeachingTutor blog Student blog Class blog
Set homework Personal and family
information (including
photos)
Reactions to a film,
article, class topic,
current affairs.
Provide a summary of
class work
Extra writing practice
on class topics.
Thinks learners
like/don’t like doing in
class.
Provide links to extra
reading/listening
material.
Regular comments on
current affairs.
Class project on any
topic.
Question and answer
(e.g. about grammar,
class work)
Research and present
information on a topic
(e.g. an English
speaking country).
Exam/Study tips A photo-blog on
learners’ country, last
holiday.

8. Advantages and
Disadvantages of blogs
Advantages
“Real-world” tool to practice
English
Opportunity of interacting
with other students
It is publicly available on the
internet
Comments can be selected
only for invited members
Disadvantages
It is time demanding editing
students writings
Students can feel insecure due
to the public accessible.
Teachers need to establish a
clear rubric to assess the
students entries.

9. How to start using blogs
with learners
• Setting up a sample blog (1-2 hours)
Teacher’s model illuminates ss.Step 1
• Setting up student blog (1 hour)Step 2
• Posting to and visiting blogsStep 3
• Follow-up (2 or 3 hours or several lessons)Step 4

10. Some blog platforms
http://wordpress.org
http://www.blogger.com

11. Set up your own blog
✦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvd7F9Tlvz0&nohtml5=Fals
e

12. What is a wiki ?
✦ A wiki is a Web page that can be viewed and modified by
anybody with a Web browser and access to the Internet.
✦ Wikis are able to incorporate sounds, movies, and pictures;
they may prove to be a simple tool to create multimedia
presentations and simple digital stories.
✦ Open editing.
✦ Non linear structure.
✦ Links pages.

13. Wiki Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
dnL00TdmLY

14. Who’s doing it?
✦ Educators and students, as well as amateurs and
professionals (artists, writers, collectors).

15. Why are the wikis
important?
✦ Collaborative communication tool for developing
content-specific Web sites.
✦ People can address a variety of pedagogical needs
student involvement, group activities, and so on.
✦ Easy access.
✦ Automatically saved.

16. What are the wikis pros
and cons?
✦ It may have some risks.
✦ Time-consuming
✦ Over time, the values, perspectives, and opinions of
its users can become embedded in a wiki.
✦ Bias.

17. Where are they going?
✦ Since wikis are easy to edit, they carry an inherent
potential to change how we construct knowledge
repositories on the Web. Wikis allow groups to
form around specific topics.
✦ The low barrier to entry makes them the equivalent
of shared digital paper—literally anyone with
access to the Web can post, modify, and delete
content on that site.

18. What are the
implications for
teaching and learning?✦ A wiki’s versioning capability can show the evolution of
thought processes as students interact with the site and
its contents.
✦ wikis are being used as e-portfolios, illustrating their
utility as a tool for collection and reflection.
✦ Wikis might also prove to be an ideal vehicle for
soliciting ongoing input for research or projects where
community input can help inform and direct
subsequent investigation.
✦ Wiki enabled projects can provide various levels of site
access and control to team members, offering a fine-
tuning element that enhances the teaching and
learning experience.

19. How to start using a wiki
with learners?
• Preparation before the lesson: Setting up
the first page of a wiki (30-60 minutes).Step 1
• Descriptions: Ss write a description of a
famous person (some factual errors) (1
hour)
Step 2
• Corrections: Allocate one description to
each pair. Edit and correct (1 hour).Step 3
• Alternative: (3 or 4 hours or several
lessons)Step 4

21. Some wikis platforms

22. Podcasts
what is it?
“Podcasting” is a term inspired by Apple Computer Corporation’s iPod-a
portable digital audio player that allows users to download music from
their computer directly to the device for later listening. The term is no
longer specifically related to the iPod but refers to any software and
hardware combination that permits automatic downloading of audio
files (most commonly in MP3 format) for listening at the user’s
convenience.
It differs from broadcasting and Webcasting in the way that content is
published and transmitted via the Web. Instead of a central audio stream,
podcasting sends audio content directly to an iPod or other MP3 player.
“Podcasting’s essence is about creating content (audio or video—
vodcasts) for an audience that wants to listen when they want, where
they want, and how they want.”*

23. Who is doing it?
✦ Podcasting can involve practically anyone with an Internet
connection. With its roots in the blogging world, part of the
appeal of podcasting is the ease with which audio content can
be created, distributed, and downloaded from the Web.

24. How does it work?

26. Why is it significant ?
Allows education to become more portable than ever before. Podcasting
cannot replace the classroom, but it provides educators one more way to
meet today’s students where they “live”—on the Internet and on audio
players.
Barriers to adoption and costs are minimal.
The tools to implement podcasts are simple and affordable.
Podcasting is predicted to soon become a mainstream application, much
like video-on demand recorders (such as TiVo).
Recordings of lectures for those students unable to attend the lecture in
person;
Audio recordings of textbook text by chapter, would allow students to
“read” or review texts while walking or driving to class (significant aid to
auditory learners)

27. What are the downsides of
podcasting?
Users must have sufficient bandwidth to download the podcast.
Beyond access, there are potential issues with the format.
Podcasting is primarily an audio delivery technology and, as such,
has limited usefulness for the hearing impaired.
Podcasting is not designed for two-way interaction or audience
participation. Podcasters are essentially “sound amateurs”
producing and publishing audio feeds.
The quality of speakers’ voices, speech patterns, intonations, and
other sound effects may not be the same as those of a professional
broadcast. Faculty who wish to record their lectures or other
instruction for podcasts may need some training, both in handling
an audio-only medium and using the technology

28. Where is it going?
Podcast enthusiasts see no limit to the potential uses of this
technology, particularly in education, and the number of podcast
aggregators (sites that collect, categorize, and then make available
podcasts for subscribers) is growing. It is possible that specialized
higher education–based aggregators will emerge, offering students
access to missed lectures, instructions for laboratory experiments, and
so forth. Interlacing podcasts with video applications—listening to a
podcast while viewing related material on the Web—is another area of
experimentation in education.

29. What are the
implications for
teaching and learning?Podcasting allows students to use their technology-based entertainment
systems (iPods, MP3 players) for educational experiences.
Students are already familiar with the underlying technology, podcasting
broadens educational options in a nonthreatening and easily accessible
manner. For example, podcasting allows lectures or other course content to
be made available to students if they miss class.
Podcasting can provide access to experts through interviews. Podcasting is
not limited to content delivered to the student, however; students can
create their own podcasts—as a record of activities, a way to collect notes,
or a reflection on what they have learned

32. let’s go to…
More info…

33. Conclusions

34. References
✦ Dudeney, Gavin & Hockly, Nicky. Blogs, wikis, and
podcasts. How to teach English with technology,. Pp
86-102
✦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY
✦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvd7F9Tlvz0&n
ohtml5=False