The document presents a detailed agenda for a workshop on using social software for language learning, emphasizing the transition from traditional computer-based interaction to collaborative online communication. It discusses various types of social software tools, their benefits for language learners, and challenges in their application, along with examples of educational activities. Key concepts include the use of blogs, wikis, and content management tools, highlighting their potential for fostering authentic learning experiences and collaborative skills among students.

1. Sarah Guth , English Language Teacher Lisa Griggio , Language Assistant Using Social Software for Language Learning Università degli studi di Padova

2. Agenda 14:00-14:15 Introductions 14:15-15:15 Presentation of social software and tools 15:15-16:15 Group work 16:15-16:45 Coming back together 16:45-17:00 Closing remarks Who you are Where you are from Why you are here

3. Developments in CALL 1990s and the Internet sociocognitive perspective learner centered authentic communication Network Based Language Teaching “ move from learners interaction with computers to interaction with other humans via the computer” (Kern & Warschauer, 2000) e.g. organized telecollaboration using email, forums and videoconferencing systems between language students in different countries

4. The changing nature of knowledge Web 2.0 users produce and share content the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ (Surowiecki, 2005) websites where knowledge and content are created and shared

5. Social Software A generic term used to define different types of software that enable people to collaborate and create and join online communities . The tools can promote different types of communication: many-to-one one-to-many many-to-many share & create content collaboratively create content manage content asynchronous synchronous

6. Social software vs. other CMC tools Enable communication between many people beyond planned classroom activities Provide new ways to share and create content online Enable integration of many different types of media (audio, video, images) Help manage the information overload – building knowledge that fits specific needs They are almost always free and often use remote servers

7. Benefits access and produce real language real audience: increased responsibility new tools: increased autonomy, competence and confidence proactive learning improved information literacy improved reflective and critical thinking skills improved participation literacy potential for informal learning

8. Challenges technical challenges: broadband, computer access, etc. tools don’t necessarily appeal to all students time consuming for students and teachers learning how to effectively collaborate not all tools are stable assessment: process or product? individual or group? teacher needs basic skills in e-tutoring empowering students means teacher giving up control

9. Tools we’re going to look at create share interact find/create read edit del.icio.us 36,478 Google 451,000,000 search save (share) Examples many-to-one many-to-many one-to-many Communication Managing content Collaboratively creating content Creating & sharing content Action

10. Why blogs? Most popular Web 2.0 tool with over 70 million blogs and about 120,000 new blogs being created worldwide each day

11. Blogs and languages English the most even in postings around-the-clock Blogs gaining popularity in many other languages

12. Educational uses of blogs in SLA Example Activity Sts create their own personal blogs Teacher creates a course blog that serves as a virtual meeting place for assigning and completing tasks Sts access blogs of interest to them, read and comment

13. Educational uses of image blogs Example Activity choosing photos from covered by Creative Commons Sts access shared contents to enrich their blogs posting one’s own photos Sts create contents to share and provide peer feedback on discussion groups in Teacher produces contents for sts to interact with

14. Educational uses of audio & video blogs Teacher or sts find interesting videos and discuss them in groups content-based language learning: Teacher and sts produce podcasts Teacher or sts find podcasts; sts listen Podcatchers Example Activity

15. some technical notes… equipment you might need to get started: microphone headphones digital camera for images and video free software: audacity (+ lame encoder) for audio camstudio for screen recording Skype + free recording software Pamela for recording conversations

16. Educational uses of collaborative online editing tools Sts develop a presentation and offer it to peers at a distance using Skype for audio Sts develop a concept map Sts develop a text-based project Document exchange for peer review edutechwiki Sts contribute to an existing wiki Through collective authoring sts create a never-ending shared repository of knowledge in a wiki Example Activity

17. Educational uses of tools for managing/filtering information on the Web playlists in sts keep an eye on each other’s blogs and relevant sites by using feed aggregators diigo sts provide peer feedback on each other’s blogs using social annotation Del.icio.us in bloggingenglish sts use social bookmarking to create a distributed research network Example Activity

18. What do students think? Which of the following tools do you think were the most useful and you will continue to use after graduation?

19. “ The exciting promise of the Web [2.0] is that it offers an environment in which a creative teacher can set up authentic learning tasks in which both processes and goals are stimulating and engaging, and which take individual student differences into account.” Ushi Felix, 2002 Now let’s see how creative you can be!

20. Quick definition: blog A weblog , or blog , is a type of website where entries, often including links to new and useful resources, are displayed in a reverse chronological order . Often thought of as online journals, blogs can actually be quite interactive as entries are open to comments by anyone surfing the Internet. “… writing a weblog appears in the first instance to be a form of publishing, but as time goes by, blogging resembles more and more a conversation.” ( Downes, 2004:24 ) Other types of blog image blogs (i.e.FLICKR) audio blogs ( podcasting i.e.ODEO.COM - PODOMATIC) video blogs ( vlog i.e.OPENVLOG) Often the media can be integrated into a text-based blog!

21. Quick definitions - wiki A wiki (“quick” in Hawaiian) is “a freely expandable collection of interlinked web pages, a hypertext system for storing and modifying information – a database, where each page is easily edited by any user with a forms-capable Web browser client” (Leuf & Cunningham, 2001:14) Anyone can change anything Wiki pages are easy to create and edit Content is ego-less, time-less, never finished (Lamb, 2004: 38) Always online accessible via a web browser A wiki is an effective tool for collaborative authoring and collective learning

22. Quick definitions Rather than having to regularly check websites for updated info, through the use of feeds (RSS, XML, ATOM), updated information is sent to a feed aggregator so you access one source for all updates. Social Annotation is software that allows users to “leave” comments on webpages they visit, so that others visiting the page, and using the same software, can see their comments. Social bookmarking allows users to store, classify, share and search their Internet bookmarks. These websites allow users to classify and search using tags chosen by users.