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Syllabus
Description
Webheads in Action is a long-standing community of practice of language teachers worldwide, coordinated by Vance Stevens. In the Becoming a Webhead workshop, which is an introduction to Webheads in Action, we explore Web communication tools and share the best ways of using them in our teaching practices, engage with students in virtual classes, collaborate in projects, and participate in conferences as audience and presenters. This collaboration takes place online, as we are all geographically apart. Would you like to join us?
Objectives
At the end of the 5 weeks participants, collaboratively and hands on, will have...
- used various synchronous and asynchronous Web tools for learning and teaching EFL/ESL,
- interacted through e-mail, text chat, voice chat, voice and video mail, and distribution lists, among others,
- created wikis, blogs, podcasts and interactive exercises related to their own contexts, and,
- reflected on ways of applying those tools to their teaching, either online or face-to-face.
Weekly chats will be held to discuss content and pre-defined topics, build rapport and create a sense of community.
Former and very active BaW participants, some of whom are now active members of Webheads in Action, will moderate the 5 weeks of our session.
Much of the content derived from the discussions will be made available through a wiki created during the five weeks, which will be kept online for future reference.
At the end of the session participants will be invited to join the Webheads in Action (WiA) community of practice.
Target audience
ESL/EFL teachers interested in using Web communication tools in their teaching, be it exclusively online or blended into face-to-face teaching.
Level: False Beginners.
Requirements: Have an e-mail account and Internet access, and familiarity with browsers and Web navigation. Have a headset with mic is advisable for the live sessions.
Interest Section (Sponsor)
TESOL CALL-IS
Weekly content
Week 1
Getting acquainted with Yahoo Groups. Introductions.
Participants will introduce themselves to the group, get acquainted with the Yahoo Groups platform and interact with one another through the mailing list. During the week, we will have our first "live session" at the Webheads Elluminate vRoom to show you around our Yahoo Group and our PBworks wiki.
Guest presenter: Fernanda Rodrigues, Teresa Almeida d'Eça & Vance Stevens
Venue: Webheads Elluminate vRoom
Week 2
Synchronous and asynchronous communication tools: Text /Audio/Video
Participants will have the opportunity to chat with other Webheads through different synchronous media such as Yahoo Messenger and Skype. During these chats they will learn how to use the many powerful features of each of these environments, such as voice chat and webcam-enhanced chat. Video email will be introduced through tools such as Eyejot and Winkball. Regarding asynchronous tools, participants will explore several podcast providers (Podomatic, Viewpoint, Podbean, Audiopal, Audioboo, Voxopop, and VoiceThread) to create their own podcasts and add them to the wikis/blogs they will create the following week.
Guest presenter: Michael Coghlan
Venue: tba
Week 3
Building an online presence: Blogs and wikis.
Participants will be introduced to blogs and wikis. They will explore different blog providers (Blogger, Wordpress, Edublogs) and wiki providers (PBworks, Wikispaces, Wetpaint) to start their own sites. Participants will also use slide/photo sharing applications (VoiceThread, Flickr, Photopeach, Slideshare and Animoto, among others) to create content and add it to their blogs/wikis. They will also touch on Social Networking (e.g. microblogging through Twitter) as part of building an online presence. Participants will create a blog or a wiki to keep track of the activities developed during this session, and will also create a Twitter account and embed a Twitter widget in their blog/wiki.
Guest presenter: Graham Stanley
Venue: Webheads Elluminate vRoom
Week 4
Developing class materials: interactive exercise creators.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore different online exercise makers and create their own materials for their classes using software such as HotPotatoes, Quizlet, Crossword Compiler and Educaplay, among many others. They will then link or embed their exercises in their wiki/blog.
Guest presenters: Arjana Blazic & Claudio Azevedo
Venue: Webheads Elluminate vRoom
Week 5
Online and Blended Learning: Wrap-up. Conclusions and Evaluation. Graduating as a Webhead in Action.
Participants will share reflections about "online and blended learning" and arrive at the main conclusions about the online Web communication tools explored and their role in language learning. Participants will also give feedback about the session. To wrap up these five weeks, there will be a "Graduation Ceremony" live session during which participants will be invited to join the "Webheads in Action" community.
Guest Presenters: Rita Zeinstejer, Rubena St. Louis, Ayat Tawel, Maria Bossa, Marijana Smolcec & Claudia Carril
Venue: Webheads Elluminate vRoom
Readings
There will be suggested readings for each week.
BaW Team
Coordinators
Teresa Almeida d’Eca, Dafne Gonzalez, Fernanda Rodrigues and Larissa Olesova
Moderators
Previous participants of BaW sessions will moderate each of the weeks of the session.
Communication tools to be used
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Session tools |
Some of the tools and sites to be introduced |
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Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baw2013 |
Audiopal: http://www.audiopal.com/ |
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Box (online file storage): http://www.box.net/ |
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Dropbox (online file storage): http://www.dropbox.com/ |
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Delicious (bookmarking): http://delicious.com/ |
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Learning Times (vClass): http://learningtimesevents.org/webheads/ |
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PBworks (wiki): http://pbworks.com |
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Podomatic (podcasting): http://www.podomatic.com/ |
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Podbean (podcasting): http://www.podbean.com/ |
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Skype (chat): http://www.skype.com/ |
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Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/ |
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Voxopop: http://www.voxopop.com/ |
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Yahoo Messenger (chat): http://messenger.yahoo.com/ |