Wallwisher ---- paper for the web

In this post, I will present:

1. What is Wallwisher
2. How to use Wallwisher
3. Activities you can do with it in ELT
4. The advantages of using it in ELT
5. The pitfalls of applying it in ELT
6. References
7. Links for further reading

1. What is Wallwisher

    Wallwisher is a website where you can build a wall. On the wall, you can add different contents and post written works, pictures, website links, audios and videos. The ones who are given access to the wall can always come back and edict the wall or share the wall via other websites.

2. How to use Wallwisher

   It is a very user-friendly website, it is easy to use! Here is a very clear and detailed demonstration by renowned lecturer  Russell Stannard. 

Please click and watch

3. Activities you can do by Wallwisher in ELT

• Serve as an extending blackboard. It is like an extending blackboard, where students can write while sitting in their own seats at the same time.

• Serve as a notice-board. Teachers can build a wall and put on notices for class and assignment information, for instance, teachers can post curriculum, syllabus, assignment details, etc.

• Gather reflective journals. A wall can be built for teachers and students to share their reflective teaching or learning journals. Or a wall with different links to their reflective journals. It is great that others can view it in the same place.

• Gather online resources. It can serve as a place for sharing online-resources where every number of the class posts useful links and different media such as audios and videos for learning. 

• Assign out-of-class activities. Teachers can extend classroom activities in Wallwisher. For example, teachers can ask students to build up a wall related to the same topic, and later present this wall in the classroom.

• Brainstorming and discussion. Students can do brainstorming and discussions through it in and out of the classroom and can always come back to review other students' ideas.

• Do writing activities. Students can do writing activities in the wall. For example, teachers can ask students to make sentences or write a small paragraph, develop a story.

• Get anonymous advice or feedback. Teachers can embed the wall in their blogs asking for feedback of the lessons. Students can start a wall for asking anonymous advice and suggestions for their questions or assignments.

4. The advantages of using Wallwisher in ELT

• Provide enough space to write. Compare with the traditional way of asking students to come to the blackboard and write things down, writing in Wallwisher, students avoid experiencing some embarrassing situations, such as lacking of space to write things on the blackboard, waiting for others to finish, or finding no chopsticks to write. Wallwisher is efficient and time-saving 

• Lower writing anxiety and boost writing efficiency. As students are writing in their own seats, they don't need to worry about their handwriting, or their appearances. Thus, they feel less anxious about writing and tend to focus more on thinking about what to write.

• Facilitate classroom learning. Because it can be used as a place for gathering online resources, during class teachers can go to their posts and link to the web pages they need for lecturing or arranging interesting activities. 

• Enhance four skills at the same time. When students are grouped together to complete a wall relative to a topic, they cooperate and interact more with each other. It provides more chances for them to practice their English in different ways: listening and speaking to exchange ideas, reading to select useful information, writing to organize thoughts and wall content.

• Increase learners' learning autonomy. When the wall gather to the links to students' homework, it means that not only the teacher can assess  students' work online, but other students can have a look at the work done by others as well. Most students will want to present better homework, and therefore using more time to practice and make more effort to refine their work.

• Foster good communication skills. For task-based activities, such as build up a wall in the classroom. To successfully complete the task in a  limited time, students in a term have to distribute the tasks equally and  communicate effectively. Comparing to the traditional activities, finding information online is a much more complex process, and requires better organization in a term. In the process of doing this activity, students  will unconsciously improve their language communication skills.

5. The pitfalls of applying it in ELT

• Technology support and internet speed. Just like other computer-based activities, the major obstacle of applying it in language teaching still lies in the technology support, such as media equipment, projectors, computers and connection to the internet. For computer-based activities, without a computer, nothing can be completed. Many places in the world, especially in developing countries, a highly equipped media rooms are still not affordable for some schools, let alone families in poverty. Only when we tackle down the technological barrier can we fully enjoy the advantages of applying it in language teaching.

• Content control. If every student has the right to post information on the wall, it is possible that sometimes students may post similar resources or less user-friendly links, and other students may find it less useful to follow the links. In another case, students may post inappropriate contents  and cause cyber bullying, it may be hard for inexperienced teachers to stop cyber bullying as well.

• Layout control. As everybody can post things on it whenever they want, the "wall" may become a bit messy and unattractive. It is a bit time consuming to reorganize the layout of the wall. Another situation is that some students may accidentally delete other students' posts as well, and there is no "undo" button to rectify the mistake.

• Too small wall for a large class. If there are over 30 students in the class, the wall may be too limited space to put on longer posts. 

6. References

No direct citations

7. Links for further reading

1. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/12/wallwisher-brings-the-flexibility-of-notes-on-paper-to-the-web/

2. http://padlet.com/wall/ry8fxw7k9v (a sample of using Wallwisher)

End

Blogger ---- Blogging for ELT

In this post, I will introduce an extremely useful tool for ELT! Actually I am using right now: blogging!

The structure of this post is:

1. What is a blog

2. How to use it

3. Activities you can do with blogging in ELT

4. What are the advantages of applying it in ELT

5. What are the pitfalls of using it in ELT
6. Conclusion
7. References

1. What is a blog

     "A blog is a frequently updated website that often resembles an online journal."1 For people who can get access to the internet, I guess blogs are quite familiar places for them to go to. In a blog, the owner of the blog can write posts, upload different media, such as pictures, photos, audios and videos, provide links to other websites and receive comments from visitors. Because the owner has the right to set the right of accessibility of viewing the content on the blog, a blog can be a private space for expressing ideas and emotion  and it can also become a public place for discussions and debates.

2. How to use it

Step 1  Go to blogger.com and sign up

Step 2 Create a Google account

Step 3 Create a blog

      The following YouTube video is short but very useful. The tutorial gives a clear demonstration for creating a blog. 

Click and learn

Step 4 (optional) Advance setting for your blog

    If you want a super super professional & beautiful blog especially for business reason, this YouTube video can help a lot! It introduces some software you can use to enhance the outlook of your blog! However, you have to pay for the software, plus the video is kinda long :),so skip it, if you don't need it!

3. Activities you can do with blogging in ELT

Aaron Campbell (2003) has outlined three types of blogs for use with language classes2, and different activities can be done through these blogs:

• The Tutor Blog It is usually managed by a teacher only. In this type of blog,teacher publishes materials related to ELT, such as, pre-reading materials for class, curriculum, syllabus, assignments etc. The teacher may also keeps reflective journals and share information for ELT. Visitors to the blog are normally restricted to writing comments or send private letters to the blog owner. As like this blog :)

• The Class Blog It is run by teachers and students together. It is like an extending classroom where teachers and students can share information, post online resources, do brainstorming, update discussion, and keep reflective journals for study.

• The Learner Blog In these blogs, students are in charge. They can do similar activities as teachers do in a tutor's blog, but tend to focus more on their own learning process. It is a private online space for students to continue language learning through writing posts. They can also start a discussion, write down concerns about the course or assignments, keep  reflective learning journals and so on. In this type of blogs, visitors, such as teachers, and other students, can also gain resources and information for ELT, and know more about the student's learning experience as well. It is equally important as the two other blogs. 

3. The advantages of applying it in ELT

• Facilitate classroom learning. As materials, such as pre-reading materials, notices are posted online. In the actual classroom, teachers can save a lot of time and conduct other activities. Also, when teachers start some discussions with students or ask them to conduct small-scale research, students can become more prepared for the coming lessons. In the meanwhile, blogging can push students to further their study after the class as well, because teachers can provide extra reading materials in the blogs.
• Boost efficiency in learning. The internet is like a vast ocean of knowledge. By blogging, both teachers and students can recommend and share useful websites and tools for learning. Traditional reading methods can never compete with visual and audio effect in these websites for learning in many ways. Students may find it more interesting to do self-study by using these resources and thus make the learning result more satisfying.
• Extend teachers' professional knowledge and refine their teaching practice. A teacher can communicate with other teachers from all around the world, sharing ideas and concepts about teaching. The reflective journals of their teaching experiences may become an inspiration for other teachers.    Moreover, they surely come across different difficulties in teaching, their solutions to these problems can be shared as well.
• Serve as a public online bulletin. When information about the class, such as the syllabus and assignments are posted online, students no longer need to worry about forgetting these notices, because they can read the information again through teacher blog. Also students can gain more information about the course online through the provided links as well.
• Follow up the students' learning process. Teachers can gain more inside into students learning experience and learning process by reading their blogs. Many students, especially shy students, it is hard for them to communicate with teachers face-to-face, so it is hard to know the problems they encounter in the classroom. Blogging can solve this problem, as students write their blogs in private time, they feel more relaxed to express their thoughts. Therefore by visiting students' blogs, teachers can follow up students more closely.
• Help students to build up confidence in learning. When students read about other students' reflections, they can gain more understanding about their own study habits. They can find that they are not alone, when facing some learning difficulties. They can interact with students internationally, and consult them by commenting on the blogs. Therefore, the possibility of overcoming their aversion is higher. What they can form is not only a better pattern of studying, but confidence in learning as well.
• Increase a sense of belonging to a class. Especially by using a class blog, teachers can help students to foster a sense of community in a class, which is significantly helpful for creating a nice learning atmosphere in the learning process and lowering down the negative impact of competition. The constant sharing ideas and even emotion changes towards learning can help students build up a stronger bond between each other and foster trust and team spirit. It is beneficial for managing a class, and add much more enjoyment in learning.

4. Pitfalls of using it in ELT

• Access to computer and internet. It is not only for blogging, but for every tool that we use through a computer and the internet, the accessibility of these technologies poses the biggest challenge for applying them in teaching. Even through the internet is spreading across different continents,many places, especially in developing countries, it is not affordable for many to enjoy the merits of high-tech. 
• Control of comments. If the blog owner set comments as "need approval before publishing", it will cost too much work. However, if we set "pbulish immediately", some unwanted comments may appear and generate negative influence.
• Pose legal issues. Some links to websites may cost violation or infringement of intellectual property rights.It is hard to inspect all the contents and links may bring up legal issues.
• Cost violation of privacy. If blogs set to be "open to the public", even though it can attract more teachers and students to join discussions or share experience, at the same time, the privacy of the blogger can become an issue, and potential harm might be posted by unwanted visitors.

Conclusion

Overall, blogging itself is a helpful tool for teaching and learning English. As long as it is well organized and constantly being updated, it can make learning more interesting and effective. 

Reference

1.http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/blogging-elt

2.http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html

Well~~ 
My fabulous guest :)

How do you feel about blogging? 

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