Cardiff Online

Online teachers' communities - live interview with Jeremy Harmer, Jill Hadfield and JJ Wilson: qs needed

26 replies [Last post]

Wed, 03/25/2009 - 16:51

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Hello everyone,

I am running a session at Cardiff on Friday 3 May which looks at online teachers' communities, and will include a live video-conferencing session with Jeremy Harmer (who will be in Cambridge, UK), Jill Hadfield (in Auckland, New Zealand), and JJ Wilson (in New Mexico, USA).

We'll be inviting the live audience at Cardiff to ask the online panel questions, but we'd also like to involve all of you here at Cardiff online, so that you too get a chance to ask our eminent panel some questions, if you'd like to!

To get involved in the session, here is what you can do:

1) Watch a pre-recorded videopanel discussionwith Jeremy, Jill and JJ, which we have prepared especially for Cardiff online, here:

http://tinyurl.com/btc5af

In this recorded discussion each of them talk about what technology means to them from their own professional perspective, and how it can help (or hinder?) teachers. JJ talks about how teachers can most effectively use online listening materials with learners, Jill talks about her experiences of working in low resource contexts such as Madagascar and Tibet, and contrasts that with her current ‘tech' teaching in New Zealand. Jeremy explains why he's a technophile, and what he thinks effective uses of technology for teachers are.

The recording is 27 minutes long (but you can fast forward if you like! ;-) . Simply click the small 'play' icon in the top left of the screen, on the link above to get it started.

2) While you're watching the discussion, note down any questions you'd like the panel to be asked in the live session at Cardiff.

3) Choose a maximum of two or three of your questions, and post them to this forum. I will collect all the questions and take them to our live session at Cardiff, where the online panel will try to answer as many as possible during our live online video conference.

4) The live Cardiff video-conferencing session with Jeremy, Jill and JJ will also be recorded, and I will post a link to it afterwards here, so you can see if your question(s) were answered - and if we don't get time for all your question(s), we'll be able to carry on the discussion here!

We plan not only to include Cardiff online in the live conference in this way, but to also have a Twitter feed running simultaneously for more questions to be sent in live, and my colleague Gavin Dudeney will be live blogging the event directly from Cardiff! (Watch this space for how to sign up to read that during the event).

So, a multi-strand tech event, and we hope that YOU too will take part, from wherever you are in world!

Thanks, Nicky

Wed, 03/25/2009 - 21:00

Cleve

Joined: 2009-03-21

This looks fantastic Nicky - greatly looking forward to it.

Thu, 03/26/2009 - 11:07

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Thanks Cleve - look forward to your questions in the session itself then! Nicky

Thu, 03/26/2009 - 15:57

Nahir Aparicio

Joined: 2009-03-12

This is an excellent way to demonstrate how we can use technology to learn, interact and participate. Thanks for setting this up

Thu, 03/26/2009 - 17:58

jugense

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi! I am Juliana Gense from Brazil and after waching the pre-recorded video panel I have the following questions:

1. J. J. Wilson mentioned that teachers should provide a categorical framework to use the listenings and sites, that there must be a purpose for listening, that a listening portfolio can be created for example so as the students listen and watch critically. Students should share their clips - How would be a criative way, let's say.... and teacher should have strategies to deal with this since students are not with the classmates....is it possible todevelop more this idea, talking more about reading, writing and oral skills developement?

2. Do students really work alone or just in a different time and space? How the teacher should act so as to students work more corabolativelly, specially on-line? I mean how to avoid being excessively teacher centered, specially because technology provides us with better and more exciting ways to do things as Jeremy mentioned?

3. Do you believe teaching on-line requires a different methodology considering social networking? Could you give examples?

Thanks for your time and attention!

Juliana

Fri, 03/27/2009 - 14:44

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Thank you for your thoughtful questions Juliana. I'll be taking these questions with me into the live session on 3 April, and I hope we will manage to answer at least one of them! Thanks again for taking the time to do this, and looking forward to more questions from more of the Cardiff online participants!

Best wishes, Nicky

Sat, 04/04/2009 - 00:03

jjawilson

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi, Juliana,

Thank you for your questions.

About sharing clips, I suggest you

(1) start a class blog - it's very simple, using a free blogging site such as wordpress or blog.com.

(2) The students find one interesting clip or audio recording each and post the URL (web address) on the class blog. Every clip/audio file should have its own thread on the blog.

(3) The other students follow the link to the website, watch/listen, then go back to the class blog and write their comments in the appropriate thread.

It's best if you do the first one or two with them. So, you find a clip (look at TEFLclips and youtube, or ESL-Lab for listening only), and show them what they have to do. Explain that they should write a comment about it, saying, for example, if they like the clip, what they like about it, if they learned any new words from it.

You'll find that this works as an ongoing homework activity, but may be very challenging for students below Intermediate because of the language level of most authentic clips.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,

Wed, 04/08/2009 - 19:47

jugense

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi JJ,

Thanks for the answer. Well, it seems to me that following the steps you suggested to share clips it is also possible to promote writing and reading, integrating the 4 skills. That is a way to keep students in contact with the language since they will use the language to interact (get and give information) about something that is meaningful for them. Of course with the meadiation of a teacher (or not?). So, is the role of the teacher different in this case, I mean, different from teaching a f-2-f class?

If you or/and the other panelists share your points of view I would be grateful....

Best regards,

Juliana

Sat, 04/11/2009 - 15:30

jjawilson

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi Juliana,

This activity only promotes speaking if the students discuss the clips during class, but I agree with you that it promotes reading and writing.

I think the role of the teacher here is to become one of the participants in the activity. With online classwork, the usual teacher-student hierarchy is less prominent. We monitor the students' contributions without grading them; we check the students' English without correcting it; and we add our own comments without taking the role of 'authority figure'. Our comments can serve as a model or as a way to facilitate further discussion. It's useful to pose questions (preferably fairly open-ended so they don't write only short answers), e.g. What did you think of the part where ...? How did you feel about the clip? Was it funny/sad/interesting? Which parts were difficult?

So, is the role of the teacher different from in f-2-f classes? It depends how you teach! I'm not sure it's the role that's different as much as the tools and methods you are using. We are still encouraging, motivating, providing an example, getting students to think and act for themselves, setting a challenging and interesting task ... The focus on 'correct' use of language is de-stressed; instead, there's an emphasis on transactional language used for real communication.

Best wishes,

Fri, 03/27/2009 - 18:16

jugense

Joined: 2009-03-26

If you answer one of them that will be ok...looking forward to the session...

Best regards, Juliana

Tue, 03/31/2009 - 22:41

#10

fulyaa

Joined: 2009-03-24

Dear Nicky,

Thank you ever so much for this opportunity. I'm a grade 8 English teacher from Istanbul. Below are my questions for the panel.

1. My first question is very similar to Juliana's. Can J.J tell us the possible ways of students posting their clips and then commeting on each others' choice of listening? Where can students keep their clips? Can we do it on a class blog where students have their own blog pages or would it be better to do it on a website?

2. I'm planning to integrate webquests into my teaching next year. Jill mentioned that she makes use of them. Can she tell us the steps she follows while preparing, assigning and evaluating a webquest? Does she use them as follow up activity, I mean after they cover a topic, or as while working on the topic?

3. I have learned a lot from the teaching communities on Wikispace in New Zealand and they always collaborate with other teachers across the world. I wonder if Jill has ever used Facebook in her teaching or is she planning to? I'm really interested in class projects based on Facebook so I will be very happy if our guests share their ideas on using Facebook in teaching.

Fulya M.

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 22:11

#11

Jill Hadfield

Joined: 2009-04-03

Hi Fulya! I started to reply to this in the live session but sound broke up - I use webquests primarily in a ciurse I teach on World Englishes - an introductory one on different varieties of English and then one on Singapore English. They are a lot of work to set up and research but then SS can work autonomously either in class in a CALL lab or out of class. My criteria? well there's a lot of rubbish on the web... so it takes some sifting. I try to:

entertaining, lighter sites with more academic serious ones

get a mix of fact and opinion

aim to mix YouTube and podcasts with written texts

avoid wikipedia!

I guess these criteria would go for general webquests as well: in another course we use webquests as preparation for discussion sessions - SS research a topic, eg climate change both to get certain facts and to acquire topic vocabulary so tehy come to discussion well-prepared . In this case three groups of Ss had different webquests on different aspects of climate change and they will come together next week to put on a TV programme with interviewers and panels of 'experts.'

Designing the actual quest: criteria

ordering the sites so serious stuff alternates with light relief

providing guiding questions or a task so SS have focus questions or tasks to aid comprehension

making sure there is a communicative outcome : in the CALL lab session, SS work in pairs or have discussion tasks in pairs after investigating each website

if done at home webquest is preparation for communicative info sharing activity.

2. Facebook . I have never used Facebook - we have Blackboard at work so SS have discussion board - online chat - on that. I think bebo and Facebook are attractive ideas either for SS to continue an in-class f2f discussion , perhaps broadening it/deepening it in time outside class or even better setting up a page or pages where SS in one school or country can communicate with SS in another school or country - electronic penfriends.

Sat, 04/04/2009 - 00:04

#12

jjawilson

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi, Fulya,

See my answer to Juliana above.

Best wishes,

Thu, 04/02/2009 - 17:54

#13

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Greetings from Cardiff!

Just a quick reminder to Cardiff online participants that our live panel discussion via video conferencing will be taking place tomorrow (Friday) at 2 pm UK time, with Jeremy Harmer, JJ Wilson and Jill Hadfield. I'll check this forum tomorrow morning for any final questions you may have for this eminent bunch, so please feel free to post them here - this is your last chance!!

Thanks to Juliana and Fulya for their questions so far :-)

Nicky

Thu, 04/02/2009 - 22:56

#14

jgilbert

Joined: 2009-03-24

Hi Everyone,

I really enjoyed listening to the pre-session discussion and look forward to the live session!

Marc Prensky remarked in his IATEFL interview that in the traditional 'telling pedagogy' characterized sometimes in teacher - fronted uses of ppt. or interactive whiteboards, technology doesn't help, it hinders...and that before you can take advantage of the technology you have to change the pedagogy.

To any panelist: Do you think that technology is changing (or has the potential to change) some of our fundamental beliefs of what is good language teaching (as in providing rich learning opportunities), based on the new possibilities opened up by technology? Further, is technology becoming a normalised part of teaching (perhaps as ubiquitous as textbooks in teaching), and would you say that we have reached a point where the best in teaching now DEMANDS the use of technology where available, and contextually appropriate?

Simple Example: Class A: discussion f2f only; Class B: discussion f2f extended to electronic message board asynchronous discussion (further opportunity to reflect, explore, develop more complex ideas, etc)

Thanks,

Jody, Canada

Sat, 04/04/2009 - 19:36

#15

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Thanks for your question Jody, and I'd like to add my two cents here if I may.

Prensky's comment on IWB use: Personally I'm not a fan of IWBs because of the very teacher fronted methodology they promote (even if they are lovely to look at - the IWBs, that is), but I certainly think lots of the Web 2.0 tools out there don't require a major shift in teaching practice. At least that has been my own personal experience. Prensky's work has been (as I understand it) not specifically with language teaching, but in mainstream education in the US.

As EFL teachers I'd say we already have a lot of pretty sound pedagogical principles in our teaching practice, such as collaborative work, interaction etc, and this is fairly easy to also achieve with certain online tools, especially those that are well suited to collaboration and social networking, as many Web 2.0 tools are.

As for the second part of your question: One thing for teachers to beware of is to use technology just because it's there. If it doesn't add something that is clearly beneficial for students, then don't use it. So setting up an online discussion for a class who meet f2f to practise speaking skills is probably even counterproductive - and in the live panel JJ gave an example of students who spent all day on computers, who came to class to talk, not use more technology... [See the recording of our live panel discussion at Caridff here (http://tinyurl.com/cvttdv ) for more on that, btw. ]

What do others think?

Nicky

Mon, 04/06/2009 - 19:19

#16

jgilbert

Joined: 2009-03-24

Hi Nicky!

Thanks for your reply. I couldn't agree with you more about the dangers of the tech driving the pedagogy rather than the other way around - certainly the key to the whole debate.

I have to first apologize that I did not make my context very clear (English for Academic Purposes), which obviously has a strong influence on my perspective/comment. So in this case I often look at how technology can facilitate authentic communication in academic tasks, and hence practice of the language skills required to engage in that communication, rather than focussing on 'speaking' activities or 'writing' activities, etc.

My point (re: discussion boards example, perhaps not the best one to throw out there) is that I'm not talking about tech replacing f2f at all - I'm talking about flexibility in learning and in this case extension of opportunity - an opportunity for deeper reflection and learning (for example critically thinking and expression of opinion on a topic -not practicing speaking skills) that may not be found by some students in a 1 hour time/location dependent f2f discussion. So I don't see how a discussion board that extends a f2f discussion would be counterproductive (and I don't understand how a discussion board could be used to practice speaking skills at all) - perhaps you misunderstood my initial post (case in pt. of some of the difficulties w/ asynchronous message boards - I was unable to clearly express my question).

I'm just pondering whether we are approaching that point where tech is becoming normalised (as Stephen Bax contends) and that the pedagogical advantages of contextually available/appropriate, thoughtfully applied technology can no longer be ignored by any language teacher.

Thanks,

Jody

BTW - well-done to put this together - very impressive! I especially like how well you managed to keep things rolling, on the fly, in the live sessions. Cool as a cucumber! (can't be any other way when dealing with tech issues!)

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 02:21

#17

engel

Joined: 2009-04-03

Greetings from Mérida, Yucatán, México!

(My questions can be found at the very end of this post)

I am an English teacher, teacher trainer, and psychology undergraduate student in my country and I have already read several books regarding teaching English (included those written by Mr. Harmer). As for my four-abilities groups, I selected the Total English Advanced book (written by Mr. Wilson) to be used in my classes. I use a laptop, a projector, and a mobile phone for most of my classes (my work centre only provides me with the projector). My research interests are virtual environments and learning, and Cyberpsychology.

I utterly agree with the fact that technology is essential in today's classroom. Statistically speaking, I mostly teach teenagers and young adults. And something we cannot deny about these people is that the great majority of them, if not all of them, are technology savvy (at least in my country). Hence, how can we conceive a classroom in which technology is absent?

I recently attended a one-day workshop in Teaching English and Technology organised by a well-known editorial, and it was disappointing to find out that the facilitator could not explain what a *wiki* is, even when she had just mentioned it as one of the tools teachers can rely on when creating collaborative projects. How does that sound to you?

I think there is a huge pedagogical and motivational change we ought to accomplish before even trying to move on utilising technology. Some teachers prefer to retire rather than getting familiarised with the advantages technology brings us. I am not saying technology is the panacea for our teaching problems, but it can certainly improve and facilitate both our performance as teachers and the learning process (when used appropriately). Nevertheless, I have stumbled across with several teachers who just do not understand it.

*Sigh*... Anyhow, my questions are:

1. In the video conference, Jill and Jeremy pointed out that there was an "adaptation process" in their teaching in which they eventually embraced technology. Could any of them list some helpful tips for teachers who are not familiarised with technology, so that they begin gaining confidence in using it? (Please enquire about their personal experience for I have already read those tips they have written down in their books!)

2. Is there any internet or technology resource you would NOT suggest to use for teaching? Why?

3. Mention and describe your favourite activities designed for classroom instruction (using technology, of course). Why do you like them so much?

Thank you very much for your time,

-Erik-

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 22:25

#18

Jill Hadfield

Joined: 2009-04-03

Hi Erik

I started to reply to you in the live session but sound problems got in way.

Advice on adaptation - for a technoidiot like me working in a hi tech environment hasn't been easy! If I can do it, everyone can! Biggest piece of advice - take it slowly! At Unitec, New Zealand, where I work, we use blended learning and all course have a Blackboard component. I went for a two hour long training course when I started - which left my head spinning , and I instantly forgot all teh facts I was trying so hard to absorb. I did the real learning piecemeal - necessity was the biggest factor, eg: the first thing I had to do was monitor and contribute SS online discussions, so this was the first thing I mastered. Sometime later I needed to make a general announcement to all Ss so that was the next thing. SS asked for ppt and h/outs to be uploaded to Course Documents - so that was the enxt thing....and so on. Technology is pretty indigestible stuff - take small mouthfuls and chew well!

You might not have the necessity principle at your place of work - my advice would be think of ONE thing you really want to learn and that you can see wowuld have a positive advantage for your SS Ask yourself, for example - do I want to use online discussion - why? How would it benefit my SS? Or do I want my students to create a wiki? Why? what advantages? Why would I want to use ppt? Waht benefits would it bring? And for all the above , what would be the disadvantages? Another Q is how often would you use the new technology - if you don't use it frequently you soon forget how to use it!!

So, to sum up:

1. Choose one thing at a time! My step forward this term has been how to make and teach Ss to make digital audio recordings next semester is wikis. Not both together! Second Life possibly after that...

2. Make sure your choice is based on a rationale - this would improve my Ss learning.

3. Make sure it's something you will use fairly frequently so that you get familiar with it.

Good luck on the techno journey!

Sun, 04/05/2009 - 06:33

#19

engel

Joined: 2009-04-03

Hello Jill,

Thank you very much for your answer. The process of setting a challenge and eventually going for it sounds convenient. I am already quite familiarised with technology and classroom instruction (my colleagues blame my age for "you have been born with the chip"). Actually, I think a change of attitude towards technology is what is needed. If you do not give new things a chance, even when you do not like them, you are defeated even when the battle has not started.

I will take into account your suggestions next time I teach my next TICs workshop.

Regards,

-Erik-

P.S.: Has the video of your second rendezvous been uploaded already? I would love to watch it! =)

P.P.S.: Please disregard P.S. (I realised Nicky posted the link at the bottom of this thread)

P.P.P.S.: I love NZ! I want to become a Kiwi =)

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 03:26

#20

Joe_McVeigh

Joined: 2009-04-03

Hi, Nicky,

Thanks for asking for our participation and for your work in putting this interesting session together.

1) The use of technology is very promising, but it also requires increased training and often an increased workload for teachers. How can directors of studies and other administrators ensure that their teachers are adequately trained and adequately compensated for these additional technology skills that are now required on top of the existing skills and qualifications needed for successful language teaching?

2) Some of the panelists spoke of their initial fear of technology. What recommendations do they have for those of us who are not quite young enough to be digital natives, but who would like to get our feet wet in using technology in teaching? Where are some good places to begin that don't require high degrees of technical literacy.

Thanks,

Joe McVeigh

Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 22:26

#21

Jill Hadfield

Joined: 2009-04-03

Joe - see my reply to Erik above

Sat, 04/04/2009 - 00:29

#22

jjawilson

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hi, Joe,

Thanks for your excellent questions. Concerning training in new technologies for teachers, I believe, as with all innovation, the teachers need to buy into it and take ownership. How? Firstly, the Director of Studies needs to show a dazzling example of the innovation in action in order to stir some enthusiasm and show how it will benefit the teachers/students (see point 4). Then you could follow this procedure:

(1) Plan an INSET teacher training session.

(2) A week before the session, identify the teachers who you think LEAST want to be involved and who are most resistant to change.

(3) Approach them individually and explain that you need their help to facilitate the session as group leaders. Show them exactly what they'll be doing, i.e. setting up a class blog, a podcast, whatever. Make sure they feel confident about it. The rationale for choosing the least enthusiastic teachers is that, when given responsibility, most will buy into it.

(4) During the session, put the teachers into groups with the pre-identified group leaders. Now is a good time to show that dazzling example of the innovation. Then set the task (creating a version of the innovation, e.g. create a wiki, blog, etc.).

(5) After they've done the task, have a feedback session along the lines of Show and Tell: each group says what they did and how they did it. Discuss the benefits of the innovation for classes.

(6) Get the teachers to set goals, e.g. "We will all record one podcast with our classes this semester". Make sure the teachers, not the DOS, set the goals because that way everyone has agreed and everyone takes responsibility. In other words, it's not a top-down dictat but a group decision.

(7) Follow up on the goals either formally or informally later on.

About adequate compensation for their new skills, it obvioulsy depends on each institution but nowhere I've worked would even consider this. It's part of professional development and will stand the teacher in good stead for future work maybe elsewhere, and the school has paid for the training.

I hope that helps.

Best wishes,

Sat, 04/04/2009 - 17:47

#23

nickyhockly

Joined: 2009-03-11

Dear everyone,

Thank you once again for all these great questions you posted here for our live panel discussion in Cardiff, which took place yesterday (Friday). We had JJ in the US (where it was 7am), Jill in New Zealand (where it was 2am!) and Jeremy in Cambridge (where it was 2pm). I was in Cardiff with a live audience.

I'd like to post a quick summary, (and the link to the live recording below):

We had pretty good connections overall, considering the bandwidth needed to live stream in a panel of 4 people from around the world, although unfortunately the audio from Jill in NZ tended to break up.

The recorded panel discussion starts with me (Nicky) reminding Jeremy to turn his audio talk button on to be heard :-), and then Jill answering a question from this Cardiff Online forum. If you watch the session, you'll see it reflects the cut and thrust (and technical hitches!) of a live session, where we had input from a live audience asking questions (which I then had to repeat into my mic so our panel could hear them), questions from Twitter, and of course questions from this forum.

The time sped by, and we answered some of the many excellent questions we received, but have more to answer, are happy to continue the discussion here!

The recording link is below - and please remember that this was a live session, so there are pauses, variable audio quality, echoes, and a few tech hitches - but these are actually quite useful so that you can how the live session actually went. I was standing at a podium and also addressing the live audience, so not fully on camera all the time (sorry about that - it was tricky to address both mediums at once!)

It was fun! And a HUGE thanks to the Js (Jeremy, Jill and JJ) for giving up their valuable time for this.

http://tinyurl.com/cvttdv

Nicky

Sun, 04/05/2009 - 06:02

#24

engel

Joined: 2009-04-03

Hi Nicky,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you very much for having selected one of my questions for the panellists! It was a pity that sound problems got in Jill's way and had to be interrupted, but Jeremy took on and answered the question. Anyhow, Jill has kindly replied to my original post with some advice on the matter (which I sincerely appreciate).

I found the session quite productive. There were some interesting questions and well-thought answers from the panellists. What I consider to be worthy is their experience in teaching English along with technology, and their ability to discern when it is best to implement an activity involving technology and when it is better to prescind from it. I do love technology and I tend to use it frequently with my students, but I have to admit that it will never replace the traditional teaching methodology. Once that you lose the fear for technology, the challenge will be to differentiate when to use it. As JJ said, there should be a clear objective supporting its implementation, a pedagogical reason; otherwise, it will make no difference whatsoever.

I think I am going to like this place.

Best regards,

-Erik-

P.S.: Kudos for your wondrous work, Nicky! =)

Wed, 04/08/2009 - 20:02

#25

jugense

Joined: 2009-03-26

Hello Nicky,

Thanks for addressing my question "Do you believe teaching on-line requires a different methodology considering social networking? Could you give examples?". It seems that the participants meant throug the answers that it is portant to consider the pros and cons when adopting technology. Since the learning is what should be focused (considering the context and the group of learners), if the technology enhances learning, it should be used.

I had the impression that you believe that the methodologies do not change, am I right? If possible, I would like to hear from you about distant teaching English (when you do not contact the student face to face)...how to promote and keep the "magic" (I believe Jill said something like that) of the classroom (=interaction) if people (apparently) aren't in the same physical space?

Best regards,

Juliana

Thu, 09/10/2009 - 18:42

#26

rogeriopaescosta

Joined: 2009-03-10

Hi there!

Thank you all for the intreresting material and insights. :)

I've just finished reading JJ Wilson's 'How o teach listening'. What a great book!

I'm writing my graduate monograph on listening and coursebooks and I'd like to get in touch with JJ Wilson via email. Is that possible? I read his messages here but I'm not sure he still visits this forum.

Thank you very much.

Rogerio (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

rogeriopc1@gmail.com