The Best Tech for Communicative Projects | | Calico SpanishCalico Spanish
Welcome back to #langchat, everyone! We hope you were able to join us for our Thursday night chat on communicative projects that also help students acquire tech skills, but if you were unable to, we’ve included a summary of the night’s discussion below. As always, thank you to all the participants, and especially to our moderators for the night: Kristy (@placido), Don (@dr_dmd) and Diego (@DiegoOjeda66). Like last week, this week’s summary is stuffed to the gills with resources and activities. If your “Bookmark” tag couldn’t keep up last night, be sure to save this page, as we’ve listed dozens of participant-suggested and approved tools and websites. Our chat focus was on communication and communicative projects, but participants shared a great deal of their favorite tech tools, especially Web 2.0 tools, that can be used in the world languages classroom to increase communication. The Three Modes of Communication Advantages to Tech in the World Language Classroom Assigning tech Projects
Web Tools for Collaboration
Group projects can cause a lot of stress for everyone involved. For some people, the idea that a portion of their grade is dependent upon the work of others can be agonizing. Between trying to coordinate work and make sure deadlines are being met, group projects can be a real headache. Luckily, several useful online tools are available to help you keep your group project running smoothly. Here are a few of the most useful. Remember the Milk Once of the challenges to group work is making sure everybody completes their assigned tasks in a timely manner. Google Docs When working on a group assignment, you need to be sure to share what work has been done. Diigo Being able to share sources and references while working on projects can help keep everyone on the same page regarding the work. Backpack This web tool offers a lot of utility in just one program. Wridea Meeting for brainstorming sessions can be difficult for students with busy schedules or online classes. Grou.ps
Sharing Files
In some of my side projects I occasionally find myself needing to share files that are larger than my email service or my recipient's email service can handle. In the past I would use Drop.io or File Dropper to share those large files. This afternoon I learned about a new file sharing service called Let's Crate that I'll try in the future. Let's Crate is very easy to use. To use Let's Crate just drag a file from your desktop to the Let's Crate page. Applications for EducationLet's Crate is a nice alternative to sending mass emailings of large files. Now of course you could much of the same thing by hosting your files on Google Docs and posting them online.
Edmodo: Online Learning
Last week the Wall Street Journal had an article announcing that Edmodo had received a $15 million venture capital investment from the founder of LinkedIn and a former VP of Facebook. That article gave me the idea for this post of fifteen things teachers and students can do with Edmodo. For those not familiar with Edmodo, in a nutshell it is a microblogging system designed specifically for teachers and students. Using Edmodo teachers can create a microblogging network for their classes. Edmodo allows teachers to create a group specifically for their students and exclude those not invited to the group. Edmodo provides teachers with a place to post assignment reminders, build an event calendar, and post messages to the group. Here are fifteen things teachers and students can do with Edmodo. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Do you use Edmodo?
Online Tools For Group Projects Part 1
15 Free Tools for Storing and Sharing Files
Six months ago I shared a list of good file sharing tools for teachers and students. Since then, I've come across some more tools to add to that list. Here is my new list of file sharing tools for students and teachers. Using these tools can help you avoid having an email inbox that is overflowing with file attachments. The tools that I frequently use: I use Google Documents and Google Drive for nearly all of my document storage needs. The other tool that I frequently use for collecting, storing, and sharing files is Dropbox. DROPitTOme is a free service that works with Dropbox to allow people to upload files to your Dropbox account without giving them access to the contents of your Dropbox account. File Dropper is the file sharing tool that I have used longer than any of the tool on this list. Other file sharing tools that I have tried. File Stork is a tool that works with Dropbox and allows you to collect files in two ways. Go Pileus is a simple free service for quickly sharing files.
Wallwisher Brainstorm Tool in the Foreign Language Classroom | Foreign language begins with T
Many of my lessons start out with a brainstorming session. Why? Because this accurately engages students with the topic that will be introduced. For instance, it is much easier to explain feminine/masculine endings after students have brainstormed and have defined similarities and differences, have divided words in groups according to their ending, and drawn preliminary conclusions. So, why not use a super simple online tool to brainstorm instead of the usual pen and paper or the board? Wallwisher is a super easy to use notice board that is excellent as an online brainstorming tool. Below is a wall that I recently used with my Spanish beginner class. How I use Wallwisher in my Spanish classrooms Brainstorm: as I mentioned above, I use brainstorming activities in my classroom often. Other Wallwisher uses in the foreign language classroom Sentence structure and vocab: write a very short sentence and ask students to expand it. How to use Wallwisher tutorial Further reading Some Related Posts:
