baw09


 

 

 

 

Becoming a Webhead

 

 A hands-on workshop on how to use Web communication tools for language teaching and learning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Description

 

Welcome to our sixth round of Becoming a Webhead (BaW)! 

In BaW09, we will explore Web 2.0 tools and share the best ways of using them in our teaching practices.

We are part of the Webheads in Action virtual Community of Practice.

 

Weekly chats will be held to discuss pre-defined topics, build rapport and create a sense of community.

Much of the content derived from the discussions will be made available through wiki pages which will be kept online for future reference.

By the end of the session participants will be invited to join the Webheads in Action (WiA) community of practice.

Former and very active BaW participants, some of whom are now active members of Webheads in Action, will co-moderate the 6 weeks of our session.

 

 

Objectives 

 

 

In the course of the 6 weeks, participants will learn collaboratively and hands on to:

 

 

 

Target audience

 

ESL/EFL teachers interested in using communication tools in their teaching, be it exclusively online or blended into face-to-face teaching.

 

LEVEL: Participants who have basic knowledge on the use of Internet (see requirements)

 

Requirements: Having an e-mail account, familiarity with word processors and Internet access. Also, headset with mic and webcam (this one optional)

 

Interest Section 

CALL-IS

 

 

 

Weekly content

 

Week 1

Getting acquainted with Yahoo Groups. Introductions.

Participants will get acquainted with the Yahoo Groups platform, introduce themselves to the group and interact among each other. At the end of the week, and as an introduction to week 2, we will take a tour of Tapped In.

Guest presenter: (to be announced)

 

 

Week 2

 

Text and voice synchronous communication tools: Tapped In, Yahoo Messenger and Skype in Worldbridges.

Participants will have the opportunity to chat with other Webheads through different synchronous media such as Tapped In, Yahoo Messenger and Skype. During these chats, they will learn how to use the many powerful features of each of these environments and also create their own virtual office at Tapped In, where they can later meet with students and colleagues.   Voice chat and webcam-enhanced chat will be introduced in Yahoo Messenger and Skype in Worldbridges. Audacity and PowerGramo, free online tools to record audio files, will be introduced for those wishing to try recording voice sessions. It will also be a good time to introduce a volunteer system for "peer help": participants holding online hours for other participants.

Guest presenters: (to be announced)

 

Week 3

 

Building an online presence: Blogs, podcasts, wikis and slide/photo sharing

Participants will be introduced to blogs and podcasting, and will use different blog providers (Blogger, Motime, Edublogs) to start their own blogs, and podcast providers (Podomatic, Viewpoint, Blogcheese ). Wikis will be introduced using providers such as pbwiki, Wikispaces,and Wetpaint.  Participants will also use Slide/photo sharing applications (Voice Thread - Bubbleshare, Splashcast, Slideshare, Slide.com, Animoto ) to create content add it  to their blogs and/ or wikis.

Guest presenters: (to be announced)

 

 

Week 4

 

Virtual classrooms. Voice and video mail.

Participants will explore the Alado, Elluminate and WiZiQ virtual classrooms, as well as user-friendly tools for sending voice messages (HandyBits, Utterly, Springdoo -now called "bedroomtv-, Wimba Voice e-mail: http://www.wimba.com/demos/voiceemail.php )

Guest presenter: (to be announced)

 

 

Week 5

 

Developing class materials: online surveys and worksheets, and interactive exercise creators.

Participants will have the opportunity to create materials for their classes using different online exercise creators.

Guest presenter: (to be announced)

 

 

Week 6

 

Blended learning. Wrap-up: conclusions and evaluation. Graduating as a Webhead in Action.

After a panel discussion on "blended learning", participants will share reflections and arrive at the main conclusions about these online Web communication tools and their role in language learning. To wrap up these six weeks, there will be a "Graduation Ceremony" chat during which participants will be invited to join the "Webheads in Action" community.

Panel: (to be announced)

 

Readings

There will be weekly recommended readings for reflection and discussion (in the Forum).

 

 

Coordinators

 

  Dafne Gonzalez has been an EFL/ESP teacher for more than 30 years. She graduated in Language Teaching, has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics, and a Ph.D in Education. She is currently a Full professor at Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela where she Coordinates the Graduate Studies in Education Programs and is the Head of the Specialization in Informatics and Education. Besides teaching technology-related courses at the graduate level, she also designed and teaches the English for Architecture and Urban Planning blended courses. A webhead since 2002,she is now the coordinator of the TESOL Electronic Village Online and has co-moderated, with Teresa Almeida d'Eça the Becoming a Webhead (BaW) online Workshop since 2004. She has also co-moderated with Teresa one of the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program courses: "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". Currently, she is teaching in Second Life (a virtual world) for the Languagelab.com.

 

               Teresa Almeida d’Eça has been an EFL teacher for 33 years and has taught at most levels. She lives and teaches in a small town in the suburbs of Lisbon, Portugal. This year she's teaching 5th and    6th  grade (1st and 2nd year EFLers). She loves teaching and finds it an even more challenging task since the arrival of ICTs. She did her first online course in October 2001 with Michael Krauss. In January 2002, she joined the Webheads in Action for the EVOnline 8-week teacher development workshop, and since then she has been actively involved in the cyberworld of education! She has published two books, one on the use of the Internet in education and the other on the use of email in the classroom. She presents regularly at conferences at home and abroad. She's been coordinator and co-moderator of BaW with Dafne González since 2004. She also co-moderated with Dafne one of the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program courses: "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". You're welcome to visit her website

 

Co-Moderators

 

Jose A. Da Silva

 I am a Brazilian EFL instructor. I have been teaching English since 1991. I became a language teacher when I was still a psychology undergrad. I guess teaching sort of happened in my life and I just love it. I would say I have become a teacher very gradually and I just fell in love with this career as time went by. My affair with technology stated in 2006 when I first took a course on blogging and joined the 2006 session. Presently I am living and working in a binational language institute in Brasilia, Brazil. I am a big fan of blogs. This my latest one http://advanced5b.21classes.com I am looking forward to the learning journey of 2009.

 

              Saša Sirk 

I'm an EFL teacher at a small local college in Nova Gorica (www.tscng.net), where I teach students of informatics, mechatronics and countryside management. My classes are F2F. I started teaching at this college at about the same time as I became a webhead (in 05). Since 05 I took many invaluable EVO courses (in 06, 07 and 08), and I helped moderating week 1 in BaW 08. It's now fun to look back in time and see how my

teaching practice has been changing year after year. And it's fun to look back and see how my attitudes to teaching and learning have been changing year after year. I am greatly indebted to you, my dear webheads and EVO people - it was mostly through you that I realized what a wonderful job it is to be a teacher.

 

 Nelba Quintana

I am from La Plata, Argentina. I hold two university degrees: Professor of English Language and Literature and National Public Translator (UNLP- National University of La Plata).I have been a Webhead since Dafne introduced me to the group in 2002. I have been interested in technology since the very beginning...1998. I am a web site and blog content developer, and teacher trainer. I collaborate with ARCALL (Argentine CALL group).

 

                       Marú del Campo

I have been involved with the EVO's since 2007 as participant, now I feel I know a bit to start giving back to the Webheads wonderful warm community some of what I have recived from them. This is the first time I get involved as moderator. I am part of the great team that Daf and Teresa have put together for BaW09 I am kind of a hybrid. I teach English and Spanish as a free lance, I have my private practice as Clinical Psychologist, I started my first free online course last March to enable Digital Literacy for Spanish Speakers with limited resources. I have been member of the teachers crew in several Institutions.

 

 Jennifer Vershoor

I´m an English University Professor, Bachelor in Educational Management and English Public Translator from Buenos Aires, Argentina. My emphasis in training teachers to integrate technology into the classroom started five years ago. Currently I am introducing New Technologies for the Teaching of English in various Leading Commercial and Educational Organizations.

 

                          Kat Urbaniak

 I'm a Scot living in Canada. I'm an EFL and Business English instructor and first took part in BAW 2 years ago. As a 'techie' before becoming a teacher, and a blogger for the last 7 year, I love technology (most of the time) and am an advocate of Blended Learning.

 

 Sharon Betts

It is a pleasure to work with you during BAW09. I have been in education for over 30 years. Each of those years has brought me new ideas and challenges. I have taught at Iran Dokht, a girls' high school in Iran, Dept. of Defense schools in Germany, and public schools in Ohio and Maine. I believe that technology should be a staple, not a privilege. Through my work, I am always striving to bring my passions, children and technology, together for the betterment of both. I love what I do. SharonsShare

 

                     Mónica Veado

I'm delighted to be part of this fantastic group. I am Brazilian and although I have a degree in Journalism, I have been an EFL teacher in Belo Horizonte for the past 20 years, teaching mostly intermediate and advanced students.

 

 Hala Fawzi

I teach at University of Sciences and Technology ( Tagana), Khartoum, Sudan. I use Web 2.0 tools with my students to motivate and help them to in improve their English.

 

 

Communication tools to be used

 

Becoming a Webhead YG: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baw09

BaW-09 blog:  http://baw09.blogspot.com/ 

BaW-09 wiki: http://baw09.pbwiki.com/

BaW-09 text forum: http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/dafne.html

 

Different tools will be introduced each week, according to the weekly outline.

 

Join this session

 

 

To join this group:

 

From January 1 to 12:

 

  1. Go to:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baw09
  2. Click on the blue button:  (This is just an image). The real button is on the Yahoo Group. If you don´t have a Yahoo ID, you will be prompted to create one (it is free).
  3. Follow the instructions

 

 

 

Note: When you register for the group, you will have to be approved by the moderator. In order to reduce the possibility of "unwanted" members (such as spammers), please be sure to explain who you are and why you want to enroll in the session. This message will only be seen by the session moderator

 

Back to Call for Participation


 

 The Electronic Village Online is a project of TESOL's CALL Interest Section.

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 Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.