Becoming a Webhead 2010

Syllabus

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

Description

Webheads in Action is an nine-year-old 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 on 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 

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

• use various synchronous and asynchronous web tools for learning and teaching EFL/ESL,
• interact through e-mail, text chat, voice chat, voice and video mail, and distribution lists, among others,
• create wikis, blogs, podcasts and interactive exercises related to their own contexts, and,
• reflect 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 6 weeks of our session.

Much of the content derived from the discussions will be made available through a wiki created during the six 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 communication tools in their teaching, be it exclusively online or blended into face-to-face teaching.

LEVEL: False Beginners.

Requirements: Having an e-mail account, familiarity with word processors and Internet access. Having a headset is advisable. 

Interest Section

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 among each other through the mailing list. At the end of the week, and as an introduction to week 2, we will take a tour of Tapped In a well-known online community of international educators.

Guest presenter: BJ Berquist

Week 2

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

Participants will have the opportunity to chat with other Webheads through different synchronous media such as Tapped In, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and Worldbridges. 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. Audacity and PowerGramo, free online tools to record audio files, will be introduced for those wishing to try recording voice sessions.

Guest presenter: Michael Coghlan 

Week 3

Building an online presence: Blogs, podcasting and wikis.

Participants will be introduced to blogs and podcasting, and will use different blog providers (Blogger, Splinder, Edublogs) to start their own blogs, and podcast providers (Podomatic, Viewpoin, Podbean). Wikis will be introduced using providers such as Pbworks, Wikispaces,and Wetpaint. Participants will also use Slide/photo sharing applications (VoiceThread, Flickr, Photopeach, Slideshare, Slide.com, Animoto, among others ) to create content and add it to their blogs and/ or wikis. We will also touch on Social Networking as part of your presence.

Guest presenters: Graham Stanley 

Week 4

Virtual classrooms. Voice and video mail.

Participants will explore some virtual classrooms (Alado, Elluminate and WiZiQ, among others), as well as user-friendly tools for sending voice messages (HandyBits, Utterly, Bedroomtv, AudioPal, Voxopop, and Wimba Voice e-mail.

Guest presenter: (to be announced) 

Week 5

Developing class materials: interactive exercise creators.

Participants will have the opportunity to explore different online materials and create their own materials for their classes using different online exercise creators (Quizlet, Quiz Marker, Wordlearner, Wordchampion, among many others)

Guest presenter: Rubena St. Louis

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 coordinated the Graduate Studies in Education Programs and was 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 was the lead coordinator of the TESOL Electronic Village Online for 3 years, and has co-moderated, with Teresa Almeida d'Eça the Becoming a Webhead (BaW) online Workshop since 2004. She teaches the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program course: "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". Currently, she is the head of the Spanish Program for Languagelab.com in Second Life.

E-mail: dygonza@yahoo.com

Teresa Almeida d’Eça is a recently retired EFL teacher. She taught English for 33 years at most levels. She lives and works from home in a small town in the suburbs of Lisbon, Portugal. 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 the TESOL Principles and Practices Certificate Program course "Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Online". You're welcome to visit her website at  and to get in touch with her at tmvaz@mail.telepac.pt

Moderators

Previous participants of BaW sessions will be invited to moderate each of the weeks of the session. 

Communication tools to be used

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

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, an international education association