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What is EVO

Page history last edited by Christine Bauer-Ramazani 1 month ago

 

The Electronic Village Online         

A Project of TESOL's CALL Interest Section 

 

What is the EVO?

 

EVO is a series of five-week, online sessions (courses) that are held every year from early January to mid-February.  During this time, thousands of professionals worldwide converge electronically to teach, learn, and collaborate online. Created in 2000 as a Special Project by the Computer-Assisted Language Learning Interest Section (CALL-IS) of TESOL, EVO continues to be part of the programming of the CALL-IS and Electronic Village events through the annual, free Best of EVO showcase presentations of that year’s sessions. All EVO moderators and trainers are volunteers, and EVO maintains its volunteer and non-commercial nature, prohibiting advertising and commercial sponsorship. For over 20 years, EVO sessions have focused on integrating technology into teaching and learning, and topics have included current and cutting-edge tools and pedagogical applications in the field of TESOL.  EVO sessions are like online workshops or courses, as they typically offer weekly live chats (audio/video) to session participants, who then explore the weekly topic in more depth in online discussions and collaborate on projects in a learning management system (LMS). Participants receive badges or a certificate of participation for the work completed during the session. For many years, EVO session moderators have showcased their sessions through live webcasts, offered as part of the programming of the CALL-IS during the annual TESOL Convention, and open to participants worldwide at no charge. In 2024, EVO is holding its own Best of EVO 2024 Webconference, showcasing the sessions to a worldwide audience.

 

As a long-standing project of TESOL's CALL-IS, EVO has joined forces in its coordination and moderation teams with IATEFL and national Teaching Associations to offer sessions that relate to IATEFL's special interest groups (SIGs) and the IATEFL conventions and webinars. 

 

EVO across the years:

 

Liakos N., et al. (2016). All Aboard for the Electronic Village ... OnlineCALL-IS Newsletter, March 2016 

 

Hanson-Smith, E. & Bauer-Ramazani, C. (2004). Professional development: The Electronic Village Online of the TESOL CALL Interest SectionTESL-EJ, 8(2).

 

Electronic Village Online - WikiEducator. (2009.). https://wikieducator.org/Electronic_Village_Online

 

An Invitation to Join EVO 2012:

Arena, C. (2012). http://www.teachingvillage.org/2012/01/02/electronic-village-online/index.html. Blog Post at Teaching Village. 

 

For those wishing to offer an EVO session

 

An EVO session needs a moderator (and preferably several co-moderators) and sponsorship from a TESOL Interest Section, Forum, E-Group, Affiliate, or other TESOL entity, or from an IATEFL SIG. Sponsors provide a ready-made audience of their members, and will help advertise your session on their e-list and/or webpage. No monetary support is involved. Usually, your home IS or SIG is a good sponsor, and we hope to involve all of TESOL's and IATEFL's member entities. (We will help you find a sponsor appropriate to your content if you need help.) At least one moderator must be a TESOL member or IATEFL.

The moderator(s) will spend 5 weeks in October-November learning how to

  • run the session interface (learning management system)
  • maintain a healthy and productive discussion or workshop
  • create an explanatory session syllabus
  • foster an online learning community using interactive and collaborative tools

 

In other words, those who offer sessions will receive training in how to be effective online moderators.

 

Successful completion of the training is of great personal benefit to the moderators and can lead to other opportunities in online teaching.

 

Click to see examples of the online sessions from earlier EVO sessions.

 

To contact EVO, write to anyone on the EVO Coordinating Team at http://evosessions.org/

 

Time Frame:

 

  • Call for Moderators -  July-August
  • Deadline for proposals - September
  • Call for Participants  - December
  • EVO Sessions - January-February
  • TESOL Convention - March

 

Please urge your colleagues to join this ongoing project!

 


  The Electronic Village Online is a project of TESOL's CALL Interest Section
(Rev. Jan 2012, E. Hanson-Smith/Carla Arena, minor update: Dec 2019, Vance Stevens, September 2022, Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Sept. 2024 Christine Bauer-Ramazani)

 


 

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