EduCamp (Part 1)

EduCamps is a series of workshops on the use of social software tools was designed and implemented, modeled a face-to-face social networked learning space in which several emerging concepts (such as e-learning and personal learning environments/PLEs) were brought into play. EduCamps were intended to enable a different learning environment, directly related to the possibilities of current technologies, in which responsibility in the use of ICTs was made evident, as well as the need to consider how and when to distribute the role of the expert among a community of learners.

The Origin of the EduCamp

                The original idea of the EduCamp workshop emerged from conversation with Nancy White, Jay Cross and Fernando Diaz del Castillo (at the time, the person in charge of the use and adoption of ICT for Basic Education at the Ministry of Education). Brainstorming took place in August, 2007 about how to design and experience to facilitate what White called “Over-the-shoulder” learning.

                “Over-the-shoulder” learning is a fairly common practice in software development training, where students share solutions to specific problems as they appear, working side by side, generating a relationship different from that seen in a typical classroom. It is recognized that anyone can act as an expert in a specific area (the use of tools, for example) and that knowledge is not exclusively transmitted from one to many (for instance from teacher to students), but also can be transmitted among unstructured groups of people.

                How to enable it? It was not enough to talk about the possibilities of technology. Rather, it was essential to make them visible and to model them for all attendees. With these thought in mind, a full-day workshop was designed, mixing several techniques of individual and collective work. It was presented as a “workshop on the use of social software tools” and designed to be offered to about hundreds people at once.

The Concepts Embedded in the Design

                The approach used in EduCamp, a PLE diagram may include, with more or less detail, the physical spaces in which people learn, the people from whom learning happens (teachers, mentors, colleagues, other learners), the media used to access relevant information (such as textbook, academic articles, television, radio, newspapers, blogs, wikis, mailing lists, etc.), and the tools used to compile that information or to interact with others (including, usually, a variety of social software tools).

                The components of a PLE vary from person to person, as do their relative importance. More than an application or computer platform, a PLE is composed of people, spaces, resources, and tools that are interrelated and that interact in different ways depending on the habits and needs of each person.

                There was an interesting in getting participants to experience different forms of organization for collective work, enabling each learner to discover and explore his or her interests using technology, outside of the curriculum and objectives predetermined by others. For this reason the design of the workshop was based on several techniques used to carry out unconferences. An unconferences relies on minimal structure, allowing participants to decide the issues to be addressed within a broader subject area. The name EduCamp itself comes, in part from unconferences having the suffix camp in their names (FooCamp, BarCamp, PodCamp, Pecha Kucha, etc.), but with an educational emphasis.

                The workshops were designed with a defined yet flexible structure, which brings together several concepts and has a specific interest in the adoption of social software tools. They were not designed as a BarCamp, whose discussions are related to education.

ICT in Teaching and Learning

The computer’s presence offers new opportunities to improve the quality of education. At the same time it has created a new educational challenge: How can computers be put to effective use and which computing environments are available? The key question for educators to answer is: How do people learn to use computers today in a way that will not be obsolete in five years? The answer requires a vision of the future.  This vision has much to do with learning in a constructivist way. Learning by doing and learning by making are the keywords (Gert J. Muller, Consultant Tertiary Education, 2006).

That is what we try to do if we are looking for the direction in which teaching and learning has to transform to use ICT in an appropriate way in the future. We have to build learning environments with the use of ICT and think about the way we learn and teach in this environment. Then appears what learner and teacher have to know about the use of the computer. The way in which a child communicates with the computer and what child and computer talk about are essential to these learning environments. For example, when computers are uses as ‘teaching machines’ that control student interaction, assumptions are being made about the child, the content, the computer’s role and the role of the teacher.

     Important investigative questions for educators remain:

1.    What is the potential role of computers in education?

2.    How can educators use computers now?

3.    How will the compute change the content and context of schooling?

Take an example in primary school, in this kind of education learning means constructing. This reflects the idea’s of constructivism, what we took as the direction in which teaching and learning has to change for a genuine use of ICT.

Fogarty (1999) summarizes the constructivist bricks of a learning environment in seven terms: real live and learner based, rich, social interactive, differentiative, explorative and experimentive, intervened by an expert, metacognitive and reflective.

We need to look after what the use of the computer can offer in learning environments and what educator learner need to know to act with this personal learning instrument in a constructivist way. This will handle about learning by doing and learning by making.

Laurillad (1993) summarize what the top priority issues mainstreaming learning technologies for the role of practice (supported active learning, academic time), policy (investment, reward structure), and partnership (Complementary roles, shared resources).

The efficiency and enjoyment of study will be optimized if the media fit the learning objectives, if the choice of method for each medium is well matched to study logistics such as time or place constrain, access to equipment, etc., and if a appropriate balance is achieved across the range. It would not be good design, for example to offer everything through screen-based study using ICT methods.

      We should look for the right media forms for the different forms of teaching and learning. A method or technology we use depends from the vision on education. So the start of the use of ICT is always it the concept of learning. The primary process is leading and not the technical infrastructure. People make it work. As Albert Einstein’ (1879-1955) said “Computers are fast, accurate and stupid. Humans are slow, inaccurate and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond belief”.

Tips for Using Grammar Games in Class Successfully

• Organization.  The first thing you should do when start teaching a preschool or elementary school ESL class is to figure out how to organize your class.  For the younger students you'll want to change your activities every five to ten minutes because they have shorter attention spans.  If you don't change your activities, they'll soon start losing interest. Additionally, try to have everything ready to go before the students enter the classroom.  That way you can go from activity to activity with minimal downtime.  This is essential as you can lose control of the class if you do not keep them occupied.

• Expectations.  If you notice that your class is getting noisy or rambunctious, it's time to change activities.  Kids of this age like to be active; in order to balance out the energy levels in the classroom, alternate between active activities and quiet activities. Be careful how you use activities that require fine motor skills - or more importantly pay attention to your expectations for activities that require fine motor skills.  Children in preschool and early elementary are just learning to write in their own languages.  This is not the best time to expect them to write in a foreign language as well.  As they progress through elementary school, however, you can begin using games and activities that require them to write small amounts.

HOW TO LEARN ENGLISH THROUGH TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNET

     Objective Learning English

A target or goal is something that is very strong as the motivation. Instead of a word learning is a very debilitating motivation, for learning require sacrifice. The sacrifice of our time, the sacrifice of our pleasure, and sacrifice to do something we dislike.  And there are three things that can be learned through the Internet:

READING, LISTENING, AND WRITING

The method I learned in sequence is:

1. Reading (READING)

2. Listening (LISTENING)

3. Writing (WRITING)

Reading will add vocabulary or collection of words - our words. Listening makes our brains store all the vocab that we've learned. While writing our brains are forced to

spend again, recall what we've previously saved.

TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNET

1.    For Reading, find and read the english language ebook you can download for free on the internet. In searching for ebook on the internet is actually very easy if you

know a special site to find the ebook.

2. For Listening, find the audio book of the same ebook that you have read earlier. It aims so that we can more easily understand what the talking.

3. For Writing, in this writing can be done in the form of writing and poured it into the blog.

How to Teach English With Music

Many ways to learn English easier and more enjoyable of them are learning English with the game, learn English by reading, learn English by writing, and much more. But on this occasion we will talk about learning English with songs or music.

This learning method, it is very easy to use in independent learning and group process. This method is not much different from other methods that distinguish only a medium used during the learning process.

Understanding which meant that students are able to understand the concept of the elements of language through the introduction of the song. While the purpose of implementation is the student able to apply the teaching material that has been received through the introduction of songs in the communication process.

How to Use ICT in Learning

There are three ways to use ICT in learning. First, using ICT as a kind book, both using ICT as a medium to communicate the knowledge we create, and third as a tool to process knowledge.

1. ICT as a 'kind of book'. The point is that technology as a means of presenting information and we live to enjoy it. We'll just be absorbing the information has been provided by others. This can be done either by reading a variety of things that spread across the Internet such as news, articles, and so forth.

2. ICT in learning is to use it as a tool to communicate the knowledge that we make. ICT is used as a means to explain the various findings. We are providing knowledge. ICT becomes a means for us to communicate a variety of learning. This is often done for example with blogging activities.

3. Using ICT as a tool to process information with ict mean we can process the information that we can for the information clearer and more understandable to the evidence that reinforces the information.

Sure, we may choose the way of what we want to select in the use of ICT as a source of learning. ICT should be used should a book of information providers, as a communication tool, and as a tool to process the data, or we can combine all three. Even so, we as humans have become the most important knowledge processing. Information that could easily we can with ICT equipment we need critics, ponder, think, and if up to become a new knowledge.

Blended Learning

                The recent appearance of books, trade magazines and journal articles, conferences, and campus initiatives focusing on “blended learning” would lead one to believe that a new educational phenomenon has been discovered. In actually, the blending of face-to-face instruction with various types of non-classroom technology-mediated delivery has been practiced within the academy for more than four decades. DeZure, Buckley, Barr and Tagg, and others note that the confluence of new pedagogies, new technologies, and new theories of learning are enabling entirely new models of teaching and learning and that this change is of sufficient magnitude to be described as an educational transformation of paradigm shift.

            The term “blended learning” refers to courses that combine face-to face classroom instruction with online learning and reduced classroom contact hours (reduced seat time). The latter point is an important distinction because it is certainly possible to enhance regular face-to face courses with online resources without displacing classroom contact hours.

            Between the two Web-enhanced courses and blended courses that combine face-to face and online instruction with reduced seat time. Blended learning should be viewed as a pedagogical approach that combines the effectiveness and socialization opportunities of the classroom with the technologically enhanced active learning possibilities of the online environment, rather than a ratio of delivery modalities.

            Blended learning should be approached not merely as a temporal construct, but rather than as a fundamental redesign of the instructional model with the following characteristics:

·         A shift from lecture- to student-centered instruction in which students become active and interactive learners (this shift should apply to the entire course, including the face-to-face contact sessions);

·         Increases in interaction between student-instructor, student-student, student-content, and student-outside resources; and

·         Integrated formative and summative assessment mechanisms for student and instructor.

Maximizing success in a blended learning initiative requires a planned and well-supported approach that in includes a theory-based instructional model, high-quality faculty development, course development assistance, learner support, and ongoing formative and summative assessment. Weather fully online or blended, is the resulting increase in student (and probably instructor) information literacy, providing students with new abilities that benefit them throughout their entire academic and employment careers.

Blended learning also benefits the institution by improving the efficiency of classroom use and reducing on-campus traffic and the associated need for parking spaces. It is also possible to apply the blended model in innovative ways to both increase student learning outcomes and reduce instructional delivery costs.

Blended learning also brings new operational challenges. For most institutions, it is difficult to optimize the classroom scheduling process to capture all classroom hours left unused by blended courses.

Blended courses are highly likely to require a computer, projector, and internet access in the classroom used for the face-to-face class meetings. As the number of blended courses increases, the demand for multimedia-equipped classrooms may exceed the supply.

Blended learning in higher education is an evolving phenomenon that offers promise for addressing challenges such as access, cost, efficiency, and timely degree completion. In addition, this approach will impact aspects of the academy such faculty development and rewards, student retention, college and department structure, as well as the notion of lifelong learning. Our experience is that blended learning is a transformational force, even at the outer edges of its influence. In a real sense, “It has only just begun!”

How to Teach English to Children

In globalization era, English has been compulsory to learning. Learning English need to apply in the early age knowing the children is fluent in English, are not something surprised. Indeed in some primary school especially in non formal  school has been used English as  a second language. If the children always use English then we  will not surpassed with other country. So i will talk about How to Teach English to Children.

• ·            Listening

In addition by listen for the teacher speaking English,the children also learn listening. For instance, the teacher read a English story book, either the simple song or watching TV and DVD in English, But still in few and simple word at first.

• ·            Speaking

After the children are usual to listen to English, the children are encourage to speak in simple sentences. There are some problem to involve children to speak in English. We can solve those problem by finding new learning material in some  source such as internet about learn English  as second language for children for example in Genki home website. This site contains a variety of simple conversation that changed be a song with funny and interesting illustration. In this case children become familiar and willing to speak.

What Does it Take to Learn English Well

            Learning English requires action. You may know all the tips of studying, but if you do not start doing it, you will nothing results. The fact is that, if you want to learn to speak English well, you should change the (way) of your life. Here are some example of what it should do :

·         Read a book written in English for an hour every day, by analyzing the grammar in sentences and looking up difficult words in an English dictionary.

·         Listen to the audiobook or other  records in English, listen it over  and over again, and try to understand  what is being said, and then try to imitate the speakers pronuncation.

·         Spend little time in the afternoon by practicing pronuncation of English sounds, especially “r”.

·         Write an e-mail or messages in English. Carefully use a dictionary or a web search every 20 seconds to make sure that every word is true, and also for five minutes to make a sentence.

·         Think of the sentence that you have read, think about whether he can be spoken with “a”  and not “the” in the sentence, and try to find similar sentences on the Web to find out the answer.

·         Walk on the street and try make a simple sentence in English in your mind ( talk to yourself in English about things that you see around ).

In learning and teaching English as a foreign language, problem that often faced is all English learners want to speak English better, which are most them do not want to spend their time to learn English independently. ( perhaps this thing causes them to follow the courses and hope their teachers will inject knowledge into their brains )

Low motivation means the students basically do not spend their time learning English independently, or even if they do, they do not that on a regular basis. For example, an ordinary student might learn phrasal verbs in English for 12 hours before an English exam. However, he will not read a book in English for 30 minutes every day. He did not feel that learning Engish was pretty fun, so he would do so if he was forced. The problem is a big effort which done once will not give any results, on the other hand, small effort, which is done from day to day activity will provide great benefits.