Final Project

Task: Work with your classmate to host a webinar. Research what is the most viable platform. Liaise with each other over the winter vacation to finalise the details and content. Utilise some kind of audience survey/poll.

• Topic – TBD (maybe TEL, maybe ELF, Global Englishes etc.)
• Date – January, third week
• Duration: 20 minutes
• Time – evening
• Audience – teachers & interested students (target 10+)

Good luck!

Goals

• To discuss and review the third week of the Futurelearn course, which this week focused on technology in language education: What points of similarity were there with our course? Were there any new topics covered?
• To complete our look at some major theories in motivation in learning.
• Assessing online tools – creating a list of criteria

Outside Class Work

Complete the Futurelearn course and write a reflection blog post on your experience: focus on how useful you found the course, weaknesses and ways it could be improved, what you found most interesting and so on.

Reading

• Gardiner’s integrative model of motivation
• Kimberly Noel on Self-determination Theory
• Dörnyei’s L2 self Motivation Theory

Goals

• Explore what digital footprints are
• Learn how much can be discovered about people online
• Share conclusions from last week’s survey

Discussions topics

• Digital footprints & safety online
• Futurelearn.com course
• Survey –  reaction posts and observations

Practical activity

• With some basic information about your teacher as a start, what can you learn about him or her on the internet?

Task (outside class)

• Get started with the FutureLearn course and explore all its functions, make connections, comment and keep up with the content
• Send the ‘dossier’ of what you have learnt about your teacher via to him or her

Goals

• Continue sharing ideas learnt from PLNs
• Explore what digital literacy means (see quotes below)
• Share and explain question choices for a survey on TEL amongst practitioners
• Reflect on the course so far

More definitions of digital literacy:

Digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet.
digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/

Digital literacy is the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours used in a broad range of digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs, all of which are seen as network rather than computing devices. Computer literacy preceded digital literacy, and refers to knowledge and skills in using traditional computers (such as desktop PCs and laptops) with a focus on practical skills in using software application packages. Digital skills is a more contemporary term but is limited to practical abilities in using digital devices (such as laptops and smartphones).
Wikipedia

“Digital literacy is the ability to interpret and design nuanced communication across fluid digital forms.” by Terry Heick
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-definition-of-digital-literacy/

Digital literacy: ‘those capabilities which fit an individual for living, learning and working in a digital society’ (JISC 2011),
http://www.digitalfutures.org/section/2-2-a-review-of-literature-on-digital-literacy-in-education/

The three stage model of digital literacy proposed by the DigEuLit project, funded by the EC eLearning Initiative (Martin and Grudziecki 2006) refers to the following three levels:

•         digital competence is the skills, concepts approaches, attitudes, etc.
•         digital usage refers to the application of digital competence within a specific context (such as school)
•         digital transformation which involves creativity and innovation in the digital domain

http://www.digitalfutures.org/section/2-2-a-review-of-literature-on-digital-literacy-in-education/

Task 1

• Create a Google forms survey
• Do this synchronously online

Task 2 & 3 (outside class)

• Do some research into what schools/teachers are doing to help keep students ‘safe’ online. What do other professionals think is important. Be ready to summarise at least three sources opinions and give your own reactions (based on a reaction post on your blog
• Invite at least10 teachers to complete the forms – summarise the results and reflect on the answers in a blog post

Reading

• Ratemyteacher
• Facebook and privacy settings (a little old, but…)
• Digital footprints