Teaching with Technology 2014: Language Educators Talking Tech

By Dustin De Felice, Alison Vold, Merih Sumpter and 5 more

Teaching with Technology 2014: Language Educators Talking Tech
Written By Alison Vold, Merih Sumpter, Nancy Elsobkey, Joseph Leibson, Alison Dykman, Laureen Davison, & Allison Comer

Edited By Dustin De Felice

Cover Design by Alison Vold

In this volume, you will read the words and stories of educators adapting to and working with technology in ways that make their classrooms, whether virtual or traditional, better places for all stakeholders. As a professor in the Masters of Art Foreign Language Teaching Program (MAFLT), Dustin De Felice had the distinct pleasure of working with a small group of dedicated professionals who were interested in discussing, experimenting with and critiquing technology use in their classroom as well as in classrooms-at-large. The final result of this time spent together is contained in a freely available etext downloaded to most tablets, handheld devices or traditional desk/laptops. The overall volume is organized into four sections beginning with persuasive essays on specific topics within technology and classroom use and ending with reviews of technology oriented resources/article.

Within the etext, these educators talk about preferences, experiences and, ultimately, classroom practices from a broad representation of languages. This broad representation of languages helped us to see practices through the eyes of our colleagues and led to greater and more inclusive discussions. Additionally, these professionals work in unique situations and they have needs and perspectives that show through in their technology choices. In fact, one of the most lasting and enduring features of the current tech explosion is the ability to personalize or individualize one's experience with electronic devices from computers to tablets to Smartphones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MAFLT Program
• Release date: Mar 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310867071

Dustin De Felice

This exciting, annual publication is the result of the ideas, hard work and commitment of educators enrolled in the FLT 881 course on technology in teaching offered by the Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching (MAFLT) and the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA) at Michigan State University. Over the years, contributors have included educators from across the Michigan State University campus in various fields, disciplines and a large number of language groups. We hope you enjoy and learn from our musings. Dr. Dustin De Felice is the editor behind this very successful Teaching with Technology annual etext.

Book preview

Teaching with Technology 2014: Language Educators Talking Tech

Written By Alison Vold, Merih Sumpter, Nancy Elsobkey, Joseph Leibson, Alison Dykman, Laureen Davison & Allison Comer

Edited By Dustin De Felice

Copyright 2014 Allison Comer, Laureen Davison, Dustin De Felice, Alison Dykman, Nancy Elsobkey, Joseph Leibson, Merih Sumpter & Alison Vold

Cover Design by Alison Vold

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer.

Thank you for your support!

The work within this text originated in a course on teaching with technology at Michigan State University. This course is offered yearly as part of the Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching (MAFLT) degree, which is supported by the Center for Language Teaching Advancement (CeLTA). For more information, please visit http://maflt.cal.msu.edu/ or http://celta.msu.edu/

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Digital storytelling: Benefits and disadvantages in the World Language classroom. By Allison Comer

Technology – to use or not to use in the classroom. By Laureen Davison

Bring your own device: The evolution of technology in education. By Alison Dykman

Effectiveness of discussion boards in learning and teaching. By Nancy Elsobkey

Benefits of supplying foreign language classrooms with laptops or tablets. By Joseph Leibson

Are students engaged in learning on online educational platforms? Edmodo as a Web 2.0 educational platform. By Merih Sumpter

One to one technology implementation plans in a foreign language classroom. By Alison Vold

Ideal Tech Infused Classrooms

An ideal tech infused classroom rooted in 21st Century skills. By Allison Comer

My ideal technology-infused classroom. By Alison Dykman

The ideal technology-infused classroom for foreign language learners. By Nancy Elsobkey

The ideal technology infused foreign language classroom. By Joseph Leibson

Talking Tech, Reviews by Educators

Tech & Creativity

Review of Infographics: A visual link to learning.

Review of Developing autonomous learning for oral proficiency using digital storytelling.

Tech & Ted-Ed

Review of How TED-Ed is helping to amplify instruction.

Review of Customising videos for schools.

Additional Review of Customising videos for schools.

Tech & Language Learning

Review of Be an EdTech superhero – Wow your students.

Review of Technologies for foreign language learning: A review of technology types and their effectiveness.

Review of Tools for achieving oral fluency.

Additional Review of Tools for achieving oral fluency.

Tech & Online Teaching

Review of Continuing the classroom community: Suggestions for using online discussion boards.

Review of The truth about flipped learning.

Review of 7 student myths of the online classroom.

Tech & Apple

Review of iMovie for iPad.

Review of Apple TV in the classroom – the new smart board.

Tech & Tools

Review of Teachers’ perspectives on interactive whiteboards as instructional tools in four Jordanian schools.

Review of Using mobile technologies in French immersion classrooms: Enriching Second Language Acquisition.

Review of Blogging to learn and learning to blog.

Review of In the Google Age, information literacy is crucial.

Review of Product review: Storyboard That.

Tech & Twitter

Review of Energizing your career and classroom in 140 characters.

Review of How Twitter can be used as a powerful educational tool.

Concluding with Teaching with Technology

About the Authors

About the Editor

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Introduction

By Dustin De Felice

Teaching is full of challenges, hurdles and surprises. Helping students become better learners brings out many of these challenges, hurdles and surprises. One area ripe for concern and development is the intersection between teaching and technology. In a short period of time, there has been an explosion in apps, programs and tools to help students meet their needs and wants. In this volume, you'll read the words and stories of educators adapting to and working with technology in ways that make their classrooms, whether virtual or traditional, better places for all stakeholders. These professionals work in unique situations and they have needs and perspectives that show through in their technology choices. In fact, one of the most lasting and enduring features of this tech explosion is the ability to personalize or individualize one's experience with electronic devices from computers to tablets to Smartphones. As an educator, I had the distinct pleasure of working with a small group of dedicated professionals who were interested in discussing, experimenting and critiquing technology use in their classroom as well as in classrooms-at-large. The final result of this time spent together is contained in this volume where each individual educator talks about his or her preferences, experiences and, ultimately, classroom practices. We organized our work into four sections beginning with persuasive essays on specific topics within technology and classroom use and ending with reviews of tech talk.

In the first section, you'll find persuasive arguments for specific tech tools or specific approaches to classroom use as it relates to technology. Allison Comer starts us off with a discussion on Digital Storytelling and its benefits and advantages in the World Language classroom. She is especially keen on this particular strategy because it allows teachers to move their tried-and-true familiar practice into a new domain. Laureen Davison continues the discussion with a nod toward caution when using technology. With the seemingly constant push for more and more tech in the classroom, Laureen asks us to take a step back and reevaluate our tech use to ensure we are using it in appropriate and necessary ways. Alison Dykman moves us in the direction of answering the challenge present in having so many devices available to students. She discusses the benefits of bring your own device (BYOD) policies in a classroom. She explains how BYOD offers a simple solution to shrinking school budgets, the fragmentation of devices and the wide-spread availability of personally owned devices. Nancy ElSobkey looks into the effectiveness of discussion boards in learning and teaching. Her discussion is particularly topical as more user-friendly platforms have arrived. She also brings to light the benefits to such discussion boards within an online classroom environment. Joseph Leibson focuses on the benefits of having either a laptop or tablet in a language classroom as we move farther away from a pencil-and-paper society. He points out the challenges with supplying schools with the appropriate technology by highlighting the possible avenues for making devices more prevalent in the classroom. Merih Sumpter looks into student engagement through educational platforms like Edmodo. She discusses the way recent developments in educational platforms have made it easier for students to engage in learning through them. As she aptly states, today’s tools are all part of the ‘socializing for education’ in online worlds. Alison Vold argues for a one-to-one technology implementation plan in language classrooms and points to the necessity of tech tools in the education of a global citizen. Much like a pencil for every student, Alison calls for the same level of accessibility in order to meet the growing demands of a student needing to leave the educational system with a full background in 21st Century skills. This focus on skills (now commonly referred to as 21st Century skills) is an underlying theme for all of the work in this volume on Teaching with Technology: Teachers Talking Tech!

Return to Contents

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Digital Storytelling: Benefits and Disadvantages in the World Language Classroom.

By Allison Comer

With the world constantly becoming more globalized, the integration of technology in the classroom has become imperative. Current language learning students have access to more technology and authentic materials than ever before. Teachers right now are looking for ways to incorporate technology into their old activities in order to enhance the learning. With digital storytelling, teachers can take a topic that will always have a place in the language classroom, storytelling, and enhance it with technology. The advantages of digital story telling vs. traditional storytelling techniques are numerous. Student motivation is higher when technology is involved. Students can bring more of their own interests, express themselves at a higher level, learn a new technological tool and give the learner more of a voice. There are so many options for digital storytelling and language learners will have a great opportunity to use the language to its fullest potential. With digital storytelling however, comes some tribulations for the learners. Within groups, the load of the work might fall on certain students while others do not contribute as much. This becomes an issue that the educator must work out ahead of time with strategic planning.

Motivation, Creativity, Feedback and Engagement with Digital Storytelling

One reason Carmen Gregori-Signes argues for digital storytelling in the language classroom is that it helps student motivation. For many students, digital storytelling is new. With more technology access, students can create their very own digital stories. Tablets such as iPads, Smartphones, and laptops all make this possible. Within each of these devices, more possibilities await. Comic Maker, Keynote, Pages and Notability can assist with the story boarding and brainstorming aspect. With the app Comic Maker, students can create a digital comic with various characters, backgrounds and props. Keynote, Pages and Notability are different apps that can be used to story board or create conversations. They can then be brought to life with iMovie and Movie Maker. They can also edit the videos. They can then be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo and shared with more language classrooms across the world. This type of information is appealing to the students (Green, 2013). Before, storytelling consisted of writing a story or maybe creating a comic strip with paper and a writing utensil. The student will have more motivation to create a digital story because it is more attractive (Gregori-Signes, 2008). It is also more motivating to create because of how personalized it can be (Green, 2013). One last reason motivation plays a