Effective Use of IT for Effective Use of IT for English Learning and English Learning and

Teaching in Teaching in Secondary SchoolsSecondary Schools

Effective Use of IT for Effective Use of IT for English Learning and English Learning and

Teaching in Teaching in Secondary SchoolsSecondary Schools

Paul McMahonPaul McMahonInternational Teacher.International Teacher.

Why are we considering ICT for

learning?• If our kids are doing well on test

scores…• And our economy is strong…• And parents and kids seem to want

us to focus on the bookwork…• Why should we change?

Friedman’s Flatteners

– The Fall of the Wall and the Waging of the Windows

– The Dawn of Connectivity: When Webs were No Longer for Spiders

– Work Flow Software: Don’t Mind the Difference and the Distance

– Uploading: Redefining the Multi-Colored Post-Its

– Etc.

One Laptop Per Child?

Do you market your school as being conservative, traditional and the place for old-fashioned learning??

Natives and Immigrants

Digital Native Learners Digital Immigrant Teachers

Prefer receiving information quickly from multiple multimedia sources.

Prefer slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.

Prefer parallel processing and multitasking. Prefer singular processing and single or limited tasking.

Prefer processing pictures, sounds and video before text.

Prefer to provide text before pictures, sounds and video.

Prefer random access to hyperlinked multimedia information.

Prefer to provide information linearly, logically and sequentially.

Prefer to interact/network simultaneously with many others.

Prefer students to work independently rather than network and interact.

Prefer to learn “just-in-time.” Prefer to teach “just-in-case” (it’s on the exam).

Prefer instant gratification and instant rewards. Prefer deferred gratification and deferred rewards.

Prefer learning that is relevant, instantly useful and fun.

Prefer to teach to the curriculum guide and standardized tests.

*Ian Jukes and Anita Dosaj, The InfoSavvy Group, February 2003

• What’s wrong with just turning out a group of kids with the same solid learning that their parent’s generation had?

It requires more than a “bolt on”

Computer Based Activities

• Mind mappers like Gliffy http://www.gliffy.com/ for planning writing

• Use of the commenting tools in Word• An advance on the above is to use picture

collages to illustrate writing• Fliction as a stimulus to writing http://

www.flickr.com/search/?q=fliction&w=all • Recording voice http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

and video (Movie Maker) is also stimulating.

• Are these useful in class/out of class?

Front of Class Interaction

• There is research being produced, especially from the UK that suggests Interactive Whiteboards engage more learners by getting them to the front of the class doing things that all can see.

The Ability to Edit Not Just Use

• Making things happen at the front of the room where the learners attention is focused is what most teachers want to be able to do.

• You can do this to a certain extent with a wireless mouse and keyboard.

• A tablet PC and wireless projector is also good but costly and not easy to pass to students.

IWBs and Other Front of Room Devices

• Boards are good but costly and not portable.

• Many cheap alternatives on the market.

• Need to make sure that you have software that you can download/share resources with.

Easiteach• A presentation/editor for Whole-

Class teaching that can be used on both platforms and every presentation device.

• Very easy to use• Developed using teacher input

Download and Modify• A great deal of content available

for Easiteach both for sale and free.

• http://www.easiteach.com.au/• http://www.learningalive.co.uk/t_re

sources_results.aspx?prod=137&type=2

Collaboration Tools• Non-synchronous exchange http://

www.epals.com/ • Collaborative Projects http://

educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Wikis

• http://flatplanet.wikispaces.com/ • Social commenting on writing http://

hetherington.learnerblogs.org/ • Voice exchange http://audacity.sourceforge.net/• Combining pictures and voice is effective

http://voicethread.com

Synchronous Collaboration Tools

• Conversations http://www.skype.com

• Full classroom sharing tools http://www.e-lecta.com/

• Podcasting http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/podcasts/index.html

Hands On • Use Easiteach trial to create learning activities

(see handout)• Go to www.edublogs.org or

www.learnerbolgs.org to investigate or comment on mine http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/

• Go to WikiSpaces http://www.wikispaces.com/ to create a WIKI or add comments to my sample WIKI http://lsa.wikispaces.com/

More Hands On• Use the trial Podium software on

the computers to do 3 of the 5 P’s• Sign up for an account with ePals to

join in with other schools doing language exchanges.

• If able, webconference with Sydney, Australia for a while!

• Ask Questions and Enjoy!

Thank You!• Paul McMahon• Learning Solutions Asia • Email:

pmc@learningsolutions.com.hk • Phone: w81702808 m91705605• PowerPoint

http://iclassroom.hkedcity.net/teacher/teacher979