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Final course project...
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Reading Prompt 12 reply
Ockey presents valid arguments on why the full potential of CBT has failed. Regarding CATs, the possibility of violating the unidimensionality and local independence assumptions within the IRT scoring algorithm can skew the validity of the test taker’s responses. In turn, an inaccurate assessment could result. Also, until there is agreement on CAT algorithm, I agree test takers will continue to receive various test scores. I also agree on the necessity to maintain a large bank of test questions, if CAT is going to be an effective assessment system—as the test taker population represents various proficiency levels. Expert human resources in developing and implementing CAT are a must, as it demands a degree of knowledge/analysis. In the area of CBT security, valid points were raised about test takers memorizing and sharing material, verifying their identity, and hackers—all valid CBT vulnerabilities. Several pros and cons were offered in the discussion of CBT usage for language skills assessment. A blending of CBT and human raters with writing assessments was the best method to assess writing skills. Taking that idea further, with challenges across the language skills discussed, it does not make sense to rely solely on CBT for assessment purposes. There isn’t consensus in its various applications and questions of reliability and validity continue to exist. CBT should be viewed as one method of assessing SLLs, but not the sole instrument.
And that brings me to Cummins & Davesne’s article on EPs as alternative assessment tools. I would use EPs as equal partners, vice just an alternative, to assessments. I would adapt the EP format for my adult learners, as we are not in an academic school program. All 3 parts—passport, bio’, and the dossier would be included, but modified to a less academic style for my learners. Samples of written and oral activities would complement assessments of such, which would portray a more complete picture of the learners’ language proficiency in these domains. Pair/group work collaborations would be in the EPs—as learners learn from each other, this would be reflected. I would use the EPs as a method for learners to capture and view themselves in a SLA light. That could further empower learners with their SLA journey. From the assessment perspective, using EPs in my classroom would provide a richer and a more visual measure of their course progress. The concept of assessing a collection of a student’s work via EPs provides a more well-rounded method to assess motivation and progress.
And that brings me to Cummins & Davesne’s article on EPs as alternative assessment tools. I would use EPs as equal partners, vice just an alternative, to assessments. I would adapt the EP format for my adult learners, as we are not in an academic school program. All 3 parts—passport, bio’, and the dossier would be included, but modified to a less academic style for my learners. Samples of written and oral activities would complement assessments of such, which would portray a more complete picture of the learners’ language proficiency in these domains. Pair/group work collaborations would be in the EPs—as learners learn from each other, this would be reflected. I would use the EPs as a method for learners to capture and view themselves in a SLA light. That could further empower learners with their SLA journey. From the assessment perspective, using EPs in my classroom would provide a richer and a more visual measure of their course progress. The concept of assessing a collection of a student’s work via EPs provides a more well-rounded method to assess motivation and progress.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tuscan Sunflowers
'Bella, 'bella, bella! I love the Tuscan countryside, just outside of Firenzi, Italia. A glass of Classico Chianti and you're there!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Reading Prompt 11 reply
Richardson mentions ‘overwhelming’ at the end of his chapter on the social web. Couldn’t agree more, especially after reading about Diigo and del.icio.us social bookmarking tools! Maybe if I saw demos’ on them I could understand their use and value more. Twittering I get, although I don’t do it. A possible idea would be to use it as a way to chime in on a common daily event or news item. Using the L2 to comment via tweets could promote/improve informal communication skills, namely brevity and conciseness. Other than the examples cited throughout the chapter, I can’t think of any additional ways I could use any of the other tools. He mentions the collaborative uses of each, which is always welcomed and encouraged in the L2 learning classroom. I somewhat understood the tagging folksonomy mentioned, but again a demo’ would make is more understandable for me.
The digital divide involves the issue of technology and equity in our public education system. Warschauer et al. pose that instead of a digital divide today, there is a range of factors shaping technology use that in turn, reinforces education inequalities. Three issues discussed affecting the low-SES schools include performativity—the teaching of basic computer tasks versus purposeful learning w/technology. Workability, another issue, involved aspects of computer management described as being deficient at times. With that, support systems/pedagogical support were also problematic. The third issue was complexity, as viewed by many of the teachers. Due to high-stakes testing pressures, lack of home computers for all the students, and the fact that many are ELLs, integration of computers into curriculum was a complex undertaking. Along with these three issues, the lack of qualified teachers and financial support at the low-SES schools were also factors. I would suggest, as the authors do, technical training for educators, including emphasizing academic gains that can be realized. If computer labs are in place, in addition to lab time, creating computer clubs to promote usage. Monitored, w/guidelines, activities related to context area could be offered, possibly with an extra credit incentive. Motivation toward academic progression/success could be the goal. Given financial constraints w/the education system, inline with sports and special trips fundraisers, perhaps fundraisers for computers and academic training with them. To provide optimum CALL academic environments these days, innovation/thinking outside the box is warranted!
The digital divide involves the issue of technology and equity in our public education system. Warschauer et al. pose that instead of a digital divide today, there is a range of factors shaping technology use that in turn, reinforces education inequalities. Three issues discussed affecting the low-SES schools include performativity—the teaching of basic computer tasks versus purposeful learning w/technology. Workability, another issue, involved aspects of computer management described as being deficient at times. With that, support systems/pedagogical support were also problematic. The third issue was complexity, as viewed by many of the teachers. Due to high-stakes testing pressures, lack of home computers for all the students, and the fact that many are ELLs, integration of computers into curriculum was a complex undertaking. Along with these three issues, the lack of qualified teachers and financial support at the low-SES schools were also factors. I would suggest, as the authors do, technical training for educators, including emphasizing academic gains that can be realized. If computer labs are in place, in addition to lab time, creating computer clubs to promote usage. Monitored, w/guidelines, activities related to context area could be offered, possibly with an extra credit incentive. Motivation toward academic progression/success could be the goal. Given financial constraints w/the education system, inline with sports and special trips fundraisers, perhaps fundraisers for computers and academic training with them. To provide optimum CALL academic environments these days, innovation/thinking outside the box is warranted!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Additional posting #5
A friend sent me this photog' of a school bus in Japan. Real or not? What do you think???
Additional posting #4
You won't believe this! The video speaks for itself, so I don't want to spoil the surprise. A couple teasers...the amount is British pounds, which is valued more than our dollar, and listen to his Alice in Wonderland mishap. First saw this on CBS Sunday Morning, a terrific show about peoples, places, and things. Enjoy the video!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
CALL Site Evaluation
1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Web Resource: Heinle’s Newbury House Dictionary of American English
Designed as ‘The All-in-One Essential Tool for English Language Learning’, it contains over 40,000 entries. A vocabulary building tool/on-line dictionary resource, it has simple, clear definitions with sample sentences and idioms. The Home page has a ‘Look up a word’ box which appears at the top of every page. The other pages are: Help, About the Dictionary, Suggest-a-Word, Pronunciation Guide, and Activities. The material focuses on helping ELLs build their vocabulary. All language levels can use the ‘Look up a word’ box; however, some of the other activities may be too challenging for beginners. The Suggest-a-Word page promotes user-to-publisher collaboration. If a word is missing it can be submitted with the online template provided, which includes its definitions, sample sentences, cultural notes, and any synonyms. The Activities page consists of crossword puzzles, quizzes, and an activity guide of twenty-two topic-based lessons, with true/false, multiple choices, and fill in the blank exercises. Answer keys to all the activities are provided.
2. EVALUATION
Technological Features: While there are not any delays in starting up or using the program, not all activities can be completed online: In the Activities Page, when opening any of the World Web Crosswords or Challenge Crosswords an ‘Error reading crossword file’ message appears. They can only be printed even though the Help page says they can be done online or printed. The twenty-two topic-based lessons cannot be completed online, either. The authors’ reference to having the hard copy of the book available for these lessons makes this part of the online program dependent on an external resource, and a bit cumbersome. The program has an easy user interface and a simple, clean format. It’s easy to navigate between the pages as they are always visible on the left side of the site. Another design drawback, when typing a word in the ‘Look up a word’ box it must be spelled correctly, which could pose a problem for language learners. While there is not any sound, graphics, or video, intelligent response handling occurs efficiently. Students can view their results after a quiz and can also e-mail the results to their instructor. With a computer and an internet connection, this program can be used inside or outside of the classroom.
Activities (Procedure): All the activities are sufficiently designed. With the primary activity being the dictionary feature, learners can search word meanings and usage to facilitate their language learning. With the range of activities, there’s flexibility in individual, pair, or group work assignments—promoting collaboration. Between the crosswords, quizzes, and the twenty-two topic-based lessons all in the Activities Guide, instructors have a variety of ways to have their students learn and apply vocabulary in fun ways. The nature of the content lends itself to the linguistic focus features of pronunciation, spelling, morphology, syntax, and semantics, depending on which activity in the program is being performed. All the language skills can be used with this resource, especially reading and writing. A relevant sociolinguistic aspect exists particularly with the twenty-two topic-based lessons. For example, Lesson 12, Let’s Go, is about going places; Lesson 17, Quick Assets, centers on personal finances. This resource can supplement or complement a curriculum. For example, if a reading activity has unfamiliar words, learners can research them with this resource. Or if the curriculum lesson is about personal finance targeting verb tense, Lesson 17, Quick Assets can be used to complement it.
If you are teaching how to use a dictionary, this resource could be a lesson in itself. Dictionary usage is presented in a ‘Guide to Skills and Strategies’ near the end of the Activity Guide.
Teacher Fit: In the realm of vocabulary acquisition, this learner-centered online tool is designed to achieve such. Research skills are utilized to acquire word meanings, uses, grammar, and pronunciation. Cognitive development is further enhanced through the activities, sample sentences, and idioms. Currency of today’s lexicon was evident. For example, the word server was explained with a note that more and more today it is used in place of waiter and waitress. Where computers are available, this tool would fit into any course curriculum. It can be used as a warm-up activity, pre-/post-reading activity, or as an activity on its own. Its value to the language learning classroom is vocabulary acquisition and context usage. Reinforcing learned vocabulary along with supplemental lessons and activities are available.
Learner Fit (Design): Learners at all levels of proficiency can use the dictionary word search feature. The other features are more suited to intermediate and advanced level learners. It’s an efficient reference tool for vocabulary and grammar building. Online quizzes are scored when completed. Errors are noted and feedback is provided as the questions are repeated with their correct explanatory answers. The Activity Guide Answer Key also provides corrective feedback. The topic-based crossword puzzles are recall and comprehension activities. Clicking on the ‘Solution’ link of each page provides an answer key. The instructor has flexibility with this program. For example, learners can do a crossword puzzle before or after they’ve been exposed to the topic-based words in it. They can be completed individually or in pairs. The same flexibility can be applied to the Quizzes and the lessons in the Activity Guide. The instructor can use a set of recently researched words as a quiz for recall purposes—perhaps using the word in a sentence or giving the meaning and part of speech.
3. SUMMARY
It’s a good reference tool for vocabulary acquisition/building. The Activities page needs some tweaking to allow an online/offline option—as the Help page indicates. Also, spelling can be difficult when learning L2 vocabulary; therefore, the ‘Look up a word’ box needs to be modified to allow misspellings, in the same way Google does when you type in a word or phrase.
I experimented with the entire program, including taking some of the quizzes. I answered correctly and incorrectly to obtain program feedback. Aside from my recommended improvements, I would use this program and recommend others use it also. It’s an electronic method for vocabulary research. If learners are not comfortable with computers, this is a simple and easy web resource to improve their confidence with such. It is a useful tool for ELLs.
4. PRODUCER DETAILS
http://nhd.heinle.com/Home.aspx
Web Resource: Heinle’s Newbury House Dictionary of American English
Designed as ‘The All-in-One Essential Tool for English Language Learning’, it contains over 40,000 entries. A vocabulary building tool/on-line dictionary resource, it has simple, clear definitions with sample sentences and idioms. The Home page has a ‘Look up a word’ box which appears at the top of every page. The other pages are: Help, About the Dictionary, Suggest-a-Word, Pronunciation Guide, and Activities. The material focuses on helping ELLs build their vocabulary. All language levels can use the ‘Look up a word’ box; however, some of the other activities may be too challenging for beginners. The Suggest-a-Word page promotes user-to-publisher collaboration. If a word is missing it can be submitted with the online template provided, which includes its definitions, sample sentences, cultural notes, and any synonyms. The Activities page consists of crossword puzzles, quizzes, and an activity guide of twenty-two topic-based lessons, with true/false, multiple choices, and fill in the blank exercises. Answer keys to all the activities are provided.
2. EVALUATION
Technological Features: While there are not any delays in starting up or using the program, not all activities can be completed online: In the Activities Page, when opening any of the World Web Crosswords or Challenge Crosswords an ‘Error reading crossword file’ message appears. They can only be printed even though the Help page says they can be done online or printed. The twenty-two topic-based lessons cannot be completed online, either. The authors’ reference to having the hard copy of the book available for these lessons makes this part of the online program dependent on an external resource, and a bit cumbersome. The program has an easy user interface and a simple, clean format. It’s easy to navigate between the pages as they are always visible on the left side of the site. Another design drawback, when typing a word in the ‘Look up a word’ box it must be spelled correctly, which could pose a problem for language learners. While there is not any sound, graphics, or video, intelligent response handling occurs efficiently. Students can view their results after a quiz and can also e-mail the results to their instructor. With a computer and an internet connection, this program can be used inside or outside of the classroom.
Activities (Procedure): All the activities are sufficiently designed. With the primary activity being the dictionary feature, learners can search word meanings and usage to facilitate their language learning. With the range of activities, there’s flexibility in individual, pair, or group work assignments—promoting collaboration. Between the crosswords, quizzes, and the twenty-two topic-based lessons all in the Activities Guide, instructors have a variety of ways to have their students learn and apply vocabulary in fun ways. The nature of the content lends itself to the linguistic focus features of pronunciation, spelling, morphology, syntax, and semantics, depending on which activity in the program is being performed. All the language skills can be used with this resource, especially reading and writing. A relevant sociolinguistic aspect exists particularly with the twenty-two topic-based lessons. For example, Lesson 12, Let’s Go, is about going places; Lesson 17, Quick Assets, centers on personal finances. This resource can supplement or complement a curriculum. For example, if a reading activity has unfamiliar words, learners can research them with this resource. Or if the curriculum lesson is about personal finance targeting verb tense, Lesson 17, Quick Assets can be used to complement it.
If you are teaching how to use a dictionary, this resource could be a lesson in itself. Dictionary usage is presented in a ‘Guide to Skills and Strategies’ near the end of the Activity Guide.
Teacher Fit: In the realm of vocabulary acquisition, this learner-centered online tool is designed to achieve such. Research skills are utilized to acquire word meanings, uses, grammar, and pronunciation. Cognitive development is further enhanced through the activities, sample sentences, and idioms. Currency of today’s lexicon was evident. For example, the word server was explained with a note that more and more today it is used in place of waiter and waitress. Where computers are available, this tool would fit into any course curriculum. It can be used as a warm-up activity, pre-/post-reading activity, or as an activity on its own. Its value to the language learning classroom is vocabulary acquisition and context usage. Reinforcing learned vocabulary along with supplemental lessons and activities are available.
Learner Fit (Design): Learners at all levels of proficiency can use the dictionary word search feature. The other features are more suited to intermediate and advanced level learners. It’s an efficient reference tool for vocabulary and grammar building. Online quizzes are scored when completed. Errors are noted and feedback is provided as the questions are repeated with their correct explanatory answers. The Activity Guide Answer Key also provides corrective feedback. The topic-based crossword puzzles are recall and comprehension activities. Clicking on the ‘Solution’ link of each page provides an answer key. The instructor has flexibility with this program. For example, learners can do a crossword puzzle before or after they’ve been exposed to the topic-based words in it. They can be completed individually or in pairs. The same flexibility can be applied to the Quizzes and the lessons in the Activity Guide. The instructor can use a set of recently researched words as a quiz for recall purposes—perhaps using the word in a sentence or giving the meaning and part of speech.
3. SUMMARY
It’s a good reference tool for vocabulary acquisition/building. The Activities page needs some tweaking to allow an online/offline option—as the Help page indicates. Also, spelling can be difficult when learning L2 vocabulary; therefore, the ‘Look up a word’ box needs to be modified to allow misspellings, in the same way Google does when you type in a word or phrase.
I experimented with the entire program, including taking some of the quizzes. I answered correctly and incorrectly to obtain program feedback. Aside from my recommended improvements, I would use this program and recommend others use it also. It’s an electronic method for vocabulary research. If learners are not comfortable with computers, this is a simple and easy web resource to improve their confidence with such. It is a useful tool for ELLs.
4. PRODUCER DETAILS
http://nhd.heinle.com/Home.aspx
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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