The Summary of Discussion Sessions on Distance Language Teaching, Sense of Presence, Fake and Real Engagement, and Flipped Learning

 

As people are follow up on the rapid advancement in the various areas education also has evolvement, and technology integration and online education become vital rather than an option. In this regard, I and my friend read some articles which are ”

Distance Language Teaching with Technology, Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching, Fake and Real Engagement, Computer Assisted Language Learning and flipped language classrooms and its’ theoretical foundations, learning activities, and tools and we discussed these articles in an online learning tool ”zoom”. In our discussion sessions, we tried to answer what is distance language teaching, how to create a sense of presence in online teaching, how to understand fake and real engagement, and what is flipped learning. Additionally, we talked about their advantages, disadvantages, and their challenges for both teachers and students.

At the first discussion session, we talked about the rapid advancement in various areas, in technology, and education brings more contemporary approaches in distance language teaching. Moreover, we talked about the evolution of distance language teaching from print-based courses to educational tv and radio broadcast, and then to computer technologies, and lastly interactive multimedia, Web 2.0 tools. Actually, we are all witness to this evolution, for example, I remember the books with CD when I was at high school but now, I look at my nephew’s English books they are with Qr code he can scan the code anywhere with any android phone or tablet, and reach the relevant content. Additionally, we talked about the advantages of technology-mediated distance language teaching; such as freeing students, removing limitations, and providing a more collaborative learning environment to students. Moreover, it brings opportunities to communicate and interact in the target language.

In the second discussion session, we talked about the sense of presence in online teaching. At the beginning of the discussion we talked about the given scenarios which were about Amanda and Carlos and we asked ourselves what would we think if we are in the same situation with Amanda and Carlos? I assumed myself in the same situation as Carlos, who is a twenty-seven-year veteran instructor in communication courses. And then he offered to do his communication courses online. I asked too many questions myself such as How to interact with learners? How to engage learners in the course? How to provide learner interaction among learners? How to implement group work or teamwork? because it’s a communication course and what I have is the only computer, and communication courses should be based on interaction, pair work, group work, team projects I mean mostly active interaction, and discussion. How can it be possible to provide these all in an online class? And then I and my pair found the answer in the article, which was becoming aware of the differences between in-real and online interaction and understanding the concept of presence in online learning can help to select appropriate technology and design in the online learning to overcome these questions. And then we tried to understand the concept of presence which is telepresence -the sense of “ being there ”- (impressions and feelings from learners’ environment), and social presence -the sense of “ being together with others-, (interaction in the online environment). Moreover, we discussed the different perspectives of presence which are social (seeing others as real people in the online environment), psychological (focus on the learning rather than technology), and emotional presence (the ability to interact in the online environment). And at the end, we decided that understanding these aspects of presence gives learners a feeling of connecting and belonging to a community, and makes learners feel they are together in the same place, and helps learners to interact with each other in an authentic way. And we realized that this is what our open and distance learning lecturer trying to achieve in our class because he invites us to be there and together and involve us in the process by giving feedback and by interacting with each other and with him.

And the next discussion week the topic was Fake or Real Engagement. Firstly, we talked about what is engagement, and its importance in language classes, what is fake engagement, and how can we discriminate between fake and real engagement. And we explained engagement as students’ active participation in the lesson, talking, asking questions, and answering what is asked to students. When it comes to fake engagement, we explained it as students’ pretending as they are listening or focusing on the lesson when they are not. We mainly focused on how we can understand students’ fake engagement. Because language learning requires communication, active engagement, thinking, reflection, and contribution. And we talked about how students faked their engagement; they generally fake their engagement with physical actions such as eye movement, gesture, and posture, for example, they can use ”thinking pose” as like they are on task and focusing on what the teacher talking about when actually they are not. Or they can fake their engagement with work-related actions such as they can draw something on their book as they are taking notes when they are not taking notes. But in language classes, fake engagement is a problem and teachers need to provide solutions for this problem. Therefore, we thought that we can use comprehension check questions such as we can ask relevant questions about the topic that we are in rather than asking ”do you understand? ” or rather than ask ”are you listening?” we can ask ”where we were?”. Additionally, we thought that in order to prevent fake engagement and provide real engagement we can motivate and encourage students to interact and ask questions.

And the last discussion session the topic was flipped learning. Firstly, we explained flipped learning as a pedagogical approach that changes the role of activities from the traditional classroom to generally before classroom activities by giving instructional content to students before class. And then we talked about the technological tools that flipped learning integrates the learning such as Kahoot, Quizlet, Hot potatoes, Padlet, Google Docs., PowToon, and online discussion tools. Moreover, we discussed if the teachers’ and students’ roles changing with flipped learning. And we agreed in flipped learning the role of teacher and students changed, teachers’ roles became guiding students, motivating them, and giving feedback rather than giving excessive speech during the lesson. And students’ roles became more interactive rather than passively listen to the teacher. And at the end, we talked although flipped learning has some challenges for both teacher and students such as for teachers it requires extra time to prepare pre-class activities, and for students, it may be a little bit difficult to follow pre-class activities. It takes time outside of the class both for teachers and students. But it is evident that flipped approach in the language classroom has positive effects on students’ engagement and motivation, increases learners’ academic performance, supports learners’ autonomy and self-regulation also develops learners’ critical thinking, and makes the learner more confident.

To sum up, in our discussion sessions we tried to answer what is distance language teaching, how to create a sense of presence in online teaching, how to understand fake and real engagement, and what is flipped learning. Additionally, we talked about their advantages, disadvantages, and their challenges for both teachers and students. And we agreed that technology and new learning methods acceptance is important both for teachers and learners due to rapid advancement in the various areas.

 

References

Chapelle, C. A., & Sauro, S. (2019). The handbook of technology and second language teaching and learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., & Mercer, S. (2020). Student engagement in the language classroom. Multilingual Matters.

Lehman, R. M., & Conceição, S. C. (2010). Creating a sense of presence in online teaching: How to “Be there” for distance learners. John Wiley & Sons.

A systematic review of research on flipped language classrooms: Theoretical foundations, learning activities, tools, research topics, and findings. (2020, November 13). Taylor & Francis.

Flipgrid is a great option for reimagining class discussions and formative assessment. This tool empowers students to record their ideas and demonstrate learning in a format that can easily be shared with their friend and group task members. It is a great way to quickly assess your teacher or your friends and connecting and applying new information. Flipgrid allows for an entire class to present a 90-second video response to the teacher or student-generated questions. The learning community can then interact with various postings by sending short messages or ‘hearts’ to show support of an idea. I have used this tool to introduce cultural symbols to my friends which is one of our course subjects. Flipgrid can be used for classroom discussions, current issues, and for feedback on class activities, etc…

Here is my classrooms’ Flipgrid where we shared our ideas with our classmate.

Blackboard is a very widely used learning management system (LMS). It is a system that provides businesses and educators the ability to reach and teach their employees or learners via a virtual environment. This web-based software provides a course management system, customizable open architecture, and scalable design that help users to merge the application with student information system and authentication processes. The main goal behind Blackboard is to create and deliver online courses and learning efficiently to recipients with few or no face-to-face meetings.

Blackboard Learning Management System offers a variety of distinctive benefits for learners and students. To start with, they gain immediate and streamlined access to all of its features, and work navigating an intuitive and reminiscent of social networks, that is even compatible with their devices. Basically, Blackboard can be used on all types of smartphones and tablets.

With Blackboard, it will be easy to regain compete control on all learning activities taking place in the organization, as the system also offers a great collaboration suite to keep learners connected. If you’re an educator, on the other hand, Blackboard will ensure that you have a variety of methods to improve students’ and learners’ engagement, and motivate them to use their maximal potential.

Blackboard can also be applied to enhance competitiveness and professional development in corporate environments, thanks to the fact it blends learning and real time support in a single product. As we mentioned before, there is a variety of useful integrations with third-party learning management systems and applications (and other type of business software) to ensure that data will flow seamlessly, and that manual entry will be absolutely restricted. Other distinctive features include: Student previews, SafeAssign, Data Management, Collaborative Integrations, Calendars, and much more.

Extensions that help expand Blackboard’s capacity are also available for corporate users, covering all types of additional functionality. On top of that, Blackboard is a reasonably priced system with a flexible scheme, where users are given separate packages that meet their exact needs, and pay nothing more than the features they’ve ordered. Customer support is always available via several channels to ensure that users have no problems working with this system.

 

Online courses and degree programs are more convenient and cheaper than their counterparts in traditional education. Those are the two main advantages of online learning that lead many students to opt for online platforms when they want to earn a degree or certificate.
The best thing about online learning is that you can learn in a relaxed manner even if you don’t want to get certified. You only need passion for learning and a quick online search that will take you to the right course. From that point on, you will be the master of your own education.

Advantages of online courses

Flexibility in dividing your own time

Are you a morning person or an evening person? What is the amount of time you are peaking at? This is not a question you get ask during school. At school, you have to follow the time schedule the teacher has planned for you. You can easily fill in your own schedule with online courses. If you are a hard working mother and decide to attend a course, besides your normal job, it may be difficult with your time management. By following online courses you can, to a great extent, decide at what time you want to study.

More interaction

There is some contradictory evidence about this. Some investigators say that traditional courses are better for interaction and some say the other way around. But studies have proven that it improves interaction with certain persons. Online courses offer shy or more reticent students the opportunity to participate in chats more than they do in a traditional class.

More comfortable

You can just stay in your pajamas and make your homework for that day. Learning in your own surroundings, may make it easier for learners to do their work. They are no longer being distracted from their work by other learners. Some learners experience a lot of performance pressure. This will lessen once they are not surrounded by other learners.

Lower costs

Online courses saves a great amount of money; less teachers, less books and no money to spend on a room to educate.

Learning whatever you want

This may also be with traditional classes, but that involves, in most cases, traveling from home or even living in another city. Picking your dream course may be easier by following an online course. This is a nice way to start your dream course without traveling to another city.

Tailored to different needs

Participants can work at their own pace. If you’re faster than the other participants, you don’t have to wait for them. The other way around, if you’re slower, you can take your time. Courses can also be tailored at the level of learning.

 

 

 

Here is my Udemy course certificate which is about research method and statistic.

 

 

If you haven’t heard of Padlet and you’re looking to add more technology to your classroom, this is a great way to start. First of all, it allows students or teachers to collaborate. Think of it as a large bulletin board. Anyone with the link can place a post-it on the bulletin board. The post-it note can include a note, a picture, a video, or a website.  Secondly, it is simple to create and does not require many devices. I’ve used Padlet for creating educational tool. https://padlet.com/esmatopkara61/ocr7jz329a03

Here is some ideas using Padlet in classroom;

1. Getting to know your “audience”

Create a Padlet in the classroom for students (or faculty) to get to know one another. This could also be useful at a back-to-school night. Ask students to post a note with their name and something they did over the summer or something they are looking forward to learning during the upcoming school year. At a back to school night or open house, it could be part of a scavenger hunt. Leave the Padlet projected for all to see, and have families post their name and a picture of themselves.

2. Formative Assessment

After teaching a lesson, post a “ticket out the door” question to find what students learned that day. You can post a big question, such as your lesson’s essential question, or a specific question to determine who has met an exact objective. This is a great time to figure out what students’ perceive to be the important points about their learning, and it also highlights the misconceptions. (I don’t typically project these Padlets because sometimes students are sensitive of their work when it is new learning. It is best to generate a culture in the classroom that celebrates mistakes so that students see them as the very best way to learn and grow.)

3. Collaborative Research

Padlet can be a great classroom tool for small groups of students participating in collaborative research. To help organize the board, students can post driving questions about their topic, and as they find answers (or more questions) during the research process, they can post them under each driving question. Students can also post links, video clips, and images, making it more effective than traditional notecards.

4. Book Studies and Discussion Points

Padlet is an incredibly useful discussion board for discussion. Whether it is a student-run literature circle or reciprocal teaching groups, or a staff development book study, Padlet is an effective classroom tool. The leader posts a question about the chapter, and participants respond to that question. Students can have literature discussions even when the classroom needs to be quiet, or in the evening from their own homes. Teachers can prepare for professional development book studies by posting thoughts from a chapter prior to meeting in person, which helps the leader of the book study better prepare for the focus of the next session.

5. Student Sharing

Provide students with an opportunity to share their work without taking the instructional time to share one at a time in front of the room. (Presenting has definite value, but realistically there just isn’t enough time to do this for everything students create.) Allow students to take a picture of what they are working on and post it to a Padlet you’ve set up for them. Have other class members view the posted items, and respond below it by sharing a “Praise” and a “Polish”– one thing they love, and one thing they would have done differently. A reminder to train students about writing effective comments, both positive and constructive, and to teach students how to use those comments once they are received. You could organize this by setting up a Padlet for each project/piece students create, or you could set up a Padlet for each student to post their creations throughout the year.

Just a few years ago, virtual reality seemed to be a sci-fi concept for most people. Currently, virtual reality is playing an increasing role in reshaping such industries as medicine and real estate and educators started using VR in academic settings. A lot of people now believe that this technology is the future of education and that students will benefit from VR enable textbook and virtual classrooms.

Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. On a computer or handphone, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. For the improved education media used to assist teaching has constantly been sought by researchers in the educational technology domain. Virtual Reality (VR) has been identified as one of them. Many have agreed that VR could help to improve performance and conceptual understanding of a specific range of task.

Benefits of VR to Learning

Sometimes it is easier to see and hear something than have it explained to you, and occasionally students just need to be taken out of a classroom environment and dropped into a different world; where they can watch dinosaurs walk around them, experience a performance at a West End theatre or in a concert hall, or live stream with other students around the world in VR social spaces. The list of apps being generated is dramatically and quickly growing, and with every new piece of software, another avenue for learners opens up. The prices of VR equipment starting to drop, the technologies are becoming more accessible to teachers looking to accomplish those objectives. The possibilities for adding VR to their classrooms are exciting.

Social Integration of Students

Students achieve better results in a positive learning environment when they can connect with their peers. Virtual reality can enhance social integration of students with different learning needs and styles.Virtual reality changes the way we learn, teach, and communicate. The learners are engaged during the lessons because there are no outside distractions as this technology is immersive in nature, inspires creative learning, and promotes curiosity.

Now we are witnessing as more and more progressive schools all around the world start using the VR technology within their classrooms and curriculum. With VR, teachers can teach different subjects in new and exciting ways, making learning process fun.Virtual reality has the potential to transform education. It offers endless possibilities for higher education institutions as well. It can be a powerful tool in supporting STEM education. VR is used in architectural design and allows students to view their own designs in real time. It is also a great learning tool for medical students who can use it to simulate real-time surgeries. Universities can use this technology to create virtual tours for recruiting students.

The use of virtual reality in higher education is likely to increase over the next few years. Virtual reality is unlikely to replace old-school face-to-face teaching methods, but this technology will continue to be used to enhance learning experiences for students.

Eliminates Language Barriers

Language differences can be challenging in today’s multicultural societies. If students want to study in a foreign country, they need to achieve fluency in a foreign language to be able to understand the material if they are taught in another language. With virtual reality, language translation can be built into the software and there will be no language barrier that can prevent students from achieving their educational goals. VR visualizations can be experienced in any language.

When I tried VR for the first time, when I tried VR for the first time, I felt that I went to a different reality from the class and felt it in a different place than in the classroom. When it comes to comparing this moment it was more permanent in my memory than the other lessons. An average person can remember only 20% of information that they hear and 30% of information if they see it. But if they get this information through personal experience, they remember up to 90% of it. VR technology creates an immersive experience that helps students learn effectively. VR video simulations allow students to explore different realities and have an alternative learning experience that is impossible in the traditional classroom. Wearing VR headset, students can experience high-quality educational visualizations that have a positive impact on the whole learning process. VR can help students easily understand complex concepts, theories, and subjects. they are able to digest and retain complex information at a much higher rate.

Here is my picture taken by my teacher while I was pursuing a deer in classroom. It feels like real because it is including sound as well. I think it can be an effective new way to engage the students in learning because it allows a student to explore, to experience or to be involved in something.

 

 

Classroom learning as we know it is undergoing change at an unprecedented rate. Technology has made its way to the classroom, increasing the engaging and interactive elements that many students are benefitting from. Students today are already familiar with various technologies, which is  computerized tools and apps make sense in a classroom setting. Augmented reality is seeing more prominent utilization in the classroom and educational settings. The format and even the location of the learning process could be transformed through AR in the years to come.

Let’s explore educational uses of the AR technology in detail.

Augmented Reality Classrooms
One of the simplest AR uses in education is its introduction in the traditional classroom.Supporting textbook materials with AR examples adds another dimension to the learning process – a process that will become a hybrid of the traditional approach and innovative practical illustrations of complicated concepts. 

Here’s a simple example of how AR could be utilized in the classroom. By scanning the covers of textbooks, students get a short description of what they’re about. Thus, smarter choices can be made about the selection of learning materials that will be most suited to the task at hand.

4D augmented reality flashcards are also in existence already. Dinosaur 4D+ by Octagon Studio is a set of AR flashcards that give students a better idea about what dinosaurs have looked like that simultaneously provide information about their habitats, biology, and the origin of dinosaurs. Here is a video about augmented reality flashcards, they look so real and fun.

Today’s environment in terms of business, education and personal lives moving to the digital environment, it makes sense that education — from elementary school through to college, trade schools, and professional development courses — will also migrate to a more technologically focused model. And that includes the influence that augmented reality resources and apps started to use in the classrooms, and chances are that the scope of application will expand even further as more AR developers take on the task. I tried HP reveal and Leo AR as my first augmented reality experience.

Here is the my first AR experience with Leo AR which is one of the augmented reality apps, allowing people to experience advanced AR. The app becomes a portal allowing anyone to augment their world around them. People can customize their surroundings and interact with the new world they create.

I was given a butterfly by my teacher to make it 3D and I had the butterfly fly of on my laptop it was very real although I can’t touch it. I showed it to my seven years old nephew, and his expression was worth to see then I asked him how would you feel if your books consist of this kind of material? He say that they are so fun to become books and say he will never bored with this kind of book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              The “Hot Potatoes” is a suite of quiz/drill-authoring software created at the University of Victoria, Canada. It includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like.

Three Steps in Making an Exercise:

1. Entering data (questions, answers and so on) and save it as a data file.
2. Configuring the output (preparing the button captions, instructions, and other features of your Web pages)
3. Creating Web pages (compiling your exercise into HTML or DHTML pages) and view your work.

 

This tool looks very old fashion, a little bit complicated to use and no longer in service as well. The company that created Hot Potatoes no longer provides technical support for this application, though it is still available as a free download.

 

 

 

Pixton is a website that allows teachers and students to construct their own comic strips. There are a variety of comic strip layouts, numerous character and background choices, and a ton of creative options  This is a great learner-centered tool that allows students to construct their own knowledge and display it in a way that is meaningful to them by allowing them to create comics representing their concepts and ideas.

Pixton is accessed through an account that can either be held by a school/district or an individual teacher. The accounts do cost money but the pricing is very reasonable. If you are looking for a new and creative way to engage your students and assess their knowledge and understanding, I strongly recommend checking out Pixton to you.

Pixton is accessible through any web browser and can be accessed on phones, tablets, and computers. Pixton offers a free app for smart phone or tablet use. The website does not specify if there is a preferred browser to use.

Pixton is very easy to use. It is relatively intuitive when constructing comics because all of the icons have images indicating what they do. For example the icon with a face can be clicked to add a character. Similarly, click the icon with an picture on it to add a background image. The Pixton website has a tutorial that runs the first time you access the program. You can also access the tutorial through the help center by clicking on the question mark icon at the bottom.  In the help center you will also find videos on how to do various things on the website and an FAQ section. You can also directly contact the owners from the help center.

For teachers, there are a ton of resources. You are able to create your own assignments or borrow from pre-existing ones. There are a variety of layouts to suit your instructional needs including timelines, mind maps, and storyboards. Pixton also allows for a lot of creativity. You can upload your own images for the background, you also have direct access to creative commons images.

Learning Activities
Math: Have students create a comic strip outlining how to carry out certain mathematical process, like long division, fractions, or order of operations. By adding in their own backgrounds they can include visual and textual explanation.

Science: Have students summarize a scientific discovery or the evolution of a scientific concept in comic form.  Or have students construct a comic that illustrates a scientific process like photosynthesis.

 

 

English/Language Arts: Have students summarize a scene, book, or character by constructing a comic strip.  They could also construct a timeline about these developments.

 

I used pixton to summarize Macbeth by Shakespeare in order to make it easy to understand for children.
Please click to link and have a look… https://www.pixton.com/tr/schools/comic/5wkc9lqu