On 30th July, I blogged about Jog The Web, a very useful programme to devise tours of the web to recommend websites by topic for students, blog tours or compile training material "packs" for colleagues.
I came across Flowgram on my web travels and decided to sign up for the Beta Version.
Flowgram also has a blog to keep you up to date with the beta development.
Although it clearly is not the finished article yet, it certainly has a lot of potential.
The difference with Jog the Web? It is a Beta, so there may be some technical problems at this stage, but you can include sound, post to Facebook and quite a few blog platform. There is also a facility to email your friends about your flowgrams. You can also browse for other people's Flowgrams if they decide to make them public.
I like the fact you can add highlights, notes and sound and it does work with "framed websites", unlike Jog the Web who are currently working to solve this problem.
The program did not like one of my recommended website, but the rest of it went relatively smoothly. Do check the blog out to see when the final version is coming out!
And... Have a look at my own creation (will update this with sound at a later date...)
http://beta.flowgram.com/p/iq6pfvp5369awd/
Enjoy, try it out and tell me what you think!
Posted by IC Jones at 21:53 3 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: ICT, Learning and Teaching, Resources, Social Networking, Training

Thursday, 7 August 2008

The IWB Challenge is Back!

Jess McCulloch is a teacher of Chinese in the seaside town of Warrnambool on the south west coast of Victoria, Australia. She teaches students from 5 to 17 years old and is very keen to develop her own use of the interactive whiteboard. She is also a prolific blogger with lots of tips, hints and useful resources to be found on her fantastic Technolote blog.
Her original April 08 IWB challenge focused on: *Using the SMART Board in at least two new ways each week ;
*Posting a ‘Weekly Whiteboard Workout’ post on her Technolote blog ;
*Making sure all students are directly involved in interacting with the SMART Board-considering impact on the students directly involved and the rest of the class ;
*Finding some great IWB resources to share.
This has been a great opportunity to concentrate on regularly developing whiteboard skills and share experiences through blog posts.
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2008/04/iwb-challenge-week-1.html
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2008/04/iwb-challenge-week-2.html
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2008/04/iwb-challenge-week-3.html
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2008/05/iwb-challenge-week-4.html
The IWB challenge is back. It is now bigger and even better !! It starts in August, which means that some of us will have more preparation time, but what a fantastic way to focus for our new academic year…
Check out the IWB Challenge Wiki for all the details of the 7 challenges set (one a week) and for a look at who is taking part.
IWB experts from all over the world will be helping by setting the challenges and there are already quite a few interesting links for support. More can also be found here .
This promises to be the best CPD session ever… See you there!
Posted by IC Jones at 00:04 1 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: ICT, IWB, Learning and Teaching, Resources, Social Networking, Training

Sunday, 3 August 2008

Blogging and Writing : Same Difference?

I recently came across this excellent post by Terry Freedman, information and communication technology specialist
Terry is interested in the differences between blogging and writing and especially in the reasons why some writers blog and some don’t. He has put together a very thought-provoking short survey .
The following really got me thinking…
What is blogging? It is a versatile form of writing that can be informal or as developed as academic writing, so how do you define it? It made me consider what I wanted my blogging to be… Approachable in terms of readability, practical but also thought-provoking and hopefully useful to others.
What are the similarities and differences between writing and blogging? The style? Writing sounds to me less spontaneous but more elegant and backed-up by evidence. The audience? I feel blogging is more of a reflective activity even if there is always a desire to reach an audience.
Where does microblogging fit in? I see it as something quite different: even more spontaneous, sometimes even untidy but also full of creative energy as a brilliant way to bounce ideas off like-minded or very different people.
How important is dialogue between blogger and reader? Essential! However, it is also so difficult to develop but microblogging can help a lot here by helping the creation of communities where people feel more confident to comment on each other’s posts.
This the URL of Terry’s survey is: http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms/frmwritingblogging.htm
I can’t wait for the results…
Posted by IC Jones at 23:23 2 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: ICT, Reasearch, Social Networking

Wednesday, 30 July 2008

Jog The Web: The Whistle Stop Tour of My Favourites on My Languages

With Jog The Web you can organise a guided tour of your site or blog as well as comment on the pages you like.
A few weeks ago, Marie-France Perkins created her own Jog The Web mfl tracks , blogged about this tool and started a discussion about it on the mfl resources Yahoo group.
All agreed that this tool has a lot of potential to highlight particular features in a website or a blog or to recommend specific websites in the face of the digital information overload both teachers and students often have to cope with.
In addition to recommending your own favourite blog posts or sites, it is also worth checking the site for the creations of fellow language teachers (rss feed available for all new creations). A similar system to VodPod, enabling registered members to follow like-minded colleagues would be useful.
However, a quick look was enough to unearth some “tracks” produced by Ana Maria Cult for EFL and James Pearson for Spanish recommendations .
I also found some recommendations of sites for practising foreign languages and of ICT resources to develop speaking skills .
Jog The Web could also be used for student homework or to show a series of websites within a lesson using the IWB, for instance, without having to open and close web pages as Jog The Web also has a very handy slideshow feature.
Have a look at my own creation on http://www.jogtheweb.com/reader/index.php?trackId=202
Look at Comments for an update from Jog The Web's CEO-new version to be released in September...
Posted by IC Jones at 00:46 3 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: ICT, IWB, Learning and Teaching, Resources

Monday, 30 June 2008

Getting ready for the new National Curriculum in Languages

I was asked recently about what we are doing to get ready for the new PoS…
We are now in the process of reviewing our schemes of work. Our review aims to provide students with motivating new contexts rather than concentrate on just covering a number of topics as in the past. Grammatical and linguistic progression is still the main focus but we are mindful of not diluting our language input and making it more student-centred through the use of ICT. Cross-curricular opportunities are highlighted in our Schemes of Works and more liaising is being done to establish overlaps and ensure seamless progression rather than repetition of the same topics in different subjects.
We have recently moved into a new building with state-of-the-art ICT facilities so we are in a strong position to make ICT the centre piece of our new approach. We already use the IWB for all our MFL lessons as a way to structure them. We also have a number of links abroad that we aim to integrate into our Schemes of Works to provide our students with real writing opportunities.
There are more plans to develop our student blog to showcase our students’ work and provide them with a “window on the world” as well as access to extension resources. Podcasting also is high on the agenda as a motivation tool to make listening comprehension and speaking tasks less threatening for students. It has already been used by students to revise for GCSE in Spanish.
However, before we get all our students ready to use ICT independently in day-to-day MFL lessons, my priority is to make sure all members of staff feel comfortable with it and are clear about our aims.
I have put together this teacher blog, My Languages, http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/ to support them by sharing resources and ideas on how to use ICT creatively. The response has been extremely positive as the foundations were laid some time ago with more electronic communication, use of ICT for administration and use of data projector to structure the delivery of lessons. I am also very proud that the commitment of each member of the Faculty to develop their own ICT skills to enhance language learning has been very high.
I now need to make my own ICT action plan to ensure that I can show how I am developing and therefore lead by example.
As I want to highlight that improving Learning must be at the heart of everything we do with ICT, I am planning to include the following:
1. IWB training (on-going) to ensure it is used more and more interactively. The training is not only for teachers but for students too, who must learn how to interact with the board in an appropriate and effective way.
2. Use of ICT room to enhance lessons with a focus on Listening and Speaking skills (use of audacity and training staff and students to use the ICT room for listening tasks)
3. Use of links abroad and ICT-like cartoon software or blogging- to develop writing skills
4. To develop independent learning skills-access to podcasts and suitable online materials
5. Use of Wikis for administration and to encourage collaboration within Faculty
Review of plans in September to see if it can all be fitted in with our school development priorities…
Posted by IC Jones at 22:43 1 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: Cross-curricular, Curriculum, ICT, IWB, Learning and Teaching, Resources, Training

Sunday, 22 June 2008

Finding My Blogging Voice and Helping With Literacy

Odiogo is a free tool that allows you to convert your blog posts into audio files. The sound is of good quality but there is no choice of accent or gender.
Odiogo is compatible with all blog engines that publish RSS feeds such as Typepad, Blogger, WordPress or Overblog. The process is very straight-forward, you register and Odiogo lets you know when the audio version of your blog is ready. Each blog post is converted swiftly and is easily accessible in its audio form through an icon next the post heading.
I found listening to the audio version of some posts an interesting experience as something that reads well sometimes does not sound as good, and vice versa. This really has reinforced my awareness of language and how it should be influenced by the media used for communication. I certainly will bear this in mind when I have a real attempt at podcasting, hopefully over the summer holiday…
Odiogo could also be used in a variety of ways with students to reinforce literacy, by reading and listening or listening and looking at a different text-easily done with an Interactive Whiteboard- or for EFL listening skills.
Unfortunately, it does not seem to be available in French or Spanish, although listening materials can also be produced using the variety of text-to-speech software available, although quality can vary a great deal-from the robot-like to the nearly human...
http://readthewords.com/FAQ.aspx
http://naturalreaders.com/free_version.htm
http://www.utm.edu/staff/globeg/speakfrench.html
http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=es
Posted by IC Jones at 23:33 1 comments [image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: English, ICT, ...

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