Audioboo - Using IT to enhance teaching and learning by making it more accessible and inclusive

listen to ‘Using IT to enhance teaching and learning making it more accessible and inclusive’ on Audioboo

Using Audioboo can be very useful when preparing students for speaking listening exams. This tool can help them become more conscious of their errors in pronunciation and grammar.

Sharing audio's with students

Here is a brief talk from an ESOL manager about the importance of using ICT in the clssroom.

Views on using ICT in the classroom

Pictures from my beautiful home town, Bournemouth!

Using on line space is a great way for students to share images from places they thier home towns. With EFL and ESOL students come from all corners of the earth! This is great for sharing cultural awareness.

Students can also share suggestions for good places to visit in England.

Using a mobile devices for capuring an image which can be shared with students

Image taken on my smartphone which I shared with students on facebook

Using a phone to create audio or visual resources is also a great way to get the students sharing information. It can be a more fun way to personalise activities and get the students more involved.

Above is a photo taken on my mobile last summer while on a trip to the Olympic park with some EFL students. I downloaded it onto facebook and shared it with students.

Using wikis

It was useful to find out more about the teaching potential in using web 2 technology.  I had a look at wikispace.com and found it fairly easy to register and navigate around the site. The short tutorials available when you log in clarify how to move around and use the site.

There is room for personalisation in terms of layout, font and content which would appeal to students wanting to add their personal touch. Being able to adapt content is also a great way to make it more appealing to different student learning styles and needs. for example, adapting the colour ad font can help make information more accessible for students with dyslexia.

This tool could be used in to enhance teaching and learning. as a teacher I could use it to set additional homework to encourage autonomous learning / flipped learning. It's also a good place for students to share resources and communicate in a safe, monitored environment.

I would avoid using it with ESOL students due to their general low level of computer literacy. however, I thnk that most EFL students would really take to it.

How technology can enhance or inhibit learning

Technology is a great way to enhance learning. Here are some of the positives:

• It provides up to date data for the students. When looking at current affairs the information is live and more objective that newspapers.
• The internet has many forms of social media where students can read opinions and add their own comments. This can help in them developing their own voice.
• Accessing information is quick, within seconds students have access to a colossal amount of data without having to sit in a library and search through books.
• Teachers have  access to a massive range of sites where they can create fun and varied activities. They can store resources online and share with students or other teachers.

However, as much as technology can enhance learning it can also inhibit it. Here are some reasons why:

• Due to the huge amount of information available online it can take forever trying to locate what is actually needed.
• There are security issues with data protection which is important for teachers to keep in mind.. All students need to be carefully monitored when inputting personal details in order to log into sites to maintain data protection.
• Teachers need to stay vigilant that cyberbullying does not take place. With the increased use of smart phones this is easier than ever.
• Students may not feel comfortable using visual and sound tools and may need to be gently introduced to them. not everyone feels comfortable in front of a camera or likes having their voice recorded. Teachers should be sensitive to this.
• Not all people are IT literate. Plenty of adult students struggle with writing in word documents, let alone browsing the web. This can be a very daunting activity for them.

Using Box.com to store documents on-line

This is a good place to save documents. It means you can access them whereever you are as long as there's an internet connection!
Here is a snap shot of my document page:

https://www.box.com/s/jk1zduprc4q9a9yzxjio