Multi-Media Adult Education

Submitted by Paul Rogers on Wed, 07/19/2017 - 12:42
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The number of technological resources for teachers and students is increasing all the time. Personally I now use - HyperDocs, Google WIX, Facebook groups plus Live Streamng, WhatsApp, YouTube plus Pumarosa. Most cities also have Public Access TV and probably some radio stations would allow for educational programs. But let's not forget books, lots of books and I am going to start creating my own audio and e books. We can always create cds and dvds too. It is dizzying, but extremely fascinating and above all - useful.

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Hi Paul,

I find your use of technology extremely motivating, but can you share with us how you keep up with the ever changing technology landscape? I'd also love to know how you structure your lessons and determine what tools you use and when? Do your students have trouble keeping up with the changes in instructional technology? 

Thanks for sharing!

Kathy
@Kathy_Tracey

Kathy, thanks for the compliment!  But I have to say that actually I am a slow learner as far as using technology is concerned. Often my students have informed me first of any technological tool that is of interest or use to them, such as the use of a Smart Phone and WhatsApp.

For example, I bought a Smart Phone in February, 2015 after my students encouraged me to take a step up from a “regular” phone, and they also told me that I should use WhatsApp. And I formed Facebook groups to respond to students’ questions.

I began using technology in January, 2004, when some of my texts became the basis of Pumarosa.  As I observed the students using it, I saw that they learned pronunciation easier than usual and also that they seemed to learn grammar faster. And, obviously, many more people could learn anything online, so I was “sold’.

At the same time I continued to write lessons which were based on the needs and questions of the students, and I finally created a website for them on Google WIX, and started making short videos to put on YouTube and the Wix page.

By the way, the lessons on WIX are downloadable for free, and when I teach “live” I always provide hard copies of my texts to the students.

Pumarosa finally was adapted for Smart Phone use last year – it is not an App – and I began several WhatsApp groups to see how my whole program could be used on mobile devices.

My program is designed to teach adult Spanish speakers how to pronounce, speak, understand, read and write in English, and also how to translate. Usually during any lesson I “weave” pronunciation lessons in when needed. And if you look at the index of Pumarosa you can see the general order of the lessons, which are supplemented by my Graded Readers – Lecturas - and songs.

If you would like more information, please email me.

Paul

Pumarosa21@yahoo.com

Paul, 

Thanks for the information. Student driven tech integration is the foundation for motivation and engagement. I love your examples. My next question is how do you find time to do all this? One of the concerns I hear from teachers is the lack of time to devote to learning new technology. New technology can be intimidating and trying to develop standards-aligned instruction that meets the needs of the college and career ready students is often overwhelming. What words of advice do you have for these teachers? The ones that are trying to find the time to develop teacher created tech resources...How much time do you devote to the creation of these resources? 

Kathy 

Kathy, first - I enjoy doing what I do, so I guess you could say it is my "calling". As for teachers creating tech resources, I would say that right now there are already lots of free lessons, classes and even courses available online. Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford, for example, all have free online courses. 

So, at this point, it would be just a matter of listing those resources that are available for each subject area. At the same time, I suspect that students know where to go to find information they need on any subject.

Learning how to use new technology is just a matter of patiences, and, as we see here, there are lots of people who can help.

Sometimes it is quite easy. I recently discovered that we can now use Live Streaming on Facebook, which only requires us to push the button.  After the "live" part is over, it becomes a video which is very easy to upload to YouTube. So I started to use it to present some short lessons. Yesterday I made a five minute live presentation of my course to a Facebook group of English teachers in Mexico. Within 4 hours over 500 people visited the presentation and I got over 200 likes!!!! I just glanced at the visits an hour ago and it is getting close to 1000!!! So almost with little effort I was able to make a useful presentation to a lot of teachers in Mexico, who, by the way, face a lot of hardship in their positions. 

Anyway, thanks for these thoughtful questions! 

Paul - pumarosa21@yahoo.com