How to Integrate Technology in a 100% online class

Hello Integrating Technology Colleagues,

In November, 2019, Integrating Technology members, Susan Gaer and Kristi Reyes, wrote a very helpful short paper on how teacher could know if they were integrating technology well in an in-person classroom, The Triple E Framework for More Effective Technology Integration in Adult Education.

Take a look at this, and especially if you like this approach for the in-person classroom, tell us how you would modify it for the entirely online/remote classroom.

Also, do me a favor, please, as I am not sure if Integrating Technology members are getting these posts in their email now, shoot me an email at the address below Just saying "got it"  or more if you wish!

Thanks!

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

Comments

Hello David and all, This is a great article that everyone should read. Now that many of us are teaching 100% through technology, we are constantly faced with enhancing our own technology skills and finding ways to support the learners we are serving. At this juncture, a lot of time has to be spent on supporting learners to use technology in new ways in order to get us closer to the green zone. This kind of support requires some one-on-one time with certain learners. It also requires us to access and/or create easy-to-follow tutorials.

For instance, I've been able to engage learners in various interactive activities, such as completing an Antiicpation Guide, matching vocablary, and sequencing sentences or paragraphs, in their breakout rooms on Zoom. These activities qualify as "engagement" according to the criteria in the article. However, I'm also still working on supporting certain individuals to understand how to share their screen in the breakout room. We obviously can't assume learners understand the various tech "moves" they need to take in order to fully participate.

It's challenging to get to the green zone where students are not only "engaged" but using technology for their own purposeful learning; however, I think we are moving in the right direction step-by-step, and we will get there! The fact that we and the learners we serve are all enhancing our tech skills every day is --perhaps-- a silver lining in this challenging time.

Take care, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Langauge Acquisition and Teaching & Learning CoPs

Hello Integrating Technology colleagues,

I wonder if you have seen a list of needed or useful competencies for adult basic skills (including ESOL/ESL) learners in  using Zoom for real-time online classes. Does such a list exist?

If not, would you be interested in helping, with other adult basic skills teachers, to create one?

If it does already exist, would you like to help refine it, if needed, and then help build a tool to help teachers keep track of their students Zoom skills? For example, with each skill a teacher might rate:

  1. "no experience"
  2. "a little experience"
  3. "some experience and some success"
  4. "fairly reliable success" or
  5. "proficiency"

The kinds of skills I am thinking of might include:

  • reliably logging in to a zoom meeting
  • muting oneself
  • Raising ones hand to speak
  • Un-muting oneself
  • Sharing one's screen
  • Selecting a gallery view of participants
  • Using the chat to communicate with a teacher
  • Using the chat to communicate with other students

Let me/us know by replying to this post.  Thanks.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

 

Hello Integrating Technology Colleagues,

I am looking for lists of engaging real-time Zoom activities for adult basic skills (including ESL/ESOL) learners, what teachers using Zoom can do to make teaching and learning more interesting, engaging and meaningful. Do you have some to suggest? Do you know of a list of engaging Zoom activities that has some that are appropriate for adult basic skills learners?

Here's one list that prompted my interest. https://hookedoninnovation.com/2020/05/13/25-strategies-to-engage-zoom/

It's not perfect, but may have some activities that you find worth trying or already use. If so, which ones have you tried and found worthwhile, or would you like to try?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

This is not about specific tools (although they are mentioned in the article), but this is a framework for 100% online classes with synchronous and asynchronous components.  I developed it over the last five years, mixing online learning pedagogy with flipped learning principles to form SOFLA: Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach.  It is an 8-step learning cycle that teachers can follow, using whatever tools they are comfortable with as they go through the 8 steps: (1) pre-work; (2) sign-in activity; (3) whole group application; (4) breakouts; (5) share-out; (6) preview and discovery; (7) assignment instructions; and (8) reflection.  Most recent article, co-authored with Ilka Kostka from Northeastern U. is here: Fostering Teaching Presence through the Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach, in the On the Internet section of the TESL-EJ for August 2020. If you scroll down, you can get the paginated pdf version.  The references include other articles/videos about SOFLA. It allows for flexibility and creativity by the teacher within a structure that encourages interaction and engagement.  I would be interested in everyone's thoughts about it for adult education contexts.

Hello David and all, Thanks for posting the link to the various activities that can become part of a Zoom class. You asked if members have used any of these activities, and we learned through our coffee breaks this summer that members have used many of them. As a result of members' recommendations, I've tried out a few and shared my examples with our LINCS community. For example, I've used Flippity and Quizizz to create categorization and sequencing tasks, anticipation guides, timelines, as well as grammar and vocabulary activities.

Members who are interested can check out some of the activities I've created.

In this discussion thread, I shared how I'm using Flippity to create soring and sequencing tasks for beginninng English learners. (There is a link to the sorting task in the post.)

Here's a link to a categorization task we did in my class with advanced English learners (several of whom are preparing for an HSE) before reading about the pros and cons of mail-in voting. The brief article we read is on the League of Women's Voters of Chicago's website. 

I also created a vocabulary matching games on Flippity with words from this article about mail-in voting for the advanced English learners in my class. 

I've been Quizizz to create vocabulary and grammar activities based on texts we are using in class. For example, I have been creating a prepositions practice activity for learners each week using sentences from the texts we've been working with. Here's a link to the Quizizz prepositions practice with the sentences drawn from the transcript of a video we watched last week about the history of the 19th Amendment. Students also collaborated to create a timeline of events related to women's suffrage using Flippity.

Both Flippity and Quizizz are incredibly intuitive and make it quick and easy to create activities drawn from the texts one is using in class. If anyone has questions, I would be happy to respond. 

I'm eager to hear from members who have used other tools on the list.

Take care, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition and Teaching & Learning CoPs

https://twitter.com/howie_hua/status/1301705440577777664   

 

Some that I thought were awesome were giving students time to work with something … get it all typed in or whatever... then a countdown to when they could hit enter and have it all dump into the chat room.   He calls it "chat blast."   He gets lots more questions privately to him than if it were in a big ol' classroom...

Hello Integrating Technology Colleagues,

 I have taken the comments so far in this discussion about Zoom skills and created a two-page teacher self-assessment for teachers to rate their skills in using Zoom for online classes. Please take a look, remembering that this is a draft and that I welcome your suggested additions, questions, and comments here in the LINCS discussion. If your suggestions are used, I will list you as a source in the next version.

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

 

Hi David, Your survey offers a useful list of Zoom skills for all of us to work through. I see that you include Nearpod, Peardeck and Polleverwhere for surveys or polling. Maybe I missed it, but 'm not sure I saw using Zoom for polling. 

I'll definitely share this survey with others.Thank you!

Take care, Susan

Thanks Susan

I have just added Zoom for polling as a teacher skill. I didn't realize that Zoom had a polling feature. How does one access it?

David J. Rosen, Moderator

LINCS CoP Integrating Technology group

Hello, everybody. I use WhatsApp as a classroom to teach adult ESL. Below is a synopsis of my program. I see a need for workshops for those who are not benefitting as much as they should.

Online learning or Distance Learning  - in one form or another - has become a necessity during the current coronavirus epidemic 

Previously the internet had been viewed mainly as a resource and a teacher's aide. Many educators were quick to point out that DL couldnever replace a live teacher. 

But now we can see that DL can provide answers to a number of vexing questions in education, especially in the
field of adult education. 

For example: The problems of student interest and retention, over-crowded classes and waiting lists, can all either
be solved or ameliorated with a creative and meaningful implementation of DL. 

Let me illustrate by briefly describing my ow program.

First, I teach adults the three skills of speaking, reading and writing in English as a Second or Foreign Language using websites that I have developed, YouTube, Google, Facebook and other, miscellaneous sites.

My program is free and "informal" in that there are no attendance requirements or exams, although I give lots of homework.

Approximately 100 students are enrolled in the following WhatsApp groups: Beginning English, Pronunciation, Songs and Advanced English.

I post various lessons several times a week to each group and encourage the students to ask questions and to record their voices while they read a lesson or sing a song. 

That's it in a nutshell, I look forward to reading about others' experiences.

Paul Rogers

Websites:

pumarosa.com

inglesconprofepablo.com

YouTube: ingles con profe pablo