I have been ‘converting’ all my ESL lessons not only for use on mobile devices (smart phones, androids and Tablets), but also have been adding them to Facebook, which has become the center of my program, the classroom, so to speak.
On Facebook you can create Groups which people can join. I now have 4 basic groups: Pronunciation, Vocabulary and Grammar, Songs to learn English, and Readings – stories, poems and articles.
Facebook can be used to chat by text, audio and video, so people can ask me questions anytime.
In addition I have urged people to form Conversation Clubs via WhatsApp on their mobile phones. Therefore people can talk with others, record a voice message and also attach videos from YouTube.
I have an account on YouTube and have made almost 100 videos so far on different topics of about 5 minutes duration, and I put them up on Facebook to provide lessons to watch.
Basically just about everything can be accessed by a mobile device so that all the ‘students’ are walking around with the course in their pockets!
PAUL
Comments
Love everything about what you are doing, Paul. I would love to know more about how to use Facebook as a classroom that can have groups and members dialoguing with each other as they learn. So much to learn, so little time, it seems. Hat's off.
Anyone else? What other ideas can you share about using social networking for learning? Let's get an exchange going! Leecy
Hi Leecy,
It is important to understand that Facebook has different types of accounts. As Paul mentioned, he set up numerous groups. Facebook also offers brand pages and personal profiles which you're likely most familiar with. Each type of account functions differently. Groups are your best bet for this sort of effort though. They don't require the advertising spend that brand pages do. They also do a better job of notifying your audience of the news you post there. You can learn more about the different types of accounts in Facebook's Help Section. Click here to visit it.
I hope this helps you!
Jessica
Jessica and Paul, thank you, thank you! You have enlightened me. I have used Facebook strictly for personal connections. Your link, Jessica, will provide me with details to help me use the tool for instruction and professional dialogue. I started using Twitter this year, after hesitating for a long time. It was one NY's resolution that I put to work! I've enjoyed that tool for personal professional development. I know that it also has broader applications. I recognize that if nothing else, these tools would engage learners in writing and community building. Yes! Leecy
Hello Leecy, Jessica, Paul and others,
I wonder if there might be an online group of LINCS members from this and a few other CoPs, who would be sufficiently interested in building Facebook education sites for their students to form a small online Facebook education "tech tips" sharing group. Ideally it would include both experienced Facebook education page users like Paul and Jessica as well as newbies to using Facebook for education purposes. The idea would be that each member of the group (a LINCS micro-group?) would commit to building or improving Facebook education pages to use with their students, and in the process get and share ideas, strategies, and tips. Perhaps the group could also create a guide for adult educators on how to build and effectively use Facebook education pages.
Anyone interested in this idea?
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
David, I agree that a new group on the use of Facebook would be useful.
At the same time I would like to see other groups set up, especially one that discusses issues related to NGOs or Community Based Organizations that offer adult education to the various diverse communities.
As we discussed a month ago or so, the important issues affecting NGO learning centers would include their needs and priorities, and also resources that can be made available, including funding. The needs of immigrants, in particular, require our attention in a positive way.
This Lincs group would at the same time serve to recruit NGOs into the discussions, providing a network of churches, libraries, and other community centers in a way that would encourage mutual benefit.
Paul
David, and Paul, a micro group has been approved to be launched in the Diversity and Literacy group in the next few weeks to discuss issues related to the community-based services that you mentioned and more, dealing with Nonformal Adult Education. I suspect that nonformal groups will benefit a great deal from Facebook tools, which apparently serve many other communities as well. Thanks for raising the issue. Leecy
I too am interested in ways to share information with students: reminders, flip classroom activities, follow-up, etc. From my limited use with FB, it didn't seem conducive to the type of sharing and making lessons available that I envisioned. I have "classrooms" set up on Edmodo (which is free). I like the platform a lot, but my students aren't as comfortable with it. I was wondering what other sharing platforms have been used by members of this group.
Hello Lynda,
Here are the "shell platforms" (where teachers build or add their own content) that I have found most frequently used in adult basic skills teaching and learning:
• Blendspace (formerly named Edcanvas) https://www.blendspace.com/
• Google Classroom free for teachers. http://https://classroom.google.com/
• Edmodo free online, secure social learning platform that allows teachers
to create online classes or other groups of students, assign homework, hold real time
or asynchronous discussions, schedule quizzes, host a class blog, and
manage learner progress. Only their students, whom they invite to join, can see
the class Edmodo web page. https://www.edmodo.com/
• Schoology free online learning management system with which a teacher
can manage daily teaching tasks such as organizing courses, posting assignments,
posting instructional content, hosting interactive discussions, offering online
quizzes and tests with immediate scoring and analysis, recording grades,
maintaining a class events calendar, and communicating by email -- all from one
platform and in a streamlined way. Students can also submit their assignments
in an online drop box, where a teacher can provide comments and track revisions.
https://www.schoology.com/home.php
There are other ways to create/curate and store online content for adult basic skills students besides using "shell platforms" such as these. To learn about them, take a look a my free online guide, Blended Learning for the Adult Education Classroom .
Anyone: if there are other online platforms, or other ways to create/curate and store online content for your students that you use for blended learning, please tell us about them.
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
DAVID, I would like to participate in helping to build Facebook sites for Adult Learners. I think that if we share ideas and experiences it will go a long way to satisfying the needs of our students. Most of what I know is ...simple stuff...but a little tedious to put up and arrange, but once done, it's done.
I would also add that for students who know little or no English, a bilingual component would be very useful and also attractive to the students. With Google Translate and other services it is possible to create multi-lingual sites at this time.
Paul
Glad to hear of your interest, Paul.
Others who are interested, please reply here, or email me at djrosen123@gmail.com
This online group (possibly a LINCS micro-group) would be for adult basic skills (including ELL) teachers or tutors who use, or want to use, Facebook to design a private online learning presence for their students.
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com
Hi Leecy, Paul, and all,
My organization, which offers ESL and employment services to adult refugees, recently started using Schoology, a learning management platform that earned PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award. See PC Magazine's review here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2490580,00.asp. It's available on all digital devices, I believe. Its basic version is free.
Through this one platform, our clients can get enhanced and additional English language learning and job-readiness training, additional opportunities to create and interact, an expanded view of the world (e.g., National Geographic, YouTube, newspapers), new options for action (e.g., domestic violence and urgent care info, Craigslist), digital training, and important notices (e.g., tax and legal info, cancellation of class). They like it. It has made our ESL classes richer and more interesting. I'm thrilled that we can now more easily be in touch with, educate, and support clients whether or not they are actively using our services.
Schoology has been very user-friendly although we are just using its most basic features. We instructors have created courses and groups and added resources without any training. Our ESL students, with supervision, have registered themselves. It is a challenge, though, to reach other clients who are at a distance and get them registered and using Schoology. Having access to a digital device with an internet connection and some digital literacy are also factors in who we can reach and what we can accomplish through Schoology.
Thanks to all for making LINCS such a wonderful resource,
Kendra
I have been using Facebook as a private group for about 4 years. The reason for doing this is that most of my students are already on Facebook. However, it is important to note that not all students feel comfortable with Facebook. For this reason I have started using Remind.com to mass message and chat with students (Whatsapp is the appropriate international messaging app as Paul noted. Remind is strictly US/Canada based). Even with these two formats, I still have 2 students who have limited text and don't use Facebook. For these two students I send an email. Although this sounds crazy, it is meeting the student where their needs are and lowers frustration levels in the class. I use a lot of technology and this semester I am in a classroom that has none of it. That means they have to do all their practice at home without me. So I make 20 second animated gifs with instructions for students. I do this using a free Chrome Extension called Snag it by Tech Smith They are currently working on setting up folders in Google Drive to store all their writing and learning how the editing process works in Google. If you would like access to see any of this work, send me a private email and I will send you an invite.
Susan and Kathy, thanks for opening more doors to learning here. I've never used remind.com, but I will certainly look into that an pass it on to instructors in this region. Yes, Susan, "meeting the student where their needs are" does "lower frustration levels in the class," and thus, empower them more to risk!
Susan, you mentioned one of my very, very favorite tools. I keep Snagit always open on my desktop and have used it a lot in creating short, sweet, and easy clips to train teachers on how to use different applications, like grading in Moodle. It's such a simple and easy application with powerful options for editing and posting in MP4. Love it and so do instructors. Leecy
I am excited about what everyone is doing with technology. It certainly opens the door for 24/7/365 learning. As we all know, students have very diverse needs and scheduling conflicts. My daughter is a college student and uses an app called Quizlet. This way, she can quiz herself when on the bus, while waiting for classes, or just about anywhere.
However, we need to consider the toll of 24/7/365 learning has for teaching. This anytime /anywhere learning has implications as teachers may feel the need to respond to a chat message or a text immediately. I would like to hear how you manage that. I often encourage teachers to set very strict 'office' hours of when they will be available. It takes an enormous amount of time to curate relevant and meaningful content for social media, so I'd like to hear how you do that as well.
Kathy, you mentioned another of my very, very favorite tools for vocabulary development, quizlet.com. What a gift to learners! It lets them create flashcards and then practice the terms in so many wonderful and engaging ways! Did you know that it was created by a high-school student, I believe, so that he could retain terms? It grew from there. You also mention alerts to instructors regarding the use of anytime/anywhere practices. Right on.
To address the implications for instructors of 24/7/365 learning, what tips do others have to offer? As Kathy said, "I'd like to hear how you do that as well." Leecy
Leecy and Kathy, I now use Facebook with WhatsApp, and, yes, it is possible to put attention on my students 24/7, but I limit it. At the same time, because my course is totally online, I am able to "teach" when I want to or can.
First - on Facebook I created a number of groups that focus on specific lessons, such as grammar and pronunciation. Then I have also built a Wix website and a Wiki Spaces for Teachers website, which accompany Pumarosa. So, I can post lessons from my websites up on a Facebook group. Occasionally I video chat with some students on Facebook. The total cost to me is $50 a year - the Wix site.
WhatsApp is great for the students to communicate with each other and it is "all the rage". ESL/EFL students want to engage in Conversations, and so Conversation Clubs are very popular through WhatsApp. I monitor the texts and audios, and then post an appropriate lesson - text, audio or video.
Could someone write a synopsis of how Schoology and the other 'platforms' work? I tried to review it but I have to sign up for a demo course, which is ok, but I was wondering if someone has written a short summary.
My 'course' is NonFormal, and requires no registration or assessment/tests. But I think it would serve well as an supplement for Spanish speakers in any class.
It is getting very interesting!!
Paul
David, Paul, As you may know, I'm particularly interested in this as well as in engaging those I know at FB to add/improve functions to make FB an even better learning tool. Part of my angle to speaking with them, is Building Skills Partnership just launched one and is about to launch 3 more vocational ESL classes at FB for the subcontracted janitors who clean its corporate campus in Silicon Valley. So I will be engaging the teachers in using FB with the students as a blended learning tool.
Best,
Alison
Hello Alison,
Does this mean that you are interested in joining a possible adult basic skills (including ELL) teacher and tutor online group focusing on the use of Facebook for building and using an adult basic skills online presence for students? If so, great!
It would be fabulous to have you share with your Facebook colleagues comments about ways that Facebook might be further developed to support adult basic skills learning. This does appear to be an interest of Facebook, one indication of which is a Facebook representative on the new XPRIZE Adult Literacy prize Academic and Industry Advisory Board. When I originally suggested this Facebook education users group, its purpose was only to directly help its members in using Facebook to support their efforts with their students, but I think it would also be useful if suggestions from the group could help to improve Facebook as a learning environment for adult basic skills learners.
Everyone: Just to be clear, the Facebook adult educators online group is not a certainty yet; it depends on whether or not there is enough interest. So far, I have only heard from two people, Paul and Alison, although I do think I will hear from others soon. Also, although we might apply to be a LINCS micro-group, that isn't clear yet, and it isn't certain that this would be approved as a LINCS micro-group. In any case, if there is a strong response, I believe that this online group will be created either here or on another platform such as Wiggio or Google Groups or Yahoo Groups.
David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com