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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Journal #14 CALL Class Synthesis

Embarking on this journey into CALL-land, I was excited but anxious. I would say that I now have a rudimentary knowledge of several CALL tools that would be useful in ES/FL learning, depending on the level of the students and access to technology of course. It is advantageous for intermediate to advanced learners, and is certainly helpful for ESP courses. Voice Thread (my favorite for Beginning High and on up) for community combined skills practice, Wikispaces for posting research or ideas throughout a semester or as a culminating event (Intermediate or Advanced), Blogspot for keeping up on topics and reading/writing practice and for teacher-student or student-to-student contact, Nicenet where Blackboard is not available, Lextutor and Word Champ for building vocabulary while reading online (my second favorite for intermediate or advanced levels), Survey Monkey for research projects when collecting data in the form of questionnaires, Photo Shop 3 for building Voice Thread or other viewing/listening practice, Podcasting for some dynamic listening activities, Youtube listening and viewing practice lists, Google Groups for collaborative team projects that would be great for writing practice, VoIP venues such as Google Chat or Skype or Meebo for conversation practice.

I am even more convinced now of the three keys to utilizing technology effectively and efficiently: 1) Instructor knowledge and ability to train students. 2) Time to train and use the tool in class must be built into the course syllabus. 3) The tool has to be an asset to the SLA process, and should be viewed as part of a task-based approach.

Going forward I am looking forward to using at least one or two CALL tools -in addition to Blackboard- in each of my FL classes, each semester, as enhancements, change of pace, and improved collaborative learning. I have benefitted greatly from the collaborative environment, the excellent instruction and support, and the great ideas from my colleagues. All around, it has been a great, encouraging learning experience. Thanks to all!

1 comment:

  1. You made some good points for the use of some of the CALL tools that we have explored in class. Also, I agree with you on the "three keys to utilizing technology...", but especially about the benefit of instructor knowledge. It is so important if we want the students to learn effectively and efficiently. If I as the teacher am not sure how to do something how can I expect my students to know or even learn in the best way possible?

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