The Global MLearning Sessions
Welcome to the MLearning sessions! These sessions aim to explore in detail this new and exciting area of education, looking at how you can easily incorporate an element of MLearning into your classroom practice and, more importantly perhaps, how you can harness aspects of MLearning to enhance your students’ out of class learning of English. There are ten sessions and lots of ideas and samples. You can access each of the sessions and samples below.
The MLearning sessions go MOBILE!
These sessions are now available to download in full as an eBook – the ultimate in Mobile Learning! You can download the MLearning Sessions eBook for your Apple, Android or Kindle device. (For standard ePub readers please download the Android version). They are also quite large so you’ll need a good internet connection!
Please note that not all functionality (videos and audio) will be available from the Kindle version. For the Android/ePub version the functionality will depend on the device through which it is being viewed and it may require an internet connection.
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Session 1 - What is MLearning?
MLearning? What’s that?
First of all, before we go any further, it may be worth examining what MLearning actually means. The ‘m’ stands for mobile. Mobile learning is learning that takes place using a handheld, mobile technological device. “Learning using mobile phones” I hear you say. Yes, but not entirely. Mobile devices now include much more than phones. There are the smartphones (e.g. blackberry, iphone), tablet computers (the ipad, the Galaxy tab), digital readers (e.g. Sony e-reader, Kindle) and netbooks. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that these other devices will be far more common in educational circles in the future than phones.
Why is this a hot topic now?
According to the Horizon report (http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2011/ ), which “examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry”, there are several reasons why mlearning might be “coming of age”. The first is that the price of the devices is coming down quickly. While higher-end products like Apple’s iPad are still quite expensive, we are beginning to see cheaper tablet computers more and more. Netbooks, like the Acer or Dell ones, now feature in back-to-school catalogues and cost less than $200. Smartphones used to be just for business people, now they are favoured by teenagers in more and more places. And when Amazon slashed the price of its new Kindle e-reader to around100 pounds, it became one of the quickest selling items in theUK.
Secondly, many of these devices are experiencing convergence. Convergence means that your handheld device is a combination of a bunch of other separate gadgets you may have had. Your computer, digital camera, video camera, telephone, GPS and game console are now all in one device. And it connects to the internet.
Finally, there is what is curiously called the 21st century button. In the past, these devices were too small to really work on (the keyboard was tiny). Now new devices are not only bigger, they rely on touch screen. This means that writing with them is becoming easier, and in some cases you don’t even need to use a keyboard. And in the future, we may be able to interact with these devices using gestures and voice.
The combination of all these mean that people are increasingly expecting to learn and study wherever and whenever they want.
And the connection with Global is…?
Well, I’ve been interested in this aspect of learning since we began developing the e-workbook for Global. I’ve also worked with some of the educators in our field who are becoming specialists in this area and it’s great to explore new territory. Finally, I believe that some of the elements of mlearning can truly be beneficial to our learners, especially in the area of exposure to English outside the classroom.
So please join us as we explore this new area in our field! There will be regular blogposts about different aspects of mlearning and plenty of resources and ideas for you to start doing this in your classes right away!
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The Future of Learning
Is the future of learning mobile? This short essay by Lindsay Clandfield investigates..
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Mobile Learning - Global Author Teacher's Book Essay
Nicky Hockly of the Consultants-E gives her understanding of what is incorporated into MLearning. This will also be available as a podcast from the Global Author Podcast area of the Global Teacher Development pages.
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Session 2 - Getting Started
Now that we know a little bit of what MLearning is, how could we get started?
Think about how you will do it
Nicky Hockly of the Consultants-E has an excellent checklist of pedagogical considerations before getting started on the whole area of MLearning. Here is a taster:“in the classroom ————————————————— on the move
Are you going to get your learners to use handheld devices regularly in the classroom (e.g. to access dictionaries, to research on the web, to take polls…)?
Or are you going to encourage your learners to use their own handheld devices outside the classroom for independent study (e.g. to play games, to listen to podcasts, to learn vocabulary…) on the move and in their spare time? Or both?
It may be easiest to start by simply recommending a number of good apps to your learners for their own informal learning. Make this optional – encourage only those students interested enough to try this out. Get them to report back regularly to the class. The enthusiasm may spread to other learners. Or not. …”You can find the rest of these considerations here (http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=120). In this blogpost I’d like to develop this first one a bit further, and look at how you and your learners could get started with on the move MLearning.
Find out what your learners have
First it may be worthwhile to ask students to bring to class one day any mobile devices they have (e.g. netbook, smartphone, tablet… see my last blog post for more). At the beginning of class, tell them to take these out and turn them on (already an uncommon instruction for mobile devices in the classroom). Ask the students to work in small groups and do the following:• tell them to list, in English, the features of their mobile devices (e.g. mine can take photos, mine has a GPS, I can record my voice on mine…)
• feedback on these as a whole group, writing up the features on the board.
• ask groups to look at these features and suggest ways that they could use these to help them gain access to English or practise their English; each group makes a list of three suggestions
• feedback on the suggestions on the board and ask students to choose one or two and try them this week.
You may have your own ideas to add to their suggestions above, and during the rest of this series of posts we will look at various ways of extending English outside the classroom using mobile devices.
Find out what your learners like
Another useful activity could be to find out what kind of study habits your students have already and what they enjoy doing and start from there. At the end of this blog post you will find a worksheet for your students on how to elaborate their own personal study plan (PSP). This includes a list of possible study activities which includes many that can be done using a mobile device. There are also detailed teaching notes for this activity.A very simple way of starting mlearning…
There is yet another way that you can get your learners to get their technological devices to help them learn English. A colleague of mine at Macmillan explained it to me earlier this year, and I thought it was so simple and elegant! You’ll find it as one of the PDFs below! -
Session 2 - part 2 - Force English on yourself
I said that there was another simple and elegant way of getting your learners started with MLearning. I learned this from Ondrej Matuska, a representative and teacher trainer for Macmillan in the Czech Republic. Ondrej is learning Spanish, and he had the following idea to help him get more language practice.
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Your Personal Study Plan
A handy worksheet to get your students thinking about what, when and how they would like to increase their out-of-class learning. This can also be found on the Gloabl Teacher’s Resource Disc.
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Your Personal Plan - Teacher's Notes
The Teacher’s Notes to accompany the Personal Plan – how it can be used and exploited best.
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Session 3 Using Downloaded Audio
For any of you who have found yourself idly watching the shopping channel late at night (yes, sad I know… I have found myself doing this very thing though in hotel rooms) you may have come across a favourite product of these kinds of programmes – a language learning method that advocates learning while you sleep.
Hypnopaedia, or sleep-learning, has been a favourite of science fiction books and various quick money-making schemes. According to most scientists it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that a person can learn during sleep. And attempts to teach sleeping adult subjects vocabulary or foreign languages or lists of items have almost universally failed.
However, there is something attractive about using sound recordings of a foreign language in your down time, even if it isn’t sleeping. And ever since the advent of the walkman, it’s easier than ever to do this.
Near the Macmillan offices in Oxford there is an Italian restaurant. It’s rather unremarkable, except that in the restrooms there is a constant soundtrack of someone saying Italian phrases. Things like ‘Piacere di conoscerti,’ ‘grazie’, ‘Dove è il bagno’, and so forth. Simple stuff, but almost everyone comes out of the toilets happily repeating a phrase or two they have heard. Or at least I did, and so did the publisher for Global. We decided then and there to include something similar in the Global eworkbook.
We started by including all the words from the corresponding level of the coursebook, grouped into lexical sets. Each set would be on a different mp3 file. But obviously words weren’t enough. So we included phrases. Then someone said shouldn’t we have these also in model conversations? Eventually what originally was a little idea became quite substantive. They were all put into a section called Listen on the Move. There are some free examples of these in this session.
Encouraging your students to use audio files of useful language is a very basic and simple way of MLearning, and it means getting them to use their down-time a little bit more productively. First, get students to download a group of these audio files and put them on their phone, ipod, mp3 player or other mobile device.
Then choose from the following suggestions, or give these as a menu for the students to choose from.
Listen and repeat the words or phrases. Do this three times in a row every day.
Listen to the conversations, and pause before the next person speaks. Try to remember what the response was.
Listen and write down the words or phrases.
Listen and write the translation of the words or phrases. Then test yourself with these.
Make one of the phrases or words into a ringtone for your phone, or into the sound you receive when you get a text message. You may need an audio file editor to do this.Finally, just listening is better than nothing. Tell the students to try to listen to the audio files every day, for example on the bus or while jogging or while waiting in a queue.
They could even play them for themselves just before they go to sleep. While actual sleep-learning is not proven, learning immediately before sleep can have some benefits. According to Florence Cardinal, of the Canadian National Sleep Foundation “Revise your material several times; try to commit it to memory. This allows the brain the time it needs to store and compile the information so it will be there when it’s required. Then, off to bed, let the brain do the rest. You’ll be surprised at how much you retain.”
Reference:
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-facts-information/myths-and-facts
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/wellbeing/7300986/Sleep-learning-Learn-a-language-a-week-you-must-be-dreaming.html
( You can see this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon to the right)
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Vocabulary_Builder_02b_in_the_kitchen
‘In the kitchen’ – Audio from Vocabulary Builder (Pre Intermediate Global E-workbook)
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…” -
Vocabulary_Builder_02a_food
‘Food’ – Audio from Vocabulary Builder (Pre Intermediate Global E-workbook)
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…” -
In_Conversation_02_at_the_table
‘At the Table’ – Audio from In Conversation (Pre Intermediate Global E-workbook)
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…” -
Useful_Phrases_02_at_the_restaurant
‘At the restaurant’ – Audio from Useful phrases (Pre Intermediate Global E-workbook)
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…” -
Session 3 - Useful Link
PODCASTS IN ENGLISH – more audio in English at your level
Jackie MacAvoy, author of Global Beginner, has a great site for downloadedable audio, called Podcasts in English. There are free downloadable podcasts at various levels of difficult. All the audio is free, and worksheets and teacher’s notes are available at a small subscription fee.
See http://www.podcastsinenglish.com/index.shtml
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Session 4.0 - Using downloadable and online video
So, hands up which teacher has NOT shared a Youtube video or other video with students? Any time I ask this at a talk there are hardly any teachers who raise a finger. Since the proliferation of online video using online clips from sites such as Youtube has become a favourite for many teachers I’ve met around the world.
Most teachers consider Youtube videos for in-class use, perhaps showing one that links to the theme of a lesson or a funny one as a “reward” or nice way to finish a class. But what about harnessing video for out-of-class use?
Here are 3 suggestions for making use of the wealth of online video currently available in most parts of the world (there are still several countries that ban Youtube, in which case perhaps try one of the alternative online video sites listed at the end)
- Video show and tell. One class a month (or a week) students bring in a video link that they would like to show. The video must be in English and last less than 3 minutes (or whatever time length you choose). They have to be able to say why they like it. Students with handheld devices that show video (netbooks, tablets or smartphones) can show the video to each other in small groups.
- Topical video. Before you start the next unit in your coursebook, tell students the topic. Assign them for homework to find online videos relating to this topic. They must choose one video they think is best. In groups, students look at each other’s videos and then choose the top two which are presented later to the class when the unit begins (or ends).
- Video homework. This is the most straightforward way. Choose a video that you think relates to the topic of the lesson. Make a worksheet to go with it. Assign it as homework before you do that lesson. Want ideas for how to exploit video? There is a list of 20 activity ideas in the link below.
There are other ideas that one could do of course. Of course one of the problems with any of these options is finding appropriate video material to work with. There are now millions of videos online, and to be honest there is a lot of stuff with very dubious quality. With Global, we wanted to make video an integral part of homework. This meant quality authentic video, but also level and language appropriate video. For more details on how we did this see the next part of this session below.
( You can see this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon to the right)
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Session 4.1 - 20 video activity ideas
Do you want to make your own video worksheets for your learners? Here is a pdf with 20 ideas on how to exploit short video clips from the authors of Global.
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Session 4.2 - Video in Global
When deciding on content for the Global e-workbook we decided that we needed video, and plenty of it. We took a look at what was currently out there for language learning and were a bit underwhelmed. Many language learning videos were of dubious quality (recording-wise) and didn’t really strike us as that great. Making videos for language learners can be expensive, and the ELT world just doesn’t have the money to make an ELT video with the same production value as, say, an HBO television series.
But then we saw Jamie Keddie show this little video at a conference.It’s called 21 accents, and it’s a youtube favourite with more than 6 million views. It struck us that this was exactly the kind of thing that could work. Strip away the fake sets and lighting and just focus instead on the script and the actor.
We contracted Robert Campbell ( http://www.its-online.com/ ), a very talented writer of materials as well as plays and stories, to do the scripts. He then hired the services of a production company in Barcelona, and found some great actors who live there locally to do the clips. The result is a completely different kind of ELT video, with minimalist background and a real quirky side. We’ve included a couple of examples below.
While we were doing this, we were also thrilled to discover that Macmillan had signed a content-sharing deal with the BBC. This meant we had access to hundreds of authentic BBC documentaries. This, we thought, could be the authentic video. The material was perfect for the information-rich style that Global was to have. For copyright reasons we are not allowed to share one of these clips here at the Global site, but they are great.
There are 20 clips for the student in the e-workbook, 10 of the video clips we made and 10 authentic BBC clips. Each clip has a worksheet to go with it. We included the authentic clips even at Elementary level, working on the assumption that even if the language was a bit hard the student could read the subtitles, watch and rewatch the clip, use the visual clues and work through a series of tasks graded at their level in order to facilitate comprehension.
Finally, since this is an mlearning session, I have to tell you the great part of these clips. They are all downloadable to an iphone, ipod or any mobile device that can play video. Which means that students can really do this kind of homework anywhere.
We hope you and your students enjoy them.
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Global Pre-Intermediate Unit 9 - Breathe In - VIDEO
‘Breathe In’ – Video from unit 9 – Pre-Intermediate Global E-workbook
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…” -
Global Pre-Intermediate Unit 9 - Breathe In - Worksheet
‘Breathe In’ – Worksheet from unit 9 – Pre-Intermediate Global E-workbook
To save this as an mp3 file on your computer right click on the icon and select “Save link as…”
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Session 5.0 - Making the link with classwork
So far in the MLearning sessions I have been exploring the use of mobile devices largely for out-of-class learning, or learning on-the-move. I believe that this is the easiest and most accessible way to introduce MLearning to your teaching for the following reasons.
• Many institutions have rules prohibiting the use of mobile devices in the classroom; this makes it difficult for the English teacher to “buck the system”.
• In class uses of mobile technology require learners to have the devices, at a ratio of at least 1 mobile device per two learners. While it’s true that more and more learners will have such a device perhaps not all of them will.
• Problems could arise in class if some learners have higher performance devices than others. An activity requiring a quick web browse or application will look a lot better on a tablet computer than on a phone. Some devices may work more quickly than others too.
However, restricting mobile learning to outside the classroom does not mean that there needn’t be a link to what goes on inside the classroom. In fact, it’s even more important that this link be made clear to the learners. Just like traditional pen and paper homework, MLearning work will be seen to have more value if the link to classwork is visible.
This can be done in two broad ways:
1. Making the link from class to outside class.
Starting something in a lesson and then following it up after the lesson using mobile devices.2. Making the link from outside class to class.
Setting a task using mobile devices before a lesson and following this up in the lesson.Let’s look at an example of how this could be done. Imagine a course unit about buildings (I am thinking of this, because there is a great unit on highly controversial buildings in the upcoming Global Advanced coursebook!). Here are some suggestions of how you could harness MLearning before or after the lesson.
MAKING THE LINK BEFORE THE LESSON
Ask students to take photos using their phones or digital camera on the way to class of different buildings. They must be prepared to talk about them in class.Ask students to find an app that gives information about buildings in their town, especially famous buildings. This can be in their own language. They must be prepared to show it to others in class.
LESSON TOPIC – Highly controversial buildings
MAKING THE LINK AFTER THE LESSON
Ask students to find more information about one of the buildings in the class, or more information about the architect behind them.Ask students to prepare a slideshow of other particularly ugly (or beautiful) buildings around where they live.
These are just some suggestions. Of course there are others, and in Global we tried to cover a variety of situations. See our next article below.
( You can see this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon to the right)
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Session 5.1 How Global links MLearning to course units
There are several ways that Global allows you to make links between MLearning activities and what is happening in your course syllabus.
Interactive activities
There are a whole series of interactive activities in the e-workbook, covering grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, writing and functional language. These can be done on any device that can support the e-workbook (e.g. laptop computer)Downloadable audio files
These cover words, phrases and conversations linking to course book units (most often to the functional language). These can be used on any device that plays MP3 files (ipod, phone, MP3 player, tablet, laptop) See Using Downloadable Audio (Session 3) for more on this.Downloadable video files
There are two videos for each unit in Global, that relate to the theme of the unit and often to the functional language in the unit as well. These can be used on any device that plays MP3 files (ipod, phone, MP3 player, tablet, laptop). They also come with a printable worksheet. See Using Downloadable and Online Video (session 4) for more on this.Go Global sections
In the Global Teacher’s Book, there are sections called ‘Go Global’ for every unit. Each section contains suggestions for web-based tasks that connect to the two main topics in the unit. These could be done before or after the lesson, and connect to the theme.The PDF has a collection of examples of Go Global for units 1 to 5 of the Intermediate level. I’ve included them here to give you ideas and motivation on how to include this kind of task in your own classes, irrespective of the book you are using!
( You can see this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon to the right)
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Session 6. Apps Reviewed
Apps, short for applications, are actually the first thing that many people think about or turn to when talking about MLearning. After all, the mobile devices are only hardware, it’s the software programmes that run on them that can make things much more interesting.
What kind of software is being developed for mobile devices these days? In this post I take a closer look at some of the apps that are out there and for our field.
60 second word challenge
This free app is from the British Council, who were among the first to develop apps for ELT that went beyond the simple phrase book kind of thing. 60 second word challenge is a quiz game. You choose a category, e.g. Food and restaurants, Film and technology, at work, shopping, and a level (easy, medium or hard). You then get 60 seconds to answer as many multiple choice questions as you can, all relating to vocabulary.
The interface is okay, it feels kind of like a spaceship. Personally, I found some of the “easy” questions really quite hard! In the food category, for instance, I got questions like the following:A pie made with meat and potatoes is called a ________ pie. (shepherd’s, shearer’s, sheep’s, sleeper’s)
I thought this was a bit hard and culturally specific, especially as it was in the easy section!
At the end of the challenge you can see the answers and a bit of feedback (for the question above, the answer was sheperd’s and the feedback was The pie has mashed potatoes on top of it). It allows you to upload your score to facebook too, now a regular feature of these kinds of games.
www.britishcouncil.orgBig City Small World
Another app from the British Council, this one has been around for a bit longer. Big City Small World is a series of podcasts for an audio soap opera. The app gives you all the episodes (although you have to download each one in turn). The soap opera and story are okay, although I was looking for some kind of exploitation of these at the end and could not find.
There were also cartoons of the characters introducing themselves which was a nice touch. The thing I liked best were the individual cartoon stories with a nifty way of doing a bit of language awareness. You read the cartoon, then scroll down to reveal a language awareness note.Macmillan Dictionary App
The first things to come from the major publishers in app format were the dictionaries. This makes a lot of sense. Dictionaries are heavy, and not the most portable of things. Plus if you had the dictionary with a CDROM in class but no computer then you could not make use of the extra features that CDROM had. So having all of this combined into something that goes on your phone or tablet is a great step forward I think.
The Macmillan Dictionary app has a lot of extra worthwhile features. Apart from looking up words, you can also hear the pronunciation (in British or American English), see the relative frequency of a word or phrase, create your own wordlists and do some of the vocabulary tests.
The dictionary apps are the most expensive, clocking in at 7.99 or 15.99 depending if you want audio or not. This is in line with other English learner’s dictionaries from the major publishers, but perhaps a bit expensive considering that when I enter “dictionary” into the search box of the app store, I got almost a whole page worth of free dictionary apps. Maybe the price will begin to come down on these.
Still, it’s a useful thing to have on you at all times. http://www.macmillandictionary.com/apps/Sounds
Sounds is the latest app from Macmillan, and it uses the phonetic chart developed by Adrian Underhill in his book Sound Foundations. The app allows you to choose between American or British pronunciation.The centrepiece of the app is the chart itself. You press on a sound and hear the sound, if you press for longer you hear a sample word. Just this in itself provided for quite a bit of fun and I can see its use for my trainee teachers who are learning the phonetic chart. In fact, I found that if you swooped your finger across the sounds you could almost make the app say words.
There’s a lot more though. The wordlist has over five hundred words which you can listen to, and record your own pronunciation of. The practice and quiz sections are also very useful. You can select a phoneme or a group of phonemes to practice. Then there are three different possibilities:Read – you read a word in phonetics and have to type what it is.
Write – you read a word and have to type what it is in phonetics (the phonetics typewriter is cool)
Listen – you hear a word and have to type what it is in phonetics (again with the phonetics typewriter)In the free version you get the chart and a sample of the tests and practice activities. In the premium version there are more activities, tests and a tips section for teachers and students.
Of all the apps here, this is the one I like the best and I am recommending it to all my students and student teachers.
www.soundspronapp.comVoxy
Voxy was another company that provided free apps for language learning. The one I got was for Spanish speaking learners of English. When I opened it I was immediately asked to register with them, a bit of a turn off, but fortunately there was a skip this step button. Which I pressed!
The app I got used bits of international news to teach English. I could choose from the authentic news clipping or a simplified one. I then chose the news story I wanted to read.
At the beginning of the news story Voxy told me it would be asking me a question at the end. It gave me the question first, which was good because I then had an extra purpose to read the article. I then had a choice of answers at the end.
Key words in the text were highlighted, and when I pressed on these I got a translation of the word into Spanish and was able to hear the word in English. Very nice. There were also features for vocabulary self-testing, which included allowing me to take photos of words to make my own flash cards (I think! I was using an old ipod touch for this, so no camera).
There were several very recent news stories, all international ones. For the premium version I could get other kinds of news.
I don’t know if Voxy comes in other languages, there was a lot of Spanish in the interface for this one so it wouldn’t be useful to other langauge groups. But I can see myself recommending it to students. Pity it’s always pushing you to buy it (a buy button in the corner of almost every screen, which I was nervous about pressing).http://voxy.com/
All of these apps are available at the Apple iTunes App store and most are also available on Android at the Market. At the time of writing all these apps were free or had a free version.
( You can see this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon to the right)
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Session 7 MLearning Glossary
Becoming familiar with a new concept such as MLearning also means becoming initiated into the discourse and specialized vocabulary of this topic. Throughout these sessions and in the literature on mlearning there are many new terms that get used. This is a good time to take stock of what terms we already know and what may be new.
Take a look at the glossary attached. How many terms do you know already? Which ones are new to you? Which ones would you have known even a year ago? Each term comes with my own teacher-friendly explanation (and opinion in some cases!)
Download the Glossary pdf by clicking on the icon – then try out the quiz below!
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Session 7 MLearning Quiz
Think you’ve got it covered? Put yourself to the test with our quiz. No cheating though.. the answers are in the same document so try not to look!
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Using Global on an LMS
What is an LMS?
LMS is a relatively new term to enter into English Language Teaching (ELT) jargon. It stands for Learning Management System. An LMS is basically like a place on the web where a school or other educational institution can, well, manage the learning.
Imagine you are a school or university and you want to deliver courses online (or parts of courses online). By getting a good LMS you should be able to:
automate the administration (allowing students to register etc via the site)
create and deliver separate courses
include a self-access area for students to use
keep track of marks and progress
allow students to take courses, or parts of courses, anytime and anywhere they like via their computers, netbooks, tablets or even smartphonesIt is becoming more and more common now for schools and universities to get an LMS (or VLE – virtual learning environment, another term for more or less the same thing) and begin delivering all or parts of courses online. The most popular LMS platforms being used around the world today are Moodle (www.moodle.com) and Blackboard (http://www.blackboard.com/).
The all-too-common problem
Being able to deliver online courses is a very attractive option for many institutions. On the face of it, it saves money (no physical space to pay for, can fit more students into a course etc). It also makes a school look modern and up-to-date. But once the platform has been installed and set up, it still needs content. And populating an LMS with content is a very time consuming process, that often gets assigned to different individual teachers running their own courses. Many times this results in rather empty looking courses with a few tasks, some online quizzes and links to other sites (there are notable exceptions to this of course!).Global on LMS
We’re proud to say that now there is good quality, properly developed and suitable material for Global that can be used on the LMS. What Macmillan has done is to take the award-winning eworkbook from Global and make all of that content available in SCORM. SCORM is a standard way of coding digital material so that it can go on an LMS. This means that you can populate your online course environment with reference sections (grammar and writing help, wordlists), hundreds of interactive exercises including listening, downloadable pdf worksheets as well as ‘stream-able’ video and audio. All of a sudden, all that work in setting up an LMS for a blended learning course is made all that much easier.What does it look like?
Sometimes it’s better to see exactly what something looks like to get a better understanding of it. That’s why we’ve set up a special demo of Global Beginner on an LMS for you to look at. Just visit our information page here (http://www.macmillanglobal.com/about/global-for-your-lms) and scroll down until you see the big red “Try it now” button! On the same page you can obtain a sample demo for your own LMS, and instructions on how to order the full course for your institution.I’ve got Global installed, now what?
In many ways it will depend how much of your course will be delivered face-to-face and how much online. Here are some initial suggestions.As extra controlled practice after lessons
In this scenario, you use the material on the LMS much the same way as a workbook. At the end of each class, assign it as homework relevant to the unit. Remember all the interactive exercises will be marked automatically, but you can follow your students’ progress via the markbook inside your LMS. This is probably the most common way of using such material.As extra controlled practice during lessons
This is a more unusual situation, but is the kind of thing that could happen if you have a computer room, or if your students all have a laptop or computer in the class with an internet connection. When it comes time for the controlled practice exercises (grammar or vocabulary) simply ask the students to log on to the LMS and do the relevant exercises there and then. While technologically this might be more challenging (will everyone have a computer? Will the wifi be strong enough for everyone to be online at the same time?) it provides a definite change of pace during the class and allows quiet time for students to focus on the language point in question.As a way of “flipping” your classes
One area which has been recently gaining a lot of attention online in educational circles is that of the “flipped” class. In a flipped class, much of the input is done via online sessions (for example, podcasts, video sessions, online reading), allowing more time in the face-to-face sessions for learners and teacher to discuss or put into practice what they have learned. Using Global on an LMS something similar could be tried. Before a unit begins, ask students to read and study the language reference sections and try the exercises themselves. Use the time in class to resolve doubts and focus more on productive skills (such as speaking).The most important thing…
Whichever way you choose on how to implement Global on an LMS, one thing is very important. Your learners must be shown both how the LMS works and how to access and get the most out of the material there. This could be done face-to-face if you have a computer and projector with internet, or at a distance if you are able to make a video demo with voiceover of how to use the LMS (using software to screencast, or screen capture, a step by step tutorial).You can donwload a pdf version of this post by clicking on the icon on the right.
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Bringing it all together - Review and implementation
Review and implementation
During these sessions I have looked at many different practical ways in which you could introduce an element of MLearning to your courses. It’s time to step back and review how all this could be worked into a course as a whole.
Throughout these sessions I have chosen to focus more on the “outside the classroom” use of MLearning. One of the main advantages of MLearning in this respect is that it affords the learner more possibilities for exposure and interaction to English. How then can this be implemented from the outset of a course?
Establish what access and interests learners have in MLearning. Allot some time at the beginning of a course to survey your learners about any mobile devices they have, what they use them for and how they think this could help them practice English. See Session 2 for more details on this.
Begin suggesting alternatives to regular homework that allow learners to make the most of their mobile devices. If you are using the Global eWorkbook, then show them where the downloadable audio and video is, and show them how to download it. Suggest concrete tasks to do with this material. See Sessions 3 and 4.
Make the links between what happens in class and the MLearning work they do outside class. This could mean the link is made before the lesson takes place, or after a lesson takes place. See Session 5.
Devote a little time in one of your classes to share knowledge about apps that learners can install on their mobile devices to help them with their English. Show how these work, and let students experiment with them hands-on. See session 6.
If you have the Global eWorkbook contents loaded onto an LMS, spend at least one class taking them step by step through the site. Show them how to access and use the material, including how to do this on a mobile device if possible (many LMS platforms can be viewed on a smartphone now). See Session 7.
Finally, take some time part way through the course to get some feedback from the learners on how they are doing with this new kind of learning. Are they using the material in this way? What advantages and disadvantages can they see? Do they prefer this to more traditional homework? If your learners are keen you could even set up a session in which people explain and demonstrate any new ways they have harnessed their devices to help them learn English more (for example, a show-and-tell session on new apps).
You can download this post as a PDF by clicking on the icon on the right.
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Bringing it all together pt2 - Selective Further Reading
Selected further reading
The following is a selected list of reading and sources for those of you interested in pursuing the concept of MLearning further. In these sessions I have only touched on some aspects but this is a burgeoning field in education and there is lots going on! Here are some places you can look, with notes from me on each one.
Technology Reports
The Horizon Reporthttp://wp.nmc.org/horizon2011/
The Horizon Report is “a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have considerable impact on teaching, learning, and creative expression within higher education over three time horizons — one year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.” This is one of the first places I look for new developments in edtech, as it is clear, accessible and very readable. Highly recommended first stop.
Courses and conferences
mLearning in Practice coursehttp://www.theconsultants-e.com/training/courses/mlearning.aspx
The Consultants-E are the only group I know of in English language teaching that are offering training in MLearning. This is a short course that takes place entirely online, and can even be done using only a smartphone with an internet connection. The Consultants-E are experts in the field of education and technology, especially language teaching education.
Mobile learning conference and expo
http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.1603
While I haven’t been to an MLearning conference, I know that there are many of them around already. I found this website quite interesting and accessible. It’s good to browse through conference abstracts to see what people are currently discussing. This kind of information is far more up-to-date than other stuff I found.
Research and activities
Towards a theory of MLearning, Mike Sharples et al
www.mlearn.org.za/CD/papers/Sharples.pdf
I decided to include this as an example of earlier research on a theory of MLearning. This paper has been quoted in other areas, although since it’s 2005 it already feels quite out-of-date. However, it makes some interesting points about learning in a cyber, connected and mobile world.Various papers on MLearning research
http://www.m-learning.org/knowledge-centre/research
This is a collection of links, ebooks and articles from the Cambridge based group Tribal, which specialises in MLearning.
MLearning technology and activity ideas
http://www.m-learning.org/archive/which.shtml
This page is from a European project on MLearning for teenagers. It outlines several different technologies involved in MLearning and how they can be used with learners (from sms messages to voice xml, geocache use and apps). Easy to read.
Corporate initiatives
Apple in educationhttp://www.apple.com/education/
Has lots of examples of how Macs, iPads and iPod touches are being used in education.
Blackberry Education solutions
http://us.blackberry.com/business/industry/education/
Showcases case studies of how Blackberries have been used in educational settings.
Apps
British Council Mlearning pagehttp://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/mobile-learning
The British Council page of apps, one of the earliest groups in ELT to get in on the app trade.
Macmillan Apps
http://www.macmillaneducationapps.com/
The Macmillan Apps page. Includes the various dictionary apps and the excellent Sounds App.
You can download this post as a pdf (with embedded links) by clicking on the icon on the right.
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Are we wrong to ban Mobile phones?
I’m going to be finishing our MLearning Sessions by addressing some critical questions in the whole area of MLearning. Up until now you’d be forgiven for thinking I am a complete and enthusiastic convert to the whole process of MLearning, which is true, but, there are things we need to ask questions about. Below are a series of videos that present these questions and a few of my ideas and reactions to them. Are we wrong to ban mobile phones is class? What is the porous classroom? Do we really want ‘anytime, any place learning’? The videos below investigate.
Alternatively you can watch all the questions as a youtube clip here:
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Where is the pedagogy?
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Anytime, anywhere learning?
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Whose interests does MLearning serve?
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