Learning2gether Episode 22

Seasons Greetings

Sunday, December 26

People were on holiday and with their families so we had no special program at Elluminate.  We met in Tapped In instead.  Teresa was there to say a few words about her ongoing project to document everything Webheads do and accomplish. It’s a Sisyphean task, and she’s hoping for collaborators.

Maizie was there to reveal that where she lives she has always-on connectivity through her ‘net stick’ which is what they used in Brazil to connect presenters to the Internet at BrazTESOL. My brother used to let me use his when I visited him in Houston, so I know they are life-changing, and I look forward to the day when we all have them as a matter of course (memories of Aiden telecommunicating with me some years ago, as she was about to go into class in Taiwan, seamlessly connected in real time from office to –> hallway to –> half-a-world-away to –> dynamic open classroom!).

And finally we met Lynn Luther, an MA Ed Tech student who was wrapping up an assignment at 4 a.m. in California and just dropped by TappedIn to connect with someone before turning in for the night/morning. She turned out to be an expert in Virtual Worlds. She reminded us that Second Life teen grid would be no more after Dec 31 (she’s done a bit of work there) and also that Linden Labs was doing away with education discounts, so she was looking at more affordable virtual spaces such as OpenSim. She was particularly keen on ReactionGrid but she rattled off half a dozen others. Maybe Graham Stanley can tell up more about this, but Lynn gave me her email address and said when she had some time from her studies she would be happy to tell us more during one of our Sunday SpeedGeeks (which she said she’d look up in Wikipedia at my suggestion).

Sunday,December 19, 2010

Dennis Oliver maintains his web presence at http://www.d-oliver.net/. He has a long career in TESOL, including work with Dave Sperling of ESL Cafe fame, and extending to present contributions to AZ-TESOL organization. He has been a frequent collaborator with Webheads in Action, with Carla Arena and Erika Curvinel in Brasilia, and with a number of EVO sessions over the past several years.

Dennis is a regular participant in Tapped In Sunday noon GMT chats, waking up at the crack of dawn in order to attend.  This week we intend to focus on Dennis and find out more about his background, motivations, and passions for TESOL and what Webheads contribute to his world and what he contributes to Webheads.

This event is part of a participant-driven professional development series planned as a part of the ongoing (since 1998) Webheads in Action professional development series, most recently with the involvement of the TESOL Arabia EdTech SIG. The events take place at 13:00 GMT each Sunday (5 pm in UAE).

The event actually starts at noon GMT (4 p.m. in the UAE) when teaching practitioners gather at http://tappedin.org  for informal text chat. At 13:00 GMT (5 p.m. in the UAE) we move to the presentation venue at Elluminate at http://tinyurl.com/y3eh.

The presentation was recorded in Elluminate and is available here:

• http://tinyurl.com/19dec2010doliver
• https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2010-12-19.0511.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75
  

Learning2gether Episode 20

Heike Philp held the first EduNation housewarming party under its new owners
Sunday, 12 December 2010

Location: EduNation
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/EduNation%20III/118/200/22

More details here:
http://edunation-islands.wikispaces.com/Events

Visit EUROCALL/CALICO Virtual Worlds Special Interest Group at: http://virtualworldssig.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

For more information:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VAGkYGY3d9QZhRDboMhWrXzBhirzfBY_UJVuLdSzUiQ/edit#

Sunday, December 12, 2010

The purpose of Debby’s research is to further understanding of social support by studying the types of supportive communication behaviors provided in a virtual community of practice. It is hoped that this study can also increase understanding of tangible assistance provided in a virtual community of practice. Finally, this analysis provides an opportunity to explore the usefulness of the modified social support typology in a new context.

In this study, two methods of validation are employed. First, inter-coder reliability was calculated using SPSS and reported using Cronbach’s alpha (α). This event comprises the second method of validation, a semi-structured interview with leaders of the Webheads to review the preliminary results of this content analysis, which will be of great value to the researcher in interpreting the results.

Invited participants: Vance Stevens, Michael Coghlan, Teresa Almeida d’Eca, Dafne Gonzalez

Due to a problem with Elluminate access, the venue was moved to Alado, at http://alado.net/webheads/id1.html

The recording works best with IE Explorer, and accept the Flash popup screen.
http://www.digibridge.net/webheads/Debby_Com860_offline/

The recording was found to be no longer available at that link in June 2012 and Debby was contacted to see if she can provide one that can be uploaded here.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

In this session, Rita Zeinstejer introduces some apps that can enhance the value of Twitter as the best exponent of microblogging.  Here’s her summary of her presentation:

Formerly derided as high-tech trivia or the latest in time-wasting device, Twitter has become the major promoter of Microblogging, giving the public the possibility to speak directly to people and institutions from a comfortable pedestal, thus becoming an important marketing tool for celebrities, politicians and businesses, promising a level of intimacy never before achieved online. For language learning, Twitter’s conversational and concise style offers opportunities to practice specific language skills.

As a Microblogging tool, it can help educators in many ways. It could help develop fluency in written and oral skills; students could learn how to focus on what they say with more precision through tweeting themselves; teachers can differentiate and help to reinforce what they have introduced in their classrooms.

Twitter can lead to more interactive and swift discussions. It can also add to metacognitive work, i.e. reflexive learning, allowing the teacher to play the role of a facilitator and guide rather than the ‘know-it-all supervisor’.

In this presentation all Twitter features will be highlighted, with the participation of people in the chatroom, and some apps that can enhance the value of Twitter as the best exponent of Microblogging will also be introduced.

The recording of this presentation is available at

• http://tinyurl.com/2010dec05ritaz
• https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2010-12-05.0519.M.7AE801FFB697DA460D4BF25AA8C21B.vcr&sid=75