Enhancing Learners' Collaboration in Real-time with Scribblar

Language learning does not occur in isolation but through interactions among learners. As learners learn in classrooms, they not only interact with their instructor who supports their understandings through scaffolding but also, work together thus socialising with one another in order for the learning goal to be achieved. Thus, learning is a socially-situated activity which relies on the verbal and non-verbal interactions among students and between students and the teacher. Students are encouraged to collaborate more in the classroom, when they are given total control to accomplish engaging English tasks with the possibility of acquiring uniformed grades. Through this process of interdependence for a common goal, social relationships are formed which metamorphoses into a process of acculturation which then offers a potential to help construct their identity as a user of the English they are learning.

With the advent of ICT, ensuring collaboration in a fun and intriguing way is possible through the use of  technology. Therefore, this week, I will be discussing how English teachers can reinforce positive interdependence and collaboration through a virtual tool called Scribblar. 

Scribblar is an online collaborative tool that allows users to initiate and develop written academic tasks such as writing an essay on a topic, in real time. It is a tool used for editing, redrafting and completing texts in a virtual space whereby, users can make use of  the audio and text messaging features to communicate in order to enhance their understanding in creating a given task. 

Features and Functions

On the Scribblar tool, there is an interactive whiteboard which opens for every user. In addition to this, as shown on the left-handside of the image, there are 10 features which affords users with the possibilities of typing in their ideas, erasing, drawing, picking texts, inserting shapes, enter symbols, upload images or documents, and share smileys. On the topmost right corner are options for discarding new changes and copying any finished task to another location. Users make use of the 10 tools to create virtual written real-time conversations such as: to do list; brainstorming a given essay etc., whereby each user add their ideas while seeing that of others at the same time.

In addition to the features above, there are three other affordances that Scribblar  provides for users. These are: chatting, video and audio recording. While brainstorming on a given topic, users can collaborate by chatting with each other in order to seek further information that could help with the given task. The video and audio functions can also be used by the room members to record information which can be shared on the tool.

Benefits

Knowledge Construction

When teachers encourage students to use Scribblar for a given language task, usually to write a creative story or debate essay etc., students are able to co-construct knowledge hence, it is a tool which promotes the theory of constructivism. Through working together, learners can collaboratively share ideas to develop a whole new knowledge different from their individual perceptions or opinions.

Online Collaboration

With Scribblar, users are able to collaborate virtually with one another. As they brainstorm on a a given task, and attempt to complete it in real-time, they are able to ask questions from each other using the voice and text features, and afterwards, utilise the feedbacks got to achieve the particular task. 

Autonomy

When learners collaborate on Scribblar to accomplish a given task, they have more opportunities to share their ideas and learn from one another without the teacher's intervention. They therefore, take more responsibilities for their learning especially when  teachers avoid intervening and allow them to achieve the given tasks on their terms. 

Limitation

Just like any of its kind, Scribblar cannot work when there is no internet to back support it.

Interested in trying this tool out with your students? Sign up for a free account here. Also, to learn more about Scribblar, watch the Diese Stephan's video below:

Image credit according to order of use:

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

scribblar.com

free images from freepik.com 

video by  Diese Stephan 

Channeling Students' Love Towards the Right Direction with Wordwall

People tend to avoid activities they do not enjoy while they  seek to give all optimum attention to things that excite them. Little wonder students nowadays, indulge in online games on their phones and give maximum attention to it since they derive pleasure from it. Such interests, could however be channeled in the right direction through integration with their education.

Therefore, as  teachers who teach English to second language learners, we need to ensure that our lesson activities are enjoyable and satisfying for students as this would increase their motivation for English learning. This week, I will be sharing an online learning game, Wordwall, which can be very effective for teaching students of any educational level sets of vocabulary.

                                                                

 WordWall

 Wordwall contains about 12 templates of games (crosswords, random wheel, quiz, anagram, drag and fit etc.) all of which are interesting and engaging. As such, teachers can utilise any of them to engage learners and ensure their participation. In addition, the images and themes on the game are attractive and are similar to the ones on actual game apps that students have been used to. Therefore, it puts off the pressure that comes with testing since, the templates are often for  recalling what students have been taught.

Benefits

The Worldwall game has many benefits for English learners as it mostly targets  the learning of vocabulary.  Vocabulary is the building block of a language, it becomes important for students to acquire a reasonable amount of English words so that they can conceptualise situations and things they need to talk about, avoid struggling when reading comprehension passages and also become excellent communicators. For many second language learners, vocabulary is a very significant aspect of language which they might have challenges with and which might hinder their acquisition of the target language. 

Therefore, the Wordwall tool can effectively help students to increase their lexical power. Through the vocabulary practice and visual cues provided by the colourful letterings, students are able to learn the correct spellings of words, get exposed to different words and their meanings in a fun manner. Thereby, reinforcing and internalising newly learnt words in their memory. In addition, students are engaged and just like they would while playing 'real games', there are lots of mental processes involved in participating in the game. 

The Wordwall is influenced by the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) approach, which expects students to  utilise the computer or technological device to improve their language learning. Additionally, students can play the game independently hence, increasing learners' autonomy, which is a principle of CALL. However, students can also be grouped to work in pairs or teams hence, encouraging team work, cooperation and competition all which energise students and increase their motivation.

                                                                

Limitations

Just like every other online games, the Wordwall can only function where there are conditions to facilitate it. Firstly, there must be devices such as phones and/or computers on which the games would be played. Secondly, there must be internet connectivity for the game to work. Therefore, if  those devices mentioned above cannot be provided, utilising the Wordwall in the classroom becomes an impossible task. 

To learn how to create vocabulary activities on Wordwall,  watch my demonstration below;

Image credit according to order of use:

Pricilla Du Perez on gettyimages

https://wordwall.net/

https://successforkidswithhearingloss.com/pre-teaching-vocabulary-and-vocabulary-instruction/

iqoncept on depositphotos

Christopher Gower on Unsplash

  

  

Must Have key Features of Every Blog

The world has become a global space where information can easily be accessible with just a touch on the screen. As such, blogs have become resource sites where professionals, such as English teachers, can get access to information that would help improve their practices as well as platforms to share their insights that would help others.  

However, creating such functional blog site that would attract visitors and achieve an expanded network requires careful dedication and efforts in its design, content and layouts.  To start blogging as an English teacher, it is important to investigate what is considered good practice in the art and emulating it. This is achievable through careful understudying of excellent blogs  and picking valuable insights from them to utilise. As such, in this section,  I make a review of an ELT blog, An A-Z of ELT, that I was introduced to last week. 

Apart from it being published by Scott Thornbury, a top ELT practitioner, the blog is a a form of a dictionary-encyclopedia of ELT, containing several well-discussed topical issues in English language teaching hence, worth being a model for other prospective bloggers and a good resource for English teachers.

Below are my impressions about Scott's blog:

Organisation and Layout

A scan through the blog shows a well-structured, easy-to-navigate, functional and elegantly designed blog layout. The first thing a reader sees is the list of alphabet on the left hand-side of the blog. Each of the letters of the alphabet incorporates different English topics which guides the audience to select the specific information they seek.  Additionally, on the right hand-side, the blogger categorises his content through the archive, comment and label features. Therefore, readers can navigate through the blog's monthly or yearly archives, view comments on each topic published, as well as view popular topics in the blog. This functional organisation enables its simplicity and visibility hence, making it easy to access by the audience irrespective of their digital literacy level. Furthermore, the blog is designed in an elegant way that visitors would definitely find appealing to spend more time on.

Content and Features

The blog contains a collection of writings and video clips on trendy issues in English language teaching such as 'blogging', corpus, ELF etc. These topics are well discussed with appropriate references where necessary. The blogger also integrated some videos to some of his discussions for the audience to watch. An instance is an integrated video about 'blogging', which provide more information about the topic to readers who seek to learn more. There is also an RSS Feed, links to different social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc. which make the blog more attractive to visitors and makes it easier to share and access information.

Ease of Access

As discussed earlier, the organisation of the blog makes it easier to navigate even for first-time users. First, each navigation menu on the page, is responsive and leads visitors to the appropriate destination, as there were no dead-ends experienced while surfing through the pages. Second, the navigation menu is visible, the audience would not have challenges clicking on the appropriate one that they need and getting access to the information they seek. Lastly, the topics discussed in the blog are well indexed such that a user need only to browse through the index section to read their choice. 

Target Audience

Since the blog is about topical issues in English language teaching, the comments are usually by ELT professionals who usually commend the blogger on his posts, offer more insights, and, or interrogate the blogger on the topic published. The comments are usually engaging as trends of discussions could take months, with the blogger replying to issues made as such, there is quite a traffic on the blog which makes it lively.

Summary

In summary, the key features that any blog must possess for it to be functional includes the following:

• Elegant blog design and well-organised layouts
• Easy navigation of menus
• Functional links leading to the appropriate pages
• Categorised contents
• Well discussed contents
• Consistent update of posts
• Prompt replies to comments
• Lively engagement of visitors who comment

To learn more about blogging, watch Russel's video below:

Image credits in order of use:

Blog Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay 

Orderly chairs photo by Dynamic Wang on Unsplash

Learn English by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

scottthornbury.wordpress.com/

Russell Stannard's video on blogging