Gather Data with Google Forms

What is it?

Google Forms is easily accessible from your Google account menu or by going here. It's a straightforward quiz and poll maker, which could be used to gather data for research or for needs analysis at any point in your course. Below are two tutorials. The one by Susan McGannon is a bit monotone, but she has carefully tailored it to teachers. 'Technology Guru' is a bit punchier but more about general use:

There is no set-up necessary and the features are easy to locate and operate. The nice thing about Google Forms is the variety of answers students can provide: short answer, paragraph, multiple choice, checkboxes, linear scale, etc. A side benefit is the way in which it develops teachers' awareness of testing methods.

How would I use it? 

Personally, I would use Google Forms for homework or even better flipping the classroom. One can imagine giving students a short story or film to watch over the weekend, along with a Google Form to complete before class. If you select Responses on the Question box, there is a little green cross icon that creates a spreadsheet of the results. Instead of just going over homework, you're starting the discussion with their responses, which they've had time to formulate outside of class. If you have other ideas on how to use GF, please share!

Brainstorming and Researching with Conceptboard

What is it?

After 30 days, you'd have to get your DOS to pay, but Conceptboard is a useful tool for brainstorming, which is a short-term activity anyway, so it's worth a demo in class to get your students continuing to share ideas outside of class.

Speedbumps?

The site takes you to an introductory video, at which time you'll realise that Conceptboard is a Business tool rather than something designed for education. On the other hand, business design is often much clearer and easier to follow, with plenty of support for prospective clients. After creating the trial account, you will be greeted with an IM from a friendly guide named, no joke, Captain Conceptboard! Let him/it take you on the interactive tutorial, which is pleasantly brief and hands-on.

How would I use it?

You'll see it's a simple drag-and-drop platform for multiple users to store, as well as comment and present on, various materials. There's a clever feature that allows one to display the mouse and screen positions of all contributors. One can imagine the learners at home, discussing a project over Skype while indicating which part of a text or idea they'd like to develop; thus Conceptboard lends itself to presentations or writing tasks that require research. It would be a nice user-friendly way to encourage EAP and BE students to work in groups, but I haven't yet hit upon its usefulness as a lesson component. Any ideas?

Move beyond the Classroom with Nearpod

What is it? 

Mobile learning isn't necessarily a new concept for me, but I have yet to really get past the training bra stage of having students use their phones to look up words in class. The Nearpod app, which leads students on adventure challenges, is a great way to support language learning during or outside class-time. The website, which is surprisingly quite easy to use, is not the most inviting to newcomers. Let's get the discomfort of joining out of the way, and then I'll move on to the good stuff.

Speedbumps? 

The download link for the app is not prominent, or possibly nonexistent, on the website. To get it, swing round to Google Play or Apple Apps. Be sure to create a free teacher account. Once you've managed to do this and return to their website, you'll be tempted to click on the little teacher man on the homepage. He will lead you to their newest feature Collaborate, which is something like Padlet (see my post dated Jan. 31st). On second impulse, one's eye moves to "Explore" to browse lessons examples. If you must go there, scroll down for the section "Top Free". Nearpod, for all its innovation, is firmly dedicated to selling product in the form of lesson plans and upgraded accounts. Alternatively, you can just go to My Library and the reality of what's actually free to preview will appear on your screen. (With 3 subjects selected, I got just 3 relevant lessons gratis.)

How would I use it? 

Do try to get past these mild annoyances, because Nearpod is a FANTASTIC tool for both collaborative and autonomous learning. With Nearpod, you can create teacher-controlled lessons for students to follow on their phones. There is a code assigned to each lesson you create, which students then enter to access the presentation. Nearpod lessons lead students slide by slide to features like quizzes, open questions, video, etc. You can easily create out-of-class adventures and track the results. Here are some tips to make this go more smoothly:

1. Do a test run with the students. The fact that the sequence is teacher controlled means the students will need to get the hang of moving through it appropriately. Additionally, there is always an exit feature in the top right-hand corner; the participants will need to know that clicking on this will exit them from the entire lesson, not just the frame. 
2. Have students write down the code before embarking on these missions, especially for lessons that require students take photos since not all of the features, such as this one, are available with free membership. If they change screens, they may get locked out and have to reenter the code in the middle of their adventure. 
3. Emphasise that students should take their time with writing tasks. Nearpod can be an excellent tool for developing writing, but learners will be tempted to rush through these tasks, giving substandard responses. Even if 'complete sentences' or 'short paragraphs' are specified, answers will likely be simple and abbreviated if they feel pressured to get to the next slide. Perhaps specifying a few writing assessment criteria beforehand, or just saving the more detailed and reflective writing tasks for individual lessons, would alleviate that pressure. 

Nearpod is an interesting way to let go without letting go, but this type of approach should anticipate complications before they become problems. Experiences, positive or negative? Post! Advice on using this tool, do post!

Learning with Lyrics Trainer

What is it? 

LyricsTraining is a great tool for teachers who enjoy sharing music with their ELLs. I've previously used youtube videos to teach verb tenses, vocabulary, and Anglophone culture, relying on my own materials to support that, which is ideal for the classroom, of course, but Lyrics Trainer is a great alternative for autonomous learning. It's basically watching videos and filling in the missing lyrics with a timer. Learners can pause or go back at any time, and at the end they'll have accumulated points for correct answers.

How would I use it?

The site is easy and fun to use. When creating the free account, you'll be asked if you are a language teacher. CHECK YES. This enables you to make exercises for your students beyond the preset levelled gap fills. Step by step: Let's say my student loves Metal. I can select it from the Genre search, and let's just say I go with Iron Maiden's "Book of Souls". After selecting the song, I'll have the option of intensifying the difficulty of the gap fill with a set percentage of missing words (Beginner - Expert), OR I can select the words to fill myself by scrolling down a bit more and clicking Exercise. This frees me up to tailor it to a language focus, like prepositions. Incidentally, there is also a Karaoke feature so learners can sing along! Here is a video on how to use Lyricstraining by Englishbob, who speaks clearly and at a reasonable pace for your students to follow on their own.

Speedbumps?

These should be adult students or young learners with liberal parents, who won't blame you for their kid learning the lyrics to "Satan Is Real" by Kreator - another option in the Metal genre. Also, as I mentioned before, it might be hard to accomplish this in the classroom as someone quite comfortable with the tool should be starting and stopping it. However, I am open to suggestions for how to make this a classroom activity. Your thoughts?

Harvesting Webquests with Questgarden

What is it?

Questgarden is a self-described "incubator" for student-centred learning tools. It is a guide to and builder of Webquests, which are task-based lesson websites for students to explore. Webquests seem to be the offspring of course websites, but instead of organizing general information about a course for students, they are sites entirely created for one lesson or project.

How would I use it?

Having not used Webquests myself, I've consulted with several language teachers who have, and their enthusiasm is quite high. There is a kind of catch-and-release trend in education these days, which promotes heavy initial preparation and scaffolding from the teacher to ideally yield maximum autonomy from the students in the form of exploring topics in groups. It seems to have worked well in many language classrooms.

Speedbumps?

The site design is not inspiring. The layout is off-centre, dated, and meh. My concerns for language learning with the Webquest approach can be boiled down to mixed level lopsided participation and the complexities of teacher interference and assessment. However, this post was intended to evaluate Questgarden, and other than tiny text and generally shabby design, I find this website extraordinarily useful, particularly for pre-service teachers or pre-digital natives like myself. How did you find it?