Digital pedagogy
The teacher in the 21st century cannot be computer illiterate. As in many other fields, TEFL educational field is very much dependent now on digital solutions in the teaching-learning process and using technology in TEFL is the focus of research and innovation. Online learning, blended learning, the use of online tools and language software in the classroom and outside has become the everyday reality in TEFL.
My real experience in digital teaching and learning has started with the start of our OUAS teacher program when we were faced with the necessity to learn, collaborate and teach online with the help of Adobe Connect software. One of our first topics was facilitating the learning process in the digital environment. I was rather ignorant on the topic and perceived that the digital teaching and learning were going to present the main challenge for me during the studies. However, I was very motivated to explore the topic, as I completely realised the need of my development in this field with my aspirations of becoming a teacher in the era of digitalisation. The software and tools I have used and learned to use in my teaching within this year are presented below.
Adobe Connect.
AC is the first tool I used in August 2019 and the tool I used during my teaching practice with covid-19 raging in Finland.
AC provides good opportunities for keeping classes online. It is true that the teacher cannot see what students are really doing behind their laptops, but there are good opportunities to guide the learning process. The most important functions for a TEFL teacher in the AC software are:
- Break-out rooms.
They help to make the learning interactive and tasks truly communicative. By separating students in pairs or groups in the break-out rooms the teacher can achieve the communicative objectives of each lesson, promote peer collaboration and feedback. The ability for a teacher to jump from one group to another to listen and guide helps the teacher to be there for their students and see if the learning is taking place and how. - Chat.
Students can at all time contact the teacher through a chat box in the main room or in break-out rooms, which allows a teacher to know where the problem or question is. - Upload files/screen share option, which allows the teacher to guide students what to do, and for the students in break-outs it allows to share their work/ progress and guide one another.
- Camera. Teacher can turn on a camera and make himself sort of more present in the classroom for students.
My experience in using AC have been very positive, it worked at all times and I managed to create good lessons and guide the students to the extent it is possible with this software.
Lessons using AC:
https://myteachingpath.home.blog/2020/03/31/lesson-6/
Collaborate .
I used Collaborate in two online sessions during my teaching practice in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic. It has very similar to AC functions, but a bit different design. The major plus is also break-out rooms which are easy to operate and navigate. Teacher can monitor the progress in all rooms.
Microsoft teams.
Microsoft teams is used as a tool for distance learning in the Multicultural Centre Villa Victor of Oulu where I currently teach an English course. The organisation has its own team in Teams. Each language course offered in the organisation has its own channel in the team. The students are invited to join the team via emails. The student then goes to a specific course channel at specific time when the course is taking place. The teacher is available there at that time on a video call. The materials for each lesson are uploaded by me to the folder “Files”. In the channel’s chat box I give general instructions for students before the start of the class. I ask them to have the materials downloaded and open when the class starts. I start the class by starting the meeting. We can go together through the materials and the students can ask me for guidance at any time.
There is also a possibly of making the lesson interactive by creating more channels in the team and sending students to the meetings in these channels for interactive tasks. I have not yet tried this option, however. The distance learning in Villa Victor started only this past Monday and I had only one student present, so there was no need to do the breakouts.
The use of Microsoft teams requires certain computer skills from the students. The knowledge how to use computer, email, install Microsoft Teams application, navigate it. We must remember that not every student possesses these skills and many students cannot participate in the distance learning due to the lack of digital skills.
Here is a video that helped me learn on how I can arrange a learning process in Teams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUbA53ouSo
Virtual Classroom Software (Chinese employer)
When we started our studies in August and I realised the gap in knowledge I have on teaching in the digital environment I started looking for the opportunities to try online teaching and learn a thing or two. I found a job opportunity in China and became an online teacher. This job did not give any significant financial benefit, but it surely did give me the chance to get to know what online TEFL teaching feels like and how to do it. The company I’ve worked for has its 2 versions of virtual classroom software. One version serves the purpose of giving private and big class lessons (in school classrooms), the other version is designed to accommodate several students physically being in different locations. The technical specifications of the 2 versions are the same, however, the 2nd version does allow streaming from and to multiple locations.
In the first version VR I kept private lessons with one student as well as big classes with student number up to 40. In the second version I kept classes to maximum of 4 students living in different cities. The functions of the classroom software are the following:
- Camera (a must for both parties).
- Share docs in any format
- Whiteboard and toolbox for writing
- Chat with automatic translation to and from Chinese
- Timer, dice, spin the wheel, trophies, etc.
- Different classroom layouts (focus on teacher, focus on students, focus on whiteboard).
The big classes instruction in Chinese schools required from the physical classroom to have all the necessary equipment to put me on the screen. Each classroom had a Chinese English teacher there to help me guide the students and instruct the students in Chinese when necessary. Some classrooms were very big, and the teacher would pass a mike for the students who wanted to speak so that I could hear their answers.
ManyCam.
ManyCam is an online camera software that allows to make your video image more colourful and engaging, especially for kids. To keep the kids interested in the lesson when you speak the language they do not know is of a great challenge for the teachers. Every teacher is required to have props like toys, cards, realia in order to maintain child’s attention. ManyCam allows creating a fantastic background image and use many animated pictures of things and animals, which makes the lesson fun for the kids and maintains their attention. It substitutes the necessity to have real life props you need to prepare for every lesson with a kid. All you need to do is to type in a search button what you want to show your student and a lively picture comes up on the screen. I really benefited from using this software and my students’ engagement level truly rose.
Google Drive/ One Drive
Google drive and One drive give opportunities to create, store and share the files. You can view and edit the shared files. I have used google drive extensively throughout my teaching and I find the drive to be a very helpful tool for teaching and learning.
I have used drive to:
- Share materials with students by providing links to the materials and tasks;
- Collect the completed tasks for assessment;
- Collaborate with peer teachers and share our thoughts in one place;
- As a portfolio storing created by me materials, lesson plans, video recordings, certificates, etc.
Drive is also a great tool to keep your lesson materials in case you cannot access your pen drive or laptop in your class. Drive can be accessed from any computer. I always back up all my lesson materials in drive in case I have issues with my own technology in a classroom and will need to access it from some other computer.
WhatsApp.
WhatsApp can be used for many purposes. I have used WhatsApp so far as the means of staying connected with students during online sessions if the students were experiencing problems and could not reach me in the software. The other way I used WhatsApp was for pair group work when students in break-out rooms were experiencing technical issues and were unable to work on AC or Collaborate. I would ask them to make a call and work together on a call. However, I could not hear what was happening on the call and how the students were progressing, which is a big disadvantage.
I believe WhatsApp gives good opportunities for developing speaking and writing skills in distance learning. What I want to try soon is to create a WhatsApp group with students and give them tasks for either written or speaking discussions. For example, I can send questions on daily issues, pictures, quotes, videos, articles and ask students to write their thoughts about them or record a 1-2-minute monologue on the topic. All the students can respond to each other’s posts and maintain the discussion. WhatsApp is a great tool because we use it on daily basis for communication with others, using it for TEFL purposes will bring the language study into the everyday real-life realm, where the nature of English will be more seen as a tool for communication and not the academic subject.
Skype.
Skype is a good tool for educational purposes. I have used it only a couple of times by sharing documents and links in the chat window, sharing screen when needed to give instructions and for video communication. I used it only for private lesson purposes, however, it can be used for group sessions as well. You can create groups there and organise conference calls with video. The chat can be used as a discussion board and as means of sharing links and documents.
Facebook.
Facebook is a great source of information and a sharing platform. I have used Facebook in one of my classes during the teaching practice to run one specific activity. I created a Facebook page for my class and posted pictures I needed the students to comment on. Then I needed them to analyse other’s comments practicing a specific theory we were studying. It was a great tool to use for the activity and I believe Facebook is a great platform for group discussions, sharing, information search. Students can also work with their peers using the messenger.
The link to the lesson plan with the Facebook activity:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VNOTO9Dv9fki9uyPx-j_OTeRkHxi-lAG/view?usp=sharing
Padlet.
Padlet is a great tool for open class feedback. We can collect thoughts/results/feedback from students or groups so that everyone in the class is able to see the results of their peers’ work. There are multiple layouts in padlet (wall, canvas, stream, grid, shelf, backchannel, map, timeline). You can choose the layout that suits best for the activity.
I used padlet on multiple occasions for open class feedback in and outside of the classroom.
For example, lessons with padlet tasks:
Kahoot!
Is an awesome tool for adding a game element into the classroom. I use Kahoot mostly for meaning check of the lexis(picture and multiple choice). It can also be used for listening/reading comprehension with true/false tasks, open-ended questions. It allows you to get the reports with the student results, which helps you in assessing the students’ progress.
Quizlet.
Is a great tool for language teaching and learning. I used Quizzlet during my teaching practice twice for studying the new lexis and doing vocabulary tasks. Students can study the words there in various ways, and do matching, writing, multiple choice, true false activities for lexis. They can also play games, such as gravity, matching games, and it also gives you an option to play in teams. I will continue using this tool in the future to create lexical study sets.
Lesson link with Quizlet activities:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10a-74vwGmRjkA6jYnbXDuZAp_AkBW7TT/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DpBo98LTM6Y-M772W1TBWnt1IjajbWb6/view?usp=sharing
Flinga.
Flinga is a great tool for collaborative mind mapping. I used it on multiple occasions during my teaching practice. I would ask students to work in pairs or small groups to brainstorm on an issue and then add their results on the common mind map on Flinga. The idea is to collect the thoughts from groups or individuals and have an open class feedback. It can be used in both classroom and online instruction.
Lesson links:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DpBo98LTM6Y-M772W1TBWnt1IjajbWb6/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RXyhuqrHSEQs4N6jwFl78kVRQR7P7bkc/view?usp=sharing
Crosswordlabs.
A splendid tool for creating crosswords online. It is very easy to use: enter a word and it’s definition and create the crossword! Anyone can then access the crossword by following a link. It can also be downloaded and printed. The crosswords are ususally very engaging for students.
https://crosswordlabs.com/view/supply-chain-54
There are millions of tools and applications available nowadays for teaching and learning purposes. The teacher needs to stay tuned, test different tools and how they work, but choose each tool carefully evaluating how it fits the purpose of a specific activity and whether the learning objectives can be met if this tool is used. The most important thing to remember is not the tool you use, or your ability to use hundreds of tools, but how you use it. If there is no educational value from the activity you do with the help of this tool, there is no point in using it just for the sake of implementing a digital solution.
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