LEARNING JOURNEY: The underlying driving force... Satisfaction... generated from... Positive Impact on Others... through the course of actions and interactions...
This is one idea generated when attended an activity at the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.
The idea:
There are 2 sets of materials:
One stack of cards with different roles
One set of 'hashtags' that are related to the topic of discussion
In the activity I participated in, I was told to draw a card, which turned out to be student.
Which means, I was supposed to speak from the students' perspective.
Then I was given a hashtag - supposed to describe today's student in 6 words (from the student's perspective). The hashtag is used, in this case, to collate information.
In other words, hashtags come in handy when twitter is the choice-platform. However, we can modify the 'role' of hashtags in this case.
This strategy is probably useful for activities that links 2 areas together (similar to the many-to-many function relationship)
How we can apply this strategy in our practice?
(from the above example)
It depends on the nature of our task and the scale (i.e. the number of respondents involved)
Strategy 1: To generate ideas from multiple perspectives
The learning activity requires
participants' to adopt a role and provide views on one aspect of a broad
topic.
When platform harnesses on hashtags to collate information (e.g. Twitter)
Task requires respondents to adopt roles to provide perspectives in several aspects of a topic
Example: To gather perspectives of different stakeholders of students' well-being.
Stack of cards: Stakeholder's role - Parent, Student, Teacher, School Leader, Board members
Hashtags: Areas pertaining to Topic - cyber well-being, physical well-being, socio-emotional
Strategy 2: To carry out major revision
One aspect: The sub-topics
Another aspect: Examples/ Illustrations
Example: Mensuration - Study of Shapes and Properties
Stack of cards: Shapes
Hashtags: Properties/ Attributes and formulae to calculate area/ volume
In the institute, one key deliverable of all ADEs is to come up with a project that they would like to work on, that calls for action.
Having been exposed to several of 'new' tools at the various sessions in the past few days, I've scoped it to address an issue that students who are weak in language would face - word pronunciation, which personally I think I would have benefited if technology was available during my school days, ok... that nearly 40 years ago... 😕
The clip below, created using CLIPS, is version 2 of the idea generated (supposed to be posted in a social media with hashtags #ade2018 #EveryoneCanCreate #AppleEDUchat.
Version 2 has been refined. Below is probably the closer-to-final version of proposed idea. Background
Language is a means to communicate and make connections. Being able to speak and express one's idea clearly is important.
In the language curriculum, one of the many desired outcomes for language learning is students being able to use language to express themselves clearly and effectively. In particular, pronunciation plays a fundamental role. Through my own experience, the confidence and fluency to express one's ideas affects one's confidence and ability to articulate words clearly. OK, I guess that explains why I prefer to write than speak in English language most of the time 😔
What's up?
So, what did I find at the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute that could probably be helpful to address the 'area of concern' described above? To sharpen the area of focus:How can students use simple technology to acquire good pronunciation (over time)?
Well, I can think of at least 2 tools, but after one round of discussion (this morning), I think I can further incorporate another tool to make the entire experience a complete one.
Through this process, the proposed approach, apart from achieving skill acquisition, aims to impact learners to become
During the Process: Self-directed learners (who will leverage technology to check on own's learning progress)
End Product: Confidence speakers (as they practise in a safe environment with the computer giving non-bias feedback; and they can work at their own pace)
The Approach
Note: The device used in this context is the iPad
1. Listen to Learn
Listening is an important skill. It's also through listening that we acquire new knowledge.
The new knowledge, in this context, is correct pronunciation of words.
Technology:"Text-to-Speech" tool to read text/ words Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech
Activate #1:
When text is selected, a "Speak" button will appear when you select text.
Tap on the "Speak" button - the computer will read the selected text.
Students can listen to how the words are read to learn how to read them.
The text selection works as long as at least one word is selected.
Activate #2:
For the computer to read the entire page, use 2 fingers to swipe down from the top of the screen, the following will appear:
The speed of speech can be adjusted by tapping on the two buttons (shown above).
The above will enable the device to read the text (be it one word or more) clearly to the learner.
2. Speak to Practise
Practising speaking with technology is not new.
For instance, we can use Quicktime Player or iMovie, or even just a simple sound recorder to record our reading (voice); then play back to listen.
However, feedback is given only after it's heard by the teacher (who is the 'expert' to correct our pronunciation). In a language class, practice is necessary to get into how a word should be pronounced. After practising many times reading a word in the wrong way, the error becomes a 'habitual' way of saying, which will be difficult to change.
Is there a way that technology can help us to point out the errors - in a simple way that learners can manage themselves, hence promote self-directed learning & self-evaluation?
Technology:Clips
This apps that runs in iOS devices (i.e. iPad, iPhone) provides a simple way to do the job!
It's easy to use - as it offers very few options to enhance the product.
In this way, students will focus on the task rather than spending time to work on the ascetically part.
OK, if we want something to be really professionally done - Clips will not fit the bill.
However, it marries useful features from several apps!
Here are some of them
It can 'stitch' images and videos together - though it looked abrupt at the 'cross over'. Well, who cares if ascetic is not the key, but the content
It can record video at a press of the button
The most important feature: It has the '"live text" feature that translates speech to text which makes it the key reason why Clips is relevant here.
Language - we can set it to Singapore English! (I think that's what I liked most)
Other feature that is irrelevant to this context but useful is: "screen/ display time" of each image/ video can be 'trimmed' - can be used to lengthen or shorten the duration
With this, students can record and review their own recording - to check for accuracy (which can be done with the "Text-to-Speech" tool (in #1) - which promotes self-review and monitoring of own learning.
3. Converse to Consolidate
Last but not least... practise conversation with Siri
Version 2 of my thoughts... before I complete it with the consolidation stage... - my very first masterpiece created using "CLIPS"
My Experience with CLIPS... It was a bit of struggle at the start, when I was trying to figure out how to add 'sections' without losing what's created. In addition, also need to take note of the sequence of animation. It took me more than an hour to complete this clip, which, I am now more confident to say that the time taken should be halved. Other than that, the editing is really easy - just need to take note that "trim" does not just limit to "reducing" the length; but also includes extending the duration of display. Implementation
We will need to look into Teachers and Students' readiness
Teachers - a short introduction on how to use the recording feature would be helpful so that they can demonstrate and guide students who will benefit from this approach - to address pronunciation issue
Students - selected students to be given reading materials for practice, and to submit their evidences of learning at the end of each practice - their best piece of work.
This is one of the takeaways from the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.
Though it's not the first time I come to know about the feature... Well, one may not appreciate the feature until one really needs it... (needs-driven)
OK, I start to appreciate this feature in the recent months - it is very handy when now I need to read with reading glasses!
Note: The following applies to internet browser - Safari (in both Macbook and iPad)
The feature automatically appears in text-heavy webpages.
When we load webpages in Safari, how often do we notice changes to small icons at the address bar (i.e. where the URL is)?
Look out for the following: (see the red box on the left of the URL?
Click at this button.
Images (in particular, the advertisements) will not longer be displayed.
This is how it will look like:
Well, the image (illustration) that comes with the original posting remains.
All irrelevant distractions are removed! This is definitely useful when we prepare resources for teaching and learning :)
In addition, once this mode is activated, more features are available - look! the button on the right of the URL provides two useful options
Resizing of text - yes! text can be enlarged!
Changing the colour of the background. This will definitely reduce the glare that the eyes have to tolerate when we view the text in the dark!
Needless to say, the resizing of text can come in very useful to students who probably needs to read lots of text-heavy pages when doing research online. With this, they need not strain their eyes to read narrow lines of text.
This is one of the takeaways from the 2018 World Wide ADE Institute.
One of the workshops discussed the use of tools developed for greater accessibility (for those who have physical challenges). Some ideas triggered how we could use this tools for Teaching & Learning in a normal classroom, too.
The following tool was created to support the community with visual disability.
Instead of reading with our 'eyes', we can use of the Speech tool in iOS to "read" the words to us. This is in particular helpful to those of us who have no time to 'read' with our eye (as we need to be engaged in other work) s but to listen to the text. Ops! Isn't it the concept of audio-book; however, now it's applicable to any text in a webpage?
The feature can be activated through SETTINGS > General > Accessibility > Speech > Speak Selection (where a Speak button will appear when we select text)
Bring it into the classroom
Who will benefit from it most?
How can we bring this feature to benefit learners in the classroom?
Auditory learners, definitely!
Those who are learning pronunciation of new words
Instead of having the eyes to 'crawl' through lines of text,we can now use the feature to read out the text loud and clear to us. This matches the learning style of the auditory learners!
Given the option to change to speaking rate, we can slow down the speed so that one could listen to how the word is pronounced more clearly when learning the new word. Well, for non-native speakers of English Language, this is in particular useful when we need a slightly longer time to digest what's said.
