Participant Wikis

Greetings everyone,

Just wanted to post the participant wikis here. I have added a section to the Web 2.0 for ESP wiki page called "participant wikis" [http://evo08esp.pbwiki.com/Participant+Wikis] . Click on the sidebar to find it (or go to Week Four and click on the link from there)http://evo08esp.pbwiki.com/Week%204.

If you don't see your wiki here, email me and I will add it to the wiki site.

Debby



http://vandyllm.pbwiki.com/

http://onlinelearning101.pbwiki.com/

http://ama07storytelling.pbwiki.com/

http://summer2007photos.pbwiki.com/

http://tic07.wikispaces.com/English+Class

http://uwasakeng9217.pbwiki.com

http://foundationone.pbwiki.com/

Using Google Analytics to Follow Wiki Hits

Hello everyone!

When we discussed blogs earlier, I mentioned that I have found in useful to try out some of the Web 2.0 tools we've been discussing for personal purposes before trying them out in class.

Last summer I did a lot of traveling in Finland's neighboring countries. I decided to try posting some of my photos for friends and family on a wiki, rather than via Ofoto (now Kodak EasyShare) as I've done in the past. You can check out my experiment here. This allowed me to learn how to imbed Picasa photo albums into my wiki.

This was also the first wiki were I installed Google Analytics, so that I could check up on how many people visited the site. In order to add this to your wiki, first create your wiki, then register with Google Analytics, then you will be given some html code to add to your wiki. Don't be scared off by this! If you're using PBWiki, it's quite easy. When you are editing a page, you can switch over to the html view from the easy point & click editor by clicking on the 'Source' icon near the 'Attach file' icon in the editing toolbar. Then you can insert the Google Analytics html code at the bottom of your front page. After you've done this, you can track the views of your wiki, complete with cool maps of where your hits come from.

Don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Wiki Comments

Please let us know how the creation of your wikis is proceeding. Which wiki have you chosen to use? How are you using the wiki? What have you learned along the way?

Please share what you have learned about wikis because that is how we learn in the Web 2.0 environment.

Thanks for Your Participation - Recording of Week 3 Live Informal Group-Meeting Is Here!

Hi! We'd like to thank you so much for your participation in our third live group-meeting that was carried out in the Webheads LearningTimes vOffice (Link), on Sunday. Debby, Jen, and I, Buthaina, would like to thank, especially Sylwia (Link), Mona, (Link) Mark (Link), Lorena (Link), and Hala (Link) for their great contribution to the live discussion through sharing ideas on ways to integrate RSS technology in their ESP classes. It was, indeed, such an informative and fun session.

For those of you who couldn't make it to our live meeting of Week 3, the recording of the live discussion can be found at Recordings wiki page.

After you finish viewing and listening to the recording, please share your ideas on ways you plan to use RSS technology for your ESP classes. You could do that either by adding your ideas to this wiki page, or through a post to your blog. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your collaboration and cooperation!

EVO 08 Web 2.0 for ESP Team
PS This draft entry was saved and will be published when connection is restored here at my end in the Gulf Region! Thank you for your patience. (Buth)

Welcome to Week 4: Wikis

Hello everyone!

The live meeting today was very interesting and the best attended we have had to date, despite some scheduling conflicts and some technical glitches. Hopefully the recording will be of a good enough quality and without too many breaks for those who weren't able to make it to listen to this week.

We're starting Week 4 of Web 2.0 for ESP EVO 2008 now and the topic for this week is wikis.

You can read more about this week on the Web 2.0 for ESP PBwiki.

Here is a brief summary of our agenda for the week:

1. Review the wiki comparison chart on the class wiki and decide which wiki best fits your needs as an ESP educator.
2. Skim some of the resources on the resource section of the class wiki to get an idea of how wikis have been used for other classes.
3. Read the article about Web 2.0 applications (including wikis) for educators: Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs! Oh, My! What Is a Faculty Member Supposed to Do? from Educause. (link on the class wiki)
4. Set up your wiki.
5. Practice adding photos, audio, and video to the wiki pages in the Sandbox on the class wiki.
6. We will also discuss using wikis for peer editing.
7. Share your wiki via Twitter, YahooGroups or the Web 2.0 for ESP blog (there will be a specific post that you can comment on with your wiki url).

Jen and Debby on behalf of the Web 2.0 for ESP team

Weekly LIVE session rescheduled

Hello everyone!

Apologies for the short notice with this announcement. Due to scheduling conflicts and technical problems, we've had to reschedule today's/tonight's live session for tomorrow Sunday February 3rd at 8pm GMT.

Hope to see/hear you then!

URGENT: Do not open email from Buth about Zorpia

Greetings all,

Please do NOT open a message from Buth about a new tool called Zorpia.

It is a virus and will infect your computer and send out invitation messages to everyone in your address book.

Debby

If You Are Using Moodle...Read this!

Results of the poll created earlier, by Debby in our YG, showed that some of you are interested in learning more about Moolde!

Harold Jarche has blogged some interesting informative comments about the book, Moodle Teaching Techniques, by William Rice, stating that: "This is a good guidebook for anyone developing online courses with Moodle. The introduction covers some basic instructional techniques and then the book gets right into the “how-to’s” of course building."

One thing I really liked was Harold's bottom line about the book and his comment on Rice's recommendations on how wikis, forums and blogs should be used. Thanks, Harold!


Hope this helps, folks

A Digi-Drama About Fear 2.0

The video, above was found through a post,
by Barbara Sawhill on her LanguageLabUnleashed.


Enjoy!

Recording of Week 2 Live Informal Group-Meetting & Thanks for Your Participation

Hi all,

This post is to thank, Anna, Toni, Janet, Moira, Jen, and our special guest, Michael Ivy for their participation in our second live group-meeting of week 2. The meeting went very well and the discussion was so fruitful with many new tips and ideas on blogs and blogging for ESP classes.

Michael Ivy shared a link to his ESL/EFL blog for EFL learners in Rome. He talked to us about some the techniques he uses through his blog to invite for more interaction from his students. He also talked about how easy and quickly it is now for anybody to add widgets to a blogger blog. He showed an example of how to install the widget of Tag-Board into your blog; indeed, doing that was a breeze! Finally, Michael invited us all to post comments to his ESL/EFL blog! Michael also talked about some different types of blogs, such as personal and just for hobbies and fun blogs, like the bicycle blog, Rural Rides in Central Lazio, which he's been maintaining!

Later, Jen did an interesting short presentation on blogger vs wordpress blogs! She highlighted important features available at both platforms, in addition to advantages an backwards of each. She then talked to us about tags and how they can be used to help in the assessment process in any online course that uses a blog as its main LMS. You could learn more about this technique and other relevant stories through Jen's latest post to this blog.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the second live informal group-meeting, please check out the link to the recording of the event provided on our Recordings wiki page.

Thanks, again for your participation, and we look forward to meeting you all live online next week!

All the best :)

Second Live Group-Meeting in Webheads vOffive at Learningtimes

Hi all,

This is a reminder to let you know that our second weekly live group-meeting
is going to be held in the Webheads vOffice at Learningtimes, later
today/tonight at 20:00-21:00 GMT. This time was voted for by the
majority of you, according to the results of the poll that was closed
on Jan 25 at 24:15 GMT, (20:00 - 21:00 GMT, 7 votes, 25.93%). Please
see complete poll results at the bottom of this post.

Please note, your participation is very important as we are going to
discuss our own experience with blogs and blogging for our current or
future ESP classes. Also, some guest bloggers may join our live
session to talk a bit about their blogging experience and answer some
of your questions.

The live online group-meetings are a good opportunity, especially for
those of you who are very busy and need to catch up with some
materials and weekly activities already covered and completed.

Please bring all your questions, ideas, thoughts and comments on Week
2 with you to the live session. Also, if you'd like to add other
relevant points or matters to the agenda of today's live discussion,
please sent them here to this list so that we can add them.

If it's your first time to join us at a live session, please check out the Tutorials wiki page to learn more about how to access the Webheads vOffice.

Looking forward to meeting you all live online, soon :)


PS Poll CHOICES AND RESULTS

- 13:00 - 14:00 GMT, 5 votes, 18.52%
- 14:00 - 15:00 GMT, 6 votes, 22.22%
- 15:00 - 16:00 GMT, 5 votes, 18.52%
- 19:00 - 20:00 GMT, 4 votes, 14.81%
- 20:00 - 21:00 GMT, 7 votes, 25.93%

Using Elluminate Live for Your Blended Classes!

This entry made particularly to answer a question, by Lori in New York, on using the vRoom by Elluminate live! Lori and everyone interested, I did use the virtual room by Elluminate for one of my ESP, Business English blended classes. I found it very helpful as it allows high quality of participation through audio, video, and text. It also has breakout rooms that made group-activities so easy to do online. Also, allowing power point files to be uploaded helped me prepare lessons on the fly. The Whiteboard tools are so useful and effective in terms of participation or adding information and questions quickly. So, my experience using Elluminate was very successful.

Hope this is helpful, Lori! Please let me know if you have other questions about the Elluminate vRoom.

All the best :)

The Great Divide

I read Hala's post today and felt that I had to move it up into the main posts because I think she touches on something that is important for all of us to think about no matter where we live and work.

Hala's post is between the *** marks. Let us know what you think and your experience with this problem. What can we do to help our students who don't have the same access to computers and the internet as others? Scroll to the bottom of this message and click on comments to tell us your experiences.

***
hi i think this is my fourth comment today i is realllly great. I have different concerns from lori in introducing blogs in my esp teachings. khartoum univeristy is public univerity all levels of students are accepted. some of them are from conflict zones they cannot afford the luxury of even having three meals per day and some are so rich they drive their 2008 model cars. I feel introducing technology to the class can certainly leave some out. i feel that the poorer students are the ones who really need to know about technology some of them are really cleaver and so keen to learn as they feel that this is their chance to do something in their lives.
***

Remember to Read the Comments

We are getting comments on the blog now, so remember to read the comments because the co-moderators have started responding in the comments section below each initial posting.

There might be information there you are interested in reading.

For example, if you want to add photos, audio, or video to your own blogs, you probably want to look at the Help of Blogger.

After creating your blog and logging in, click on customize in top left corner. You will then see the help button. Click on that, then click on the help center icon. Scroll down until you see the Multimedia section.

Recording of Vance Stevens' on Blogging & Tagging for ESP/EAP

Hi all,

We'd like to thank our guest speaker for this week 2, Vance Stevens for the useful information on blogging, tagging, and using technorati, which he shared with us at the live presentation, on Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008. We'd also like to thank our group members, Sylwia, Mark, Toni, and Janet for their participation in this session.

We're sorry that other participants couldn't make it to the live session this time and hope they'd be able to join us in other future live meetings.

For your convenience, the recording of the presentation, created courtesy of LearningTimes.org support team, can be found at Recordings page on our wiki.

Kindest regards,
Buth,
for the evo 08 Web 2.0 for ESP team

Participants' Blogs

Hi everyone,

Post the links to your blogs here. We would like to see what you create.

Take a look at the links section on the right-hand side of the page for direct links to your colleagues' blogs.

Time and Web 2.0

New York Lori posted the following to Buth's first entry on the blog. Great post, Lori.

My response is below her entry. Please feel free to add your own concerns and comments.

***
My main concern about using Web 2.0 technology for my English classes is the time factor. I'm worried that I'll be "on call" to my students 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. I envision having to check blogs, emails, podcasts, wikis every single day of the week in order to give prompt feedback to my students. I think of all the writing assignments that my students send to me for reading and editing via email. All of the above is in addition to the daily research, planning, and preparation time that I want to do in order to conduct my dynamic and productive English learning classes.

In the good old days, teachers taught class, gave homework/project assignments, and didn't have any contact with the students until the next class. I think all of these Web 2.0 tools are incredible and I can't wait to start utilizing them in my classes. But at the same time, I panic thinking that I'll never have any downtime between classes. I'm also not sure I'm comfortable that students have 24/7 access to me.
***

That was also my primary concern with I started using Web 2.0 tools. I can remember being totally frustrated when we had an online teaching expert tell us that he set up virtual office hours on Sunday afternoons. Since I am in the U.S., I thought, that is my weekend, I need those hours free!

What I have learned though is that I don't spend more time online than I do with face-to-face classes and office hours. Of course, I type very quickly and this helps me, but I have learned to tell students not to expect instant turnaround (48 hours is fine). I also tell them I don't respond on weekends (though I admit I do sometimes if the question is easy). I choose at most two tools per class or there is too much to check. Unless the assignment includes review of drafts by me, I tell students I will only look at small sections of their essays--not the entire thing. Wikis are great tools for peer editing. We will discuss how that works during Week 4.

I will admit that it takes more time at first, especially as you learn to work with the tools and decide what you want to do with them. However, once you have spent time with them and know what works for you and your students, it can be much faster than preparing for a traditional class.

Remember when you first started teaching and it took ages to get ready for class. Learning to use Web 2.0 is a little similar to that. However, as teachers, we have to keep up with the times and Web 2.0 is not going to disappear. Take a deep breath, remember the little engine that could(I think I can, I think I can) and move on up the hill.

For those of you unfamiliar with the little engine story from the U.S., take a look at the wikipedia entry below. Although the entry is not entirely positive about the story, what I remember about it from my long ago childhood is that if we just keep trying, we will succeed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Engine_That_Could

Live Session with Vance Stevens, on Blogging & Tagging for ESP/EAP Class, Tue, Jan 22 at 12:00 - 13:00 UTC /GMT

For more information about this event please go to Guest Speakers wiki page!

Looking forward to meeting most of the participants of the EVO 08 Web 2.0 for ESP!


Best!

Commenting Instructions

This week we want you to post your questions and comments on the blog. To do that, you will need to follow the steps below. I fyou are a blogger, this will be easy. If you are not, let us know if you have problems.

General Information:

Blogging is not a live, synchronous event. It is asynchronous, just like email. The difference is that the “threads” or topics of discussion are connected. This is great for following ideas and comments on those ideas for online courses and as supplements to face-to-face classes.

If you have ever used a discussion forum in a course, blogging is very similar to that. A discussion forum is a main posting with comments, using on a particular question if you are using the forum for classroom activities. I will post an example on the blog this week.

Steps for Posting:

1. Create a google or gmail account (or sign in using your google or gmail account if you already have one. You can sign in with your google or gmail user name or the full address. For example, my gmail user name is dleetn, or I can sign in with the full gmail address of dleetn@gmail.com. The password is the same for your google/gmail account.

2. To create a google account (no new email account, but access to google applications and this is a very good thing). Go to https://www.google.com/accounts/ManageAccount and click on “create an account now” under the sign in box on the right. This works just like setting up a new email account. You will need a user name and password that you create.

3. If you want a gmail account, go to https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fnsr%3D1%26ui%3Dhtml%26zy%3Dl&ltmpl=default&ltmplcache=2 and click on Sign Up for Gmail under the sign in box on the right. Again, just follow the instructions. You will need a user name and password.

4. Once you have a google or gmail account, you can comment on any of the posts on the blog. To comment, scroll to the end of the entry you want to comment on, and click on 0, comments. The number will change depending upon how many people have already commented.

5. A new screen will open and you will type in your comments in the box on the right. You will need to prove to Blogger that you are a human by typing the secret code in the box. Below that sign in using your google or gmail account. Then you can preview before you post or publish directly to the blog site using the Preview and Publish Comment buttons.

We look forward to your comments.

Debby

I Am Not a Blogger!!

Yes, I am a blog reader and blog user, but I am not a blogger! I am only a teacher who likes and tries to use blogs for her classes. I may become a blogger one day, but at the moment I like to use bloggs for my classes.

A blog is a very practical tool that is easy to use by students and teachers, this is why I always integrate blogs in my classes, and encourage students, especially those enrolled in ESP, Science English or Engineering courses that required students to write search papers to present by the end of a semester. I ask my students to create their group-blogs so that they can help one another learn and improve their research and writing skills. In addition to that they learn how to learn collaboratively they also learn new skills on how to work on a project cooperatively and collaboratively.

I believe a blog is an essential tool for ESP classes since it really helps prepare lour students for their future jobs or careers. Most International Enterprises or businesses in any industry in general have integrated blogs to be used by employees. So, having our students use blogs for research or assignment or any other educational purposes would definitively support their learning process during their education years and later in their workplaces.

It's be great to hear your feedback or comment on this entry, folks!