Technology as Aid, Crutch and Impediment to Learning

Discussion, S.L. Writing IS #142376

TESOL Convention, 2009, Denver, CO USA

4:00, Fri. Mar. 27, CC 712

Thomas Leverett, Elisa Hunt

CESL, So. Illinois Univ.-Carbondale

Carbondale IL USA 62901-4518

Website for this presentation:

http://www.siuc.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tech.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What limits are appropriate on the technology that is available to students during their average class (listening? Writing? Reading?)

2. How have online handheld dictionaries become more advanced? What are you doing about it?

3. Should students be allowed or encouraged to use Grammar-check (which is on every Word program these days)? Or any grammar-altering program (such as MS ESL Assistant)?

4. In what ways have you found technology to be most beneficial in teaching language?

5. What are the biggest threats posed by technology to the security of your program?

6. What are the biggest threats posed by technology to the ability of your students to learn language at the usual pace?

7. What are the biggest threats posed by technology to the integrity of the teaching process?

8. What ways will you and your program adjust to the new technologies that are available?

9. What are some of the benefits and risks of a program or teachers using Facebook?

10. What are some of the benefits and risks of a program or teachers using weblogs?

11.What are some of the benefits and risks of a program or teachers using Second Life?

12. What are some of the benefits and risks of a program or teachers using Blackboard or similar programs? Do you find some that are better than others?

13. In what ways has the ability to get any information almost instantaneously affected your life?

14. What will happen to academics’ access to journals through libraries, which have generally been retracting severely?

15. What kinds of chat do your students use daily or often? How does it affect their language learning?

16. When students log thousands of hours of online gaming in their high-school years, how does that affect their ability to learn a language later, or even at the same time, presuming they haven’t stopped?

17. Do you use Skype or online videoconferencing? How have you heard of it being used effectively?

18. In what ways has plagiarism changed due to online access? How will it change in the future?

19. Any other questions?

Technology as Aid, Crutch and Impediment: Resources

As Aid:

To combine listening and reading:

Text-to-speech applications…(Gonzalez, article, 2007)

http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej42/int.html

Blogs:

Blogging: http://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/Blogging

TESOL '08: Teaching writing in online and paper worlds:

http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tw.html

Resources for webloggers: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/wfr.html

Bib: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/prdr951.html

Wikis:

Tomel & Lavin, Avoiding the bleeding edge of wikis, Essential Teacher, 2007,

Available through TESOL site

Wiki Matrix, review of wikis http://wikimatrix.org

As Crutch:

Grammar-check:

Green line to the commons: article (2009)

http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/tech1.html

As Impediment:

Online plagiarism:

Internet plagiarism: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/ip.html

ESL Assistant

Microsoft Research ESL Ass’t: http://www.eslassistant.com/

Babelfish

http://babelfish.yahoo.com

Keeping up with technology in general:

Integrating chat:

TESOL '09: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/ubb.html

Bib- chat and texting: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/prdr953.html

Facebook:

Bib: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/prdr952.html

Twitter:

Bib: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/prdr955.html

How to present while people are twittering:

http://pistachioconsulting.com/twitter-presentations/

Second Life:

SL in education bookmarks: http://delicious.com/secondlife/education

Bib: http://www.siu.edu/~cesl/teachers/pd/prdr954.html