IMAGES

These are images of some of the teachers on the e-teaching course:

Audio boo

Well, I couldn't seem to record straight on to Audio boo using a microphone - the tests I did came out distorted (perhaps you can help me as to why?), so I used by web cam to record most of a poem by Tim Burton instead. It's a great poem, but unfortunately, the end bit gets cut off because it's over 3 minutes! I do suggest you google it to get the end :)

ACCESSIBILITY

To begin with let me start by outlining what I understand accessibility to be. I think when the term is first mentioned, people tend to immediately think of making material accessible to those with a visual or hearing impairment, but I think it encompasses much more than that. Accessibility entails making information and materials accessible to all our learners regardless of ability. There are probably three main areas to consider.

Firstly, a teacher has to consider the level of language a learner has. Of course, as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language this is something that is second nature to me now. When I look at online material I am quickly able to assess the level of English language proficiency a learner would need to be able to work with the material effectively. That’s not to say that learners with a low level of English can’t work with some web pages with quite complex language. In some circumstances they can; it may just be a case of grading the task accordingly. With regards to native speaker learners, teachers will also need to consider where the learners are in their language development, as some sites will obviously not be suitable for younger learners as they won’t yet have the language resources to deal with them, and even some adults may struggle with some web content as it may be written in a formal or academic style, which might be challenging for them.

 The second aspect to consider when thinking about content is whether or not it is appropriate from a cultural point of view. I work with learners from all over the world from different cultural backgrounds with varying views of what is and what is not morally acceptable. This, of course, needs to be taken into account when thinking about what web content to use, but as this has to be taken into account when deciding whichever type of material to be used, be it from a course book or an article from a magazine or a newspaper, it just means applying the same common sense approach when choosing online material as one would apply when choosing non-web based material. It is also important to remember when working with podcasts or videos delivered by native English speakers or even if you are asking learners to view web pages written by native English speakers that the type of language used may make them inaccessible. What I mean by that is they will not be delivered or written in International English, which is much more intelligible to non-native speakers, rather they might contain idiomatic or colloquial language, which can be difficult for non-native speakers to understand.

The final aspect of content to think about is the amount of information learners are faced with. As we all know, the web is a massive resource containing so much information that it can be daunting. Because of this, teachers should try and help learners through the maze where possible by leading them to appropriate online resources through the use of tools such as web quests and play lists.

The second aspect of accessibility to consider is format. The most basic point we need to think about is how we are displaying information on a screen. For example, it is widely known that for learners with dyslexia it is preferable not to have black writing on a white background, and having a pastel blue background is better, but I think for the comfort of all learners we need to think about the colour of screens and how the lighting in a classroom might affect whether students can view a screen comfortably. Teachers also need to think about the format of information shown on screen. Too much information or a cluttered screen can be distracting and could actually stop learners from processing the information effectively.

The third point is about speed. Learners, in the same way as teachers, want everything to be quick, so teachers should try and cut down the steps involved in any set task. This could be done by cutting down the steps involved in getting to the desired web pages, by ensuring links are working, by compressing any uploaded images, or by making it easy for students to find information through organising it logically in a wiki or a box account, for example.

Finally, I want to mention something about access. In this country we often take it for granted that learners have access to technology, with the use of smart phones in particular becoming commonplace. However, it must not be forgotten that in much of the world many learners do not have access to basic computers let alone smart phones. If teaching outside of the UK, it goes with saying that a teacher must always consider their teaching context before deciding what approach to using technology in the classroom they are going to take, but I believe this is an issue here in the UK too. It cannot be assumed that all learners have access to technology at home. I think unless the teacher knows for sure that all the learners have access to the technology required to complete the set tasks personally or at home, or that the technology required to complete the task is freely available within the teaching environment, teachers should be very careful about setting tasks involving its use.

VIDEO

So, here is my rather amateur video of part of the poem The Old Vicarage written by Rupert Brooke. I chose this poem because I have used it with classes in the past and I like it and love Granchester. I worked for three summers in Cambridge and we often used to take groups across the fen to the tea rooms called The Orchard at Granchester where Rupert Brooke once lived. We would work on sections of the poem there. I think I might use poems again at some point in the future and it would be good to have a video of them being spoken; although, of course, I would make sure the recording is of better quality than this one! I did this on my camera as I don't have a smart phone, but now that I think about it I could have done it on my web cam. I have set the security settings on this to friends only.

WEBQUEST

Here is the link to the webquest I made to help my students to revise words and concepts related to the environment.

Push Technology

My understanding is that push technology allows us to receive update notifications from many different places without us having to visit the various websites each time. So, for example, if I were interested in a particular news story, let's say the EU bailout of Cyprus, I could subscribe to a variety of different newspapers and then every time there was an update on the story I would receive a notification in my chosen reader. These would be collated in chronological order so that it would be easy for me to quickly see what was happening in a possibly fast changing situation. One way of using push technology that could be useful with my students is through using a YouTube channel. I could ask students to subscribe to my channel and then if I added something new to a playlist they would receive notifications of the update. For example, if our current class topic were the environment, I could set up a topic-based playlist including, for example, small lectures on environmental topics or songs on an environmental theme.

Here is the link to some comments Paul and I made about inclusion.