This collaboratively produced 'book' aims to provide materials that can be used in the instruction of CALL. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, ShareAlike 2.5 License. If you are interested in helping to build this book, please register and send us a short note indicating your interest.
CALL originates from CAI (Computer-Accelerated Instruction), a term that was first viewed as an aid for teachers. The philosophy CALL emphasizes more on student-centered lessons allowing the learners to learn on their own using structured and/or unstructured interactive lessons. These lessons carry 2 important features: bidirectional (interactive) learning and individualized learning. CALL is not a method. It is a tool that helps teachers to facilitate language learning process. CALL can be used to reinforce what has been learned in the classrooms. It can also be used as remedial to help learners with limited language proficiency.
Dave
Sperling 2003 Watch
Interview at the KoTesol Conference in Seoul covering the the role
eslcafe.com plays in the world of ESL learning.
2005 - Listen As ESLCafe.com turns 10, Dave refltects on the past
decade at the held of the site and what lies ahead.
Assessment
Assessment
Skills & Tools
Call Tools
Activity Creation
Computer based games, activities, and quizzes are perhaps the most common examples of CALL. These can be created with downloadable software or online services.
Hot Potatoes - one of the best known programs (for Windows and Mac) for creating activities.
html files usually have an ( .htm or .html ) file extension* . These files can be uploaded from an author's computer to a web server using an FTP program or the publish function of some html editors.
FTP Tutorial
Using WS-FTP LE
Log in using your individual access info
Select the Startup tab and
in for Initial Local FolderTO DOadfasdfsafdasfdasfasfdsaasdfsdf
enter c:\
Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems (CMS) is a program used to create a framework for the content of a Web site. Most CMS's use a database to store the content (as opposed to basic html pages) and the look and feel of site can be e customized with a “skin” or theme. Popular open source Content Mangement Systems include Wordpress, Drupal , & Moodle.
A way to store and organize web bookmarks (favorites) on the web. Having your bookmarks on the web means they are accessible from any computer with an internet connection and a browser*.
From Wikipedia: A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
Shelfari - Shelfari is a popular social networking service for book lovers.
Linkedin - LinkedIn is a professional social networking website for business users, one of the most popular such sites out there. Some aspects of it are free, but many are paid.
Geni.com - An exciting social networking site enabling members to create their family tree. Although it’s a relatively new site, it has grown tremendously fast, and has hundreds of thousands of users.
43 Things - A tagging based social networking site. Users create accounts and list a number of goals or hopes and these are parsed based on similarity to goals of other users.
Facebook.com - Facebook is a social networking phenomenon connection people with their friends, family and other users with similar interests.
Half.com - A leading student market place for buying and selling textbooks at discounted prices.
MySpace.com - MySpace is an interactive social networking website consisting of personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos. It’s currently the biggest social networking site out there.
RateMyProfessor.com - RateMyProfessor connects students aspiring to study similar courses by assisting each other.
WAYN - A social networking website uniting world wide travelers.
Seesmic - Video based social networking / microblogging mashup
YouthVoices - High School aged network to encourage student writing
Task: Register at Ning, Twitter, and any other social networking sites of interest. (use a pseudonym if you wish). After signing in to Twitter, go to http://twiter.com/jefflebow and 'follow' him. During this upcoming week, try to use social networks to gather information and connections related to your areas of CALL interest (or any other areas of interest). Post if you can, lurk if you must. Post about your experiences in this week's reflection.
This 40 minute recording goes over the basics of how to create and format wiki pages on the LTC's wiki installation. About 4 minutes into the recording a 'Wikis in Plain English' video is played which has no sound. You can view the video lower down in this wiki page.
This 15 minute recording continues an exploration of wiki formatting, show examples of different skins and talks about the possibilities for controlling editing permissions.
Wikis are collaborative. Organizations use them to create collaborative documents, brainstorm and share ideas
Wikis record a history of edits and changes, allowing for easy comparison and overview of the life of the document (Including restores)
Wikis allow for simple markup language - with many of the more developed platforms offering MS Word-like functionality for editing the appearance of a document. Wiki's can also implement limited or full HTML editing as well as their own language
Many Wikis have a discussion feature which allows learners to discuss the contents of a document, rather than editing the core document itself.
Wikis can be configured so individuals can create their own "sub-wikis" with individual pages and links - a great resource for students creating a personal database of resources
Wikis are an excellent way of creating "living documents" for courses. The work of students from previous courses can be used as the basis for current students. Knowledge can be built on the knowledge of others through the collaborative functions of wikis
Wikis serve many uses of giving learners access to resources (and if the instructor so chooses, enabling interaction). For example, course notes can be posted in a wiki, allowing learners to discuss and ask questions...conferences use wikis as a means of sharing resources with participants.
Wikis can be used for peer review or group work. Learners can share their work in a wiki, and class members can review and comment on wikis through the discussion tab
Wikis are an effective project management tool - for instructors developing resources...or learners working on a project - due to the history, discussion, and collaborative features.
Wikis can be locked down and access restricted to only certain students (This can be done through a variety of ways up to and including LDAP authentication)
The Educause Centre for Applied Research (ECAR) has published a research bulletin entitled "Supporting Knowledge Creation: Using Wikis for Group Collaboration" in which the authors argue that a number of conditions determine the successful use of wikis for knowledge creation. These conditions include:
"a strong need to establish conventions to determine long term success"
"such a system (wikis) only works with users serious about collaborating and willing to follow the group conventions and practices"
"large successful wikis usually have some type of constitution or philosophy that establishes goals and provides guidelines for individuals who want to participate in the group."
"Research indicates that wikis go beyond technological innovations and related benefits and also offer a change of philosophy in relation to the knowledge creation process ... 'Wikis introduced groundbreaking innovations at the level of process, philosophy, and even sociology of such collaborative authoring' .. . 'Wikis offer a management philosophy that manages knowledge creation through evolution of norms and values rather than directives and incentives'"
".. conversational technologies such as wikis need people to share their knowledge, invite critique, present multiple points of view, and seek to change others' ides. Organizations that do not value such open-minded and non-hierarchical exchange of ideas may not find conversational technologies useful...'wikis work best in organizational cultures in which there is a high level of trust and control can be delegated to the system'"
Wikis - or more broadly, collaborative writing - have captured the interest of business leaders and academics. Well known, and increasingly referenced, is wikipedia - an online encyclopedia written by amateurs.
A wiki is basically a simple web page that anyone can edit. At least that's the standard description ... or what wikis were when first started. The openness of wikis has encountered the reality of human behaviour (or more precisely - spam). Wikis are chaotic, informal knowledge spaces. Wikis enable individuals to create a collective resource. Whereas blogs enable individual voices, a wiki over-writes individuality.
The messiness of wikis can be intimidating to newcomers. It doesn't make sense that openness could create as much order and structure as it does. Why do people contribute? What motivates individuals to spend time editing and proofreading sites? What about vandals who simply delete text? But wikis are not without governance or management. Wikipedia has extensive resources available on how to handle concerns arising from community conflict. Democracy and openness drive actions in this space. Consider their Policies and Guidelines or Resolving Disputes.
Wikis enable a history that allows individuals to reset or change any amendments. If, for example, an individual deleted important text, or inserted spam, community members can restore the site to previous states. Openness, while enabling potential for abuse, also creates a sense of communal ownership (in a recent presentation, I used a wiki to plan my keynote. I kept the wiki open, and found that spam was posted within a few weeks...but also that many readers took it upon themselves to delete the unwelcome content). Openness creates community, which creates responsibility wikipedia
Hardware & Gear
Hardware & Gear
Topics
Below is a list of topics and teaching areas related to CALL. Most of these are still undeveloped here at LearningCall.net . That that have content are linked below.
