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The State of the Industry. A discussion of this weeks ESL news and events including Pearson & Ning, Babbel & Livemocha, India & the $35 USD laptop, eduFire & Camelback Education and asynchronous content, live lessons and social games in education.
For all the videos and analysis visit Kristen Winkler’s Blog
Eye of Providence
In our quest to provide students with ever more real content we will be holding anart exhibition this month.
Professional photographer Dušan Kochol, who is currently exhibiting his work in Oxford and Warsaw, will be displaying his “Eye of Providence” Series (sample above, details below) in the English City museum.
Opportunities for language exchange for students will include the chance to meet the artist, gallery owners, art buyers and art critiques from around the world.
In the Eye of Providence series, photographer Dusan Kochol illuminates how we lead our lives sightlessly under the scrutiny of the Eye of Providence. He asks: Do we follow because we cannot see or does the blind Eye of Providence lead? The Eye of Providence in this work is not only a symbol of religion but also the embodiment of personal beliefs and feelings as well as goals and aspirations. We seek leadership in our groups, states or societies. The contrasting inquiry is a reflection on whether it is truly beneficial for humans to see, or if life under the direction of the Eye of Providence is easier. Will the individual that pulls down the blindfold be identified as a fool, as in Plato‘s allegory of shadows on the cave wall?
Update 8th July 2010
My Appearence on Review:ED with Kirsten Winkler
We talked about
- Funding in online education – Knewton $12.5 million, Grockit undisclosed and Academia.edu $1.6 million and if this shows a trend that online education is actually getting on the radar of investors finally.
- Facebook – “We are building a web where the default is social” and the implications on privacy and sharing.
- Ning’s new premium pricing plan and what it means for educators.
- Asynchronous content in online education.
english city is better :)
- Student A:
- :)
- Student B:
- if you time i would take your opnin about the englishtonw institut
- Student A:
- oh
- Student A:
- idont like it
- Student B:
- why
- Student A:
- well it dosent seem like real school
- Student A:
- and
- Student A:
- you dont see any thing
- Student A:
- just using voice
- Student B:
- ok
- Student A:
- i think english city is better
- Student B:
- yestaerday i vist thier websit and i sow somethink like emazin
- Student B:
- english city is better
- Student A:
- yes
Bring on the learning revolution! (Ken Robinson’s new TED talk)
Another great video from Sir Ken Robinson. He outlines 3 things that represent the old industrial model of education (that we currently use):
- Linearity – The idea that you start at one point follow a predetermined path and get to where you want to be at the end.
- Conformity - The one size fits all model of education.
- Batching people
Sir Ken makes the point that human flourishing is not a mechanical process but a human one. Education needs to move to a model where people can develop their own solutions, with external support, based on a personalised curriculum.
This is very relevant to the ELT industry. Everything in the traditional ELT world is linear, from courses to course books and even online materials. They all seem to be based on the idea that there is one single path to achieve your objective and that this path is best for everyone.
Linearity was abandoned long ago at Languagelab, we don’t do courses or fixed timetables or insist you go though materials in any specific order. As soon as we did results improved dramatically.
The same applies for conformity and batching people. We allow people to choose the classes, times and sequence that best suits them rather than insisting they move at the pace of a group. It allows students to customise their learning to their needs, it is personalising education to the people you are teaching.
The testing we have done tells us this new model easily outperforms the old. If more people tried it I expect they would find the same were true.
Video: Me Explaining Character Driven Learning (with example)
One of our most successful and least explained methodologies is Character driven learning. Here is a short video of me explaining this technique and some of it’s results for the virtual round table 2010.
Video: Me talking about Task Based Learning in Virtual Worlds @ IATEFL
Tweet Stream (Thanks all):
Harmerj fave #iatefl quote from @shiv53 gaming student “cld explain how to kill dragon in 5 ways but couldn’t tell u what he had for breakfast!”
JessieDriscoll RT @Harmerj: @shiv53 very persuasive about success and participation in virtual world games #iatefl
sarspri3 RT @grahamstanley: In @shiv53 presentation on teaching languages with task based lerning in virtual worlds! #iatefl- sarspri3 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 talking about Market Leader book chapter on innovations being turned into a series of tasks in SL#iatefl
- sarspri3 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 so many people now learn English informally through playing video games #iatefl
englishteach8 RT @ShellTerrell: Students enjoy learning language thru games via @shiv53 #iatefl- englishteach8 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 so many people now learn English informally through playing video games #iatefl
davehuxtable I hear @shiv53 had a good turnout. #iatefl
fguarany RT @grahamstanley: @ziwwakka ielts learning strategy revealed by @shiv53 (playing 3 hours of Call of Duty Modern Warfare per day) #iatefl
jimscriv @shiv53: fascinating example of clothing / innovation coursebook task from Market Leader brought to life in world #iatefl- jimscriv @shiv53: 68% of our sts spend 20 hours or more in “class” per week. They see it as a game. (higher than world of Warcraft!)#iatefl
- jimscriv @shiv53: Levels of engagement &complexity in games - the contrast with f2f classes. Sts buy in to complexity and learn Eng from it. #iatefl
- jimscriv So frustrating at #iatefl - tweets refusing to send. Excellent session from @shiv53 and once again couldn’t comment.
tonitheisen RT @ShellTerrell: Students enjoy learning language thru games via @shiv53 #iatefl #swcolt2010
vickysaumell RT @Harmerj: @shiv53 explains converting coursebook contents into VL tasks #iatefl- Harmerj Extremely convincing case made for gaming tasks for l learning in SL by @shiv53 #iatefl
- Harmerj @shiv53 explains that students spent 4.5 hours on l learning task in SL - more than teachers! #iatefl
grahamstanley @shiv53 Marke Leader task takes 4.5 hours - students stay to do it (teachers don’t) which is very encouraging#iatefl- grahamstanley @NergizK they must have - @shiv53 talked about this at his session in #iatefl
ShellTerrell RT @englishteach8: RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53constant feedback a necessary part of virtual world task based learning #iatefl- Harmerj @shiv53 explains converting coursebook contents into VL tasks #iatefl
- englishteach8 RT @ShellTerrell: Students enjoy learning language thru games via @shiv53 #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 talking about Market Leader book chapter on innovations being turned into a series of tasks in SL #iatefl
- Harmerj RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 feedback after health and safety briefing = observing what students did when plane caught fire - did they know what 2 do? #iatefl
- englishteach8 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 constant feedback a necessary part of virtual world task based learning #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 feedback after health and safety briefing = observing what students did when plane caught fire - did they know what 2 do? #iatefl
mike08 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 constant feedback a necessary part of virtual world task based learning- Harmerj TBL in Virtual worlds gives lots of feedback (e.g. r students performing the tasks = did they understand?) @shiv53 #iatefl
- mike08 RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 tasks in virtual worlds -needs to be at edge of their ability
- grahamstanley @shiv53 constant feedback a necessary part of virtual world task based learning #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 tasks in virtual worlds -needs to be at edge of their ability #iatefl
- Harmerj In Virtual worlds the avergae skill level of teachers is far less than many students (not an age thing, though) @shiv53 #iatefl
- grahamstanley @ziwwakka ielts learning strategy revealed by@shiv53 (playing 3 hours of Call of Duty Modern Warfare per day)#iatefl
- Harmerj Student plays computer game to study for IELTS! @shiv53#iatefl
- ShellTerrell Students enjoy learning language thru games via@shiv53 #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 so many people now learn English informally through playing video games #iatefl
- Harmerj @shiv53 tells of a German students who learnt English with no instruction cause wanted to play a game. Inspiration for Languagelab #iatefl
- Harmerj @shiv53 very persuasive about success and participation in virtual world games #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 average player spends 11 hours in game - 6 months required to get to level 60 #iatefl
- Harmerj RT @grahamstanley: @shiv53 embarrassing thos of us who’ve played Farmville on Facebook by making us admit the fact#iatefl > feel the shame
- grahamstanley 75 million users in Farmville (Jan 2010) @shiv53#iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 embarrassing thos of us who’ve played Farmville on Facebook by making us admit the fact #iatefl
- Harmerj Computer games are really just a system of tasks@shiv53 #iatefl
- grahamstanley Computer games are essentially a series of tasks - modern computer games are extremely complicated @shiv53 #iatefl
- Harmerj TBL in SL is game-based and social web cause engagement is the key @shiv53 #iatefl
- jimscriv @shiv53: we want people engaging for hours and hours in SL as they do in games #iatefl
- grahamstanley @shiv53 talking about engagement using game based learning and the social web in Second Life#iatefl
- grahamstanley In @shiv53 presentation on teaching languages with task based lerning in virtual worlds! #iatefl
- Harmerj Thought I cldnt do another talk but @shiv53 talking about TBL in SL. Irresistible! #iatefl
- ShellTerrell Now watching @shiv53 presentation on teaching language in virtual worlds! #iatefl
