10 Years of Digital

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www.macmillanenglishcampus.com

10 yearsOF DIGITAL EXPERTISEAT THE HEART OF THE

ELTCLASSROOM


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by Pete SharmaFOREWORDen years ago, I had never used an interactive whiteboard. I hadnt

blogged, used a wiki with my students or even heard of blended

learning. So much has happened in the language classroom over

the last ten years that it can only be described as a digital revolution.

Many learners have grown up in this digital world and spend time happily

updating their online profile, posting videos on YouTube, texting and

communicating in real time across the internet with friends and family.

Many language teachers embrace new technology and apply it readily in

their classrooms, be they real or virtual. Others are understandably more

cautious, more hesitant at integrating technology into their language

courses. Furthermore, this is an area which excites controversy at everyturn: is blended best? Should we buy interactive whiteboards? Should

students have their mobile phones switched on or off in class? Will the

printed course book disappear in the future?

Fortunately for us teachers, Macmillan has always pushed ahead in itsdigital publications and support, from the early days of developing digital

exercises for the Macmillan English Campus to organizing webinars

for teachers around the world. From superb electronic dictionaries to

the latest award-winning Sounds app for pronunciation, Macmillan has

always combined cutting-edge materials with sound pedagogy, as well as

providing teacher training and a range of must-read articles.

I am delighted by the appearance of this collection of tips and ideas. It

pulls together many of the best articles Macmillan has published in the

last 10 years to support teachers in using educational technology and, by

virtue of being an all-in-one volume, gives a unique flavour of just how

much has changed over the past ten years.

The collection contains articles by a number of teachers, teacher

trainers, authors and experts in the field. Among the many gems inside

are Nik Peachey on why we need to use technology in our classrooms,

Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeneys exploration of mobile learning and

Sarah Milligan on running a successful webinar, along with articles on

blended learning, interactive whiteboards, wikis and more

If, like me, you love technology in language teaching, you will enjoy what

you read. If, however, you are somewhat fearful of using technology,

then I urge you all the more to read the collection. I hope you will end

up believing that there has never been a more exciting time to be a

language teacher.

T

So much has happened in the language

classroom over the last ten years that it can only

be described as a digital revolution.


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2003

Launch of Macmillan English Campus version 1.0

In November, Macmillan Education launches its firstcomplete blended learning platform, the Macmillan

English Campus.

Launch of the Macmillan Dictionary BuzzWords

The weekly Buzzwords are launched, designed to helpteachers and students navigate the latest media lingo.

BuzzWord

by Nik Peachey

Technology can enable us to extend the reach of

our classroom and take our students into a world of

authentic language use where they can really use their

English language skills to communicate, collaborate and

participate in activities that are relevant to their own lives

and interests.

These new forms of communication and collaboration are

leading to a redefining of what it means to be literate in

the digital 21st century world. These new digital literacies

are broadening the scope for self-expression and creativity,

democratizing the role of the media and making it possible

for more people to have a voice and play a role in defining

the society that we live in. English is playing an ever more

important part in creation and collaboration in new media,

so its important that we support our students in the

linguistic aspects of this process and help to make sure

they are equipped for their future.

Technology is transforming the world of global

communications. New genres of communication are being

created and we need to support and enable our students

to use these new forms of communication in English, just

as we do with more traditional forms such as writing letters

and making telephone calls.

Technology also has a supporting role to play within

our own professional practice and sound use and

understanding of how technology can be used can help us

to work more effectively and efficiently as teachers and to

cope with an ever-increasing workload.

WHY DO WE NEED

TECHNOLOGYIN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM


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Blended learning acknowledges that we now live in a

digital age and the ways in which we work, socialize and

learn are changing. People are now used to receiving a

continuous stream of digital information at a fast pace

and incorporating it into their daily working and social

lives so why should the classroom be any different?

It is best to think of blended learning as an additional

element to the classroom; one which supports existing

teaching practices whilst integrating them with new

technologies. Responding to the needs of the modern

learner, it combines many of the best elements of

face-to-face teaching (personalized learning, socialinteraction and direct contact with the language) whilst

allowing greater variety and flexibility than a traditional

classroom set-up. Using a blended learning approach

means that teachers not only access online content

within their classrooms but integrate it into a cohesive

lesson or syllabus.

One of the major advantages of blended learning over

other approaches to language study is that it is easily

adaptable to specific syllabuses. This adaptability comes

from the varied ways that online resources can be used.

One of the most important components of a blended

learning programme is its courses. Balanced and

flexible courses can guarantee a successful blended

learning programme and knowing that a course is being

tailored to suit the specific needs of a class can be a

great source of interest and motivation for students.

Teachers also have more opportunities to engage

learners by creating collaborative and project-based

work and can help them to develop their online

research skills and improve their critical thinking.

Blended learning is not confined solely by its approach

to content, however. A key ingredient of blended

learning is independent learning. Accessing resources

and courses online allows language learning to fit more

easily into peoples everyday lives and gives learners

more opportunities for useful study away from the

classroom. In order to drive learners towards

independent learning, products designed for blended

learning allow learners to monitor their own progress

remotely and provide them with instant feedback onresources without the need to check with a teacher first.

Blended learning also provides a way of repositioning

the teacher in the learning process. The teachers role

is evolving from that of a lecturer to a facilitator who

monitors and assesses students progress while

allowing them to learn for themselves. Blended

learning supports this approach by allowing a wider

range of personalized information than ever before. A

teacher can quickly and easily check how individual

learners or whole classes are performing. This dynamic

approach allows teachers to analyze where furtherexplanation or additional practice of a topic area or

language point may be required.

These are just some of the benefits of using a blended

approach if you are a studying or teaching. And there

are additional benefits for language institutions in

adopting a blended model as well but, regardless of the

audience, blended learning provides a great solution.

google also

Google

VERB [TRANSITIVE]

to search for

something on theinternet, especiallyusing the Google

search engine

(July 2003)

BLENDED LEARNINGTHE BENEFITS OF by Jeremy Smith

2004

Award-winning

Macmillan Education wins an ELTon award for its range of dictionary products, includingwebsite and web-zine. Macmillan English Campus is highly commended too.


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2005


Macmillan English Campus version 2.0 launches,providing content in British and American English.

Launch of the weekly eLessons by Macmillan

Delivered straight into the email inbox of thousands ofteachers all over the world, the Macmillan EducationeLessons are still going strong today.

by Pete Sharma

THE BENEFITS OFUSING AN IWBIN THE CLASSROOM

1Manipulating text and pictures

Language practice can be physical, fun and motivating.

When you type words, phrases or sentences onto an

IWB, you can move them around the screen with your

finger or an e-pen. You can also manipulate pictures and

objects on the whiteboard, which can be beneficial for the

kinaesthetic learner. In fact, the IWB can benefit different

types of learners: using pictures and photographs canbenefit visual learners, while the integration of audio clips

and the discussion stimulated by challenging tasks can

benefit auditory learners.

2Memorable presentations

Using a simple tool such as screen reveal, the teacher

can reveal a photograph bit by bit and ask students to

guess what it is. This can be fun, as well as generating

interest in a topic. Video clips, audio clips, animations and

photographs can all be used to create memorable lesson

lead-ins.

3Reviewing language

Reviewing language has never been easier, with teachers

able to access all the digital flip charts they have created

during a language lesson. You can also review the flip

charts from earlier in a course.

4Saveability

Teachers can use pens to annotate a text, a picture

or a screen-grab from the internet, and then save the

annotations. Saveability is one of the key benefits of using

an IWB. You can show another group what a previous

group has done. Teachers can brainstorm a topic and

build up a handout during the lesson, then save it to the

schools computer network to print out later, post it tothe students learning platform or email it to individual

learners. A complete course can be saved on a memory

stick, customized and reused the following term, saving

preparation time. In fact, you can prepare lessons at home

and bring them to class on a memory stick. In order to do

this, you will need to have the relevant software (SMART,

Promethean) loaded on to your home computer or laptop.

5Personalizing content

The teacher and students can import their own

photographs into a language lesson. The power of

personalizing a language lesson is well known.


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2006

Onestopenglish gets a new look

The number one resource and community site for English language teachers gets abrand-new look to accompany the constant growth of its content.

6Encouraging heads-up learning

Do you use a coursebook? With an IWB, teachers can

encourage what is known as heads-up learning: students

do the follow-up work on an exercise they have done in

their books by looking at the whiteboard. The teacher can

keep students together by controlling what the students

see on the whiteboard, as well as the pace of the lesson.

In terms of giving feedback on exercises, the teacher can

instantly reveal the answers only to the question(s) the

students got wrong.

7Using audio and video transcripts

The audio transcript can be displayed and specific sections

of the script can be played at will. This option was simply not

possible with an audio cassette or CD. Video can be played

with or without subtitles, with or without sound and even with

or without pictures, opening up opportunities for different

language activities.


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2007

Course building: blended learning

The standard approach to blended learning language

classes suggests that receptive skills, writing and

grammar should be done individually. Meanwhile,

face-to-face classes should concentrate on speaking

and necessary explanations that support the

individuals learning. Course designers need to be

aware that less-experienced teachers will start to panic:

how can I do the same amount of work with fewer

face to face classes? Of course, when they become

more experienced and understand the key concepts of

blended learning they start tailoring courses according

to the mentioned ratio i.e. to separate materials for

class discussion and individual work. Up to that point,

the course design should support them in their

decisions by clearly stating which part of the course

material should be discussed in class and which part

should be done individually by learners.

A corporate client of ours wanted to cut costs and

decided to change regular English courses into

blended learning courses. Typically, this can result

in reducing the cost by up to one-third (they pay for

fewer classes plus the cost of the virtual learning

environment Macmillan English Campus in our

case). A course was designed, keeping the before-

mentioned ratio in mind and the classes started.

But the first course evaluation, which was done in a

form of a questionnaire after the tenth class, yielded

disappointing results.

What went wrong? you may ask. After analyzing the

problems we found that the reason for dissatisfaction

was the lack of a proper needs analysis. The company

management wanted business English but, as it

turned out, learners wanted non-ESP English, so thecompletion rate of the online materials (business

English mostly) was very low. They also felt that their

individual needs were neglected. In conclusion, without

a proper needs analysis even well-designed courses

could flop.

Luckily, blended learning is quite flexible. In the above

case, we added regular English materials, available on

the English Campus platform, to the business English

courses and, at the same time, we asked teachers to

assign learners further material on the English Campus

according to the learners needs. Survey answers atthe end of the course were far better.

Thus, to achieve the best results and maximize

students interest is not enough to have well-prepared

and professional teachers but course material also

needs to be tailored to the individual students needs

as much as possible. At the same time, administration

load has to be kept at a reasonable level.

This article focuses on problems regarding designing e-learning courses and it is assumed that the reader

is familiar with the course design principles. When talking about course design in connection to e-learning

we have to differentiate between blended learning and distance learning courses. Blended learning

courses aim to complement face-to-face sessions, while distance learning courses exist on their own.

facebook also

Facebook

VERB [TRANSITIVE]

1 to communicatewith someoneby using the

Facebook website

2 to search for

informationabout someone

by using theFacebook website

(March 2008)

Bugs wins at the ELTons

Bugs, the multimedia course for Young Learners, winsan ELTon Award.

E-LEARNING COURSESBUILDING by Bela Toth

2006

Macmillan English Campus starts blogging

The official blog of Macmillan English Campuslaunches in 2007, providing a forum for discussion

on technology in ELT.


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Digital native

NOUN [COUNTABLE]

a person who has

grown up in aworld with digitaltechnology such

as the internet andmobile phones

Opposite: digitalimmigrant (noun |

countable)(August 2008)

A good way to achieve this balance is to create courses

that focus on separate skills or ideas, for example on

listening, reading, language practice, vocabulary and

pronunciation. Note that one course can be assigned

to a lot of learners by putting the course into a class

and assigning learners to that class. This method also

reduces teachers workloads so they have more timeto assign other materials according to the needs that

come up during the course.

When level testing, mark learners weaknesses

and assign extra courses on the English Campus

according to that. You can also have learners fill in

a questionnaire about their own opinion on what

practice they need. Teachers feedback is important

for the extra materials to be altered depending on the

progress of the learner.

In other words, the vital parts of course design are:

needs analysis, tailoring according to those needs,

feedback and further tailoring according to the

feedback. The above personalization of materials

makes learners more eager to do their work and it is

also easy to check.

Course building: distance learning

Distance learning packages are similar in tailoring

but one has to consider the absence of face-to-face

sessions and teacher guidance. Typically, when a

distance learning package is sold, learners tend to do

some work at the very beginning and later forget aboutthe whole thing. There are several ways to overcome

this problem.

Try to remember how difficult it was to sit down and

study for hours and how tempting it was to do anything

else. Regular feedback, at least once a month, gives

learners a feeling of support and achievement. This

can be done in the form of emails, which can include

the amount of work they have done in the past month

or you can just send them their progress report with a

short comment.

It is also easier to complete exercises in smaller blocks.

Therefore, it is good practice to cut up courses and

send them to learners in biweekly or monthly chunks.

This way, learners will experience success on a regular

basis and wont give up or abandon the material.

Assigning courses in chunks can be done automatically

on the Macmillan English Campus platform. It takes a

relatively large amount of work at first but it requires

much less later on; not to mention that once you have

created the chunks you can use them as many times

as you want.

All in all, if we want to summarize blended learning

course design in one word, it would definitely be

tailoring. If we wanted to do the same for distance

learning, we would have to use three words: dividing up

and support.

And now the moral of the story. Some individual

learners or companies tend to opt for blended learning

only to cut costs and treat the online material as an

unimportant addition to the course. Before learners

take a test in class, I sometimes ask them to write

next to their names the amount of time they have

spent studying and the results they are expecting.

This way, they might realize that if they study less their

results tend to be worse. As obvious as it is, learners

are not always aware of this fact. The same stands for

blended learning: learners (and company managers)

have to understand the nature of blended learning

and the importance of online material. They have to

appreciate that without doing the relevant online part

they will not achieve the desired result. By applying the

aforementioned suggestions there is a greater chance

that learners will perform well and enjoy their work.

Launch of Macmillan Practice Online

In 2008, Macmillan Education launches the Macmillan Practice Online courses,offering easy and affordable supplementary practice online for students of all levels.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of students have used Practice Online courses.

2008


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2008

tweetup alsotweet-up

NOUN [COUNTABLE]

a meeting of twoor more people

who know eachother throughthe Twitter short

messaging service

(January 2010)

USING WIKISIN YOUR WRITING LESSONS

by Astrid Krake

Blogs and wikis whats the difference?

Whereas a blog is a web page used for regular diary

or journal entries and tends to be kept by one person,

a wiki is a collaborative web space and consists of a

number of pages that can be edited by any user. A

blog is read by its readers, who can comment on the

entry or on someone elses comment and thereby

create an online discussion, forum around the topic.

Readers cannot create their own blog entry within the

writers blog. A wiki, on the other hand, can be started

by one person but allows its readers to alter, delete or

change the content. Therefore, it can have more than

one author and is ideal for collaborative work such as a

class project. One of the best-known wikis is the online

encyclopedia Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).

There are several free sites you can choose to set up

a wiki. Some of the most widely-known are Pbwiki

(http://pbworks.com/), Wikihost (http://wikihost.org), andMediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org). Setting up a wiki

is a simple task, and you dont need to be an expert

to do so. Some sites require you to set up an account;

others let you start straight away.

How can I use wikis?

You could use a wiki for an internal class project.

Although the wiki itself is a public site, you can give it a

password so that only those who know it can edit the

wiki. Topics can include anything from famous people

to writing about your own town/city, preparing a trip

abroad or working on writing tasks for Cambridge

examinations or school/university exams. Set it up,

outline the topic and the task and write down the steps

your learners have to take. Think about the timing for

the task. As a rule, projects with a set aim and deadlinetend to work better than those without a clear end.

Students can start by brainstorming ideas, writing them

down and saving them. As soon as they are saved,

they are visible to their peers, who can comment on

or add to them. Work on the text begins with one

student suggesting a paragraph and others working

on the draft until they are satisfied with the result. The

text illustrates a shared effort and is the property of the

whole class. Therefore, the result needs to be regarded

as collaborative work.

What are the advantages?

Students often find working with wikis more motivating

and enjoyable because they can share the tasks, edit

each others work and regard the result as a team

achievement. Writing is thus turned into a social

experience during which students develop their writing

skills and learn how to give peer-to-peer feedback.

Given the public status of the wiki, knowing that their

Even if your school hasnt opted for a VLE yet, there are numerous ways to start introducing an online tool to

your teaching. You can choose from a number of options, with wikis being the obvious choice for collaborative

writing tasks.

Launch of the Test Compiler within Macmillan English Campus

The Test Compiler offers both the convenience of pre-built testsand the flexibility of creating custom-made tests from a vastlibrary of resources.

Launch of the Macmillan Education YouTubechannel

Macmillan Education joins YouTube with its first officialchannel at www.youtube.com/macmillanelt.


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2009

work can be read by their peers and readers outside

their group serves as an incentive for the whole group.

Are there any pitfalls?

While the skills needed to set up and contribute to a

wiki are similar to using a word processing programme,

its pitfalls are similar too. All the wiki requires you to

do is type your text, save it, and it ll appear on the site.

Make sure both you and your learners are familiar with

editing and saving processes. As with any document,

it is important to save it regularly we all know how

frustrating it is to work on a document for some time

and then lose it due to technical difficulties.

All in all, using wikis for writing tasks can help turn

them into an interesting and motivating experience

that helps to develop your learners writing and social

skills alike. Why not try it out soon?

USING THE INTERNETWITH GRADED READERS

by Fiona Mauchline

Any kind of group project work is a good way of consolidating your

students progress after completing a Reader, and the internet

is the ideal tool to help them. For example, if the class has read

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (Intermediate level), they

could then use the internet to research, for instance, the film, any

on-location anecdotes from the filming, the authors biography,

mini-biographies of the main stars, the truth behind the weather

conditions depicted, any true cases of similar events, the setting

(Newfoundland) etc. Students can be encouraged to produce visuals

to illustrate their work. If the class has read Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen (also Intermediate level), they could research the

fashions of the period, social customs, the filming of the book, thelife of the author or what life was like for women in Great Britain at

that time. They could also be asked to update part of the story and

consider which aspects they would have to change. For further ideas

for dynamic projects, visit www.macmillanenglish.com/readers, where

you will find a wide range of ideas, such as inventing and describing

a villain or baddy for a James Bond book, or creating a Find the

Perfect Partner! web page related to the romantic Readers, plus

photocopiable worksheets and teachers notes.

Macmillian English Dictionary goes online

The first online edition of the award-winning Macmillan EnglishDictionary, already available in print and CD-ROM format, becomesfreely available for the first time at www.macmillandictionary.com.

Onestopenglish launches onestopblogs

Bringing together the best blogs in the ELT community,onestopblogs makes it easy to keep up with the latestnews and trends in English language teaching.


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Unfortunately , trouble-free internet lessons are rare but if you prepare well there is no reason

why you will not be able to cope with the possible pitfalls. Below are some common problems

experienced by ELT teachers using the internet for lessons together with suggested solutions:

Meme also

Internet meme

NOUN [COUNTABLE]

a concept oridea that spreads

very quickly viathe internet

(September 2010)

Video resources published into Campus

The first video exercises within Campus are launchedin 2009; since then they have grown in number toover 200.

Launch of Macmillan Test Maker

Designed for online testing, Macmillan Test Makerincludes a ready-to-use placement test as well asa bank of thousands of testing resources.

Many people will not read extended pieces

of text on screen.

It is physically more taxing to read on screen.

Make concessions to the medium by using

texts that are manageable chunks or

interspersed with pictures or activities.

Some students are not comfortable

with technology.

Consider doing some remedial teaching.

Everybody should be able to point and

click, copy, paste, highlight, recognize links,

recognize the back/forward buttons on the

browser. Give students clear instructions,

preferably written. Talk them through the steps

of the lesson (show them on screen) and make

sure the objectives are clear. Pairing a strong

student with a weak student is not always the

answer. The stronger will become frustrated

and the weaker may take on a passive role.

The internet is not working as quickly as it

should. The relevant page wont open...

It is a good idea to give students addresses on

screen so they only need to click. Physically

typing the address increases the chance of

making a mistake. Always have material to

fall back on. Computers and the internet are

temperamental beasts. Always check the sites/

computers before the lesson what was there

last week may not be there this week.

Students get lost, open the browser tentimes or end up reading something totally

different to the rest of the class.

Give specific addresses; take the student

directly to the relevant page. Although

information searches can be an important

part of the lesson, make sure that you have

an idea of what is available and be prepared

to provide addresses.

TEACHING

TECHNOLOGIESSUCCESSFUL INTERNET LESSONSIN THE EFL CLASSROOM

by Paul Drury

2009


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2010

A more course-integrated use of web tools

With more and more EAP teachers at our school bringing the

digital world into their classrooms, we decided to consider more

concretely the idea of pedagogy before technology.

While individual teachers were experimenting with a variety of web

tools and multimedia activities, we had yet to fully integrate these

into a whole course and assess the impact they could have on

student engagement and overall development. We chose an EAP

book and got straight to work, mapping web tools and activities

onto the language and skills areas in the book.

A bit of theory analogue and digitalWith our primary focus being on student engagement and

motivation, we adopted Kellers ARCS Model of Motivational

Design as a useful starting point. Keller states that motivation is

made up of four elements: attention, relevance, confidence and

satisfaction. With these in mind, we then thought about how

web-based tools might enable us to maximize each of these

elements. The fit seemed very promising indeed

Attention can be encouraged through a variety of instructions,

tasks and materials, so what better place than the web with

all its multimedia, multisensory madness?

Relevance relates to the need for more personalized learning

experiences where students can express their identities. The

social web of creating and sharing ideas and texts seemed

tailor-made.

Confidence stresses the importance of self-efficacy, where

students are given control and choices as to how they study.

It also takes into account the need to work with students

strengths and other, non-language skills. Students in charge

of designing their own web-based texts, using a whole range

of technical and creative skills, might be in a better position to

develop this kind of confidence.

Finally, satisfaction refers to a students sense of achievement,

for example from displaying their work. And if Mary Barr was

right when she said that the existence of a real audience online

and the professional appearance of texts could prove highly

motivating, then our proposed activities seem to bode well.

Macmillan Education and Macmillan English Campusjoin Facebook

Macmillan Education opens its social communities,exploring new ways of joining the ELT conversation.

Launch of Animal Explorers

Designed to use with interactive whiteboards, AnimalExplorers is the platform dedicated to young learners.

Motivation is made up of four elements:

attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction.

FROM BOOK TO WEBTIME TO GET CREATICAL by Rui da Silva


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What is mobile learning?

Mobile learning (or mLearning) comprises any kind

of learning which is done on mobile and handheld

gadgets either in or out of class, or learning which

takes place on the go, as part of class time or

outside. Although mobile learning is often taken to

be synonymous with the use of mobile phones, it is

increasingly associated with other devices such as

tablet computers, portable games machines, mp3

players, ebook readers and other devices which allow

people to continue more traditional approaches to

learning as they move through their daily lives. As such

it fits comfortably into definitions of blended learning.

How do I get started?

An easy way in to mLearning is to assess which

gadgets you already have in class. As many schools

struggle to afford technology investments, the BY OD

(Bring Your Own Device) option is becoming moreattractive as a way of integrating technologies into the

learning process. Theres a very good chance that your

learners will already be carrying around the gadgets

you want to use so check what they have first.

Learners may be surprised to be asked to take out and

turn on their mobile phones in class (particularly if your

school has had a no mobile policy for some time), so

the first thing to do is to ensure they know why youre

asking them to do that. Take time to explore what their

gadgets can do and how they might use them in the

service of their learning.

Look at the different features of each phone and

brainstorm possible uses:

Video camera: video interviews, presentations

Digital camera: personalized picture

dictionary, slideshows

Audio recorder: audio interviews, pronunciation &

fluency practice

Note-taker: learning journals, etc

Starting off like this can give learners plenty of ideas

for using their phones. And, of course, these ideas

are infinitely more exciting if your school can provide

wireless access to these devices.

Have your students talk about what they do with their

phones the sort of use they make of them on a daily

basis, and the apps (applications) they use. As they do,

try to pick up on anything that might be useful in

their learning.

app

NOUN [COUNTABLE ]

INFORMAL

an application

program designedfor a particularpurpose on acomputer or

mobile phoneoperating system

(January 2011)

MOBILE LEARNING

AN INTRODUCTION TO

by Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney

Onestopclil and onestopenglish become one site

All the resources are now available in one place.


The English Campus introduces a brand-new, modularhomepage, with a fresh design.

2010


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2011

Class e-zine

TIPS FOR YOUR E-ZINE

Creating an e-zine can either

be done as a one-off activity

or, if the children respond

positively, they can produce

one more frequently, eg

every term.

If you have set up a class

email group, a copy of thee-zine can be sent as an

attachment to the group

or uploaded to the group

file for everyone to share.

Alternatively, the e-zine can

be linked to the home page

of the school or class website.

10th birthday of onestopenglish

Onestopenglish celebrates its 10th birthday with partiesaround the world - including IATEFL Brighton.

First Macmillan Online Conference

Free to attend, the conference brings together 4,000teachers and some of the best presenters and teachertrainers in ELT.

10YEARS

A MULTIMEDIA ACTIVITYFOR THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM by Carol Read

Explain the idea of producing an electronic

class magazine. Ask the children to suggest

ideas of things to go in the magazine and write

a list on the board, eg class news, articles,

letters, poems, recipes, cartoons.

1 Write a list of everyones possible contributionson the board. Review this at the end and ask

the children if they think this looks a good

set of contents for their e-zine. Make any

changes or adjustments to the contents and

the childrens contributions depending on their

(and your) response.

4

Divide the class into pairs or groups.2

Ask each pair or group to think about what

they would specifically like to contribute to

the e-zine (this can be work they have

already done and/or new contributions).

Give the pairs or groups time to think about

this and then ask them to report back.

3

Level:all Age: 9-12

Organization:pairs / groups, whole class

Aims:to prepare, write and/or collate material for an electronic class magazine; to develop

creative thinking skills; to collaborate with others

Language focus: any, depending on the topic and/or material

Materials: essential: computers and software / optional: printout(s) of the class e-zine

Children work in their pairs or groups preparingtheir contributions to the magazine in draft form.

5

When they are ready, and after checking with you,

children work on computers formatting the text

and scanning in any photos or pictures, using the

software or publishing programme you choose.

6


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At the end, there will still be work to do

collating, ordering and combining everyones

contributions into the final e-zine form. Either

you can do this outside class time or you can

ask two or three children to help while the rest

of the class does other work.

7

When the e-zine is ready, save it in pdf and

print out one or more copies for the children

to see.

8

REFLECTION TIMEAs you use IT and multimedia activities with your primary classes,

you may like to think about the following questions and use

your responses to evaluate how things went and plan possible

improvements for next time:

Motivation:

Did the use of IT and multimedia applications affect the childrens

motivation? In what way(s)? Did this apply to all children or only some

of the children? If so, which children and why?

IT skills:

Did the children already have the basic IT skills needed to do the activity?

If not, how did you support them? Was this successful? Can you build on IT

skills the children practised as part of the activity in the future? If so, how?

Language skills:

What language skills did the children practise as part of the activity?

Did the use of IT and multimedia applications lead to meaningful andpurposeful language use?

Screen time:

What was the balance of screen time to other class work? Was this

balance appropriate to achieve the desired learning aims? Would you

make any changes next time?

Personal work:

Has the opportunity to use IT and

multimedia applications improved

the quality of childrens work and

the effort they put into it? Has it had

a direct impact on improving their

writing skills, do you think?

Your approach:

What impact, if any, has the use of

IT and multimedia applications had

on your own approach to teaching

and learning? How do you envisage

developing this in the future?

m-learning also

mobile learning

NOUN[UNCOUNTABLE]

learning methodsand materials that

involve the useof mobile phones

or handheldcomputers

(September 2012)

Launch of Onestopenglish Jobs

You can now find your dream job in ELT directly fromonestopenglish.

Launch of Sounds app

Based on the best-selling Sound Foundations byAdrian Underhill, Sounds helps you study and play withpronunciation wherever you are.

From 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom


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18

2012

Launch of Culture World

Available within the English Campus,Culture World brings learning to life with avariety of media-rich resources.

Launch of the onestopenglish app

Onestopenglish launches its first app, makingit available on the go, any time you need it.

Onestopenglish producesits first infographic

To see it in full visitwww.onestopenglish.com/teacher-infographic


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19

Whether youre a webinar novice or pro, its always worth checking out what the rest of the teacher

training community is doing to make their webinars a success. Ive outlined 12 steps you can take togive clear, informative and successful webinars for teacher training purposes.

Why give a webinar?

The reasons are endless but here are some that I

think are relevant to teacher training:

Webinars are easy to access, which means you

can invite teachers from all corners of the world to

attend and not have to worry about travel or costs.

If your teachers cant attend your webinar, they

can watch the recording later. In fact, teachers

that do attend can also use the recording for

revision purposes.

Having everyone in the same online room,

sharing the same whiteboard, makes it very easy

to collaborate and with most online classroom/

conferencing software you can save the

whiteboard and share it at the end of the session.

Even teachers are shy at times and being in an

online room means teachers can use the chat

function to express themselves comfortably.

If budget is an issue, there is a wide range of

software to choose from to give your webinar

free of charge.

Webinars have been around for a while now but

many participants still find webinars a novel way

of learning and enjoy the new experience.

If you are training teachers on digital there is no

better way to share information than screensharing.

Should online teacher training sessions

be different from face-to-face?

Yes because

Youre using a screen and its uncomfortable

to stare at screens for long periods of time.

Sessions should be shorter than the average

face-to-face session.

Youre not physically in the same room andunless everyone is using a camera you cant

see peoples facial expressions. You may need

to incorporate some checks to make sure

participants are focused and clear about what

they are expected to understand or do.

There are times when audio and/or internet

connection may fail on you. Its good to have a

plan for this sort of event.

Unlike face-to-face sessions, webinars dont

have to be live.

No because

The aim of your teacher training session is the

same as a face-to-face session.

Now, we arrive at the 12 steps to take before,

during and after a webinar. These are suggestions

based on my experiences giving teacher training

sessions and watching other webinars ...

Sounds wins an ELTon Award

The Sounds app becomes the first ever app to winan ELTon.

Launch of the IELTS Skills apps

Students can practise all the four skills they need to dowell at IELTS.

WEBINAR SUCCESS12 STEPS TO

by Sarah Milligan

WHATS OUT THERE?

Before you research online

rooms, its good to check

what kind of tasks youll

be doing and what types

of multi-media you will

need to use during your

webinars. Here are some

online classroom/conference

software providers you may

like to investigate using:

Blackboard Collaborate

Skype

DimDim

Adobe Connect

Join a meeing


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20

12 STEPSBefore During

1What type of session is it?

You have to be clear on what the aim of your webinar is beforeyou start planning it. What level of knowledge do you want your

teachers to leave the session with? Is it a presentation, workshop,

training session, drop-in session, a meeting or something else?

6Manage your participants!

If youre giving a webinar with a large number of participants, i tsworth thinking through how youre going to manage them. Here

are some suggestions based on my own experiences of

giving webinars:

Post a set of rules on the whiteboard so participants know

whats going on from the moment they log in.

Most decent online rooms allow you to give and take away

certain tools for participants to use during the session. For

example, you may want to only allow two microphones to be

enabled. This prevents a deluge of audio responses all at once.

You will get questions about the online classroom software

throughout the session; have an extra person on hand toanswer questions in the chat box.

2Get the message across

Use every way possible to advertise the session. We use Eventbrite

which is a free way for participants to sign up to events and allows

you to track who has signed up as well as send reminders. On top of

this, we use emails, newsletters, our websites, blogs and social media.

7Materials

Online presentations need to be even more visual than in a

face-to-face presentation because youre not in the room with

your participants. Dont make the whiteboard an e-book to solely

be read by you and the participant, you are there to present and

explain and the material you use is there to assist you. Make

your material professional and where possible use branding.

Screensharing is the best way of explaining a new website or

platform. If you wish for your participants to continue theirtraining after the webinar, share worksheets with them either

during or after the session.

3Prepare and remind your participants

Advertising your webinar once is not enough. I recommend you send

reminders a week before, a day before and a few minutes before

your webinar. On top of this, it makes sense to send your teachers

clear instructions on how they access the online room. If possible,

ask them to check they can log in a few days before the session.

8Go slow

Speak slower than normal when presenting and when

screensharing move slowly between web pages to make sure the

participants screens can catch up with yours.

4Practice run for guest speakers

Similarly, if you have a guest speaker for your webinar, give them

the chance to do a practice run with the same computer and

software they will use on the actual day of the webinar. This can putthe guest speakers mind at ease as well as highlight any potential

issues which can be resolved before the day of the webinar.

5Have sound sound

Sound is as important as internet connection for webinars. Check

your sound with someone else before your give the webinar.

Macmillan Practice Online gets a new look

The Macmillan Practice Online platform getsa fresh look, more functionality and freeteacher access.

Launch of the Young Learner portal

Designed especially for teachers of young learners,the portal offers free resources and fun tools forthe classroom.

2012

TO WEBINAR SUCCESS


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21

2013

Macmillan English Dictionary goes online-only

The Macmillan Dictionary moves from print toonline only, going with you where you go.

Macmillan English Campus turns 10

Macmillan Education celebrates 10 yearsof digital expertise.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM RUNNING AN

ONLINE CONFERENCEWITH THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS

by Caroline Skydemore

The Macmillan Online Conference reached 12,000 teachers in five

continents. It was without a doubt the highlight of 2013 for me and

running it one of the steepest learning curves Ive ever faced.

It turns out that no matter how old a teacher may be, when placed

in a classroom situation they revert to student mentality scribbling

and scrawling all over the whiteboard from behind the relative

anonymity of an online persona.

No matter how many times a direction is repeated, there will always

be some who need it repeated just one more time

And no matter how tested your patience may be, or how frayed

your temper at the end of the day, that desire to share, nurture and

educate is always present, ever more vibrant, always pushing you to

make sure the next day is an even greater success than the last.

Running an online conference with thousands of teachers taught

me that whether were aware of it or not, there is an inner teacher

hiding in all of us!

After (or at the end)

9Interaction and tasks

If your webinar is a training session, presenting the content will

not be enough. Generally, people need to be exposed to the

subject you are training them on several times, have guided

practice and then the chance to try whatever the skill is out in

their own time. Below is the order of events I would usually use

when training teachers on a new digital product.

1. Introduce topic.

2. Demonstrate content of training session.

3. Provide chance for participants to ask questions and/or be

asked questions.

4. Give tasks to participants.

5. Time for feedback. Share further tasksheets.

10Share details and hand-outs

This is the time to share worksheets, further reading and any

website/platform access the participants may need. If you

have recorded the session, send the link. Leave your contact

details for those who will have questions after the session.

11Feedback

Share an online questionnaire so you can gather feedback

about your webinar and make improvements for the nextone. It can be illuminating to hear how participants felt

during a webinar.

12End on time

No one likes going over time and ending a little bit earlier will put

you in favour with your teachers.


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Inspired to discover more about using technology in the classroom? Interested in developing your

digital teaching skills and techniques? Heres a list of resources and websites where you can find

plenty more information, tips and ideas.

Find us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/macmillanenglishcampus Find us on Google Plusgplus.to/macmillanenglishcampusFollow us on Twittertwitter.com/macmillancampus

22

Websites

www.onestopenglish.com

The number one resource and community site

for English language teachers includes a variety

of resources to help you bring technology into the

classroom: from lesson plans and worksheets tomaterials for your own professional development.

www.blendedmec.com

The Macmillan English Campus blog is dedicated

to sharing ideas on using online resources and

technology with your students. A team of regular

authors and guest bloggers post regular articles, with

their teaching tips and experiences around blended

learning and teaching.

www.youtube.com/macmillanelt

On your official YouTube channel youll find videos of

interviews with our authors, as well as tips and ideas

to help you answer any digital doubts and questions

you might have and were always adding more!

www.macmillaneducationapps.com

Discover the latest apps to help you and your

students and join the conversation in our apps blog.

Books

Pete Sharma, Blended Learning

The ideal companion for any teacher interested in

the use of technology in the language classroom,

Blended Learningprovides a practical overview of

the technology currently available and ideas forusing it in the classroom to enhance and support

students learning.

Pete Sharma, 400 Ideas for

Interactive Whiteboards

400 Ideas for Interactive Whiteboardsprovides awealth of resources to help teachers integrate the

digital board into their classrooms, from using

regular programs and software to creating

specifically-tailored materials.

Carol Read,500 Activities for thePrimary Classroom

This indispensable collection of practical activities for

teaching English to primary-aged children includes an

extensive section with IT and multimedia activities.

Webinars

Watch live talks from some of the biggest names in

English language teaching right in your web browser,

then put your questions directly to the presenters. All

webinars are free to join - all you require is an internet

connection and a computer. To find out more and sign

up: www.macmillanenglish.com/webinars .

Keep in touch with the Macmillan English Campus team:

www.macmillanenglishcampus.com

FURTHER READING


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Curated by: Jenny Lovel, Giulia Merlo, Joanna Trzmielewska

Designed by: Erica Walduck

Lindsay ClandfieldAuthor, Teacher and Trainer

Paul Drury

International Primary Publisher atMacmillan Education

Fiona MauchlineEFL Writer, Trainer, Teacher

Pete Sharma

Director of Training at Pete SharmaAssociates and Pre-sessional / in-sessionallecturer, EAP, at the University of Warwick

Bela TothHeadteacher and Head of Online

Department at Katedra Language School

Gavin DudeneyDirector of Technology at and Owner of

The Consultants-E

Sarah MilliganTraining Manager at Macmillan English

Campus

Rui da SilvaSenior Advanced Practitioner in LearningTechnologies at Study Group

Nicky HocklyDirector of Pedagogy at The Consultants-E

Nik PeacheyLearning Technology Consultant, Trainer

and Writer

Caroline SkydemoreDigital Marketing Executive at Macmillan

Education

Astrid KrakeHead of the Language Centre at the

University of Bamberg

Carol ReadIndependent Primary/Secondary EducationProfessional

Jeremy SmithPublishing Manager at MacmillanEnglish Campus

All copyright Macmillan Eduction 2013

THE ARTICLES AND TIPS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY ...


24/24

Macmillan Education has representatives,

offices and distributors in 120 countries.

To find your local representative, please visitwww.macmillaneducation.com.

Documents

10 Years of Digital