This week in our CALL class we focused on professional development resources on the Internet. Initially, I was thinking online classes, certifications and general information. However, what I discovered were vibrant online communities, not static sources of information. These professional development resources are more active in nature versus the passive style of professional development I am used to.
This week I explored three main professional development resources online, 1) TappedIn, an online "international community of education professionals", 2) FLTeach, listserv for foreign language teachers and 3) An ELT Notebook, blog for EFL teachers. I have put links to all three below. Each are unique and have their own advantages and disadvantages. TappedIn is a very welcoming environment (even a receptionist greets you) and you can set up your own office and explore many different "rooms" on campus which have chats, links and many other resources on a variety of education topics. One I explored today was on Peace Education (under "Global Project Based Learning"). Rooms have different "Featured Passageways" that have links to related areas of interest. You could spend hours in this online community but it does take some to get acquainted with all that they have to offer. One reason I like this type of site is that I can go there when I want (they have calendars of events too) and see what interaction has happened and is happening. I have control of the information I interact with.
I experienced the opposite of this type of control with the FLTeach listserv I signed up with. More emails than I could handle were entering my inbox while I innocently slept in bed at night. The listserv did provide some interesting information and interaction, however. There was a poem on how to remember Ser and Estar in Spanish. It was good but had one mistake which another subscriber caught and shared with the rest of us. I really didn't feel ready (or comfortable) to respond to any of the postings this week.
The other professional resource I looked at was "The ELT Notebook". I really like this blog. It has a simple design, yet clear and professional. The posting don't just contain opinions but articles on various topics with exercises and ideas you can implement in the classroom. It looks like this blog started in 2006 and was created by an EFL teacher/teacher trainer with over 30 years of experience. This blog includes articles (postings) on over 20 topics, recommended websites and blogs, free worksheets and flashcards and links to online training for teachers.
So of these three types of resources I experienced this week I think I am most comfortable using and interacting with the blogs but I can see exploring TappedIn further. I need to change the settings for the listserv because all of the posting were overwhelming. This week was just a glimpse of what is offered to educators on the Internet. I'm glad that I got a chance to experience a few of them.
Links:
http://tappedin.org/tappedin/
http://www.cortland.edu/flteach/
http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/index.html
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3 comments:
Stefanie,
I thought that you explained the TappedIn community, listserves, and blogs very well. Before I took this course I sort of knew what a blog and listserves were,but I never had any direct interaction with them. I had also never heard of professional development community that is literally based online.
First I want to agree with you that the listseves get annoying to me because how do seperate them out from regular email? It becomes too much and I already feel that way about my work email imagine if I added more listserves.
I want to check the TappedIn's Global project as it sounds really worthwhile and interesting. I am a bit anxious about all of the people talking to you who you don't know and I would like to have control of it too. When we started the our first skype talk I was overwhelmed with people poping up saying "hi" want to chat? It just feels like your space is invaded.
I did get a chance to visit the ELT Notebook blog and I liked the information she provided. I didn't like that most of the links go to ads for English for specific purposes.
I think that the professional learning communities and blogs have a lot to offers us all if you can limit yourself and manage your time. I could just get lost for hours. Couldn't you? Great posting Stefanie!
Victoria
Thanks for reading my post Victoria! Eric posted a way for us to change our settings in the listserv so we only get one email a week (much more manageable in my opinion). I'm also glad you checked out the ELT Notebook. I still need to look around the site some more.
Stefanie
Nice post Stefanie.
My experience with FL Teach is overwhelming. I probably communicated more with the teachers on the listservs last week than with you all! So not only is there too much mail, one must have the self-control NOT to answer or comment on everything thing that is said!
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