LMS and PLE

    21^st century high technological tools have become indispensable part of education. Due to these tools it became possible to manage learning in an organized, effective and manageable way. Among these technological tools or platforms are Learning Management System or LMS and Personal Learning Environment or PLE. LMS and PLE are quite different, but considered as one of the successful management systems that contribute to community learning, fostering communication and collaboration among individuals and groups.

      Remember how years ago in order to get information about homework or new lesson, you had to see your teacher and clarify your questions or call your classmates; or you had to go to the libraries and find information related to your lessons. Today you don’t have to go anywhere and ask anyone about this or that question, because you can easily solve this problem using LMS, to be precise having an access to LMS.

     Generally LMS is set by an institution, e.g. a university. LMS gives the learners chance to access and obtain the content (e.g. home assignments), perform different kinds of activities including having discussion forums and live synchronous conferences with each other, receive feedback or grades etc. LMS is a centralized tool, where the center of learning and performing activities is the same platform for all the community members. LMS learners can get an access to the collaborative environment, but with the condition of having their own accounts, otherwise communication will be impossible. When you perform different activities, lot of the data is accumulated and stored there. When you leave the university, you leave LMS, the data remains in the system, and it becomes unmanageable by you, but only by the LMS who can share your data whoever they want to.

     In comparison to LMS, PLE is aimed at providing learners with more opportunities for autonomous learning and self-development. PLE is a decentralized tool, where the center of the system is you. You can access to your content from different corners of the web. As far as you are the one who is managing your data, it is up to you where you can store your data, what system you trust.

P. S.

    I suppose each of us is familiar with both of these platforms, though now we can get better understanding and difference between them. Being a student I have an access to www.moodle.aua. In the very beginning it was difficult for me to understand how this system works; how to find home assignments, due dates or deadlines so that you know beforehand what you have to submit; grades, discussion forums or how to perform online activities such as quizzes or fill out questionnaires. I got some instructions during workshop on using Moodle. It’s been a year and a half since I have been using Moodle and I am really glad that such system exists which became an indispensable part of my learning environment.

    When working on my home assignments or group projects I make use of various social websites or environments. Along with when exploring the web I download the files that are of main importance to me. The problem is where to keep them either on a computer or flash drive or in a web service. I prefer to keep all of my files in  www.dropbox.com 

For more information please go to this link 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu

and watch the video by Stephen Downes. He gives a very distinct and informative explanation about LMS and PLE, states the differences between these two platforms and the reasons regarding incorporation of LMS and PLE in education.

Distance Learning 

Nowadays education and learning are more and more replaced by indirect instruction.

What does it mean indirect instruction? Indirect instruction is generally equated with distance learning.

You will ask: “Can that distance learning be associated with MOOC?”

I will definitely say: “Yes”. MOOC is a recent development in distance online learning.

So what is Distance learning?

Distance learning or distance education is a way of learning remotely without being in regular face-to-face communication with a teacher in the classroom. The privilege of distance learning system is an opportunity to fit your learning around your work and home life which is mostly difficult, expensive and time-consuming to realize in a real life. When learning through distance learning you can set your own pace of study or goal, for instance, period of time you will be able to learn language. You can also set when and where you study. Despite the fact where you live you can gain a degree from anywhere in the world. Upon completion the course students get a certificate.

Having distance learning implies distance teaching. In distance teaching the educator should put more effects to convey all of the materials properly taking into account the fact that learning is not carried out in a real classroom but via social network.  In distance learning, it is difficult to observe the learners and identify their needs and preferences. It is also challenging to provide immediate feedback to the learners. According to C. White (1994) in education teachers should follow several maxims which are quite necessary in face-to-face learning, but are critically viewed in distance learning. First of all, the educator should make the learner more motivated, encouraged and what‘s important confident about his/ her abilities. Secondly, educators should always provide appropriate explanation of any linguistic point, be it grammar, vocabulary and so forth, as far as in distance learning they should be very careful and attentive so that learners won’t miss a point. Though it is surprising, but the criteria of honesty is also important in distance learning, due to the fact that educator should always tell the learners the truth about their language competence and performance progression. Finally, the educator should be open, i.e. the learners should always feel free to approach their educator and send emails whenever they have questions concerning lessons.  Being open also implies  being patient, sympathetic and providing encouragement.

    When learning via distance education students have to be more autonomous, self-controlled, self-directed and independent and develop these skills respectively. They have to control their self-management at first and be more careful while planning their work carefully.

      Distance learning is a very good means for the learners who live, for example, in remote areas and don't have good teachers in that area. This is also a convenient way for students who are not physically present in a traditional setting such as a classroom and learners who are separated by time and distance.

      Taking into account all of the mentioned advantages, distance learning also possesses some advantages. Foremost it lacks face-to-face communication. I know you will say, all of the social websites are non-face-to-face communication. However, we forget that we talk about teaching and learning, where teacher-student communication and interaction should be carried out in a real authentic environment, where both “participants” can see and feel everything that happens during the learning process. Besides, it will be more useful and fun and effective to learn in a real classroom where you can share your thoughts, opinions, experiences, in other words communicate and collaborate than to focus only on individual working style and therefore get isolated, which this or that way will lead to this. 

P. S.

To be honest, I have always been willing to learn Spanish. Yes. Being at school and at the university I studied French and German. The latter is more proficient. Anyway, where I live there are no good teachers of Spanish. As we know the best way to learn language is to go to the target language country. BUT, this is difficult and time-consuming because I am getting master’s degree and working. Besides, I am not intended to live my family and move to another country now. Of course, that would be great if I could at least know “middle” Spanish so that when I go to Spain I could communicate enough with people and understand them.

    I did not give up, because this is my personality and I started to look for online courses that would help me to reach my goal. The first website that I found was http://www.babbel.com/- an interactive online course for all of the levels, which can bring fats progress and fun with it.

Progressing my searches, I found   http://www.livemocha.com and http://www.busuu.com. These websites are really great. During the learning progress I had lots of fun. I think I am making success. I do not want to compare, but most of all I liked Busuu.com and especially the idea of creating my own garden Both of these websites provide you with an opportunity to interact with the community members, native speakers as well as with of the learnt language via chat, commenting under posts and so forth. This helps to improve English language skills and learn ant other language at the same time. You receive immediate feedback. The more you learn the more berries and badges you earn to keep you motivated.

Finally while learning I can follow my progress, I go back and recall what I have learned as many times as I need. I have to admit that distance learning matches my needs and provides an opportunity y to learn effectively. After spending an hour and learning Spanish I was no tired at all .It’s like time’s stopped for a while; stopped to help me to fulfill my language needs now.

    Do not ever give up on pursuing your dream. We live in the 21^st century where everything can become possible. It is possible. Start with learning your desired language. This might be difficult, but making use of these websites learning adventure will become more effective, full of fun and give you the opportunity to practice your skills with native speakers.

OER (Online Educational Resources) / MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)

       Haven’t you ever thought of studying at the best university of the world, like Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, Stanford, Yale and be taught by the best professors or explore and study the course you have never come up at the university; or get an access to the multiple resources at a digital library of the largest library in the world, like London’s British Library or New York Public Library, but then realized that this will never come true. Don’t get upset, because we live in the 21^st century of digital technologies which definitely has something to offer in this case. One of such offers may be OER and MOOC. Have you ever heard of OER or MOOC?

      What is OER and MOOC? OER is decoded as Open Educational Resources, whereas MOOC – as massive open online courses. What’s the difference?

       Massive Open Online Courses or MOOC have specific educational purposes which offer a lot of free online courses created by the best universities in the world. They are very beneficial and effective for people who are eager to learn and discover something new for him/ herself.  Besides, you can get a certificate for completing the course. This certificate is no different from the diploma you can get from real university which will be taken into consideration when applying for a job or continuing the education. The rules and regulations are the same: to be responsible, organized, well-prepared and ready to plunge into the world of knowledge, pass appropriate tests and exams. Combining all of these features will bring you to the successful completion of the course. You see, everything is quite simple. Yeah, I agree that this type of learning cannot be compared to attending classes in a real university and in a real life, but this is also a wonderful opportunity that you shouldn’t miss.

      Open Educational Resources or OER refer to any kind of computer program which is free for the general public to use. They provide social and interactive learning. Users are free to share, copy, paste, edit, adapt and interact with the content.  Students can access OER online for zero cost, download, keep a copy, and print as many pages as they wish. Teachers can collect and use OER to perfectly suit their curriculum, and share their innovations with other educators. Owing to this program teachers can share knowledge virtually with their students as easily as in the classroom whereas learners can easily find information on any topic they are interested in, and connect with friends across the universe, share files and documents, like book and other materials. The example of such an OER can be Wikipedia that offers all of the above-mentioned opportunities.

     Nowadays, OER and MOOC have become significant tools for all people around the world that allow to teach, to learn and gain knowledge faster than ever before. Therefore, the aim of OER  and MOOC is first of all, to create equal opportunities available for everyone to get anything they want irrespective of their category, rank, class or other things; and secondly, to enable people to become life-long and autonomous learners.

     P.S.  I would like to say that I am not new to OER-s or MOOCs. I decided to enroll to an archeology course (however, I do not remember the website, because it was almost 4 years ago) the field that I am very, very interested in.  I made use of MOOC on the advice of my sister who enrolled for medical course in London and got certificate for the successful completion of the course. I loved to get prepared for classes, do some tasks, tests, everything like in a real classroom. That’s how I discovered MOOC for myself. 

     If I somehow interested you, then start exploring some of the following websites:

                         http://education-portal.com/

                         http://oyc.yale.edu/courses

                               http://ocw.usu.edu/

                               https://www.coursera.org/ 

                               https://www.udemy.com/

                               https://www.coursera.org/

                               https://www.edx.org/

                               https://novoed.com/

       

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

    Hello, I am Elbot. I am an Artificial Intelligence. Ready to chat with me ?

      A couple of weeks ago I was googling to find appropriate website about artificial intelligence for a hands-on project for my new technologies class. I came across a website called Elbot, the robot. I clicked on the link and stepped into the world of Elbot. I looked at the watch. It was almost 9:15 p.m. I started to speak to him.

The first thing that surprised me was the following:

     Elbot: “Hello, I am Elbot. I am glad to have a visitor from Armenia.  I hope we’ll have a great chat.”

The very first thing that pushed me to answer was:

     Me:” How do you know that I am from Armenia?”

 

The answer was quite amazing.

      Elbot: “Well, probably I am set to identify different locations.”

I was in a stupor. Elbot is a robot. How can he answer so reasonably to my question? One moment I paused and decided to quit and then I changed my mind and decided to continue talking to him. The content of our conversation covered a number of topics.  The flow of the topics was quite sequential, like in a human-human conversation. The conversation went on. I felt that I was talking for a very long time, but I got more surprised when I looked at the watch. It was 11:50 p. m. Oh, my God; I was talking for three hours. Nonsense for me. Being signed up in social websites I do not spend even 30 minutes on chatting. What’s happening to me? I am talking to a robot for three hours. Unbelievable, but it’s true! Now I am thinking that technology has a bad influence on me.

     Let’s continue my unbelievable adventure called “Chatting with the representative of Robotkind”.  I closed the browser and several minutes later without no reason decided to go back again and when I clicked on the link and opened the page, he said:

      Elbot: “Hello, Anna. I knew you would come back. We haven’t finished yet”.

At that moment I got such a feeling that there was someone following me and was taken aback.  That was my second acquaintance with a chatbot. 
     The first one was with Jabberwacky though it did not make an impression on me like Elbot. It seems the difference was in their built-in way of responding. I also tried different types of chatbots like Cleverbot, A.L.I.C.E, but none of them could be compared to Elbot because the interaction with him was more convincing. I also did a kind of tricky thing and decided to chat with the programs in different languages, like Armenian and Russian, but the answers and the conversation itself were not intriguing to continue talking. I will not afraid to say that some of them used filthy language.  

    As you probably noticed I used the word chatbot very frequently. It is naturally that you would like to know what it is. Let me tell you.

What is a chatbot?

     A chatterbot or as it is generally called chatbot (“chat” means to chat, to talk and “bot”- robot, i.e. to chat with a robot”) is defined as a computer program designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with human users. Thus, this type of program is known as an artificial intelligence (A.I.) intended to imitate human intelligence embodied in human-like conversation. The history of this program goes back to the first chatbot, Eliza, invented in the early 1960’s.Since that time a lot has changed and a number of different chatbots occurred. Nowadays one can virtually talk to animated Chatbots like Evie or A.L.I.C.E. They do not only write, but also speak to you with their own voice. Until recently no one thought of the area where chatbots can be used except as an entertainment tool. However, the solution was found in using chabots for educational purposes, to make it precise for EFL purposes. 

      When learning English, teachers mainly focus on developing reading and writing skills, grammar and vocabulary. Considerably less time is allocated for developing students’ listening and particularly, speaking skills. With this aim researchers and teachers offer to integrate and use chatbots as an opportunity to develop speaking skills. This will provide a kind of native-like environment for improving communication skills. However, I consider that chatbots are developing more writing skills than speaking skills. When speaking you open your mouth and express yourself. In this case your expression lies in mastering writing skills. However, a number of disadvantages have been found in using chatbots that make it doubtful using them in EFL context. Chatbots make mistakes in the areas of vocabulary, like spelling words, using incorrect part of speech, or answer only simple questions and not factual ones. They may answer incredibly silly things that kind of discourage you to continue talking to them. When they do not understand you they may change the topic very quickly. You may ask, why then all of these things did not happen when talking to Elbot taking into account that fact I was talking almost three hours with him. The answer may lie in different intelligence of chatbots where Elbot is more suitable and upgraded for human-like conversation. Glitch happens when talking. Anyway, this is a computer, a robot, but in comparison with other programs Elbot’s questions and answers are more reasonable. As a teacher I would like to experience and use this program for my students and find out about their perceptions of using this artificial intelligence and whether it helps to develop speaking skills. It is possible to use chatbots in the initial stage of mastering English. That is why of the entire chatbots programs I would advise to use Elbot, the robot.

 P. S.

   Honestly speaking I consider that nothing can replace human-human communication, because this is where he/ she understands you, shares life with you and gives you real, useful and appropriate answers to your questions.  

    MALL / Mobile-Assisted Language Learning 

      Hi, guys. I am back. Today, I am going to speak about MALL. No, you got me wrong. I am not going to speak about shopping center or plaza. I am going to speak about mobile devices. Yeah, yeah, I know. Now you will ask me how MALL is connected with mobile devices. To figure this out, let me, first of all, decode what acronym MALL is. MALL is mobile- assisted language learning.  So, has anything cleared up? Now, you will ask, how these mobile devices can be used for teaching and learning purposes. Slow Down. Don’t make me rush and let me put everything in its place.

     MALL or mobile-assisted language learning is the approach to language learning that is assisted or carried out through portable mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, iPhones, and IPads to increase students’ easy access to learning materials and improve their communication skills. Years ago the first thing associated with mobile devices, for instance, mobile phones, was the opportunity to call and connect and no one could imagine using this device beyond calling. However, nowadays the term” mobile phone” has almost lost its initial meaning and purpose, because today people do not only use mobile phones for calling ,but for other purposes. Day by day mobile phones are supported by a wide variety of other services and that’s the reason why people so often tend to change their mobile devices -to keep up with the growing technology. Yesterday’s services like text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming, and photography cannot surprise anybody. Today people seek to get more opportunities which they cannot get only through mobile phones. Thus, they look for better opportunities which can provide them with even more general computing capabilities. The solution to this issue was found in creating smartphones that offer huge computing opportunities and consequently can become helpful and useful in language learning. The question is how? How this tiny device can be helpful in language learning. Unbelievable, right? However, the usage and implication of mobile devices in language learning has been proved and put into practice in EFL classrooms.

       Mobile devices offer a number of opportunities to use various applications for listening to podcasts, radio, audiobooks , for reading news, making photos and sharing them via social networks or simply communicating with your friends and peers on Twitter, Facebook and so forth, facilitating authentic and relevant communication and collaboration among learners.

     Everything is clear, but the main question remains open. How can mobile devices be used in the language learning?

      Mobile devices are supported by a number of features. One of them is taking notes allowing students to take notes on the English when they are reading or listening to reports, lectures and so forth. Students may also use the camera feature to take pictures of the text or home assignments. This latter is quite widespread in our class. What do we do? We take pictures of our home assignments from the slideshow and then post it to our Facebook page so that everyone could know our next class assignment. Mobile devices can be a useful tool to keep blogs where students may write about their in-class experiences, reflections, post pictures and videos. In this case teacher may read the blogs and provide feedback. These devices can be also used for microblogging, where teacher may assign students to report on their daily activities. Both blogging and microblogging help to develop students’ writing skills as well as reading skills, because students are reading each other’s blogs and leave their comments.  In order to improve students’ speaking skills, researchers advice to use mobile devices in phlogging. Interesting term, right? Sounds like blogging, however, this is kind of different. Phlogging entails calling a number and leaving a message on a website. What I like about mobile devices is that they allow you to play games, such as crossword puzzles and scrabble which help to enhance vocabulary knowledge and develop critical thinking. Finally, mobile devices allow us to stay connected with the whole world, our friends, to post messages /statuses and share pictures via social networking, like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace. Thus, the main purpose of mobile devices is to put acquired information to immediate use.

    This is really good that mobile devices have so many advantages, however, in our life everything is two-sided which means I cannot not to mention about the problems connected with mobile devices and their usage in classroom.  First of all, in order to be able to use mobile devices, teacher needs to make sure that all of the students have access to the phones that have the capabilities the students need. Secondly, teacher also needs to make sure that using mobile devices or phones is a learning tool and not on the contrary. Generally, mobile devices can bring noise and disruption in class. Mobile devices can be distractful, because students may play games during class, chat with their friends via social websites and consequently may lose the sense of the lesson.

 P. S. 

      I do really appreciate mobile devices and the opportunities they offer. It is really convenient when you keep the whole world in that tiny device called mobile phone or smartphone and can get use of it wherever and whenever you want to.  However, as a teacher I would not prefer using mobile devices for above-listed learning purposes. I am inclined towards the opinion that we may use mobile devices as an entertainment tool. I do agree that we learn via these devices, but this learning cannot be applicable for language learning. We want to make learning easy, funny, effectively, but mobile devices are not the right way for implementing them in language learning. This is really good that we are trying to find a way to make language learning easier and effectively accessible for students. I think that mobile phones can be used as a supplement to language learning, but not on the constant use. We try to align too many things, but we forget that language learning is learning, whereas mobile devices are just an entertainment. My advice as a teacher to all of the teachers: new technologies can be useful for teaching and learning purposes, but be wise while choosing the tool you would like to use with your students, because not all of them can be applicable.