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.

 3D Virtual Worlds / Second Life

Video Games

     The first time I got acquainted with video games was at the age of 8-9 when parents presented us, me and my brother, with Sony Playstation –series of video game consoles. That was really awesome! We were playing day and night. Each of us was impatiently waiting for our turn to play our favorite games.

    One of my favorite action games was “Xena: The Warrior Princess”, based on the worldwide known  TV series with the same name, which I also watched. The second game, I “got a crush” on was the worldwide known, “the old good Italiano man”-“Mario”.

     These were the best moments of my life, whenever I took remote control and started my fascinating adventure to the amazing world of games.

   Later on when the world stepped into the era of new tools and my parents purchased computer for us, I did not return to my childhood, though there was the time when I could not resist myself and fell into the long-forgotten “Mario” and “Xena” worlds. With the purchase of computer my interests changed; things that caught my attention as games did at one time were listening to music, reading the books, watching online movies, chatting with the friends and what’s more important computer became an educational tool which let me search the websites I was highly interested in, which in their turn helped me to learn, to acquire and entertain myself.

   As far as I have mentioned I did not return to the video games any more, except the ones that developed my critical thinking, analytical skills, i.e intellectual games, like crosswords, memory games and so on. The person who has grown up, but is still playing games is my brother and his friends. He is an avid player. He plays lots of games, starting from WARFACE to SIMS, basically action games. When I say, you are growing up and you are still playing all of these games like a child, he answers: “You don’t get how useful the games are. Games, in spite of category, are intended to promote collaboration and cooperation with other players, provides them with cross-cultural interaction, because while playing, for example, during WARFACE, you are playing with players of different nationalities. You learn how to work together. You have to think quickly and make a decision and decide the strategy you are going to use.”

  “The games like SIMS place one in more real settings, where the players can design, experiment and, finally, create his/ her own world”.

    The main opportunity of the games is that after failing any level, the player has a way to start the game over and over again. Sometimes it gets boring, but “falling and rising again” every time leads the player to new solutions and thoughts towards this or that trick of the game.

    However, being as positive as they are computer games carry negative side. The same games, like WARFACE make players completely addicted to the virtual world. The robots who have a special aim, the players shoot and kill their enemies and they get pleasure of it. I suppose this turns young players into emotionally severe and cruel people who yearn for blood, killings and who are so happy, when they say: ”I killed them all. I won.” The children become aggressive and violent, and fearful towards the real world, which can lead to the bad consequences, like suicide, murder, getting crazy and so on. This happens when children forget the verge between the reality and fantasy.

    From the medical point of view, prolonged computer game use may lead to health problems which can be irreversible, for example the risk of dry eyes which happens as a result of rare blinking and petrification of the whole body as a result of not moving frequently. That’s why parents are the very people who should limit their children’s access to the computer games; if they want their children grow up emotionally and physically healthy people.

    Thus, from the educational point of view, computer games carry powerful mission for developing critical and analytical skills, creativity; promoting collaboration and cooperation, cross-cultural interaction; ability to think quickly and make an appropriate decision towards this or that move; ability to improve visual thinking and many other skills. However, these skills carry not only learning purpose, but also shape life skills that in their turn make our children the very representatives of the Digital Age.

    In my turn, I am really grateful that we touched upon this topic. For a while it took me back to the sweet childhood, where everything was as simple as a game at least in my case. This is the golden memory that awakens the soul, leaving it yearning every time.

Digital Video

     07.10.2014. You will ask: what is this date? Here is the answer. On this day Anna Harutunyan, Emily Hovhannisyan and I made a video. Can you imagine a self-made video? It was awesome. It’s not like I haven’t done anything like this before, but this experience was a bit different. Probably the reason was that this time I was making this video with my friends and secondly, because it was dedicated to the AUA.

     We called our video “One Day in the Life of the AUA”. In our video we tried to cover the places we spend most of our time at the AUA. These places include library, where we look for interested us literature and study, cafeteria, where have lunch and study, our classroom, where we do spend our classes. Our video was not only intended to show how we spend our day at the AUA, but also that the students come here for getting knowledge, for self-enriching themselves, i.e. for sake of study , which is the very suitable word for the AUA.

     How did we work on producing the video? Our video was made of several shots. When we were done with the shooting, we got down to montaging it. For this purpose we used a website “Kizoa”- a free slideshow maker and photo editing site. We did not use any special effects. We wanted to make it as natural as it is possible. It seems it turned out really well.

    As far as our hands-on project is dedicated to Video Production, we will be able to present website “Kizoa” and as an example we will show our video. I hope everyone will like our video.

    This was our first experience of making the video together, and as a result of our mutual collaboration we got an incredibly amazing “One Day in the Life of the AUA” which we’ll cherish as many other days that passed and days that are still to come in our memory forever.

P. S.   

  Basically, for my thesis project I was supposed to do movies as a source of the authentic language for foreign language learning and language enhancement and I had a lot of ideas how I was going to bring this project to realization. During my lessons I would introduce students with movies which could be a supplement for their curriculum and which also would present them with English-speaking culture and help not only to improve their language skills, particularly their listening and speaking skills, but also develop their critical thinking and broaden their outlook. In this case my students will act as the consumers. To turn them into producers I would also ask them to make a digital video, which would give them the opportunity to put their experience, imagination, creativity, innovative ideas into realization ; promote their collaboration and cooperation with their peers. Producing the digital video would give them the authentic learning opportunities, develop life skills and what’s important their video would be produced for in real-life contexts and real audience. My purpose is that after watching particular video on a certain topic students will be able to create a digital video related to that topic which will help them better to grasp the essence of the studied material. I think that could be a really good experience for them as students which at the same time will bring them one step closer to the e-learning. Unfortunately, I was demotivated and cut from the opportunity of realizing my ideas.

     As you see the usage of digital video has a lot of advantages and can be used for educational purposes. Of course, in my case I was going to combine watching movies and producing video/ movies, but this type of e-learning can be used in different pedagogical implications and different spheres. For example, if students study environment issues and topic of the day is “Pollution”, one of the tasks may be to make a video on “Pollution in Armenia”. That way students will be more engaged in learning process and will be the main investigators and witnesses of real-life situations happening in a particular context, in our case pollution in Armenia.

    That’s why my message to all of the teachers: do not be afraid of using technology in your class. Definitely some of you may think that using high tech tools will only divert your students’  attention from the studied material, but it is not so. On the contrary, it will motivate and encourage them more not only in theory, but what’s important in practice, because only in practical way our students will be able to get to the core of the studied material, which will be possible via using tech tools, particularly in this case, via digital video.

           "The Adventures of a Polar Bear"

                                                                                                    by 

                                                                                                
                                                                                           Anna Abgaryan

    

     Once upon a time, there lived a polar bear. She spent most of her days waiting with her two cubs near the leads in the ice, hoping to hunt a seal once they came out of the water to breathe. This was the third day that they have been waiting, but still there was no sign of any seal. They were hopeful so they continued waiting. Days were passing. She knew that waiting was not a solution anymore. When her cubs fell asleep she decided not to lose another minute and left them in hope of finding some food. When she returned she couldn’t believe her eyes. They were gone. She couldn't see them anywhere. She should go and find them but the weather was so cold and the wind was blowing the snow so hard.

     That was an omen; omen of a blizzard, the one that usually happens in the Arctic Circle and does not end very fast. Even though, the snowstorm was hard, she could not stay calm and wait when her cubs will appear.” And what if not?  What if something bad happened to them? “Why did I leave them? What if I will never see them again?” These thoughts haunted her the whole way. She called their names: ”Where are you?" She looked for a long time, but she couldn’t find them.

   “I won’t stop, I will keep looking, until I find them”-she kept saying

    The wind howled, blowing crystal flakes of snow through the air. After a few minutes she spotted on a Penguin, another representative of the Arctic World.

   "Hello, Penguin. Have you seen two Polar cubs wandering around?" The Polar Bear asked.

   "No, I am sorry, but I haven’t. Are they lost?" the Penguin asked.

   “It’s all my fault. “-she burst out crying. “I left them alone in hope of finding some food, because my little cubs haven’t eaten anything for a long time and the days were passing. I could not wait any more. I am a bad mother.”

    “Do not say like this. You left to find food for them. They probably got carried away with the game and somehow got lost. Don’t worry. I am gonna help you to look for them.”

    “You are going to help?”-she asked

    “So, do you need my help or not?

    “Of course, of course I would be endlessly glad for your help”.

    The Polar Bear and the Penguin walked on, looking behind barrows of snow, and anywhere they thought the little cubs might be. Soon the blizzard began to lighten up. They could see much better. Off in the distance the Penguin noticed a great mass lying on the ice. It’s a Walrus.

   The Penguin said to the Walrus: ”We’re looking for little cubs. They went out in the storm earlier and now we can’t find them.”

   “Have you seen them?" asked the Polar Bear.

   "No. Haven’t seen a slightest thing. I’ve been sleeping. That is our main lifestyle: we eat and we sleep.”

   “Do you want to come and help us?" asked the Penguin

   "Sure, I’ll definitely help you. Where do you think they might go?" The Walrus said

   "I don’t know. They are so small.” The Polar Bear kept weeping.

  “We’d better find them before dark, cause after it gets more dangerous and besides, the cubs will get frightened" -The Walrus said.

   Three animals walked on, calling little cubs’ names, but there was no answer.

   The storm had soon stopped. Only some flakes of snow fell and the wind had slowly “calmed its severity down”. The sky turned blue and the sun started to come out of the clouds and shine on the icy ground.

   The more they walked they neared the edge of the ice where it meets the ocean; they spotted a white Snowy Owl, sitting on a rock.

   "Owl, have you seen two little polar bears?" The Walrus asked.

   "No, I haven’t. Why do you ask?" the Owl wondered.
   "My little cubs are lost. They are so small and alone in this land of Ice” The Polar Bear cried.
   "I’ll come with you and hope the sky will help us to find them”-said the Snowy Owl.
    And so four animals were looking for the polar bear cubs all calling, the cubs’ names, but still, there was trace of them. They kept walking.
   Time went on. Suddenly four animals stopped, because of the sounds reminding them the chirps, trills, whistles and clicks. Out of the ocean they saw the White Beluga swimming around. They stood on the edge of the ice looking down at the White Beluga.
   “Where are you going? “-asked the White Beluga
   The Polar Bear:” Here is the thing: my little cubs are lost, and we cannot find them anywhere.”
   The White Beluga replied-“I do have kids. I do understand you like no one else. I’ll help you find them. I’ll swim around and see what I can see and let the ocean help me" she said and swam away.
   The night came. All of them stopped the searches. They were tired and exhausted. They had been walking for hours so in no time they all fell asleep. In the meantime, the White Beluga swam around. She looked everywhere, but she couldn’t see any sign of the polar bear cubs.
   The whole night the Polar Bear could not sleep, sighing and weeping until she met the dawn.
   The searches of the little cubs renewed. They went on and on and it seemed the hope was already gone and they were about to give up when the Snowy Owl’s eyesight spotted on the three figures: one of them lying on the ice and two of them playing on the icy ground. When all of the animals got closer, the Polar Bear cried out: “Cubs, my little cubs!” With these words she was running towards them. The cubs turned around in excitement, hearing the dearest voice. They started running, shouting” Mommy, we are here”.
   She was embracing and hugging them and kissing them from head to foot. She was crying, but these were the teardrops of joy.
  “Why have you run away? I got scared to death”-asked the Polar Bear crying.
  “We wanted to help you and find the seal ourselves”. –said the boy cub
 “And we found Mommy. He was lying on the edge of ice.”-said the girl cub.
 “So much time passed and you are hungry.”
 “No, Mommy, we ate”-said the girl cub
 “You ate? Where? How?”-asked the Polar Bear surprisingly.
 “The seal fed us.”-the cub said
 “The Seal?”- wondered the Polar Bear
 “He caught the fish from the ocean and gave to us”-joyfully answered the boy cub.
  The Polar Bear came up to the Seal and thanked him for taking care of her cubs.
 “I would never hurt them. They are so nice little cubs.”-answered the Seal
   The Polar Bear felt ashamed. She wanted to hunt for the Seal out of food and it turned out the food saved her cubs. “Life is a mystery”-she thought. “One can never predict what can happen and how the situation can turn out.”
   "Thank you, the Seal, for saving our cubs," said the animals.  

    The Polar Bear lost her cubs for a while , but  gained many friends –the Penguin, the  Walrus, the Snowy Owl ,the White Beluga and the Seal. Never again will the cubs get lost, but if they do there are many friends looking out for them and find them.