Mar 2 2007

New Unit – Language Learning and ICT….

TedTalks

Well the last assignment seems a distant memory and now beginning to become involved with the ICT and Language learning module. Having fun messing around with web-quests and have been able to organise the Moodle Web-quest module which seems a good way of giving students access to an interactive web-quest that also provides resources/ videos within the environment.

I am also beginning to review and look into a variety of ways to use games within ICT education and then hopefully link this to language learning? We have all used the likes of Hot Potatoes, but is there a way of integrating games further than this. There are four or five areas that i am interested in looking further into detail:-

  • Programming and Language – Using Scratch anew programming environment for younger students, that is very visual and allows the editing and importing of photos, and sound. And so could lead to interactive storyboards or the like? Scratch comes inbuilt with a variety of languages to program in, so could the use and switch of this be another fun way to learn a language? Does the structured way you must learn programming languages resemble learning foreign languages?
  • 3D Virtual Worlds and Language – Using Link-World a safer educational version of Second Life
  • Podcasting Communication Integrated Web-Quests? – Hmm…maybe less of a game than a communication game of tag?
  • Google Earth and language use – could be interesting to incorporate a web-quest in which students follow around in groups a foreign country picking up resources and language as they go?
  • Or the use of Flash Animations and games like Iya-Ola – I have been playing this off and on and as a reluctant foreign language learner this caught my imagination!
  • Oh and a final idea is to use a weblog that has an automatic translator plug in to translate all posts and menus with one click to another language….hmmm could be interesting…the only trouble is the best plug in costs money…have a look here for Angsuman’s Plug-in

Well as usual lots of initial ideas…I have no idea what the actual assignment will be about? But who cares…..especially when there is such great ideas to also be had over at the TED website. Never been well you should have, its the annual conference of 100 best minds within the realms of Technology, Entertainment and Design.
Some of the presentations are excellent and I would particularly recommend the following:-

Note all are in quicktime format ready to download and watch at anytime.

By drtech • Delicious Links • Comments Off on New Unit – Language Learning and ICT….