தமிழ் அநிதம்

Virtual world-What can it do for Tamil?

Tamil isa a language that is more than two thousand year old. It is one do the ancient language that is very active today. Due to English invasion 200 years ago and gloabalaization  has given The youngsters today to use English today more than their million of youngsters. In the Entertainment industry Tamil is in top five. In 2013 the total revenue from the movies,alone is around 200 million dollars. In 2014 the top five movies brought in around $700,000 in US currency.

I am not giving this  to show the financial impression.

It is the main media through which language can reach the children. When we were children national movies were made only for children and educational purpose. Now television has occupation every room where US channels like Cartoon Network, nicolododian and Disney has taken center stage. 

And the educators in Tamil Nadu are stuck in 18th century educational system of three hour written exams every three months as only assesment, does not seems to see how they can impact the instruction with media

 Think about it teaching a language in a virtual world. The aching and learning through educational world.

Some of the games that my children play seems to create an immersive experience for them.

So if I could Crete that kind of enviorement   For teaching a language. Virtual world will be perfect.

The children can interact and act out as  a character what a fun enviorement it will be?

 Virtual learning will make most of the learning as a project based learning.

 If I could set up a village  where the students play a part in the socity  they will learn the language ,

They will learn to apply the language in a real situation.

They will identify the vocabulary, they will interact with other students.

I was thinking of creating games for devices with HTML CSS javascript.

But I feel virtual world will bring yet another dimension  in to the learning.

The time and the learning curve in to the virtual world is going to be big for me. So. What is a solution?

So I was looking at some resources.ll

http://youtu.be/qOFU9oUF2HA

http://www.kitely.com

 meshmoon.com

SECOND LIFE. seems to be an option. But the learning curve looks a little deeper. I might take a look at it after my classes are over.

They do have lot of educational resources available for me to read through and practice.

Another thing I may face is that the computer that the software needs to run needs to be very powerful. The audience may not have the capacity or the need to purchase that kind of devices.

I shall keep looking at it

Games in language

 Games  is a great way to introduce and practice language skills. The language skills  include listening,talking, understanding, comprehending. and communicating in  multiple ways. Language learning in today's world  is mostly a second language or a third language.   The school childern may be learning a language as a  first language.
At any case   the language is well learned  when the learners interact with the native speaker of the language. In a  global  internet world   it is  very easy to connect wth  a native speaker.  Yet  the daily routine and  busy life may hinder this  kind of communication as it involves  time and effort to learn a language
  This is why Digital games play an important  role in language learning. If the instruction is  planned propery  one can  create tradition games of learning a language in the  digital media. The game can create an environment for a  individual learner  where he can interact with himself and learn the languge.
First and formost the interface is  a visual way to identify the vocabulary  visually. The instructions can be given in text form or audio form. So the learer learns to read and  listen. It will be best if there is a proper and consistent  infographis that goes along with  the  instructions.
Games introduce engaging  interactive environment for the learner to practice  his language with out  realizing that  he is learning.. He sub consciously  learns the language   through engaging interaction. Games also can provide  an  tool for formative assessment. When  a learner is asked to create  a game he applies the knowledge to create  what he learnt.

 There are lot of traditional games available for language learning. This  video  talks about  teaching  digital source to  teach a second language.  This gives  an idea for  instructors to use digital sources  to create  digital games.
 The folling link also gives  some more inspiring ideas as to how to use games in language

Powerpont for assesment

 I have been on a treasure hunt  for a assessment tool for my  Tamilunltd site.  My first challenge is  trying to figure out how to apply formative and Summative assessment  of traditional language such as Tamil. The only assessment that the language is known is the three hour long written exams. I have watched my children  do better than me in language skills. I know  the assessments are big part of developing their skills.  They created videos worked on their vocabulary in Qia  take quizzes in quiz-let for Spanish and French. So I thought it will be easy to create an assessment.
I was so wrong.
 Why?
None of this site, is able to  display language Tamil properly. So  I was back to square one  for finding a tool  that I can use.
 I found other authoring tools like HTML5, Adobe Captivate, Smart builder  and story line. I was playing around them a lot, and In my mind  the basic structure of these applications  looked like power point. So I went in to Google presentation tool. I know Google presentation is already online so I should not have any problem.
Once again It was the wrong turn, because  Google presentation is a similar in power point in so many similar ways. I was not happy with its delivery. Also  I have to create my questions in Google forms. and l  have to the link that from  in my presentation slides. More over there is no way to make the both document to look  the way I want.
The more I tried I more frustrated and angry I became at Microsoft for not recognizing  PowerPoint  for  its power.

 

Some powerful features

 Making flash cards are easy

Making quizzes are easy

Making simple games is easy

Mind map is  easy with smart arts. Creating simple shapes is easy/ 

One can create PDF  for supporting materials

Inserting audio is easy

Inserting video is easy

Creating a video for you tube is easy

Watch this 

So what was missing?

Some powerful features for assessments. Of course one can  create quizzes and games But can the learners evaluate themselves. Can they give simple answers to questions? Can they share their power point online?    All of these methods were possible if the instructor learnt visual basic skills. For me I know little bit Visual basic but just did not have time to dive deeper?

What is the solution?

plug ins and  add ins:

This link takes  us to the some powerful addins  an educator can use. This Link from University of Minnesota helps the instructor   to  use power point as an assessment tool.   Here is another case where power point is used for assessment.

BYOD and virtual classroom.



When I am creating lesson plans and teaching strategy for teaching them, I need to think about BYOD. Of course I am not writing policies for our requirements for them. But I do need to be aware of my audience's digital knowledge and their device usage. For this I face three challenges. The first one is the difference in demographics of the audience. From India I get students who refer to the site occasionally through the desktop. From Singapore and Malaysia  I have teachers and students using the site as a reference. In South Africa I have adults using this site to learn Tamil as their second language. While in Singapore the teacher a use the device the student uses mobile devices only because of the cost. In south Africa   The users senti use digital devices for the social interaction purpose only. Most of them use windows and android platform devices. The Apple devices are very costly for them.

From USA I have adult and children as my audience who have the technical knowledge and its pads.

The second   Challenge I face  is their language skill. While most of them use the site for reference  some of them want to use the site  for learning the language. So there is no way for me to measure their skill level per say.

The third challenge is time zone differences. The world wide audience makes it hard for me to be available for communication  in different time zones.

 To face the first challenge  I am using INacol standard and common core standard as my basic principles for designing the instruction.  For assessment methods I am using Blooms Taxonomy of Higher learningThis helps me create lessons for all skill levels also. As for communication I am using only Email and my blog posts, Facebook and Twitter as my communication tool.

I know BYOD principles are applicable only to classroom settings. But has to be  considered in a virtual classroom too. The audience only connect to the classroom with their own device. So It is important for me to flexible with their needs.

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Delivering content through mobile

When an instructional designer, developer starts to create content now they pay attention to the mobile platform first. That is because the mobile technology has made the audience more accessible to any kind of information they need, So the educators are using mobile as a delivery method of their content. Yet when they start delivering their content via mobile it gives them an extra tool to be be an innovative educator.

As the last post mentioned Office 365 and Google drive through google computing makes it possible for educators to deliver content to their students,

These technologies are available for mobile platforms.

As a bilingual instructional developer, I always look for technologies that I can deliver quality content faster and easier. Of course I can create content in office 365 and google drive I need to think about the apple users. Some how the audience for Apple devices is more than any other technology in the market.

So I choose Epub as a common authoring tool. I use HTML ,CSS to create my basic epub. For that I use caliber, single to create content in English. For my language Tamil I use any HTML editor to create my Epub.

I also use adobe indesign as a tool to create the epubs. For me it serves as an authoring tool for my lessons. I also use Apple Ibook author to create my epubs.

One challenge for me is creating content for Amazon Kindle. Their file format is different. They are as different as their devices.

What is more interesting for me is that now the technology companies are working together to remove the discrepancy among them.

So far I have created two children pubs that are delivered through iTunes and one at Amazon.

For me learning to create content for mobile technology has given me another tool to use technology for positive purpose.Aadu is my first book,  The other book is for adults that is made for kindle readers in India.

Cloud Computing as a classroom technology

 

Teachers are already familiar with technology in the classroom with Microsoft office products. The students are very familiar with google in their personal use and academic use. Using technology in the classroom can be easily become a virtual learning system. That is why learning about copyright information is important.

So let us take a deeper look at the two technologies that job of teaching with technology in the classroom.

Google and Microsoft both use cloud computing, that makes sharing documents easy and secure.

The technology for Microsoft cloud is called One drive.

Everybody who has an outlook email address will be automatically get access to this cloud service. This is a basic service yet there is paid service that can be brought through office 365. So One can backup and save on one drive cloud space. The files one can share include are word, slide points videos and images. The first advantage is that the documents are safe. The next advantage is that one can organize their files in folders. One can access their files from any computer.

With Microsoft account using skype for basic web conferencing.

The biggest advantage is to embed the documents as a web link. The files can be also shared via email and social networks.

Similarly with Google account one can store their files in Google drive, a cloud storage, create movies in YouTube. They can use google hangout for having a video chat.

The advantage of google over Microsoft is that the teachers can create simple google sites or blogs and ask the students to interact with them.

The disadvantage of Using Google is that it may not be as secure as Microsoft.

So the teachers need to weigh all the pros and benefits when they are using these two technologies

 

Copyright? What do I do?

As an author, illustrator and an artist I create my original media.  I also write articles for free Tamil computing. Also, as an educator, I do need to refer  lots of materials that I cannot  create on my own. So I have to make sure I am using  the materials as a fair use.
 So Learning about them was very useful.
 As a content creator  I do put  copyright information on using adobe bridge.  For more information you can look up this link. This link is given in Adobe bridge documentations.This method helps me add all the metadata  at one time so that it can be applied  with ease.
 The below link gives more information on putting metadata in my word-press blogs. I took this from word-press help site.
When I write for open source Tamil computing my papers are automatically given  the creative common license.
When I use  other materials for teaching  my  lessons I always  use the original source as a reference and write my own thoughts based on the idea of the original content.
When I use google search engine to search for images I look up under more tools and pick the option to find pictures that I can reuse.
 As a content creator I know how much time it takes to create something so I am very conscious about using other people's work as mine. At the same token, I make sure I have the copyright symbol in all my creations. That being said  India  is known for creating pirated content. Now, only  through media  people are getting educated about copyright and fair use. This makes it hard for people like me to track the copyright infringement of my work.
It is sometimes funny when people assume that you will give them the source file just because they are your friends or you put it on  Facebook.
It is balancing act of creating and marketing  yourself and your work as a copyrighted work.

Some times it is easier for me to give  my work under creative conmans.

Management system for learning

Management Systems For Education

 

When we look into teaching and learning with technology the first and for most things we have to understand is the technologies involved in the learning environment. The spread of technology and the ease of access to technology is changing the way students learn. There are lots of tools for teaching and learning today, This can be divided into four different ways. But they are similar in the sense that they are like the nested Russian dolls.

As the teaching and learning progress, the educational system starts using more advanced technology.

The first category is the CMS.. This is referred as content management systems.

When we say content management system, it refers to the technology that lets anybody create, edit and publish content on the web

This is low cost, and helps the instructors and teachers to use technology as a subset tool for their classroom.. They use the technology to reinforce end engage the students in learning. IT becomes the bridge to take learning with technology to the next level.

LMS. Is a content management system mainly built for learning and training. Where the learning can happen twenty four seven ,seven days a week. It can be combined with traditional classroom into blended learning. On the other hand, this can also be a complete online based e-learning solution. Updating and editing the content is easy through the LMS.

LCMS is more advanced material for creating educational content for training and teaching.. This is object oriented teaching that involves audience analysis, need analysis, assessment tools. This cannot be easily edited and updated. Yet once created, this can be delivered on multiple platforms.
A group of trainers and teachers learn the authoring tools to create the contents for teaching or training. These content are not easy to edit once published. So care and planning need to be taken in to consideration while creating the educational content.
The virtual learning involves and holds all the above three, Using CMS is the first step into getting into the virtual learning system. Then slowly the educational system moves toward LMS for efficiency.
Using Technology to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills  talks about basic use of technology for learning.