I just couldn't resist this one, a introductory one week course on mLearning, and specifically how mLearning relates to English language teaching. The one-week format with daily tasks and discussions was ideal, and I managed to keep on track except for day 6, but I still have access to all the resources and discussions, so can revisit it anytime, and so can you - read on for details.
The course was hosted by South Eastern Europe Teachers Associations (SEETA) who generously made it available to this teacher who is very south-east of Europe!
Our moderator was Nicky Hockly of TheConsultants-E and Nicky's own blog post about the course - MOOCs, mLearning & mobseeta - illustrates her own enthusiasm about the experience and you can read comments from some of the participants.
During the week we considered what mLearning is and how it might be relevant (or not) to our own teaching context and some of the key issues in implementing mLearning and how they relate to our own teaching contexts. We had an in-depth look at one mLearning project in a high school and a day of looking at video on hand-held devices. We looked at reviews of some language learning apps and shared our own evaluations of apps. We ended the week with a live session where we were joined by Nicky's co-director at TheConsultants-E, Gavin Dudeney. All through the week there was a lot of interaction and sharing on the forums, and on day 7 were invited to share a one-minute video of what we had learned from the course.
This is my video contribution, sharing some Australian bush scenery and sounds with the participants from all parts of the world:
I hadn't planned to go 'public' with this but, since I agreed to make it available on TheConsultants-E YouTube channel, I decided to publish it here too.
Also, a statement I made in one of my posts, summarising the key points that I had learned from Nicky and my fellow participants about implementing mLearning, "Get ready, start slow, use what you have!", became a kind of motto or mantra for the course!
I first heard about the course from Janet Bianchini's blog, via her tweet, and she has written an excellent post, Feedback on Introduction to m-Learning Course, which includes her Day 7 video complete with pets and olive trees! One of the very best things about the course for me was the sharing of ideas, resources and opinions with my fellow travellers, participants like Janet - aren't TESOL people the most generous souls!
I haven't included links to any of the resources provided for the course, or those shared by participants, as they are available to anyone, for the foreseeable future, at SEETA mLearning: an Introduction. Of course, you won't be able to benefit from the amazing moderation and interaction of the 'live' course. I know I will be revisiting the course site often as there is a tremendous amount of learning there to absorb, and I have only just skimmed the surface so far.
Based on this experience I am seriously considering enrolling in the TheConsultants-E six-week mLearning course. Unfortunately, because I'll be busy working on my Masters project, I won't have time again until the end of the year, so maybe the January 2012 one. I recommend you check it out!
The course was hosted by South Eastern Europe Teachers Associations (SEETA) who generously made it available to this teacher who is very south-east of Europe!
Our moderator was Nicky Hockly of TheConsultants-E and Nicky's own blog post about the course - MOOCs, mLearning & mobseeta - illustrates her own enthusiasm about the experience and you can read comments from some of the participants.
During the week we considered what mLearning is and how it might be relevant (or not) to our own teaching context and some of the key issues in implementing mLearning and how they relate to our own teaching contexts. We had an in-depth look at one mLearning project in a high school and a day of looking at video on hand-held devices. We looked at reviews of some language learning apps and shared our own evaluations of apps. We ended the week with a live session where we were joined by Nicky's co-director at TheConsultants-E, Gavin Dudeney. All through the week there was a lot of interaction and sharing on the forums, and on day 7 were invited to share a one-minute video of what we had learned from the course.
This is my video contribution, sharing some Australian bush scenery and sounds with the participants from all parts of the world:
I hadn't planned to go 'public' with this but, since I agreed to make it available on TheConsultants-E YouTube channel, I decided to publish it here too.
Also, a statement I made in one of my posts, summarising the key points that I had learned from Nicky and my fellow participants about implementing mLearning, "Get ready, start slow, use what you have!", became a kind of motto or mantra for the course!
I first heard about the course from Janet Bianchini's blog, via her tweet, and she has written an excellent post, Feedback on Introduction to m-Learning Course, which includes her Day 7 video complete with pets and olive trees! One of the very best things about the course for me was the sharing of ideas, resources and opinions with my fellow travellers, participants like Janet - aren't TESOL people the most generous souls!
I haven't included links to any of the resources provided for the course, or those shared by participants, as they are available to anyone, for the foreseeable future, at SEETA mLearning: an Introduction. Of course, you won't be able to benefit from the amazing moderation and interaction of the 'live' course. I know I will be revisiting the course site often as there is a tremendous amount of learning there to absorb, and I have only just skimmed the surface so far.
Based on this experience I am seriously considering enrolling in the TheConsultants-E six-week mLearning course. Unfortunately, because I'll be busy working on my Masters project, I won't have time again until the end of the year, so maybe the January 2012 one. I recommend you check it out!
