Aiden and Rita’s session on Blended Learning

To close our round of BaW09 live sessions with a golden touch, Rita Zeinstejer and Aiden Yeh gave us a superb session on Blended Learning. Both Rita and Aiden are skilled, kind, sharing teachers who usually give the final live session during Week 6.
Here is a memento shared by Rita.

Rita showed us samples of what she had done during 2008 with students who planned to take the CAE, and Aiden gave us a look at projects completed by her Internet English group. Both Rita and Aiden demonstrated the great values of blended learning and took us on a wonderful adventure in which we they shared examples of a wide variety of online tools, gave pointers on planning and facilitating online coursework, provided guidance on the use of a variety of online learning environments, gave examples of how they assess and give feedback on student contributions, and much more. They also noted that when one belongs to the appropriate online community (such as Webheads in Action), there are no limits to what can be done through collaborating and sharing experiences. Thanks for being there for us amazing girls!

If you couldn't be with us in person to take part in the inspiring live presentations by Rita and Aiden, please make sure you watch and listen to the session recording. If you were there (or if you viewed and heard the recording), please join us by giving a round of applause in the comments area.

Who participated?

Presenters: Rita (Argentina) and Aiden (Taiwan)
Coordinators: Dafne (Spain / Venezuela)
Week 6 moderators: Hala (Sudan), Dennis (USA), Maru (Mexico)
Participants: Sarah (Spain), Eleni (Greece), Marcela (Brazil), Anitha (India), Biljana (Macedonia), Anisoara (Romania), Analia (Argentina), Mary(Venezuela), Michael (UK), Minhaaj (Pakistan), Kelly (Brazil), Mbarek(Morocco), Robert (USA).
Teresa (Portugal) and Mehdi (Iran) were not able to attend, both sent kind messages and regards to the group.

What were some of the goodies that were shared?

They suggested among others:
Vyew. Used for any time collaboration and live conferencing.
ReadTheWords. Used for pronunciation.
Nick Peachy's blog. Used for daily English exercises.
Blip TV. Used for speaking practice.
SlideBoom. Used to deliver content.

For Music, Arts, and language, please watch:
Jimmy coming Back Home, Schiele,

Aiden's Thematic Podcast Project samples:
Transportation in Kaohsiung, video podcast.
Kaohsiung Taiwan Transportation podcast, photo images + voice over narration.
Forever Single podcast,voice over narration with sound effects

Some of Rita's student’s work samples:
Caeb 2008 Community.
Caeb 2008 Student’s video.
Caeb 2008 Student’s interview.

If you want to get the most from this highly inspiring, informative double presentation, please watch and listen to the recording here.

Rita’s presentation is available here. Aiden’s presentation is available here.

We leave you with an invitation to attend our online graduation ceremony and to join the Webheads in Action community of practice.

Sincerely,

Maru, Hala, and Dennis
Week 6 Moderators

Rubena's Presentation at Elluminate

Rubena´s presentation was inspiring, and providing lots of food for thought. In a comprehensible way, using easy-to-understand examples, she presented the theory that should be behind materials creation for f2f, blended and totally online classes. Interaction, negotiation of meaning, authentic tasks, input, intake and output were some of the topics she dealt with. A very motivated audience asked a lot of questions at the end of the session, and Rubena answered all of them fully.

The 12-02-09 presentation made by Rubena St Louis at Elluminate, was attended by:

Coordinators: Dafne (Spain / Venezuela) and Teresa (Portugal),

Week 5 moderators: Jennifer (Argentina), Fernanda (Portugal),

Participants: Hala (Sudan), SharonB (USA) and Dennis (U.S.A.), Anisoara (Romania), AnithaD (India), Brahim Idbendriss (Morocco), BirdieN (USA), ChristianeM (Brazil), Elizabeth Anne (France), EmmaT (Venezuela), HalaS (Sudan), HelenD (France), JanH (Italy), Ligia (Venezuela), MaryP (Venezuela), SarahP (Spain), VanceS (UAE), VirginiaC (Argentina).
4 continents were represented!

Here's the link to the recording

And here´s the link to the slideshow

The February 5th Presentation at Alado.Net

The very interesting and informative 05-02-09 presentation made by Andy Pincon and Steven Hoffmann, at the Alado.Net online presentation platform, was attended by BaW09 participants Anisoara (Romania), Eleni (Greece), Ligia and Mary (Venezuela), Mbarek (Morocco), Rita (Portugal), Saeed (Oman), Sarah (Spain), by BaW09 Coordinators Dafne (Spain / Venezuela) and Teresa (Portugal), by BaW09 Moderators José Antônio (Brazil), Hala (Sudan), Maru (México), and Dennis (U.S.A.), and by two unidentified guests, Cristina and Mcodine. The presenters included Andy Pincon (Alado's President and CEO) from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. and his associates Steve Hoffmann (Wisconsin, U.S.A.), Jaime Guzmán, (Chicago), and Debby (U.S.A.).

At least 11 countries (see the first paragraph) and 6 geographic regions (Central Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, North America, South America, Western Europe) were represented among those attending this BaW09 live event. One section of the presentation was made bilingually: the onscreen text was in English, but the presenter spoke in Brazilian Portuguese.

The media-rich presentation focused on two areas: (1) an overview of how computers with monitors are being recycled and re-used as part of a "green" effort to provide jobs and e-learning and (2) an overview of how online teaching tools are being used to match online teaching and learning (particularly with regard to both accessibility and usability) as part of Chicago's Digital Excellence Program and of the Digital Workforce Education Society (for which Andy Pincon is Chair and Executive Director).

Highlights:

IT Alchemy, a "green," environmentally-responsible program of the Digital Workforce Education Society (DWES), not only provides jobs and job training, but also gives underserved populations access to technological resources. Recycling and refurbishing a single computer and monitor can result in saving 30 pounds of hazardous waste and 77 pounds of solid waste, plus 7,719 kilowatts of energy. It can also prevent 1,339 pounds of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere. Underserved populations include those living at the poverty level, inhabitants of rural areas, those who are learning English, and prison inmates.

The DWES has also established links and partnerships within the City of Chicago's Digital Excellence program—a resource for community revitalization and redevelopment which targets low- to moderate-income neighborhoods. One such neighborhood mentioned in the presentation was the Pilsen area, a neighborhood on Chicago's west side which began in the mid-1800s as an enclave of Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Poles, and Lithuanians, but which began to shift during the mid-1960s and is today part of Little Village, Chicago's largest Mexican neighborhood. The DWES provides computers for use in ESL and job-training classes in Pilsen and other areas.

The presentation also included a very informative section on matching online teaching tools with philosophies driving technology. Important points made in this section were making online tools accessible to those with physical challenges (e.g., the blind and deaf), making services available in languages other than English (currently offered: Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic), making online sessions available through archived recordings, and making use of tools which foster engagement and interaction (e.g., enabling participants to "raise hands" and speak).

We look forward to your comments on this very interesting session!

NOTE: The recording of this presentation is located HERE.

Live Session with Jonathan Finkelstein

Dear Bawers,
The live session with Jonathan Finkelstein at Elluminate today was a great success. During the time he stayed with us he showed us the many possibilities of using Elluminate in language classes. Participants were invited to take part in sample activities. It was really fun. Besides that, people also joined the session using the chat box and also the voice feature to give their opinions or ask questions. We would like to thank Johathan for what he has taught us and also for staying for almost one hour with us sharing ideas and listening to us. We would also like to thank Teresa, Dafne, and all participants who contributed to make the event so fun and interesting. The idea/image of "Chasing Squirrels" and "Choosing your Own Adventure" was certainly on our minds while we hovered over this amazing session. Click here to access the recorded session.

List of Participants:

Mods: DennisO (USA) and José Antônio (Brazil)
Guest speaker: Jonathan Finkelstein (USA)

Participants
Anisoara (Romania), Brahim (Morocco), BrianS (England), Daf (Spain), HalaS (Sudan), Maru (Mexico), Mbarek (Morocco), Minhaaj (Pakistan), PilarF (Argentina), SanjaB (Croatia), SarahP (Spain), Teresa (Portugal)

4 continents were represented