Welcome session

Getting to know each other

Blended Learning in Language Education, participants and tutor Russell Stannard

The course kicked off with some activities to get to know the other participants in the  course and the tutor Russell Stannard. We were given a chart we had to fill in with the info we found out about our classmates and the best box was "Tell me 3 special things about you". There were quite a lot of engaging conversations going and we would change partner every now and then. So at the end we managed to talk to everyone and learn everyone's names. We played the ball game: Fom Russell to Dolors. From Dolots to Radek. From Radek to Yeliz.... while we threw the ball to the other participant whose name we mentioned until everyone had learned each other's names.

To find out about Russell we simply googled his name and read what came up and took notes on a little velleda board. Then we shared information with the other pariticpants. 

Advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in the classroom

In order to pull our ideas together about the pros and cons of using technology in the classroom we have used a very useful software program called todaysmeet.com. It allowed us to do a brainstorming on the use of new technologies in the classroom. 

• What are the main reasons for using NT in the clasroom? 
• What difference do they make to our classes? 
• Why do so few teachers use them?

Since images speak louder than words, here is a picture about some advantages of using new technologies in the EFL class. 

How does the presence of IT devices affect human communication?

Watch the Video by Sherry Turkle - The Power of a Talk in Digital Age

A much shorter version of her ideas: a Ted Talk

Learning about blogger

Blogger is an electronic tool that allows you to create posts like in a diary. It has become popular among journalists to update information. 

In educational context a blog may become a powerful tool that can be used both by teachers and students alike. It can be used as a class diary for the whole class, for little group or a personal one for each student. If students upload podcast, recordings or screencasts it can become good evidence of students' development, so they can be used as e-portfolios.

Here are some video tutorials from Russell's website about using blogger for educational purposes:

1. Introduction to blogger
2. How to design blogger 

Expert Tips
The main two tips to bear in mind when creating a blog is to add metatags which will let us search for the most relevant bits, and to include a design where most relevant informationremains accessible at the top of the blog.