It was great to see the increased interest in gaming and language learning at this year’s CALICO conference. The most promising actual uses of gaming were built on a free platform called ARIS, which combines gaming and storytelling elements by using a location-aware iOS app. I had played around with Read more…
I posted about Turnitin a few months ago. I liked the tool not for plagiarism checking, but for written feedback and peer-reviewing. Even though some of these tools are great, good old paper is still quicker and easier. They have just now added voice commenting, and this opens up some Read more…
Finally there has been a major overhaul of this site. Some of this was on the back end, while other changes are quite visible. Behind the scenes: – WP multisites enabled and installed – better security – back-up workflow established and general maintenance Visible Changes: – complete visual overhaul – Read more…
Phase 1 of my digital storytelling project is done! Four participants granted us the right to post the stories about them. The project turned out as desired: the stories aren’t flashy, but students spent a lot of time speaking and listening to German, and many had an aha-moment when they Read more…
The new “mosaic” web site for my digital storytelling project is up and running. Content will come soon, the students in my German 301 class have started with the prep work and will be able to post the final stories by the end of the semester. For now, here’s the Read more…
One reason why I like teaching in our new language center is the ability to set up a backchannel. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is a deliberate setup of a chat-like environment that allows students (and the instructor) to post information in realtime. There are numerous reasons, Read more…
Turnitin is mostly known for its plagiarism detection software (a feature that can actually be turned off if you only want to use the features discussed below). For me, the real advantage of the program are the peer editing features, the quick commenting, and the rubric grading feature. First of Read more…
Here’s a nice story about the new language center we built last semester. http://www.rhodes.edu/news/20096.asp Here’s also a new video:
When a new semester begins, I usually struggle with two things: learning students’ names and keeping attendance. Students drop and add classes, and it’s hard to take attendance without knowing who is who. Students being late and myself getting back into teaching mode make matters worse. Well, there’s an app Read more…