week 7

Examples of Digital Language Learning Material

-          Facebook

-          Twitter

-          Blogger

-          Prezi

-          Wordpress

-          Tumblr

-          Youtube

-          Edmodo

-          Schoology

List down SLA theories and principles

-          Interactionist theory (Long, 1985; 1996)

-          Sociocultural theory

-          Communicative language teaching

-          Comprehensible Input theory (Swain, n.d.; Krashen, 1991)

-          Affective Domain (Krashen, 1991)

Criteria of technical usability:

-          Errors

(i)                  Less serious errors = affect the work of the user

(ii)                More serious errors = endanger the preservability of users’ outputs

-          Efficiency

·         Refers to how well experienced users can operate an application after they have mastered it.

-          Learnability

·         How long beginners’ use of a system before they learn the essential skills necessary to perform their tasks

-          Memorability

·         Ability of an occasional user who previously used the system to remember its operational system

Criteria of pedagogical usability

-          Feedback

(i)                  The system or learning material should provide the student with encouraging and immediate feedback è encouraging feedback increases learning motivation; immediate feedback helps the student understand problematic part in their learning

(ii)                Learning is based on the fact that mistakes are corrected immediately and progression cannot happen when corrections are not done.

-          Motivation

(i)                  Affects learning and makes people behave the way they do

(ii)                Motivation = the way to do things by reference to instincts, desires and reinforcement; support the direction on one’s general behavior

(iii)               Motivation affects alertness and vigor

-          Goal orientation

(i)                  When the goals of teacher, students and LM are closely aligned, best results are obtained

(ii)                Goals should be clear cut and able to motivate them to achieve them

(iii)               When the students themselves do not set their goals, their meaningfulness should be justified from the point of view of motivation

(iv)              Students should be able pursue their own interests in relation with learning goals

-          Learner control

(i)                  Learner’s memory should be pushed to the limit when learning a new topic

(ii)                Materials should be broken down to be learned into small meaningful units

-          Applicability

(i)                  The approach taken in learning material should correspond to the skills that the learner will later need in everyday and working life

(ii)                The skills or knowledge acquired should be able to be transferred to other contexts

(iii)               Learning something new can be accomplished effectively by relating it to practical tasks

(iv)              LM should be at appropriate level from the point of view of learner’s learning process

-          Added value

(i)                  Induce creativity in learners when using DLLM

(ii)                Other kind of added value: adaptability to individual needs, number of flexible options, learning is controlled and initiated by learners, interesting contents, development of communication, active participation of students

-          Learner activity

(i)                  Learners’ independent activity may increase when a teacher stays in background; a facilitator

(ii)                Learning materials can support learner’s activities by being interesting and based on real life

-          Cooperative/collaborative learning

(i)                  Studying with others to achieve common learning goal

(ii)                Instead of just acquiring personal knowledge, learners construct knowledge as members of community in practice

-          Valuation of previous knowledge

(i)                  Previous knowledge from the learners are assumed to be possessing some skills that previously been presented

(ii)                LM that respects learner’s previous knowledge takes account in differences of skills and knowledge in learners and encourages them to take advantage of it in learning.

-          Flexibility

(i)                  Learner’s learning differences should be taken into account.

(ii)                Information gained in pre-test can be used to provide learners with different routes or methods of studies.

Rough outline of DLLM

- using prezi as a platform to develop the DLLM
-includes 6 activity; each according to the levels or bands according to the School-Based
Assessment (SBA) that the MOE developed
-Using a chapter from the English Form 2 textbook; making sure the chapter is interesting and
relatable to the students thus relevant to be used in their everyday and working life
-Each activities are different from each other; might include one language skills. might be more than
one (e.g. reading and writing in on activity)
-Might be focusing on linguistic, thematic or both types of content
-Each activity is a prgression of the previous one; the first activity (band 1), increasing with each
activity progress
-Making sure the materials follow the criteria of technical of technical and pedagogical usability  

Virtual Design

a) Harmony
 - the manner elements of a display interact together in a pleasing manner.
-it pulls the pieces of visual image together.
-can be achieved through repetition and rhythm, where rhythm is the flow decipted in a visual and
helps direct eye movement.
-to ensure harmony 3x3 grid must be used.
-rhythm should either be a clockwise or counter clockwise.

b) Balance and Symmetry
-we can bring balance to the elements of different sizes by either moving them closer of farther from
the centre of the page.
-symmetry is when one half of a visual display is a mirror image of the other half.
-types of symmetry: horizontal, approximate horizontal, radial and asymmetry.


c) Emphasis
-create dominance and focus in their work.
-it emphasize colour, value, shapes or other design elements to achieve dominance. For example
"facebook" page used dark colour as their background and the symbol "f" for "facebook" in light
colour.

d) Alignment
-Alignment of elements within a screen is important part of organizing and grouping.
-should visually maximize differences between text, label and pictures.

e) Unity
-relationsjip among visual elements that helps all elements to work together.
-gives a sense of closure or oneness to a visual image.
-can be achieved through use of similar shapes, common pattern or use of a common background.


REFLECTION

Ok so I know a little about using a Digital Language Learning Material (DLLM) but I know some of them because I use them almost every single day if I do say so myself. Although I use them sometimes I wonder if I can really use it as part of  my teaching material one day. Right now i'm starting to doubt my ability to teach student in the future. But on the bright side I learn a very interesting DLLM which is known as Bitstrips and this is thanks to Stennia for showing me it. Its kind of like a meme but you can make one yourself from the background to the people face which can be match to someone else face. Since they can find a DLLM which is different than what most of us know I currently trying to find other DLLM which can be use as future teaching material.  

Thanks to this assignment that we did I have to say that I do not know how to use most of the DLLM that currently known to me. Right now i'm starting to learn how to use "edmodo" and "prezi". "Prezi" is harder to use but with time I think I can master using it which will be very helpful for me in the future when I start teaching.