ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL ONE: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Add a comment to a blog post

Pre-task questions:

 Why should I comment on a blogpost? Isn't commenting just showing off?

 If I post a comment to a blogpost I have read online, the page looks different and
the interface asks me to identify myself in some way, sometimes type in some
letters (a captcha) or add my email address. Won't I get lots of spam?
 I wrote a comment, but it didn't show up when I looked at the blog. Why?
 I want to add a link to my comment. How do I do it?

Task:

 Add a comment to my Forum question, which you’ll find on the ELTAS Tech Tools
Day Ning. The question is: “Share a website you like to go to for ideas.”
 Add the link to that page in your comment.
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/add-comment-to-someones-blog.html

Link + embed a picture, then a video, to start a discussion

Pre-task thinking:

 What kind of media do you want to share with your students?

 How do you think they will to respond to media?
 How can you encourage them to respond?

The tech basics:

 Online you can create a link from your site to any webpage containing the content
you want your students to see.
 You can only embed a file so it looks like an element of your webpage from sites
that are explicitly set up as file-sharing sites and provide you with the specific
embed code.

Task 1:

 Start a discussion using a picture you find online that that shows a place you love,
inviting others to share a place like that, as well.
 Visit one other photo discussion and respond, with a short comment. Optional:
Try adding a link to your discussion or to your online photo.

Task 2:

 Start a discussion using a video that represents a perfect summer day. Explain
why. Invite others to comment.
 Visit one other video and comment. Optional: Try adding the embed code of your
own video.
More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/link-embed-media-to-discussion-start.html

Anne Hodgson 1
ELTAS TECH TOOLS DAY LEVEL ONE: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Games to play in your forum or blog

Pre-task thinking:

 What kinds of games do you play with adult classes?

 Which games make them actually apply their language skills?

There are lots of games you can play by inviting comments.

Text-based games:

Any kind of collaborative or prompted

writing can be a game as soon as you set
rules limiting what students can do, to get
their creative juices flowing:
 Add words (see at right)
 Change words

Picture-based games:
 Post a puzzling picture and have
students guess

What other constraints can you think of?

Task:
 Design a forum game for a class of
yours.
 Write the introductory text/ task.
 Post as a Ning discussion.
 Invite others to do your task.

More: http://askauntieweb.blogspot.com/2010/07/games-to-play-in-your-forum-or-blog.html

Anne Hodgson 2