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Weekly Tasks

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Saved by PBworks
on August 26, 2006 at 12:41:21 am
 
This page will be an outline of the group's weekly tasks as a reference for newcomers and a memory aid for everyone


WEEK 0

  • Write your introduction to the list.
  • Add your photo to the group photos.
  • Add your personal data to the database created by Isabel
  • Add your birthday to the group calendar (set a reminder for at least two days in advance, so that we all remember to greet you when the time comes!)
  • Explore the group links. If you haven't done so yet, read the articles on Yahoo! groups and post a message sharing with everyone how you'd like to profit from this environment.


 

WEEK 1 (March 20-26)

  • Netiquette

According to your level of knowledge on the topic you can either:

A. __Intermediate or above__: Find a webpage / website on Netiquette (in connection with e-mail and messages in forums and the like) and add it to the folder "Netiquette" in the group Links.

B. __Beginners__: Find a definition of "Netiquette" (online or offline) and post it on the wiki.

  • Write an introduction to the list.
  • Add yourself to the Frappr Map.
  • Go to the Members Page in the wiki, log in and edit the page (there's a list of all passwords are in the Group Tools database)
  • Add your photo and write a brief note about it.

 

Top

WEEK 2 (March 27- April 2)

  • Working with images

 

This week was focused on how to get, convert, resize and upload your pictures to a website, wiki or blog. For detailed instructions on this using different tools, you can hav a look at WorkingWithImages in this wiki.

 

Once you get your first picture ready, there are two things you need to do (if you haven't already):

 

1. Upload your picture to our group Photo album

2. Add yourself to the group Frappr map (find the link in the edited Welcome message on our homepage).

 

Still want to go playing with pictures? Remember the page "Members" in this wiki is precisely for that?

 

Top

 

WEEK 3 (April 3-12)

  • Voice Communications

This week we discussed how to add voice to mails. Our first suggestion is SPRINGDOO, a free tool that allows you to add voice to your emails and stores your audio files

online.We got voice messages from Gladys, Cecilia, Dennis, Claudia, Ingrid, Illya, Isabel and Julia.

Visit VoiceCommunications in our wiki for tips, and send the group a message recorded with Springdoo!

 

Top

 

WEEK 4 (April 13-19)

  • Text Mail
  • How to organize your mails using Outlook Express and Yahoo, Google or Hotmail filters
  • Differences between messages in a group and ordinary e-mails
  • How you can find a message among your folders in your hard disk, or at the website

Visit our wiki page: http://learningwithcomputers.pbwiki.com/Textmails and keep messages in order.

 

 

  • Introduction to Widgets - Weather Widget

Teri Khadija introduces us into the fascinating world of widgets! What are they? Where can we get them from? How can we use them in class? Join her to discuss all the wonderful possibilities!

You can start by visiting her wiki page: http://learningwithcomputers.pbwiki.com/Widgets

 

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WEEK 5 (April 20-26)

 

Revision and Extension Week

 

Here comes the opportunity to look back, go over everything each of us has learned in the last four weeks, and go a little deeper into our understanding of new concepts.

 

So here's a list of possible tasks for this week:

 

  • Go over this Weekly Tasks page and make sure you've carried them all out (or that you're actually not interested in trying them right now!).

 

  • Catch up with your reading. Take part in our poll!

 

  • Socialize: Check that you've replied to everybody who's ever written you! Post a message greeting somebody you've never interacted with before.

 

  • Browse through our list of members, and send an email to somebody who's never posted anything yet. Ask them if they need help to start interacting, and offer to become their "partner" online! Make sure you include a clear way to contact you...

 

  • Contribute to the wiki: How can Springdoo be used in language teaching? Add your ideas to the page "Voicemails".

 

 

  • Share your doubts, progress and failures!

 

  • Promote our group: invite a colleague to join, or get one of the icons from "Promote" and post them on your blog or website!

 

  • And to prevent those who've already tried everything from getting bored, you're invited to read:

 

* \"What Makes a Successful Online Student?\" (2003) Illinois Online Network

"Like the facilitator, the online student possesses unique qualities...".

 

Vance Stevens explains how "in the hands of a skilled moderator, a YahooGroup portal can be made to function with many features of an expensive and more complicated LMS" .. and discusses other tools used by the Webheads for the same purpose.

 

Widgets (Chapter 2)- Math Widgets

 

 

Try them and add your ideas to the wiki page


Bookmarks

Isabel and Dennis have been appointed official bookmarkers for the group. They've set up account in two different bookmarking sites: Blinklist and Del.icio.us

 

If you want to add a link, you'll need the username and password:

  • Blinklist: __Username__: learningwithcomputers; __Password__: learningwithcomputers
  • Del.icio.us: __Username__: learnengcomp; __Password__: hug

 

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WEEK 6 (April 27-May 3)

    • Browsing the WWW (PART ONE)

 

  • WWW vs. the Internet
  • Advanced search
  • How to find text on a webpage
  • Difference between search engines and catalogues
  • Some key concepts: URL, browser, hypertext, link
  • How to bookmark a page with IE

 

Think you could contribute to this topic?

Visit Browsing the Web - Part 1

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WEEK 7 (May 4-10)

    • Browsing the WWW (PART TWO)

Welcome to the second week on "Browsing the Web"!!!

 

This week we'll keep trying to master our web browsers, and start looking for criteria to determine the value of websites.

 

Start by reading \"Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff\" by Alfredo Bilopotsky, for a useful summary on Eastment's ideas. It's in our group files.

 

Also see Visit Browsing the Web - Part 2

 

Special task: For the next 3 weeks you can add your logo designs to the Logo designspage in this wiki. A poll will be eventually held to choose the one that represents more closely the spirit of this group.

 

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WEEK 8 (May 11-17)

    • Browsing the WWW (PART THREE)

 

This week's questions:

1) How can you use "Internet options" within IE Tools?

2) What does the "cache" or "cached" link in your search page point to?

3) What icon shows a page a "safe" - for you to enter your personal data?

4) In IE, what happens when you click Ctrl + O?

 

Explore, share and learn!

Browsing the Web - Part 3

 

Logo project: Contribute your design, comment or idea for a group logo at the Logo designs page.

 

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WEEK 9 (May 18-24)

    • Browsing the WWW (PART FOUR)

 

    • __Keyboard shortcuts __

 

What happens if you click the following combination of keys:

 

Ctrl + F

Ctrl + E

Ctrl + O

Ctrl + D

Ctrl + Page up

Ctrl + Page down

 

And what do the following special keys do?

 

F5 - F11 - F1 - F3- F4

Browsing the Web - Part 4

 

    • __Using Geocities File Manager__

 

You can still enter our LOGO COMPETITION. Show your creativity at the Logo designspage.

Top

WEEK 10 (May 25-June 01)

    • Look back, look ahead, and look around

 

This week is devoted once again to revision, extension, socializing and promotion. So here's a list of possible tasks:

 

Revision

1. Go through this page and make sure you've carried out all weekly tasks that might be of interest to you.

2. Catch up with your reading. Let us know what you learnt from Alfredo Bilopotsky's article!

 

Socializing

1. Check that you've replied to everybody who's ever written you!

2. Post a message greeting somebody you've never interacted with before.

3. Browse through our list of members, and send an email to somebody who's never posted anything yet, or who's not posted anything during the last month. Ask them if they need help to start interacting (or check whether they're OK), and offer to become their "partner" online! Make sure you include a clear way to contact you...

 

Extension

1. Read:

 

a. "Internet Research: Students'Panacea?" http://snipurl.com/qyaw

b. "Establishing and Maintaining Web Presence: A guide for

educators" - Vance Stevens I know you had a look at this one last month, but since soon we'll invite you to start a wiki, it's time you decided who your audience in cyberspace will be! How about re-reading it, with a new aim?

 

2. You can then post your reactions as replies to this message, or better, as an entry to our blog!

What have you learnt about surfing the Internet? What are your reactions to the readings? Add your ideas to the pages "Browsing the WWW" in the wiki or make a new post at the blog (ask Gladys for the blog password)

 

 

Promotion

1. Get unmoderated (go back to message #250 to see how to go about it!)or volunteer to become a group moderator (see message #704)

2. Promote our group: invite a colleague to join, or get one of the icons from "Promote" and post them on your blog or website!

 

 

 

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WEEK 11 (June 2-8)

Wikis: Part 1

 

Try the quiz and check your knowledge about wikis:

http://gladysbaya.no.sapo.pt/wikis01.htm

 

The whole quiz includes 10 questions, of several kinds. Most of them include explanations and extra information you have a chance to see when you submit your answers.

 

Task for "experienced" members: design your own quizzes on other aspects of wikis (wiki syntax, how to start your own wiki, working with images in Pbwiki, comparisons between different wikis, etc.)or perhaps one dealing with what was covered in our first two months.

 

Useful websites:

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WhatIsaWiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

http://www.wikimatrix.org/ (Compare the Wikis of your choice in a comfortable side-by-side table)

 

Top


WEEK 12 (June 9-14)

Wikis: Part 2

 

 

 

Enter your email address before clicking on "submit results", to get an email with your answers and score.

This quiz has been created with Quiz Maker from Discovery School Home Center (freeware):

http://school.discovery.com/quizcenter/quizcenter.html

 

  • You are also encouraged to go to Working with wikis and add your ideas about how to use wikis with our classes.

 

  • There's a new entry to the blog. Have a look and leave your comment!

 

 

Top

WEEK 13 (June 15-22)

Synchronous comunication- PART ONE

 

This week's questions:

 

1) What's the difference between synchronous and asynchronous communication?

2) Give two examples of synchronous and two of asynchronous communication (not necessarily involving computers!)

3) Identify two advantages and two weaknesses of synchronous communication.

4) Identify two advantages and two weaknesses of asynchronous communication.

5) How many kinds of chat are there? (e.g. text chat)

6) What tools have you tried to chat? (e.g. Hotmail MSN)

7) If you were to give a colleague ONE tip for a good chat session, what would that be?

 

Read more and share your ideas at our Synchronous Communication page.

 

Top

WEEK 14 (June 29-July 5)

Synchronous comunication- PART TWO

 

Our main aim is to try our hands at chatting.

Then either contribute to our blog or post a message here briefly reflecting upon your experience.

 

Suggested tools: TappedIn, Skype, Yahoo messenger, Hotmail messenger or Googletalk.

 

This week's questions:

 

  1. In your experience, what are the main advantages and drawbacks of the different kinds of chats (text, voice, video)?
  2. Effective text chatting demands quick typing, which has led to intensive use of ACRONYMS in this context... which do you know?
  3. Contribute to our blog: tell us all about your BEST or WORST experience at a chat session. Perhaps someone has a funny story that can make us all laugh a bit???

 

share your ideas at the Synchronous Communicationpage.

Top

WEEK 15 (July 6-12)

    • Look back, look ahead, look around

 

Possible tasks for this week:

 

1. Visit this page and make sure you've carried out all tasks(or that you're actually not interested in trying them right now!). (Pay special attention to weeks 0, and 11 to 14).

 

2. Set a date and time for a chat with the group, and post a message inviting others to join you! Remember to make your time clear (try www.timeanddate.com if in doubt), and also specify which tool you'd like to try! (e.g. Skype).

 

3. Socialize: Check that you've replied to everybody who's ever written you! Post a message greeting somebody you've never interacted with before.

 

4. Browse through our list of members, and send an email to somebody who's never posted anything yet, or who's not posted anything during the last month. Ask them if they need help to start interacting (or check whether they're OK), and offer to become their "partner" online! Make sure you include a clear way to contact you.

 

5. Contribute to the wiki: Share your ideas on how wikis can be used in class , and your experience during chat sessions . Comment on the two entries submitted to our blog this month!

 

6. Get unmoderated (go back to message #250 to see how to go about it!)or volunteer to become a group moderator (see message #704). BTW, do you know we're looking for volunteers to keep our group calendar updated and keeping up group files?

 

7. Share your doubts, progress and failures!

 

8. Promote our group: invite a colleague to join, or get one of the icons from "Promote" and post them on your blog or website! If you've created a message others could use for this purpose, how about uploading it to the group files.

 

9. And to prevent those who've already tried everything (every group has one or two!) from getting bored, you're invited to browse the [www.wikimatrix.org|wiki matrix] recommended by Claudia, the two articles on good practices in technology integration recommended by Dennis: William Haworth's and Mike Grenfell's , or British Council's Teaching English run by Nick (message #980)... All of them are incredible JEWELS, offering virtually endless opportunities to keep learning...

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WEEK 16 (July 13-19)

    • Blogs - Part One

 

    • DISCUSSION LED BY ERIKA ALVES AND CARLA ARENA (Brazil).

 

Plan for week 1

 

  • Blogging Take Off (open discussion)
  • Texts (reading and discussion)
Text 1 - Blogging for ELT- Graham Stanley, British Council, Barcelona
Text 2 - EFL/ESL Classroom Blogging: A Comparative Review
  • Examples of different uses of blog (based on the texts)
  • Introducing Bloghosts

 

Access http://learning-with-computers.blogspot.com/ to start Blogging with us!

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WEEK 17 (July 20-26)

    • Blogs - Part Two

 

    • DISCUSSION LED BY SILVANA CARNICERO(Argentina)

 

  • Choosing a target audience
  • Giving info about yourself
  • Planning when and how often to post
  • Adding entries to your text blog
  • Formatting, adding images and hyperlinks

 

Reading Text: Blog Assisted language Learning (BALL)

 

Post your comments on the group blog

 

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WEEK 18 (July 27- August 02)

    • Blogs - Part Three

 

    • DISCUSSION LED BY CLAUDIA BELLUSCI(Argentina)

 

    • Commenting on other people's blogs. Adding voice and other files to your entries.

 

 

  • Visit other people's blogs and post your comments there.You can find them on our blog sidebar.
  • Complete your profile with a description of yourself and your interests and your photo. If you have created your blog with Blogger, check their help page:
  • Explore the Setting tabs and answer these questions:
# What do you do to get e-mail notification when someone leaves a comment in your blog?
2. What can you do to prevent spamming and improper language or content in blog entries or comments, especially in a school environment?
3. How do you add members/contributors to a class blog?
4. What feature allows you to edit a post directly from the blog? How do you enable it?
5. What HTML tags can you use in comments?
6. How can we enable commentators' photos in their comments?

 

Find members' contributions and add your own at theTips, Tricks, FAQs and so onwiki page.

Top


WEEK 19 (August 03-09)

    • Blogs - Part Four

 

DISCUSSION LED BY CLAUDIA BELLUSCI(Argentina)

 

    • "Personalizing" your template.

 

  • Preparatory task: Embed a multimedia widget in one of your posts. Find a list of websites that offer embeddable code HERE
  • Main task: Give it a hand to personalizing your blog template. Check this page for some tips.

Top

WEEK 20 (August 10-16)

    • Blogs - Part Five

 

DISCUSSION LED BY THE WHOLE TEAM

    • The potential of blog integration into our teaching, and its challenges.

 

 

Some suggestions:

 

1) Read \"Purposeful Online Communication\" and think of possible answers for the question "What can I do to increase interest?" in connection to an institutional blog set up to increase communication among staff?

 

2) Read \"Blogs: Webs of Connected Learning\"and reflect about the benefits of blogging in education and the kind of precautions we should take with our students.

 

3) Read \"Blog Literacy\" and reflect about the strategies presented here to help students take the most of blogging without devoting too much of their limited time to it.

 

4) Here's a class blog an Italian teacher presented at a lecture in Buenos Aires in July. Identify 2 strengths and suggest 1 improvement (and explain how this might benefit the teaching-learning process).

 

5) For the Advanced blogger:

 

See \"Blog Peripherals: Enhancing Your Blog's Presence\"and read about tools you can add to your blog to track subscribers and number of visitors.

 

You can

a. post your reflections as a comment to one of our blog entries

 

OR

 

b. try using "links to this post", and enter your thoughts into your own blogs. (remember to let us know where to find them then!)

 

Top

WEEK 21 (August 17-23)

    • Look back, look ahead, look around

 

Possible tasks for this week (August 17 to 23):

 

1. Visit this page and make sure you've carried out all tasks(or that you're actually not interested in trying them right now!). (Pay special attention to weeks 0, and 16 to 20).

 

2. Go on blogging (or start off if you haven't yet!) and try to set up links to other people's blogs to build a blog network. Subscribe to interesting blogs and post comments to them. Don't forget to include your URL in your comment, so that others can visit your blog too. You can also register with FeedBlitz (www.feedblitz.com) and get a add a simple form to your blog template so that your readers can subscribe and get an email daily digest of your posts. As a blog reader, you can also add the blog or web page URLs to track and get a simple daily digest of any changes.

 

3. Socialize: Check that you've replied to everybody who's ever written you! Post a message greeting somebody you've never interacted with before.

 

4. Browse through our list of members, and send an email to somebody who's never posted anything yet, or who's not posted anything during the last month. Ask them if they need help to start interacting (or check whether they're OK), and offer to become their "partner" online! Make sure you include a clear way to contact you...

 

5. Contribute to the blog (http://learning-with-computers.blogspot.com): Share your ideas on how blogs can be used in the EFL/ESL class , and your experience blogging . You can apply for a blog member status to write new entries!

 

6. Get unmoderated (go back to message #250 to see how to go about it!) or volunteer to become a group moderator (see message #704) or group calendar or group files keeper.

 

7. Share your doubts, progress and failures!

 

8.Promote our group: invite a colleague to join, or get one of the icons from "Promote" and post them on your blog or website!

 

9. And to go on learning about blogs' theory and practice, you're invited to explore SupportBlogging (http://supportblogging.wikispaces.com/home), the wiki about blogging which offers lots of good reading stuff and links, or browse this list of links (http://www.aaronland.info/weblog/theory/) and share anything useful you may find in these or other websites.

 

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WEEK 22 (August 24-30)

    • Consolidation Week 1**

 

This week we start looking back, with the idea of consolidating our knowledge and helping those who joined us later make sense of what's been going on around here!

 

Make sure you have:

 

  • Added yourself to our Frappr map
  • Added your photo to our group albums and to Frappr (so that you can appear in our slide shows!)
  • Added yourself to our database "Members"
  • Introduced yourself on our wiki page for "Members"

 

And whether you were here from the very beginning, or have just joined:

 

  • Scan messages #1 to 155, see if there's anything you'd like to discuss there, focussing on the weekly tasks set then.
  • Look at our wiki page on Netiquette and somehow contribute to enhancing it (e.g. adding resources, improving its layout, posting tips for beginners)
  • Design a quiz for teachers/students: "how much do you know about netiquette?" (suggestion: use the quiz builder at www.discoveryschool.com).
  • Write about netiquette for bloggers, or in discussion groups? Post a blog entry on this!
  • Email (off-list) those who posted to the group between March 20-27 and who you haven't heard from recently.

 

 

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