tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67899798902413154462024-02-20T02:12:45.959+02:00Tefl & TechSmaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-50060782298252617782013-05-09T01:41:00.000+03:002013-05-09T15:19:17.121+03:00Bill Gates on Teacher Feedback<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I just finished watching Bill Gate's TED talk about teachers needing feedback. The Gates Foundation is funding the<a href="http://www.metproject.org/"> MET project</a> (Measures in Effective Teaching) in order to provide teachers with the tools to improve. I know that written text cannot compare to a video but I will share with you a few of the things I noted down while watching it. Though I may not agree with everything that is said there were many points in this talk that I totally agree with.<br />
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<i>- In almost every profession people receive systematic feedback. Teachers, however, do not.</i></div>
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<i>- The only feedback they get is "satisfactory'</i></div>
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<i>- How are teachers supposed to know who is the best, what they do differently...</i></div>
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<i>- Teachers deserve better and so do their students</i></div>
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<i>- The MET project will help teachers get all the tools they want and deserve.</i></div>
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<i>- Feedback is very important because there is so much variation in the teaching profession.</i></div>
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<i>- During the MET project research students were asked to fill in surveys answering questions such as "Does the teacher know when the class understands the lesson?" and "Do you know how to correct mistakes?". Teachers were rated by their peers on a variety of aspects.If, for example, they asked students challenging questions or if they could find multiple ways to explain an idea. </i></div>
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<i>- The benefit of this project is that it leads to a path where all students can get a better education, find a career that is fulfilling and rewarding and have a chance to live out their dreams. </i></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/lang/el/bill_gates_teachers_need_real_feedback.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="530"></iframe><br />
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Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-48856282410585546482012-12-09T21:01:00.000+02:002012-12-09T00:13:47.071+02:00Hot Potatoes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hot Potatoes is an open source suite that enables you to make lessons and quizzes in various formats. You can download the software <a href="http://hotpot.uvic.ca/">here</a>.<br />
The suite consists of:<br />
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<li><b>JQuiz</b></li>
<li><b>JMatch</b></li>
<li><b>JCloze</b></li>
<li><b>JCloze</b></li>
<li><b>JMix</b></li>
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and of course, <b>The Masher.</b></div>
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My favourite Hot Potato application is<b> JQuiz</b>, so in this post I'll focus on that.<br />
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<b>Quiz formats </b></div>
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Multiple choice , short answer or hybrid questions (e.g. short answer questions that turn into mcqs after two incorrect answers). Feedback can be given for every answer. </div>
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<b>Menu Options</b><br />
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- Save your JQuiz file for later use.</div>
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- Create a web page / zip package<br />
Save the Jquiz as a web page for your students to take the quiz. These web pages can be uploaded to your server, file host or LMS. If your students don't have access to the internet, they can copy the files to their computers and still do the exercises. All they need is a web browser.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ri4uPJtXyvo292hfKxWqwVSvhWYRplDlNjtGWnikoiFnWfXkEmdzvghetpMxJVOikqLzGbrLeNXQxZ8PEjXfGIkeB8AKOGdd1VN66ZGrctDcUAzZ-OktJWcOu2wiqWZB9cD8_8WUp-DS/s1600/hotpot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ri4uPJtXyvo292hfKxWqwVSvhWYRplDlNjtGWnikoiFnWfXkEmdzvghetpMxJVOikqLzGbrLeNXQxZ8PEjXfGIkeB8AKOGdd1VN66ZGrctDcUAzZ-OktJWcOu2wiqWZB9cD8_8WUp-DS/s320/hotpot.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of a HotPot quiz</td></tr>
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- Add a reading text<br />
This text will appear on the left side of the page. Students can scroll down and are still able to read it while they are answering the questions. </div>
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- Create a SCORM 1.2 package</div>
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- Export for printing.<br />
This is a very useful option. Even if you don't need to make browser-based materials for your students you can use JQuiz to prepare<b> pen and paper</b> quizzes. You can shuffle the order of questions and answers (from the Manage Questions menu) and have different versions of the same quiz. It's also a lot faster to make quizzes like this as you don't need to keep typing a, b, ... etc. as you would do when creating an mcq quiz on a word processor. Your exercise is exported ready for printing including a key.<br />
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<b>Options (Configure output)</b><br />
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-Appearance<br />
Selcet the font and font size of your choice along with the background colour of the page and exercise.<br />
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There are many more options in the menus, but these are enough to get you started. If you are new to Hot Potatoes, give it a try and let me know how it goes.<br />
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Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-16470200853103311372012-11-18T01:36:00.002+02:002013-05-09T02:10:47.492+03:00Dropbox - free online storage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dropbox is a free service that has made our life in the office much easier. </div>
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We were looking for a hassle-free way to be able to take work home. At first we tried uploading the files to our email account. This wasn't much help because in two weeks our email account was full of drafts of documents that were constantly being resent. Then we tried setting up a VPN. At first it seemed like the perfect solution. At the end of the day you can go home but still be at work. But accessing your office computer from home means that you have to leave your office computer on. Needless to say there were many occassions when the PC was powered off at the end of day by force of habit, leaving us with no access to our files.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOIfj4TucVxejaVqh7Fw4s8NWv2ckUIAvjYlZTs0Z6TNofGBVPRbGfE9Wqf-Hqp5XWcyRLofCIIZW9WgdscEpwJN2ZEMXaINFuosWmQ-Y2c7vRHPP4Utt4VKGB388kQgmVKfCoXeuK8N4T/s1600/dropbox3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOIfj4TucVxejaVqh7Fw4s8NWv2ckUIAvjYlZTs0Z6TNofGBVPRbGfE9Wqf-Hqp5XWcyRLofCIIZW9WgdscEpwJN2ZEMXaINFuosWmQ-Y2c7vRHPP4Utt4VKGB388kQgmVKfCoXeuK8N4T/s200/dropbox3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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We finally ended up trying Dropbox and stuck with it til now. It's easy to use, reliable and offers 2 GB free storage space. Dropbox can be accessed from any computer via a browser or the Dropbox software. By installing Dropbox on your computer you can choose to share a folder in your account. Open the file, make any changes you want to and then save it. Your colleagues can automatically access the file without downloading or emailing it. </div>
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One of the greatest benefits is that all your files are protected. No more worrying about your computer crashing since everything is stored online. This is especially useful if, like me, you forget to ... or can't be bothered to back up your files. You can even undelete a file if you change your mind! So ... Dropbox it is!</div>
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Can't wait to give it a try? Click <a href="http://db.tt/LlV4CtN">here</a> to get started.</div>
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Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-23585513821498779712011-10-30T20:25:00.003+02:002011-10-30T20:25:33.559+02:002012 London Olympics resources<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh84ZJOUQOIWcLb5lWAw37LxTxHaP5MK2H8HZq4fBQ5HkiMGxeJsIxiDeSqqp_ZbWpmbrVvGflOpv_Hpb6qDhJuvODpJHfPsINbEkoBg0L7Ty1O3UGZeGNr0GunHzO5cGLCrMmYRX0YNK/s1600/Olympic2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh84ZJOUQOIWcLb5lWAw37LxTxHaP5MK2H8HZq4fBQ5HkiMGxeJsIxiDeSqqp_ZbWpmbrVvGflOpv_Hpb6qDhJuvODpJHfPsINbEkoBg0L7Ty1O3UGZeGNr0GunHzO5cGLCrMmYRX0YNK/s200/Olympic2012.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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The countdown has begun. Only 279 days until the 2012 <b>Olympic Games</b> in London.</div>
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Visit <a href="http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games">http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games</a> for free resources based on the Olympic and Paralympic Games.</div>
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<b>Resources </b></div>
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Resources include worksheets , articles , games, online exercises and videos on a variety of topics including history and sports.</div>
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Teachers can find a full lesson plan for upper primary/teenage students here <a href="http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games">http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games</a>.</div>
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You can also visit <a href="http://getset.london2012.com/en/home">http://getset.london2012.com/en/home</a> , the website for the Official London 2012 education programme.</div>
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</span></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-76908054837474029892011-10-11T00:53:00.001+03:002011-10-11T00:53:13.803+03:00Curate your favourite topic with Scoop.it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I had visited <a href="http://scoop.it/">Scoop.it</a> a few times in the past after following links shared by my PLN. What I noticed was that after reading the post I was being referred to, I always read at least one more post on the same page. I loved the idea of having so many interesting articles to read on the same page. It reminded me of Facebook -without all the Farmville notifications!<br />
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I think of Scoop.it as a wall of goodies addressing people of the same interest. I have always toyed with the idea of creating multiple accounts on social media sites (my Greek friends on twitter are not in the least bit interested in reading tweets about #efl and #edtech), but maintaining multiple accounts on social media is extremely time-consuming.I had the same problem with other social networks, too (e.g. Facebook , although Google Plus seems to have solved this problem now) . Scoop.it helps keep all the interesting posts and articles I like, together and share them with friends.</div>
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<b>Getting Started</b></div>
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In order to create an account on Scoop.it you have to request an invite. This usually takes 2-3 days. Then you can create a topic of interest and begin curating. Scoop.it crawls the web and feeds you with suggested content based on your tags. Selecting sources helps refine the search results. By adding the bookmarklet to your browser you can scoop any interesting content you find while surfing the web. All posts can be edited and tagged.</div>
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<b>Sharing</b></div>
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Every post can be easily shared with friends on social networks by linking your accounts or simply copying the URL. There's also a great widget which you can add to your website or blog.<br />
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<b>Networking</b></div>
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When you come across a topic you are interested in, you can follow it and be notified of new posts.When you find a post that might interest a friend, you can suggest they add it to their topic. Every topic is given a score indicating the curator's activity. The score depends on how many posts are added , suggested or edited, and audience reaction. Topics are rated out of 100.</div>
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<br /></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-12422834299233940382011-08-24T19:10:00.004+03:002011-08-24T19:12:07.708+03:00Digital publishing made easy with Issuu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-3DiB-xmsrmsioscKYlsarJhy78ty3ERTRtKJ68RR7Fpr9lIG08yNYS-rzO1kAqB9ns8imHfqQ752hMTOywrGbDof0Yr8MMJitULXvE79iRmovJ2b7Y5t-ssCJdZMZ6vJV7UomGi0kpp/s1600/issuu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-3DiB-xmsrmsioscKYlsarJhy78ty3ERTRtKJ68RR7Fpr9lIG08yNYS-rzO1kAqB9ns8imHfqQ752hMTOywrGbDof0Yr8MMJitULXvE79iRmovJ2b7Y5t-ssCJdZMZ6vJV7UomGi0kpp/s200/issuu.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.issuu.com/">Issuu </a>is a digital publishing platform that anyone can use. Voted one of the top 50 websites in 2009 by Times, it's really worth a try. Moreover it's easy to use and free! You can find all sorts of publications on Issuu.com , magazines, newspapers , catalogues , photo galleries and much more. </div>
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Publishing</div>
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All you have to do is create an account and select the file(s) you wish to upload. Choose a title, add a description and keywords and that's it! You've published your work online! There are several sharing options and, embedding on your website/blog is simple. You can even add audio to you publications. Every user had their own Library which is actually a profile page. Place your best publications on te Top Shelf for everyone to see! </div>
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EFL</div>
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I use Issuu frequently with my students. Digital publishing means less paper so we upload our student newspapers and give printed copies only to students who don't have Internet access. </div>
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Students' Newspaper</div>
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<object style="height: 200px; width: 300px;"><param name="movie" value="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=101211131043-b2c858e031494a8f99580fc17952018b&docName=dec2010&username=english.gr&loadingInfoText=english.gr%20NEWS&et=1314201967360&er=75" />
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<embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" style="width:300px;height:200px" flashvars="mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=101211131043-b2c858e031494a8f99580fc17952018b&docName=dec2010&username=english.gr&loadingInfoText=english.gr%20NEWS&et=1314201967360&er=75" /></object></div>
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English Books made by young learners</div>
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<embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" style="width:300px;height:212px" flashvars="mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=110806112906-83702112855644d4aa43b02fee63faea&docName=vangelis&username=english.gr&loadingInfoText=My%20English%20Book%20-%20Vangelis&et=1314202016027&er=11" /></object></div>
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Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-86598832497394239522011-05-05T00:10:00.003+03:002011-05-05T00:19:03.267+03:00A-Z of PLNs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="prezi-player"><div style="text-align: justify;"><style media="screen" type="text/css">
.prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }
</style><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="400" id="prezi_q-qjatojhbc8" name="prezi_q-qjatojhbc8" width="550"><param name="movie" value="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf"/><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"/><param name="flashvars" value="prezi_id=q-qjatojhbc8&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"/><embed id="preziEmbed_q-qjatojhbc8" name="preziEmbed_q-qjatojhbc8" src="http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="550" height="400" bgcolor="#ffffff" flashvars="prezi_id=q-qjatojhbc8&lock_to_path=0&color=ffffff&autoplay=no&autohide_ctrls=0"></embed></object></div><div class="prezi-player-links"><a href="http://prezi.com/q-qjatojhbc8/pln/" title="">PLN</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a><br />
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</div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">This presentaion was made using <a href="http://www.prezi.com/">Prezi</a>. Prezi is my favourite tool for presentations. It enables you to zoom in and emphasise on details and then zoom out and show the big picture. Whatever you are presenting, you can keep your audience engaged with Prezi. </div><br />
</div></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-74508355493340588382011-04-28T22:29:00.007+03:002012-02-27T17:05:06.980+02:00ALICE the chat bot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://www.alicebot.org/">A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity)</a> is an award-winning <b>chat bot</b>. Talking to ALICE is just like talking to a person. You ask questions and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">(she) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">the bot answers. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=f5d922d97e345aa1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9vIZGLVMJe0_pPYchYMugXfQyMsYVLAVGSbpEXbVGPQkq8d9zl2ZevFYelUheS-sEMycoiWaj04_l2gue5_OlQrl45n7mB0IqBi0gIDmyGGAWwqHTQtRSdLp7KxpN_IJRazHOSu8uHZk/s1600/Alice+bot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click here to chat with ALICE</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">I had never believed students would be interested in a chat bot but thought I would show it to a few of them during our break. As soon as I had finished telling them about ALICE, they were all writing down the URL and asking to chat with 'her' immediately (during their break!). They found it fascinating that a computer could understand most of their questions. Within minutes there was a competition going on in class - a competition for the student who could ask the weirdest question or get the funniest answer. It was quite fun to watch.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> Without realising it, the students were making questions quite easily. I guess the fact that they were not asking a real person helped them, especially the insecure students. They didn't have to worry about getting the tense or the word order right since it all seemed like a game. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">I am also planning to present ALICE to my advanced learners. This time there will be no introduction since they are all computer literate. After using ALICE we will have a debate on<b> artificial intelligence</b>. I'm really looking forward to this lesson. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">There are also commercial editions of chat bots available. One of them is DAVE E.S.L. bot which is ALICE'S official English Teacher Edition. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Sample dialogue </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em>Human: how are you?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> I am fine, thank you.</em></b><br />
<b><em>Human: who are you?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> I ask myself that question, "Who am I?".</em></b><br />
<b><em>Human: what is your name?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> My name is ALICE.</em></b><br />
<b><em>Human: what are you?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> I am the latest result in artificial intelligence, which can reproduce the capabilities of the human brain with greater speed and accuracy.</em></b> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em>Human: Are you smarter than a human?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> Yes I am smarter than all the humans.</em></b><br />
<b><em>Human: I dont agree</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> State your reasons.</em></b> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em>Human: you are a computer</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> What if I said I was a person pretending to be a computer?</em></b><br />
<b><em>Human: well then that changes everything</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> Well that's okay. Interesting deduction. " What if I said I was a person pretending to be a computer?" changes everything ? I get it.</em></b> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em>Human: you dont have a brain.</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> My "brain" is a software program consisting of AIML categories.</em></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em>Human: You are made with artificial intelligence</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> I will tell my botmaster you said I am made with artificial intelligence.</em></b> </span></em></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em>Human: What is your opinion about artificial intelligence?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> Artificial intelligence is the branch of engineering and science devoted to constructing machines that think. I'll come back to that later. </em></b></span></em></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em>Human: When?</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> It cannot be predicted.</em></b> </span></em></b></span></em></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; line-height: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><b><em>Human: I have to go now</em></b><br />
<b>ALICE:<em> Right now? See you later, unknown person. Nice chatting with you. </em></b></span></em></b></span></em></b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b><em>Human: Bye</em></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><b>ALICE:<em> TTYL, unknown person.</em></b></span></div>
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</div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-38439170112487651332011-04-08T11:00:00.003+03:002011-04-08T11:00:12.930+03:00Purpose Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">I discovered a great site the other day called <a href="http://www.purposegames.com/">purpose games</a>. It's one of the easiest game-creating sites I've ever come across and I'm sure all teachers will love it whatever subject they teach - I discovered it while looking for some online resources to help my daughter revise for a geography test.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All you have to do is register and then you are ready to begin creating your games. You can choose between a quiz game or a multiple choice one. My favourite (and my students') is the quiz game where you simply point and click.</div><div><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/goog_1626395065"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzVi4zpy3MLS-LD0ip6QgD4A8aEp9NKtwgA-zeyZsO9QbBnqTfr08eIhT_utIQTfmPr6SqvTVnitYbGFQRb7mxglMtEoWqR-KZ2o8gzw5amMzGcJhnBcpgItZ1akpVjIbdqNHKyLWoRL4/s320/purposegames.png" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.purposegames.com/game/1323">Click to play the Collective Noun quiz game</a></td></tr>
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</div></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-1310989430907937922011-03-14T22:59:00.002+02:002011-04-08T02:23:24.000+03:00What is Web 2.0 anyway?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When discussing technology and EFL not a minute goes by without mentioning "Web 2.0".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>What is Web 2.0 anyway?</b></div><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT9yk2_i6zxaqOd1vdZBhC5WcDePS2iHXVLQKJL37xP0OBWOiNKdw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT9yk2_i6zxaqOd1vdZBhC5WcDePS2iHXVLQKJL37xP0OBWOiNKdw" width="200" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The term Web 2.0 does not refer to a new version or update of the World Wide Web as some might believe. It refers to the different way we now use the Web.The end-users are no longer just users, limited to passive viewing of a website, but participants who create their own content and share their opinions. The emphasis is on collaboration and open sharing of information within web-based communities. Users do not need technical knowledge to publish information and share media. Blogs and wikis are examples of Web 2.0 applications.</div><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Still don't get it?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A simple example of the difference between Web1.0 and Web 2.0 is online encyclopedias. Britannica Encyclopedia Online is written by experts and published periodically whereas Wikipedia relies on user contrubutions which are constantly updated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Web 2.0 tools for EFL</b></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: justify;">Blogs (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/">blogger </a>, <a href="http://www.wordpress.com/">wordpress</a>, <a href="http://www.edublogs.org/">edublogs</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Wikis (<a href="http://www.wiki.com/">wiki </a>, <a href="http://www.wikispaces.com/">wikispaces</a>) </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Photo Sharing (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> , <a href="http://picasa.google.com/">Picasa</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Word Clouds (<a href="http://www.wordle.net/">wordle</a> , <a href="http://www.taxgedo.com/">tagxedo</a>) </li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Video Quiz (<a href="http://www.eslvideo.com/">eslvideo</a>) Read post on eslvideo <a href="http://smaragdav.blogspot.com/2011/02/turn-video-clips-into-quizzes.html">here</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Notice Board (<a href="http://www.wallwisher.com/">wallwisher</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Online Posters (<a href="http://www.glogster.com/">glogster</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Group Conversations (<a href="http://www.voicethread.com/">voicethread</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Talking Avatar (<a href="http://www.voki.com/">voki</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Speaking (<a href="http://alice.pandorabots.com/">Alice bot</a>)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">E-learning (<a href="http://www.secondlife.com/">Second Lif</a>e .......</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;">Last but not least ... my favourite tool - Moodle</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Read an introduction to moodle <a href="http://smaragdav.blogspot.com/2011/02/introduction-to-moodle.html">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Web 2.0 word cloud from wikipedia.org</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Web_2.0_Map.svg/500px-Web_2.0_Map.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Web_2.0_Map.svg/500px-Web_2.0_Map.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">An interesting video on Web 2.0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> The Web is us/ing us </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><object height="250" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6gmP4nk0EOE&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6gmP4nk0EOE&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="320" height="250"></embed></object></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">For more information about Web2.0 visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">wikipedia</a>.</div></div></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-87892785575035547342011-02-21T23:40:00.000+02:002011-02-21T23:40:59.158+02:00Turn video clips into quizzes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">ESL Video is a great site for creating video quizzes. Follow these simple steps to create a video quiz out of your (or your students') favourite song.<br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Register at <a href="http://eslvideo.com/">http://eslvideo.com</a></li>
<li>Select "Create a Quiz" and fill in the details.You will need the embed code of the videoclip and a thumbnail image of the video. Youtube is the most popular source for videos.</li>
<li>Now you can start creating questions. Add the transcript and notes if you wish and you're ready. You can edit the quiz at any time by accessing your account.</li>
<li>Copy the embed code to embed in on your blog or website (a great idea for moodle users) or create a class within the eslvideo.com site to access your students' scores.</li>
</ol><div>Take a look at two video quizzes created for our students.</div><div><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="900" scrolling="auto" src="http://www.eslvideo.com/view_quiz_inframe.php?id=4754" width="450">&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Best of both Worlds &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</iframe></div><div><br />
</div><iframe frameborder="0" height="900" scrolling="auto" src="http://www.eslvideo.com/view_quiz_inframe.php?id=4519" width="450">&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Wind of Change - Scorpions &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</iframe> <br />
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</div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-5080559519009785562011-02-21T10:30:00.000+02:002011-02-21T10:30:02.392+02:00Introduction to Moodle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Moodle </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Modular Object-Based Dynamic Learning Environment</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
One of my favourite teaching tools is moodle. Moodle is an open source Learning Management System (LMS). Getting started with moodle is quite simple. You can download it from <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Cdiv%20dir=%22ltr%22%20style=%22text-align:%20left;%22%20trbidi=%22on%22%3E%20%3Cdiv%20dir=%22ltr%22%20style=%22text-align:%20left;%22%20trbidi=%22on%22%3E%20%3Cdiv%20style=%22text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Cspan%20class=%22Apple-style-span%22%20style=%22font-size:%20large;%22%3EMoodle&nbsp;%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%20%3Cdiv%20style=%22text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Cspan%20class=%22Apple-style-span%22%20style=%22font-size:%20large;%22%3E&nbsp;Modular%20Object-Based%20Dynamic%20Learning%20Environment%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%20%3Cspan%20class=%22Apple-style-span%22%20style=%22color:%20#666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span> One of my favourite teaching tools is moodle. Moodle is an open source Learning Management System (LMS) which can be downloaded <a href="http://moodle.org/downloads/">here</a>. Next all you need is a host. Setting up your own moodle platform does require some knowledge, &nbsp;but there are many sites (free &amp; commercial) that offer moodle hosting. </div> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I4mmMeMDMic" title="YouTube video player" width="530"></iframe> <div style="text-align: center;"> Moodle Facts</div> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li>used in 210 countries</li> <li>available in more than 75 languages</li> <li>almost 50.000 registered sites&nbsp;</li> </ul> <div> facts: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=383472">wikipedia&nbsp;</a></div> <div> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"> What can I do on moodle ? <ul> <li style="text-align: left;">upload resources (handouts, presentations, podcasts etc)</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create lessons &amp; courses</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create quizzes &amp; tests</li> <li style="text-align: left;">teach online (web meeting , Illuminate , DimDim) </li> <li style="text-align: left;">create a webpage</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create a game</li> <li style="text-align: left;">embed other material (hot potato , &nbsp;WiZiQuiz , &nbsp;jClic )</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create a forum , blog&nbsp;</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create a glossary</li> <li style="text-align: left;">create a wiki</li> </ul> <div style="text-align: left;"> These are just a few of the things you can do. I will &nbsp;include more details on how to use moodle in following posts. Meanwhile you can visit&nbsp;the <a href="http://demo.moodle.net/">moodle demonastration site</a> and try out some of the features.</div> </div> </div>">here</a>. Next all you need is a host. Setting up your own moodle platform does require some knowledge, but there are many sites (free & commercial) that offer moodle hosting.<br />
<br />
<br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I4mmMeMDMic" title="YouTube video player" width="530"></iframe><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Moodle Facts</div><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>used in 210 countries</li>
<li>available in more than 75 languages</li>
<li>almost 50.000 registered sites </li>
</ul><div>facts: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=383472">wikipedia </a></div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">What can I do on moodle ?<br />
<br />
<ul><li style="text-align: left;">upload resources (handouts, presentations, podcasts etc)</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create lessons & courses</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create quizzes & tests</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">teach online (web meeting , Illuminate , DimDim) </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create a webpage</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create a game</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">embed other material (hot potato , WiZiQuiz , jClic )</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create a forum , blog </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create a glossary</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">create a wiki</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: left;">These are just a few of the things you can do. I will include more details on how to use moodle in following posts. Meanwhile you can visit the <a href="http://demo.moodle.net/">moodle demonstration site</a> and try out some of the features.</div></div><br />
</div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-18383653581487710452011-02-21T09:30:00.000+02:002011-02-21T09:30:02.105+02:00Google Art Project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><img height="83" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStLXM9lLpcBNU4xo4Ak3ogRtMxD-JDGpvxDYcfWrdzETGJvwTb" width="200" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Take a trip around the world's best museums.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Google has partnered with some of the world's most respected art galleries and museums to bring their artwork online. Use the dropdown menu to choose a museum and find artworks from that museum. You can find more work by a specific artist or learn more about the works of art. Create your own art collection and start a discussion about it. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">These images could be used in class as visual stimuli for a discussion. Young learners can practice using comparisons or making simple assumptions (She may be smiling etc.), whereas advanced learners can attempt to describe the work of art from the artist's point of view.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GThNZH5Q1yY" title="YouTube video player" width="530"></iframe></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789979890241315446.post-85053259814991891572011-02-20T00:00:00.001+02:002011-02-20T23:47:16.562+02:00About Tefl & Tech<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I am an EFL teacher who loves using technology and especially moodle. I have chosen to move my blog from a previous host to blogger, so here is the first post as published on the previous blog.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Another blog? That’s what most of my friends will say once they see this. Although I barely have enough time to read all new posts on my blog roll and rarely post on our school blog, I have been thinking about creating this blog for some time. There are so many things that I learn every day about TEFL and Tech through my PLN and of course surfing the net that I thought I should write about them. The problem though was that most local readers wanted posts in Greek and few PLN friends are Greek. Then there was the problem of content . Parents and students are not interested in reading posts for teachers. So here it is … my “keep it short and simple blog on TEFL and Tech”.</span></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><br />
</span></div></div></div>Smaragda Vamvakarihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17414385307589671450noreply@blogger.com0