Peer editing in digital and mobile environments

For years now I have been happily using EtherPad based services like http://primarypad.com/ and http://sync.in/ to get participants on the training courses I deliver to work collaboratively to create and peer edit texts. Increasingly though I've been having problems with the reliability of the free services these companies provide and the lack of reliable compatibility with mobile devices.

At last it seems that now I have a very elegant solution in the form of https://quip.com/.
Quip looks a lot like Evernote and has a similar interface with documents contained in notebooks, but one of the big differences is that Quip was designed specifically to enable peer editing and collaboration on documents and has a very clear way of showing and tracking the changes.

Here's a short tutorial showing you how it works:


Why should we get our students peer editing?

• It improves their awareness of accuracy
• It can improve the quality of their writing
• Pushes students to accept that writing is a process that needs revisions and redrafting
• The ability to collaborate in digital environments is likely to be an important real world digital literacy

What kinds of peer editing activities can we do with students?

• We can give them texts with planted errors (10 - 20) in to work on a find and correct together. These could be the lyrics of songs they like or stories or articles they have read.
• We can get students to correct each others' compositions before we look at them.
• We can give them texts with specific features missed out and get them to work together to add them. These could be linking or referencing devices, punctuation, vocabulary words, grammatical features such as prepositions or articles etc.
• We can get them working together to rearrange parts of a text into a better order or structure.
• We can give them the bare structure of a story and ask them to embellish it and make it more descriptive and interesting.

What I like about Quip

• It's free
• Nicely designed interface
• Works and looks well in both tablet  app form and in the browser
• Clearly tracks and highlights changes to documents by different users
• It looks secure and enables you to limit who sees and works on the document while editing
• Has a kind of chat messaging feature which works along side the notes for changes
• We can use it to get students collaborating and working together outside the classroom

What I'm not so sure about

• It requires registration, which can slow things down in class, but it does also add a degree of security
• I haven't tried it with larger groups yet so I'm not sure how reliably it will function when scaled up to say having a whole class work synchronously on a single document
• Not sure how long it will stay free (There is a Quip Business already available)

I'm now looking forward to my next course so that I can try Quip out and get a bit more experience with it. I hope you also find it useful with your students. Do drop me a line and let me know how it goes.

Related links:

• What do you feel are the key digital literacy skills that 21st century learners need? 
• Get Students Checking Grammar and Collocation 
• How I use social media for my professional development  
• Two Contrasting Views of Educational Technology 
• Online Teacher Development Works Best - 15 Reasons Why
• Developing your digital study skills
• Temporary Bookmarking
• Creating a personal homepage
• Social Networks and the Web 2.0 Revolution
• Create your own social network 7 steps
• A Tick List of 21st Century Digital Skills for Teachers 

Best

Nik Peachey

Why I don't want an IWB (Interactive Whiteboard)

Recently, I have been asked quite  few times about IWBs and which ones are best etc. My usual answer is 'none' and then I have to explain, so I thought, instead of explaining I would write this post so that I could point people towards each time they ask.

So this is my classroom set up of preference and these are the key components.

1. Data projector - I'm not really bothered which one as long as it produces a good screen resolution (There's a reasonable article here on how to choose one:
How to Buy a Projector)

2. A Laptop - My preference here is for a MacBook, but I can understand why some people find that extravagant and don't feel they are worth the extra financial outlay. Personally, I think they are worth the extra money, because they work faster and so save time (the most valuable commodity we have) and because they are pretty durable(The Apple products I've owned have lasted at least twice as long as their PC counterparts I've had and are still going strong.)


3. iPad - Again my preference here is for the iPad mini, because it is so light to hold in one hand and pass around, but still big enough and powerful enough to fulfil my storage needs and to operate without squinting (also quite a bit cheaper)

4. Reflector app - This is a key app that you download onto your laptop. It then enables you to project your iPad screen onto your computer (and so through the data projector) as it wirelessly receives signals from the iPad's Airplay function.

For those who aren't familiar with Airplay, it's an Apple function that allows you to use the wireless to project sound and vision from an iPhone, iPad, iTouch etc of to Apple TV. You can find more information here: Airplay

Why I like the Airplay enabled set up

• For me this allows the best of both worlds. I can use the laptop for any software that's native to computer world and very quickly and wirelessly switch to the mobile environment of the iPad.
• This set up is portable so you can use it in any room with a data projector and computer, as long as the Reflector app is installed.
• This also has the advantage of allowing your students access to the data projector if they also have iPads, in fact the Airplay function combined with Reflector can allow your students to project onto the screen from a number of iPads simultaneously, which is great to get students showing and comparing work for the whole class to see.
• Controlling the projection screen from the iPad means that you can move around the class and control it from wherever you are.
• To hand control over to students you just pass them the iPad
• You can store all your materials on your iPad and use it to do all your preparation / marking etc at home.
• You don't have to fiddle with replace or try to find those awful IWB pens.
• The iPad gives you access to the vast range and variety of apps that you just can't run on a computer or IWB environment. 
• An iPad and a $12.99 app are hugely cheaper than the cost of an IWB and far more flexible.
• You can also use the Reflector app to record screen activity so you can easily turn parts of your lessons into flipped learning or useful revision.
• The iPad and laptop set up provides an authentic digital learning environment so digital literacies can be developed, whereas IWB software is an artificial digital environment which students will only encounter within schools.

There are of course some downsides to this arrangement. 

• Hand writing on the iPad screen isn't so comfortable even with a stylus and a good whiteboard app (though if you want to try it I would recommend Bamboo Paper).
• The Reflector app isn't free, but it is very cheap ($12.99) so much cheaper than an IWB.
• This set up only works with Apple mobile products as the controller (Though you can use any laptop to install the app on), so if your students bring along Android or other devices they won't be able to access your projector (but they wouldn't on an IWB either).
• The Reflector app runs through the wireless to connect the laptop to the iPad, so you may need to have some specific ports open if your IT manager has them closed.

If you don't have the choice and you already have an IWB, then that's fine, you could still install the Reflector app and start using an iPad too, but given the choice it's pretty clear. So, now hopefully I'll be getting asked this question a lot less often.

Do post comments and let me know what you think. I'd also appreciate hearing about any alternative apps you may have used to connect your iPad and especially your Android tablet to the projector

Related links:

• Learning Technology News 
• Tools for Learners
• Could Doceri be the IWB killer?
• Can you replace your IWB with a $10 dollar app?
• Questioning the role of technology in education 
• iPad apps for English language teachers
• Some Pros and Cons of iPads for ELT 

Best
Nik Peachey

Gamification to encourage learner autonomy

This post tries to pull together a couple of things I have been thinking about recently. The first was a post I saw on the 21st Century Fluency Project blog a few weeks back. The title of the article 'How I Turned My Classroom into a ‘Living Video Game’ caught my eye and before I even had time to read it I started thinking about how the factors that create motivation in computer games could be applied to the classroom. The article is well worth reading, although this is only one element it touches on.

The other thing I have been thinking about recently is time management and distraction as it is one of the more significant objections which teachers often raise to having students using computers and mobile devices in the classroom, so when I saw 'HabitRPG' I thought it could be a useful tool to help deal with the problems and implement more of a gamified approach to the  classroom.

HabitRPG is a time and task management tool which overlays motivational elements of computer games onto managing time and tasks.

The two major motivational elements are health points, which can be used up and coins which can be earned by doing daily tasks, following good habits and doing jobs from your 'Todos' list. These coins can then used to buy rewards.

You can define the rewards for yourself. In my case I decided to define the rewards as the things that I usually do to procrastinate, such as check my email or look at facebook updates etc.

Then you can simply add your list of 'one off' jobs to the 'Todos' list. For me these are things like 'write an article', 'complete a job application', 'update my CV' etc. These become more valuable the longer they are left and so this increase motivation to do them and gain the coins so that you can pay for your rewards.

Then there are my daily chores which I can set up. These are things like 'update my blog' , 'add some links to Scoop.it' , 'search my RSS feeds for interesting articles' etc. If I do these they earn me coins, but if I don't do them by the end of the day I lose health points.

Lastly, there are the habits. These can be positive or negative depending on whether you do them or not, like 'take a walk' or 'have a snack'.

You can edit all of your lists quit simply by clicking on the pen icon, making the changes and then clicking on save and close.

The main thing you may need to edit is the price of rewards and the amount of coins you get for each task.

To change the price of the rewards, you just click the edit icon and then type in the price. The default amount for a reward is 20, but you can adjust the price depending on how much time your reward takes.

To change the amount of coins you are rewarded for doing each task, you need to go to edit and then go into the advanced options and choose, Easy, Medium or Hard. Doing a hard task will of course earn you more coins.

Once you have your lists set up it becomes quite easy just to click the + and - each time you do a task or have a reward.

Everyone starts off with 50 health points and if they have no coins to buy rewards or if they indulge in bad habits then they have to pay with health points. The challenge is to stay alive and build up enough coins to start buying rewards.

So how would this work with students?

• Well you could set the rewards as similar things to my own rewards, especially in a connected classroom. You could also add things like play a game or have a few minutes free browsing time online etc.
• Within the habits you could have things like 'speak L1', 'take notes' or 'copy an answer' etc.
• The daily things could be 'revise vocabulary', 'read a short article', communicate with someone in English', 'do an activity from the course book' etc.
• The 'Todos' could be a range of homework and autonomous learning assignments.

Here's what I imagine an ELT students profile would look like.

You'll need to guide students through the set up process and make sure they understand that for this to work they will need to be honest. You could actually have one page for the whole class, or set a page up for a group of students, but it will probably work better if they manage their own page.

They can also add a few elements of personalisation. If the click on the avatar (top left) there are a range of ways to change its appearance.

What I like about HabitRPG

• It's free and easy to use.
• It can help get students to take responsibility for their 'bad habits' and reduce the amount of 'policing' you have to do.
• It can encourage students to work on single tasks with concentration, rather than constantly multitasking.
• It's a great way to get students to take responsibility for their own time and learning and have some fun at the same time.
• It could increase motivation and help your students to be better organised.
• Students have their own account so they can log in on any computer.

Things I'm not so sure about

• Each student would need to have a computer or mobile device for this to work effectively.
• It would be great to see this on mobile, but I think that is being planned and it does run in the safari browser on iPad.
• There is some down time sometimes.
• Grouping students would also be great, but again I think this is coming.

If you want to know more about HabitRPG, there is quite a long tutorial below which shows a number of other features that you can unlock by playing the game.


I hope you enjoy HabitRPG and that it helps your students to be more organised and disciplined about they way they use their computer or mobile device for learning.

Related links:

• 3D Computer Games with Young Learners
• Adventure Narratives for EFL ESL
• Educational Games That Really Are Fun
• Exploiting two computer-based RPGs
• Games With a Purpose and a Social Network
• Create your own game
• Online Water Conservation Game

Best

Nik Peachey

Create online learning with 123ContactForm

123ContactForm may not sound like the kind of tool that would be of interest to educators, but as I discovered when they asked me to review their online form creation tool, they offer quite a range of features that can solve many of the problems we have as 21st century teachers.

We can use it to:

• Create surveys to do research and action research
• We can create interactive materials based around multimedia objects
• We can eve use it to sell our materials or services online and take payments

The tool itself is browser based and so doesn't require any downloading or installation and that in itself can save a lot of hassle if you work in an institution that has very restrictive practices regarding the installation of software.

To get started you just need to go to the site and register at: http://www.123contactform.com/education-forms.htm

Once you have registered you get access to the dashboard and this is where you can start creating your forms. You just need to click on 'Create New Form'.

You will then get a choice of different types of form to create. It's a good idea to click on 'Other Forms' this takes you to the online educator forms.   If you have a look at some of the templates and educator forms that have already been created it will give you some idea of what the platform can do. There is an Education section with some ready made templates in.

When you are ready to create your own educator forms, you could start by clicking on 'Blank Form'. Call your form 'My first activity' and then save it and look at the different types of interactions you can create.

You will see the basic interactions you can add to the page. Clicking on them will add the interaction type to the page.

Then when you click on the interaction type you can edit its features.

Some of the advanced interaction types are particularly interesting, especially the html feature which enables you to embed interactive media objects such as videos or digital books into your forms and then build interactive activities around them.

You can also add social buttons to enable users to share your activities through social media channels. 123ContactForm does also have a Facebook app so once your activities are complete you can post them directly into Facebook pages or groups for users to do from there.

This video shows you how to use all the main features of the forms.


Once you have created your activities they are saved in the 'My Forms' section of the site and you can go there to edit them. Here you can get the code to publish your educator forms into your bog website or CMS, or get a link to email out to students.

You can also check to see who has submitted answers to the questions and see the record of what answers have been given in the 'Reports' section. This is one of the best features of the site as it turns it into a form of LMS (learning management system) where you can collect and analyse students responses and generate graphs of the results.

The site also allow users to add and customise the theme of the forms, so if you want them to blend into your site or blog, then customising the look and feel of the forms is quite easy and you can even add your own logo.

This video shows you how to customise your form.


So how can we use this with EFL / ESL students?

• We can create action research forms and get detailed and anonymous feedback on our teaching
• We can create multimedia materials for learning or assessment and track our students responses. This is particularly useful if we a creating homework assignments and we need to assess these and know that our students have done them.
• We can create learning objects to embed into online courses that track and assess students' performance.
• We can make fun engaging quizzes based around images.

As ELT professionals

• We can use the forms to create surveys for research.
• We can start selling materials, self published books, or private online classes and collect payment in a safe and secure way.

What I like about 123ContactForm

• It's a very versatile platform and really does enable a lot more than the name suggests. In fact it's a pretty sound way to create online learning materials with a built in LMS.
• It's a great tool for freelancers who want to start making money online by selling their own products and services in a user friendly way.
• It runs in the browser and is pretty simple to use.
• It's easy to produce something that looks very professional.
• I've said it already, but the tracking capabilities are great.
• The company runs on a freemium model, so although it is a free service, there is also a business model there to support the site so it's less likely to suddenly disappear or fold.

What I'm not so sure about

• As I said the company runs on a freemium model, so many of the best features are the ones they charge for.
• On the free subscription you can create 5 forms and collect up to 100 students' responses each month which is probably enough for the individual teacher to use it with a class, but it would be nice to have a few more of the premium features available to the Free subscriber, such as the html embed to enable the use of video and multimedia in the activities.
• You have to be on the Platinum account to be able to enable payments and that costs $29.95 per month, which for a company or school is not much, but for a teacher / freelancer who wants to test the waters with selling their own products or services, it might seem like quite a big risk when they are just getting started, but you can cancel your subscription if things don't go well and 123ContactForm does offer a 30day money back guarantee. It's also worth mentioning that if you are a teacher or teacher trainer and you get in contact with the company, they are offering a 35% educational discount, so that can help to reduce the risk and the cost.

On the whole I think this is a really good product, particularly for a small school that wants to venture into online teaching or blended learning, then a platinum account at $29.95 per month is quite a small risk. For a teacher thinking of going freelance it might be a good option if you are confident that you can make enough through online sales to justify the monthly outlay. As a teacher working in class, then it's a nice way to get started with creating some online learning with a degree of interactivity, but it would be much more attractive if the html embed functionality came as part of the free subscription.

123ContactForm has plenty of potential for the online educator or anyone wanting to create blended learning, so it's well worth checking out, and when I get my book finished I may well be using it myself. I hope you find it useful too.

Related links:

• Learning technology news portal
• Web Tools for Learners
• Creating Social Polls and Questionnaires Using Urtak
• Survey Creation Tool for Students
• Create Quick Online Polls
• Create an ESL EFL Video Quiz
• Make your own chat room

Best
Nik Peachey

What are the qualities of a good educational technology trainer?

Whilst in the process of designing a unit of online learning I started thinking about the qualities and skills that a good educational technology trainer should have. After thinking of a few myself I decided to draw on the wisdom of my PLN and crowd-source a few more ideas.

Please feel free to add your ideas and to copy any of the ones you find here. I'd also like you to selectively vote for the ones you think are most important. You can also add some pros and cons to say why. You can add your ideas and comments without registering.



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Thank you for your help and participation. I hope you find this list useful.

Related links

• My learning technology reading list
• My collection of tools for learners
• My Facebook page
• A Mural of my work online
• 10 Tech Tools for Teacher Training Courses 
• 10 Tools for Increasing Engagement in Online Courses  
• Criteria for Evaluating Web Tools and Apps

Best

Nik Peachey

Criteria for Evaluating Web Tools and Apps

I'm often getting asked what my criteria are for choosing the tools, apps and resources that I feature on my blogs and in my teaching and do be honest I don't really think about it that much. I look at so many sites and apps that I just get a feeling when I see something that I think will work.

As that isn't a very satisfactory answer to give people I decided to start exploring my own criteria for what influences my choice. I ran a workshop on this topic at IATEFL 2013 on looking at apps and how we can evaluate them.


I came up with a number of 'first impression' criteria that I think I apply before even thinking about 'how' I will use the app / tool.

Here is the presentation / workshop recording



You can download a copy of the presentation from here: Evaluating Web-based Tools

Please feel free to browse the list and add any 'pros' and 'cons' for anything you think I've missed.


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I hope you find these criteria useful as a starting point for your own reflections on why you choose to use certain apps and not others.

Related links

• My learning technology reading list
• My collection of tools for learners
• My Facebook page
• A Mural of my work online

Best

Nik Peachey

Mix Images and Animation on Your Mobile

A couple of years back I wrote about a really nice web based tool called Xtranormal and since then I've heard from so many teachers saying how useful their students have found it, so I was delighted yesterday to find that the same makes had now produced a free mobile / tablet app called Tellagami. The app runs on a mobile device and allows users to add animated speaking characters to a selection of backgrounds or to the users' own images. You can then either use text to speech to write a script for the character, or you can record your own voice and the app will lip-synch you text to the character. This is very quick and easy to do. Here's how.

Open the app an click on create.

Then choose your background, either from the ones provided, from your own image library or you can take a photograph of wherever you are at the time.

Then you can choose the character you want to use and customise their appearance.

Next you can select an emotion for your character.

Lastly, you can either type in your message or record it directly onto your device. You can record up to 30 seconds of spoken audio.

Once you animation is complete you can either send it by email, share it through various social networks or just save it onto your device to show it in class.

 You can complete the whole process in just a couple of minutes.

I think this is a great app to get students speaking either in the classroom, at home or while they are out and about in the world.

Some learning activities for students

• Ask the students to create 4 - 5 animated images explaining their route to school.
• Get students to create animated images of 4 - 5 of their favourite places around their town.
• Get students to take pictures of objects and create an animated video dictionary.
• Get students to talk about images of people in their family.
• Create some animated images of different steps in a process (making coffee, tea etc) and then get the students to watch and put them in the correct order.
• 
  
• Get students to create an animated image journal by adding one new image each day.
• Get students to take pictures of their favourite book covers or film posters and then record a review.
• Get students to create animated video cards on special occasions.

 I'm sure there are lots more activities you can think of.

What I like about Tellagami

• It's free and very easy to use.
• It encourages students to speak.
• It can be used effectively outside the classroom.
• Students can use it to pull some aspects of their own life and experience into the classroom.
• It produces very professional looking results.

Possible problems

• At present it's only available for iPhone / iPad so that limits who can use it.

 So if your students have iPads / iPhones and you ant to give them motivating speaking assignments for homework, Tellagami is a great tool to use for the job.

I hope you find it useful.

Related links

• Text to Speech Movies for EFL ESL  
• iPad Apps for English Language Teachers
• Creating audio-visual monologues
• Drama project tools
• Make you own animated movies
• Developing screencast tutorials
• Extending a Sentence

Best
Nik Peachey