AN ENRICHING EXPERIENCE COMBINING EDUCTION AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Once this adventure through ICT is about to finish, I would like to look back and reflect about everything we have learnt!. I have to say that it has been an enriching experience. The combination of education and new techologies has broaden my knowledge for my future as a teacher. 
is not a goodbye, this is just the beginning of my personal adventure as I have decided to continue with this blog.

At the beginning of this carzy journey I was really afraid as I consider my self a clumsy person with new techologics, but then I realized that the best way to learn something is by doing it!

Through the different challenges I have learnt how to use a wide range of online tools, added to know various ways of teaching using ICT. As far as I am concerned, ICT allows students to work at their own rhythm as well as mantains them motivated, which is suitable in order to create a meaningful learning!

In order to gather all my impressions and the different challenges that we have done, we were asked to create the last artifact! A video record in which we had to explain this journey. Taken into account all the online tools, I decided to use Genially, as it has been my favourite one, and then I used screencast o-matic in order to record my voice as well as the slides that I have created with Genially. Both tools are really intuitive and easy to use, and the best of all, you can gain fantastic results!

Having said that, here is my final artifact

I have to say that this adventure could not have been possible without the support of our teacher, Maria Jesús García. I have to thank her all the patience she has had with us.

Thank you for reading me!
I hope you like it!

See you soon

Assessing our e- projects through a rubric of evaluation!

Hello everybody!

Today, I would like explain our new challenge. We were asked to create a rubric of evaluation in order to assess our collaborative e- projects. As you know, we were working on it last week, therefore now we have to evaluate it. If you want to know about our e- project, click here and you will have the whole process that we had to follow last week.

Related to this task , I have to say that, as a teachers, assessment is one of the most important  and complicated duty. It is not easy to decide when a task is successfully achieved or not, or even if it could be improved.  Therefore, working on creating a rubric,in order to evaluate students, is a suitable way to organize this process. Taking into account my previous reflection, creating a rubric of evaluation about our e-projects is the perfect way to be aware of the things that we have to improve, in order to have a better results.

In order to achieve  this new challenge I decided to use the online tool “Quick Rubric”. ”. Before that, I had a look at different tools but I chose this one beacuse it is really easy to use. As it is a online tool, you have to log in  first.

Once you have your account, you will be ready to create your personal rubrics! Here is an example of what you will find.

As you can see, this tool allow you to give a score rating for evaluating the e- project. In order to make the score balanced you have to bear in mind the number of criteria/ topics that you are going to evaluate and the number of levels for scoring.

In order to edit the rubric, you just have to fill the gaps with the information that you consider relevant. You can add columns and rows as well as delate them easily. Once you consider you have your rubric completed you only have to save it, and it will be automaticately saved in your account. Added to that you have other options such us: share, print or copy it. And the most important think is that, as it is a online tool you are allow to modify it whatever you want. However, this tool does not allows you to have and embed code in order to share it, you  are just allow to share the URL of the rubric.

Apart from the lack of emeded code, I highly recommend this tool as it simple and intuitive. You can create your own rubrics taking into account the goals you want your students achieve.

Having said that, here is my  rubric. I hope it will be useful to evaluate any project!

https://www.quickrubric.com/r#/qr/magayarr/assessing-a-e--project

I look forward to hearing from you!

Discovering how to use Aurasma!

Hello everyone!

Due to the World Book day, our next challenge was related to this celebration. In order to achieve this mission we were asked to present a poster about the kind of reader we are and then, add a brief video clip/ audio track to the picture through the app Aurasma.

To begin with, I used the online tool Picktochart to create my poster. As you know, in my previous challenge I used Canva in order to create our collaborative infographic, so I decided to choose another one. Picktochart  provide you with plenty of opportunities to create attractive and eye- catching posters. The only problem with this online tool is that many of the  formats are not free. Anyway, I got a great result!

The next step for this misson was to create a video/ audio clip explaining what kind of books I like, my favourite one  and finally, the characteristics that define me as a reader. To create it, I used Movie Maker, where I added the poster that I did with a record of my voice explaining all this aspects.

Regarding with Movie Maker, It is a really intuitive as well as easy tool. It allows you to edit your own videos adding pictures, records, songs, videos and so on.

Finally, we were asked to sing up in Aurasma and download it in our smart phones in order to achive the challenge.

This step was easy for me as I had worked on this app in my previous challenge, where my peers and I created a tutorial about how to use this application. If you click here you can see how to use Aurasma step by step.

Once I have completed my mission I have to say that Aurasma is an amazing tool were you can work on 3D in an easy way! I have to say that at the beging I was  afraid about it and I though I would not be able to achive it.

Here you have my final task, but first, you have to follow me on Aurasma: magayarr, otherwhise I will not work!. 
Now, you are ready to see my new creation with this app. 
Focus on the image and it will appear!

Finally, we have share all our task in a collaborative board in Pinteret, which is called: “A Wall of Books”. If you want to discover our amazing creations here you have the link: https://es.pinterest.com/mjgsm/a-wall-of-books/

I hope you like it !

Planning and recording our video challenge about our collaborative e- project!

In order to achieve this challege we had to imagine that we were pitching a movie idea to a director. Therefore, in teams, we had to complete a storbyoard for a short vido challenge  that we recorded later.

First of all, we had to think of the goal and then the tool that we would like to use in order to create the storyboard.

Our main goal when we started to think about the video was to make children reflect on their surroundings, sepecillay, about thier neighborhood, so that we though to create a video challenge using different scenes in which a child could be seen involved.  In order to organize all the information that came to our minds, we decided to use a storyboard template with a lot of details such us: characters, dialogue, scenery and so on.  
If you clik here you can find our storyboard

Once we had our story board done, was the time to record our video. Taking advantages of the story board that we had done beforehand, we did not spend to much time thinking of what we were going to do or say during the record. In order to create or video challenge, we use Imovie. I highly recommend this tool to create videos as it contain many features as: music, videos, images and so on. Imovie is a simply, easy and intuitive tool with amazing result! Therefore, it fitted with our challenge.

After using it, we consider that, Imovie could be use with students in clas as well. They would have the opportunity to use their imaginations as well as develop their oral skills.

Having said that, here you have the result of our video challenge.

Added to that, our storyboard as well as our vide challenge are goint to be part of a natinowide educational collaborative project which is called The ESL Time, so I feel really excited. We are having the opportunity to spread to the world our ideas and projects!. Apart from that we were given an award for having participated in this collaborative project!

I hope  you like it ! 

Do you know how to use the app Aurasma?

For this challenge we were asked to create a collaborative  screencast about a CLIl goal that fits with our e- project, added to support learners when they are using ICT tools, por example.

In order to accomplish this mission we all got an agreement that it would be a fantastic idea to explain our children how to use the app Aurasma as we have use it  to create our infographic.  

Once we had the idea, we were looking for a web tool that support that we would like to explain, and finally we come across with sScreencast- O- Matic. This is an intuitive, visual and online tool that allow you  to create tutorial videos with screen shoots with a high quality of sound, as well as of image.

I have to say that we spent just 2 minutes to know how it works so it was perfect!.

Once, we finished our tutorial, we had the opportunity to share it on youtube.

I consider that, using tutorial videos  in class in order to explain any activity they have to achieve is something really useful as  it allows children to learn on their own pace as well as be more independent learners.  Apart from that, children can also use it to explain to their peers how they have achieve some activitiy. 

Added to that, this is going to be part of the "AporTICs " nationwide collaborative project. Therefore, our artifact will be published in their blog! 

Our first chocotalk!

Last 7 th of April, my peers and I had the pleasure to participate in a collaborative project called Chococharlas. Chococharlas is a educative community that organize online meetings in different plataforms such as Youtube. People can participate sharing their ideas, suggestions about and educative topic. The only requirement is that, people have to eat sweets while they are discussing a topic!

We were challenged by our teacher to being part of a chococharla about CLIL and , once it has been done I have to say that it was really funny and we all were really motivated with this idea.  We had to work on it previously in order to get possitive results, but we did it with enthusiasm!

Whitin each group we were assigned different roles. 

• Neus and Álvaro were the speakers in the chocotalk, giving opinions and sugguestions about the topics.
• Paula y Mara were the content curators, resposible for writing a summary about the chocotalk, including the main ideas that were proposed. 
• I was the dissseminator, that´s means that I had to spread to the world the chococharla through different social networks such us facebook or instagram. During the live event, I had to write tweets, so everybody could read what was going on!, using the hashtags: #chococharlas, #ictclil_urjc. I have to say that as my peers did it really good performance, I found difficult write tweets that summarized what they were talking about!  All the contenct was really interested!.

Here you have a summary of the most important aspects of the chocotalk. This magnificate work has been made for the content curators of my group. So, have a look here: 

If you are interested in it, h ere you can enjoy the whole chocotalk

 


Once the chocotalk finished, the educative community gave us an award because of our participation

Working on a collaborative e- project!

 For this challenge, we were asked to work in teams in order to create a collaborative e- project. This mission has been enriching for myself as I had to bear in mind the different points of views of my peers as well as to get an agreement with them in some cases. Sharing our knowledge not only about CLIL but also about the different tools that we can use, has been something fantastic! As we wanted to be organized, we decided to establish a role for each component of the group, so it was de distribution in my team: 

• Coordinator:@Alvaro_Gope 
• Supervisor: @Marta_Gayarre 
• Secretaries: @22paau @maradomingezgo 
• Speaker: @nepeuspu 

Once we had the roles assigned we started to think about our collaboratieve CLIL e- project, taking into account our initial topics. We decided to create a project with the purpose that children know their neighborhood in terms of recycling, public transport, facilities that it offers, different kind of shops, heritage and so on. For that purpose, we designed different activities that can be carried out with children. In order to spread to the world the purpose of our project, we were asked to create an infographic. It has been a fantastic way to present our ideas related to the project.

Our goal with this infographic has been to give a clue about the topic. In order to discover more about how it will be carried out we decided to include the app of Aurasma. That is why we created a video to explain biefly the contents that children are going to work on. After having a look at different tools such as Genially, Piktochart.com, infogr.am, we have decided to use Canva because it has more resources to create an infographic. The disadvantage of this tool is that only a few things are free, but with imagination, you can create your own template. Once we had created our infographic, we had the opportunity to submit our team digital articat to the InfoEdugraphics nationwide collaborative blog and then, they published it in thier blog, giving us an award because of our participation. 

DON´T WASTE OUR FUTURE!!!

Hello everybody!

After assessing an e- project that was already done, it is time to start to design my own e- project!

I´m going to focus on a social issue that is still a challenge for us. I m talking about waste management , specially recyling and reusing it.

As a teacher, I consider that our students should be aware of the necessity of recycling and reusing waste, as well as to learn some possible ways to do it. That´s the reason why my e-project is directed to this topic.

Once I had in mind the goals and activities what I would like to carry out with students, I created a template in order to have a whole idea about the project. Here is it:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuW5os-vI5mt9tFfTuxx0EwjjTKarS0jWfYF-E7-l54/pub

In order to do this challenge more attractive, we were asked to design our own prototype videoclip, so after having a look at different online free tools I decided to use Movie Maker, as I wanted to include video, music and images in it. Movie maker is a intuitive and easy tool to create amazing animated videos!.

Here is my  prototype videoclip: 

I hope you like it! 

I hope you enjoy my e- project! 

In order to create our own e- project, why not assess one that is already done?

This time the challenge has involved the evaluation of a CLIL e- project that is alredy done. Through this assessment, we are becoming aware of all the aspects that should be taken into account in order to create an accurate e- project. Therefore, this is the first step that we have to achieve to the creation of our own project later on.

After considering the different projects that we were provided, I have finally chosen the one called: “Chef of volume”, which was created by a previous student of this Master degree. The aim of this e-project is to show students that  mathematics can be also entertained.

I would like to say that this e-project is attractive, engaging and motivating for children to learn a mathematical content, using an innovated and original approach that is  based on a real context; where maths, ICT and cooking are combined.

You can have a look here : https://sites.google.com/site/chefofvolume/my-ebook-skeleton/Cover

In order to evaluate this project, in terms of possitive aspects or things that could be improved, I have decided to use an intuituve and free web tool which is called: Genially. Moving away from the tipical power point or even Prezi. Genially offers you plenty of opportunities to create an attractive a really visual presentations. It is  simple and easy  to use, with possitive results!

Here  is my evaluation CLIL e-project through Genially: 

http://www.genial.ly/View/Index/56e318461561e80a90d4935c

Becoming a content curator!

As I commented in my previous post, I have started to gather all the CLIL in a bank common knowledge in order to share it with other, and specially with my classmates.

At this time,  I am becoming in a content curator so I have decided to try Symbaloo. This is another tool, similar to Pinterest but a little more visual. It allows you to link your favorite online resources sites. Therefore, you can save any link to be used easily later.

Symbaloo is an attractive and inntuitve tool that permits you create your own personal Interent “webmix”. If you have any doubt about how it works, have a look at my symbaloo board,  although it is not entirely completed:
https://edu.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13ePGXgFV9

Having said that, and as you can see in my webmix, I have gathered and organised the most interesting resources that my classmates shared with me in our Open CLIL board, on pinterest. My selection has been carried out depending on what I consider more meaningful in my future as a teacher, so it is just the begining of  my content curator life!

I hope you like it!

How and where can we gather and share what we know about CLIL?

The answer is through a bank of common knowledges!
Nowadays, there are a wide range of programs on the Internet that give you the opportunity to create your own bank of knowledge, which can be shared with others. Among them, I would like to highlight Pinterest, as it is another challenge in my learning process with ICT.

Pinterest is a social network that allows you to share, comment, interact, and exchange visual materilas such as: photographs, videos, websites and so on. Moreover, you can follow the items that you like the most. Contents are organised around boards and you are allow to add visuals to your own or other´s boards.

Added to that, having a bank common knowledge is something beneficial for teachers. In social networks such as the one I´ve talk, Pinterest, you can find a wide range of resources for your lessons. Apart from that, this program allows you to collaborete with other teachers and share resources with students ,as they can be provide with a list of resources around a topic. In this way, students can work independently and pin ideas in their boards to create a Creative Common Bank. 

As we are learning about CLIL, we have a board in Pinterest which is called “Open CLIL” . On this space, each of us have to add at least 6 pins. At the end it would be a really useful and enriching tool for our future as  bilingual teachers.
In my case,  I decided to add things that I found helpful in my internship at a bilungual school such as educational videos related to The Solar System, the cycle of a frog in a visual way, our place in the world, strategics for teaching sight words, attractive experiments  and so on.

Here are my pins: https://es.pinterest.com/martagayarre/pins/  Have a look!!

I hope you like my pins!

Creative Commons

Good morning!

As everybody knows, technologies are transforming the way in which materials and contents are created and shared in education. Teachers as well as students should exchange their resources, materilas and so on in order to improve their knowledge. It must be done in an appropiate way due to the fact that the use of digital materials in the classrooom is speedily expanding. Creative Commons (CC) has a solution to this issue. It is an organization that provides licenses for creators to use when they expand their works to public under centain conditions. For this reason, I have decided to create a Creative Common License for my new blog.

The license that I have chosen lets others distribute, share, tweak my creations even commercialise them, as long as the author of the orginal creations is recognized. Everything that I share on my glob has been created on by myself,  so I would like this to be credited in some way. Apart from that, I would like that my ideas will be useful for others, always with respect.

Related to this, we should make  students aware of the other´s creations. We should teach them that not all materials found on the Internet are free, as well as they belong to someone. Added to that, the idea of creating a Creative Common materials is an useful way to exchange  them in a respectful way.

Having said that, students must be aware of this issue and be able to identify which materials are allowed to use or not. 

I hope it will be useful for you! 

My PLE and PLN about CLIL

Here is my personal PLE and PLN about CLIL

Once the challenge was presented to me and before starting to design my mindmap, some questions came to my mind:  Where have I gained that knowledge about CLIL?, When?, How do I keep it up?

Aswering these quiestions I have to say that everything I´ve learnt about CLIL is because of the master degree that I am taking. 

In order to do my personal background about CLIL I used paint. As everybody knows, it is an outdated tool,  but I considered that it fits with the challenge that we had to face. It is easy and simple to use as well as you can create a wide range of visual things. After finishing it I realized that this tool have some disadvantages. For instances, once you have finished it you are not allow to edit it, in case something is wrong. So,  I recommend using others tools such as coggle or popplet in which you can make changes whenever you want because they are online tools. Therefore, I recognize that I have not used the best tool, taking into account the amount of them with which we were provided in class.

As you can see in my diagram, I´ve divided the tools depending on the purpose: to create, to share, to organize, to research and to learn. All of them are tools that I use currently in order to get knowlege about CLIL, but I have to say that the most important ones for me are twitter, facebook, whatsapp and pinterest. Not only because I gain knowledge from others but also I share information with them, which is enriching for my profession.

The other tools are also important because they allow me to broaden my knowledge and comprehension about CLIL. Ted, youtube, google and so on, are some examples.

Having said that, I´ve created a simple and visual PLE/PLN about where I gain knowledge about CLIL. After doing this challenge I am aware of the different tools that provide me information about this topic.

I hope you like it!

 

Learning by twittering

It´s time to talk about twitter!

As everybody knows twitter is an easy way to discover the latest news related to the topics that interest you. Through twitter you can find the news while they are happening, know more about the issues you care about and get exclusive information in real time. So, If you haven´t got a twitter account, what are you waiting for? With twitter you can improve your knowledge about anything you are interested in.

Currently, I am studing a master degree in bilingual education so in order to gain knwoledge about CLIL I am using twitter. Through this social network I am updated with news about education as well as I share my ideas with others. Here you´ve got an example of how I am using twitter. 
This is my twitter handle: @Marta_Gayarre .
You can take a look if you want! 

Twitter,  can be used as an important part fo the learning process. Students and teachers can be connected among them through a common tipic!

Having said that, twitter allows you to be updated and connected with the world. 

Who am I?

Hello everybody!

First of all, I would like to introduce myself by using Powtoon. This is a fantastic tool that allows you to create animated videos and presentations. Here is mine! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEarlF2awD8

Before facing this challenge, I have never heard about this tool but I have to say that is really easy to use. So if you are not an skillful person with technologies, Don´t worry! The instructions are simple and clear to follow.

Once you have registered on the website, you just have to choose the style that suits you the most for your presentation and start to include the wide range of options to design it. Among these options you can use images, movements, music, voices, props and so on. Apart form that, you can also export things from the Interent. After finishing the video, you just have to save it and copy the URL. So you can share your attractive and animated presentations with others!

Having said that, Powtoon is an useful resource to carry out in class with your students. You can adapt it depending on the purpose and it can be motivating and attractive to students.

I hope you like it! Let me know if you use another program with your students