Although Diigo has been around since 2006, I’m just now discovering this fantastic tool, thanks to an e-learning course offered by the University of Wisconsin at Stout.
According to Wikipedia, Diigo is “a social bookmarking website which allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag web-pages. Additionally, it allows users to highlight any part of a webpage and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page.”
Well, it’s that and lots more. Once you’ve installed the Diigo toolbar, you can highlight text, pictures, or an entire web page, and then share it within a group in Diigo, or to individuals via e-mail. There are also collaborative features, including one that allows you to create a group knowledge depository. Check out the collaborative features here.
For a more general introduction to Diigo and its capabilities, see the video below. Tip: Switch to full-screen view for a clearer look at how to navigate the interface.
I have some great news for teachers who use WordPress as their blogging platform of choice.
WordPress 3.0, “Thelonious,” the thirteenth major release of WordPress and the result of half a year of work by 218 contributors, is now available for download (or upgrade within your dashboard). Major new features in this release include an elegant new default theme called Twenty Ten.
As a die-hard WordPress user, I am impressed by the new lighter interface, contextual help on every screen, over 1,200 bug fixes and feature enhancements, and a bulk updates feature that allows you to upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click. Wow!
Need more convincing to upgrade? Check out the video:
The June 2010 issue of Humanizing Language Teaching (HLT) is a special issue that celebrates Mario Rinvolucri`s 70th birthday. Who is this person? Well, among other things, Mario is the founding father of HLT, and over the years has become a trademark in English language teaching. I would like to join the 58 contributors in the featured article and wish Mario a very happy birthday!
I first became aware of Mario’s work when I was teaching high school EFL in Japan. I was tasked with setting up the school’s CALL curriculum, and one of the software packages we eventually purchased was from Clarity Language Consultants. The package included a program developed by Mario called MindGame, which my students enjoyed playing as they practiced speaking English.
Later, I discovered HLT through an ESL listserv. It’s a wonderful read, and true to title, it emphasizes the importance of the human element in language teaching — something we all need to consider as colleges and universities move increasingly toward e-learning solutions.
Two important conferences this month focusing on education and technology should be of interest to language teachers who incorporate technology in their teaching. Both events are in the U.S.
The first is the 2010 Online Teaching Conference, June 16-18, at San Diego City College in San Diego, California. (Thanks to Michelle Pacansky-Brock for the heads-up.) It is a collaborative effort between the California Educational Technology Consortium (CETC), and Computer Using Educators (CUE). Here is a description from the event planning committee:
“This two-day conference strives to successfully integrate online education throughout the K-20 spectrum (kindergarten through college). No matter what grade level , if you are an instructor, staff, or an administrator engaged in online education and/or the delivery of online services (student, faculty, library, resources, and technical), or if you are thinking about becoming involved, come join us to exchange ideas and experiences.”
One really nice feature of this event is that you don’t have to be present to attend. Go to the registration page and sign up for Virtual Attendance. It’s free, so why not? See you online.
The second, ISTE 2010, will be held in Denver, Colorado, from June 27-30. This year’s event is sponsored by the International Society for Technology in Education in cooperation with Technology in Education Colorado.
Formerly known as NECC, ISTE is an enormous undertaking that attracts mainly K-12 teachers. The quantity and variety of presentations and workshops is truly staggering.
Unfortunately, ISTE does not offer virtual attendance. To participate in this event you’ll have to actually visit Denver (what a great venue, especially at this time of year).
Like to read, but a little short on cash? Living far from a good public library? Not a problem. This site will supply you with loads of great reading and listening material.
Project Gutenberg makes available over 30,000 free e-books to read on your PC, Kindle, or other portable device. You can also download audio books to listen to on your computer or music player. Everything is legal, and free.
Because the content is free, don’t expect to find the latest New York Times bestsellers. But you might be surprised at what is actually available. Classics such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes head up the site’s Top 100 list.
What’s in it for English language learners? Check out the list of human-read audio books. While much of the content is aimed at native or near-native English speakers, there are 12 volumes of Aesop’s Fables tucked away that should be within reach of lower-level learners as well.
More titles are available in the Readings by Computers section. But if you prefer the warmth of a human voice, I would give it a pass. There is plenty of material to download and enjoy in the main section.
Thinking of adding a synchronous element beyond simple chat to your online or blended class? If so, and depending on your budget, you might want to consider Elluminate, a web conferencing program that provides virtual rooms or spaces for holding meetings and even entire classes.
There are loads of competing products. But I chose to highlight Elluminate today because I was impressed with its capabilities and performance during several recent webinars. It turns out that Elluminate also integrates with the Moodle learning management system, another feature I like.
If you look under the hood you’ll see that Elluminate has two modes: Participant and Moderator. The first is pretty easy. Most of the time you simply listen and watch the presentation, then text or raise your hand to ask a question, click Yes or No to answer a question, or choose A, B, C, or D in response to a poll. The size of an Elluminate session can range from private one-on-one meetings to hundreds of participants.
The Moderator mode (click for a larger view) is another story entirely. A moderator may go it alone or assign one or more co-moderators to help manage large webinars or to feature guest speakers. Moderators have a more powerful set of instruments at their disposal. They can control who talks to the group, shares the white board, chats in a breakout room, and lots more. As you might guess, the moderator role has a much steeper learning curve and takes training and practice to master.
Where to begin? Go to the Elluminate website. Everything that you could possibly want to learn awaits you there. Click on Support, then choose Training. From this page, you can view recorded tutorials and download various user and reference guides.
To register for free live moderator training, click the “Live Training Online” button and a table appears containing a menu of upcoming classes. I would suggest taking the courses in this order:
- Getting Started With Elluminate Live! For Moderators
- Next Steps With Elluminate Live! For Moderators
- Plan! Getting Started
Most of these sessions run for about 90 minutes, and you can retake them as many times as needed at no charge. The instructors I’ve had really know their stuff and guide you at a friendly, relaxed pace (a big thumbs up to Susan Withers!).
For additional practice, sign up for a free vRoom at LearnCentral.org, an Elluminate sponsor. This free room has only three seats but it’s a great place to hone your moderator skills before going live.
As I mentioned above, Moodle users can add even more functionality with the Elluminate Bridge for Moodle. This tool provides a number of options, including:
- Single sign-on launch of classroom from within Moodle
- Scheduling and delvery of Elluminate Live! sessions
- Single-click access to Elluminate sessions
- Ability to create, store, and view Elluminate recordings
More details are available here.
So how much does all of this cost? If you need more than three seats, you’ll pay a minimum of $49/month for a vSpace with up to 50 seats. But if you want additional components — Live!, Plan!, Publish!, or Bridge (for Moodle or other LMS) — you’ll have to contact the company for a quote. Be prepared to pony up!
As a teacher, I often use a screen recorder when correcting and commenting on writing assignments, thus combining oral and written feedback to students. It is also a very handy device for making “how to” clips that can be embedded in blogs, wikis, or other web spaces.
How to choose one? Well, the editors at CNET’s download.com have just published an informative comparison of four such products. The tools range in price from free to not so free, and include Camtasia Studio, My Screen Recorder, Tip Cam, and Jing. (Another popular program, CamStudio, was not included for some reason.)
I regularly use Jing and Camtasia Studio, and would certainly recommend either. Both are designed and offered by the creative team at TechSmith. (Note: Teachers qualify for a 50% discount on most of their products, including Camtasia Studio — a huge savings if you need the extra bells and whistles it offers.)
What is your own personal favorite, and how do you use it? 
Today I want to show you how easy it is to add the free Moodle course management system to your self-hosted teaching site using cPanel and Fantastico. But first, I’d like to discuss some things to keep in mind when you and your students start using Moodle.
When signing up for a web hosting account, most of us choose the least expensive option, which is shared hosting. Wikipedia defines share hosting as “a service where many websites reside on one web server connected to the Internet.” It is the cheapest hosting option because many people are sharing the overall cost of running and maintaining the web server.
This arrangement generally works well for personal sites and even small business sites. But if your site starts getting “hit” beyond a certain threshold, it slows down the entire server because everyone is sharing the same system resources. Most web hosts closely monitor server activity and will issue a warning should you exceed their threshold (this varies by web host). Ignore warnings at your own peril — in the worst case your account may be suspended.
You can avoid unpleasant surprises with a dose of common sense. First, make sure you choose a reputable web host (see Part 2 of this series for guidelines). Reputable hosts are there when you need them and will try to resolve any issues fairly. They can also suggest upgrade solutions should you need one to handle more traffic.
I bring this up because Moodle increases server load depending on the number of students interacting with it at any given time. This is generally not a problem when randomly accessing Moodle outside of class for homework or other assigned tasks. But problems can occur in wired classrooms or computer labs when too many people are using Moodle at the same time. Response becomes slower and slower, and eventually the system may freeze (I speak from experience).
So, tip number two is to limit the number of your students simultaneously accessing Moodle to no more than 20. This is purely a guideline but one that has worked consistently for me. You can manage this in larger classes by preparing one or more non-Moodle learning activities and rotating your students accordingly.
By now, anyone gamely following this series should have registered a domain name, set up a web hosting plan, and changed your nameservers to point to your host’s address on the Internet. Now let’s put a face on your website.
In this tutorial, I’m going to be creating a demo site using the domain name eltinternet.com, which I have previously registered. Please substitute your own domain name as you complete the following steps:
- Log in to your cPanel
- Install WordPress in the root directory of your website using Fantastico
- Log in to WordPress
- Install any themes you have previously downloaded
- Select a favorite from among them
- Don’t forget (as I did!) to log out when finished
As I mention during the video, you certainly do not have to use WordPress as your default home page.
If you are familiar with FTP, you can upload a readily-available HTML template. Or, using Fantastico, you might want to install Moodle, Drupal, Joomla, or other content management system as the front door to your site, and put WordPress in a separate directory. That’s the power of self-hosting — you really can have it your way and at an affordable cost.
I should also add that what I’m covering here is merely the scaffolding to support your e-teaching space. The real challenge, of course, is putting together your content.
Coming next: Moodle – installation and considerations for self-hosted teaching sites.
Now that you’ve acquired a domain name and a hosting account, it’s time to connect the dots. This no-frills slideshow is a short guide for pointing a domain name registered at GoDaddy.com to your site with an imaginary hosting company called “hostcompany.com”.
Typically, your web host will provide you with two nameserver values in an email along with other important account information. You’ll definitely want to print everything out and keep it in a safe place. (Tip: Store an extra copy on a USB flash drive.)
After changing the nameserver info in your GoDaddy account, allow up to 24 hours (typically much less) for the changes to cycle through the Internet and make your site visible.
In the meantime, key in “free WordPress themes” to your favorite search engine and explore the myriad offerings available to you as a self-hosted teacher. One good place to start is the WordPress.org site, but there are hundreds of others.
Preview any that catch your fancy, and download the ones you really like. We’ll be uploading them to your website in the next part of this series.