Monday, March 29, 2021

a useful Chrome browser function

發現Chrome 這個新增(?)的功能對我很有用,通常一堂兩個半小時的課,我預先開定的網頁隨時十多二十個,以便省時,但看着tab bar上十多二十個tab,自己也覺得混亂。這個功能讓我把開了的tab依據課堂的發展預先分組,然後去到某一階段click 那一組的label, 那一组的tab才打開,那便不會被太多的tab擾亂了。




Saturday, March 27, 2021

Practising what I preach

 So, I did use this quote to wrap up last night's refresher training course, to encourage the teachers to continue to explore e-Reading. I also mentioned what I myself had just started to explore (using VR in language teaching). I should also have mentioned that the first time I touched a computer, I was already 39 years old.


Thursday, March 25, 2021

Every expert was once a beginner

Will use this quote tomorrow evening to conclude the 6-hour course on e-Reading for secondary teachers, to encourage them to continue to explore and try out e-Reading even if they are newbies today.




Saturday, March 20, 2021

喜出望外

這真有點喜出望外。收到出版社通知,康文署和香港書刋版權授權協會合作,推出智慧圖書館系統,把本地出版而由本地作者撰寫的書的其中部分電子化(例如目錄及read a sample),放上公共圖書館網站供市民試閱,計劃因而給予出版社及作者象徵式的撥款。撥款分兩级,第一級是去年全年借出量最多的二萬本,第二级是其餘書籍。


喜出望外的,不是收到(很象徵式)的撥款,而是我和歐陽偉豪合著的兩本書都屬第一级,即這兩本2011年出版的書,到去年仍是全港公共圖書館借出量最高二萭本的其中兩本!



Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Teachable moments

 A former teacher-student had a most satisfying time using this text to develop his students' higher-order reading skills: (1) seeing the writer's choice of words; (2) identifying the writer's underlying intentions; (3) making inferences from vague expressions, ...... Why 'saddened' and not 'sad'? Why 'learn' instead of 'know'? What is 'recollections may vary', and why put it this way? ... He succeeded in firing his students up who then kept probing deeply into the text. 

As teachers, we know that such teachable moments do not happen every day.


Sunday, March 14, 2021

Kahoot as self-paced task

 前天才說過經學生提示,才知道可以裝ad blocker的chrome extension, 以避免上課時到訪某些網站而畫面卻出現令人分心的廣告。

昨早上課時又有類似的情況,我上網課如果進行quiz competition,則一定選Quizizz而不選Kahoot,  因為Kahoot 需要學生同一時間看着兩畫面,這在網課時不方便,Quizizz便沒有這問題。

怎知昨天學生告訴我,現時Kahoot game 也可以用Assign模式執行,學生毋須同時看着兩個畫面。

e-learning app不斷更新,永遠也有忽略了的功能。




Friday, March 12, 2021

iPad proficiency

 今早觀課,這一班中一學生運用ipad的純熟程度,我也望塵莫及。(我工作時大部分時間用電腦,只是從學生角度試做已製作的interactive task, 或純瀏覽時,才用iPad。)

後記:此校利用關愛基金,開展BYOD, 學生每天帶iPad回校。

e~learning 和edtech永遠也學不完

 e~learning 的點子真是永遠也學不完,例如我昨天才知道可以裝ad blocker 的chrome extension, 以避免向學生展示網站時出現不良意識的廣告。又例如昨晚上Rachel Chan的workshop, 才知道建立Google Form時,可以把word 上的問題(例如MC)直接copy and paste into Google form, 在Word 上打字,當然比在Google form 打快得多,兼且可以保存word file 作容易参考的紀錄。

昨晚另一參與老師問在pear deck 學生可否upload 圖片作回應,我翻查一下,應是不能的,但又發覺Google Form 內的MC题,distractor可以是圖片,例如問題是一表述,然後請學生選出正確的對應圖片,這在英文科教visual literacy或multimodal reading 時應該是不错的主意。

e~learning 和edtech, 永遠也學不完。

CLOZEit for creating cloze passages

 CLOZEit is a Google Doc extension for quickly creating a cloze passage.  The downside: It is not interactive.