Becoming a Formative Certified Educator

Just obtained my first e-learning badge in 2022: Formative Certified Educator

 

https://www.formative.com/

My current use of GoFormatives

 I have used GoFormative for a few years. In the past, I mainly created some example Formatives to show to my teacher trainees (pre-service and in-service) to show how they could use GoFormative to create engaging and interactive Reading Comprehension tasks to be attempted by their ESL students. In other words, I seldom used GoFormative for my own lectures at the university. 

But amidst the current need to conduct lecture sessions online, I have found that GoFormative is also useful to my own teaching. This is because my lectures at the university (my students are pre-service and inservice teachers training to become qualified ESL teachers) are each 2 hours and 30 minutes in duration. When these long lectures have to be conducted online, you can imagine the challenge that I have to face in engaging my students for that length of time. 

Recently, I started to include GoFormative tasks in my own lecture sessions. So far, I have mainly used Formatives for mid-session knowledge check, i.e., about half way into a 2.5-hour lecture, I will assign a Formative to the class for them to try. The formative questions mainly provide a chance for them to either check their understanding, or apply what they have learnt in the first half in solving a problem. 

What follows is a recent example that I tried out. The lecture session was about English modal verb phrases (The Chinese language has an entirely different way to express modal meanings.). The first half of the lecture was mainly concerned with (a) the form of the modal verbs in English, and (b) the possible functions that English modal verbs can serve. Half way into the session, I invited the teacher trainees to try the formative. 

The first question invited them to match 10 utterances to 5 functions. This was a way for them to check their understanding: 

The second question made use of a public sign that I spotted some time ago, and which I took a picture of. The question invited the class to re-write the announcement using the correct form of the modal verb in question. This question gave them a chance to apply their knowledge of the form of the English modal verb phrases: 

This experience turned out to be quite a useful knowledge check format to be used half way into a long lecture. 

Actually, I have noticed the new functions that GoFormative has taken on, one of which is 'Add Sections'.  My next attempt will be to use this new function to create a longer unit for presenting parts of a lecture as well as providing periodic knowledge check during a lecture. 

故天將降大任於斯人也

 我和林溢欣有過一面之緣，一直都很欣賞他的幹勁。他今天在星島教育專欄的一篇文章我很有共鳴，他說到凡事不要斤斤計較，不怕吃虧，到頭來得益的往往是自己。

他說到中學家貧，做暑期工也盡心投入，成為很好的毅力鍛鍊;我中學時也因家貧，做過不少暑期工，例如在工廠做包裝，在另一間工廠做金屬打磨，還有在官塘百士可樂廠做汽水車跟車，這是超大的體力勞動，每天放工時倦得虛脱，暑假完了廋得回校後老師也認不到我。但當時沒有悲惨的感覺，因同齡的青少年大都如此，今天回想起來更加是很好的歷鍊。

中文諺語有所謂「千金難買少年窮」，我絕對同意，我的一代大都家貧，我少時住過廟街的板間房，東頭村的木屋區，官塘雞療的徙置區，日後出社會工作的頭幾年，仍然住在黄大仙下邨的七層大厦;但是大部分時間我仍可以積極和快樂地生活，還令我不會養成 entitlement mentality 。

中文名師林溢欣也一定曾經從孟子的教誨中得到啟發：「故天將降大任於斯人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨，餓其體膚，空乏其身，行拂亂其所為，所以動心忍性，增益其所不能。」

https://std.stheadline.com/education/article/1809062/%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2-%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%B8-%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E5%B0%88%E6%AC%84-%E4%BA%BA%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84-%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E8%83%BD

From Purely Listening to Listening + Viewing

 以前談到英文科的macroskill, 不外Listening, Speaking, Reading, 和Writing，但因著technology 的發展，製作及發佈video愈來愈容易，2005年YouTube 的誕生，更是扭轉了先前Listening 就是純Listening 的生活模式。

2010年，新加坡官方的英語課程下的四個language macroskills, 把Listening 擴濶為Listening and Viewing,  列出當中需要的skills。(香港2017英語課程反而沒有這樣處理，仍然是純Listening。)

昨天晚上的一課，我便用了這個例去反映現代人愈來愈多Listening and Viewing 而愈來愈少純Listening (除了學生考DSE英文聆聽)：今天我們都知道甚麼是iphone和ipad，但年青一代有多少人知道十多年前，蘋果公司有一個產品名iPod ，iPod 就是供純聆聽的，但YouTube 出現後，iPod消失之快不可想像。

當然亦因此，我們今天更加沒有耐性作單純的聆聽。

Padlet's Map template

 Padlet's Map template is a gem. Yesterday evening, I had my students go to a Padlet map and indicate their favourite/dream vacation destinations. Below is the result. (No surprises: Europe and Japan turned out to be the most popular destinations.)

What's more: After students have pinned a location, they can edit their pins by adding pictures, text, video, weblinks, etc., to provide more information about their pinned places. And that's what I will ask the students to do later in the course. 

https://i.imgur.com/T6VW8b9.jpg

Knowledge Check

 Just finished a UCL online course on how to create a MOOC course from scratch. The course has reminded me of one useful strategy for online teaching that serves to sustain students' attention and give them a sense of progress: a low-stakes formative assessment halfway into a class session. They call it "Knowledge Check". Will try it this Wednesday in my Language Awareness class, which is 2.5 hours in duration.

Loom vs Screencastify

 A few years ago, I started with Screencast-o-matic for creating a screen-recording instructional video. The free version had a time limit of 15 minutes, though. When the Screencastify Chrome extension came along, I switched to it immediately, because as a Chrome extension, it was so convenient to use, although the maximum video length was only 5 minutes. 

Later, when Loom, another Chrome extension came along, I abandoned Screencastify immediately, since with Loom, there is no limit with the video length, and if I like, I can include my 'talking head.'

Then a couple of days ago, I discovered that Screencastify has taken on a new function: Inserting quiz questions into a screen-recorded video. (If you have used Edpuzzle or Playposit, you'll know what I mean.) So, will I abandon Loom, and return to Screencastify? I don't know yet. 

But it's always interesting to watch these competitions between app developers: how they keep trying to one-up each other (another example being Kahoot vs Quizizz). Of course the users are always the beneficiaries. Just that sometimes, I wonder how these app developers make a living, since the free plan is often good enough!

'in the list' vs 'on the list'

 When I was in primary and secondary school, I was taught to say 'in the list', but I've noticed in recent years that 'on the list' has become more and more common. So I did a Google Ngram search: the turning point happened towards the end of the 70s. 

ESL teaching materials like to lay down often over-simplified rules for preposition usage (e.g., 'in' vs 'on'). But how useful and reliable are these rules? The case of 'in/on the list' again points to the need for enriching grammar teaching with language awareness training (or what Larsen-Freeman calls 'grammaring'). 

New functions in Kahoot Lessons

 Kahoot started as a quiz app, but some time ago they added the 'Kahoot Lesson' function (inspired by Quizziz Lesson?) which I like a lot as it is not just about quiz competitions. In addition, they recently added some new functions to 'Kahoot Lesson'. I have just created one that includes all the new functions (slide, quiz, poll, word cloud, sequencing) which I will use as a warm-up activity for my next class on Language Awareness (this one is about Article usage). If you're interested, have a go before Feb 14, 12:00 p.m. 

https://kahoot.it/challenge/6777bfe3-5c59-4258-ba67-d6f34f9993cd_1643945904642

Two things to note: 

1. When you start the game, you can only pick a name from the ones generated.

2. If you're looking at a slide, click 'Got it' in the top right to advance to the next slide/task. 

Catching up with Ed Tech developments

 When I was browsing my previous teaching notes, I couldn't believe that back in 2017, I was still teaching my MA students how to use the desktop app called Hot Potatoes to create interactive tasks (e.g.,matching, grouping, sequencing)! Today, we have all these web-based, user-friendly, apps for creating interactive tasks, such as Wordwall, LearningApps.org, Bookwidgets, Educaplay, Bitsboard, GoConqr, Classtools.net ...., not to mention those apps for creating learning paths that can contain built-in interactive tasks, such as Nearpod, Pear Deck, Quizizz Lesson, and Kahoot Lesson. 

Ed tech is developing at such a phenomenal speed!

Good news: Teaching gets more and more interesting and engaging. 

Bad news: There is no way I can catch up with all the latest developments. 

Iorad for creating e-learning demonstration tutorials

 I came across the app called Iorad about two years ago, but was then too busy to follow up on it. Iorad is for creating e-learning demonstration tutorials, and at that time, I thought it would take quite some time to learn. 

Yesterday, I stumbled on an Iorad tutorial which demonstrated how to create an iorad tutorial. I was totally awed by how easy it was to use Iorad. I quickly had a go, and here is my first Iorad tutorial which demonstrated how to create a quiz using a Google Form (which many of you will know already). It was created in less than 5 minutes. 

https://ior.ad/81cn

Although such demonstrations can be created in the form of explainer videos, using screen-recording apps such as Loom and Screencastify, Iorad requires hands-on response from the viewer, who actually has to follow the steps indicated on the screen. This should increase the learning effectiveness. 

Another feature of Iorad is its text-to-speech option. Each step shown on the screen will be accompanied with voiceover explanation. 

This Chrome extension will come in handy for my course on Technology Enhanced Language Learning, which often requires me to explain how to use different e-learning tools. 

My quick review of 5 mindmapping apps

 Below is a quick review of the latest versions of 5 popular mindmapping apps that I have done. (If you know of other mindmapping tools which are worth including in this review, please let me know.)

#elearningPS

WAKELET.COM

Quick Review of 5 Mindmapping Apps

by Paul Sze (Jan 24, 2022)

1Kai Chung Lee

Starting another round of Zoom classes

 Here is my curtain-raiser remark this evening when I start Zooming my ICT in ELT class:

"……Yes, it's less fuss attending a class online; at least it saves you commuting time. However, let's not cheat ourselves into thinking that online learning is as good as F2F classes. If it was, all university teaching would be distance-based already. But since we cannot change the pandemic situation, let's make the best of our Zoom session now. As the English proverb goes: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

AI for proofreading compositions

 I hadn't visited Grammarly for a while, so I had a go with it just now, to find out how much it had benefitted from recent developments in AI in education. I made up a problem paragraph for it to proofread, and below is its performance.

Bad news: Teachers of English still have to toil with endless composition marking for some more years to come.

Good news: AI will not be able to replace teachers in the forseeable future.

https://prnt.sc/26hyvx6

2 new functions of Quizlet

 Just noticed 2 new functions of Quizlet:

1. CHECKPOINT: Turn a deck into a live Kahoot-like game.

2. LEARN: A new option which turns a deck into a 'Study Path'. This is like an adaptive learning system, the aim of which is for a learner to reach full mastery of a deck.

I.IMGUR.COM

i.imgur.com

'The sentence below' vs 'the below sentence'

How should ‘below’ be used and classified?

Do you accept using ‘below’ as in ‘the below information’, ‘the below list’, ‘the below section’, etc.”?

An admin document from The Harvard Teaching Certificate Course contains the following sentence:

“Make sure your address below is correct. You can search again or edit the below address manually.”

What is interesting is that ‘below’ is used twice in the same sentence, but in different ways.

If my impression is correct, until 10 years ago, people would only say ‘the information below’, with ‘below’ classified as an adverb! (This is different from ‘below’ as a preposition, as in ‘below the table’, ‘below the surface’, etc.). Today, to me, the fight against phrases like ‘the below information’ and ‘the below list’ is over. (The word ‘above’ went through a similar process. Now, it’s “below”‘s turn.)

Then ‘below’ has to be classified as an adjective. I’ve looked up a few online dictionaries. Almost all of them still classify ‘below’ as a preposition (‘below the table’) and an adverb (the information below). Only one dictionary has classified ‘below’ also as an adjective: Merriam-Webster.

What is even more interesting is that in the Harvard sentence, the first occurrence of ‘below’ is ‘Your address below’, i.e., the ‘traditional’ word order. If I change it to ‘Your below address’, it doesn’t sound quite right to my ear (though I have no problem accepting ‘the below information’). I can’t think of a reason yet, but this might suggest that there’s still a place for ‘below’ to function as an adverb (though I personally prefer calling it a postmodifying adjective).

the digital divide between teachers

 十年人事幾番新。我說的是我教的Master' course “ICT in English Language Teaching“，早陣子把今年和10年前的course outline 對比一下，發覺今年的內容和10年前的比較，已經面目全非，可見ed tech發展的快，10年前，誰會想到今天探究的是AI in Education 。

這亦是令人憂慮的地方，年青的老師肯學敢試，運用e-learning於教學的水平便一日千里;而veteran teachers如果不敢或不願涉足ICT,便停留在PPT的階段，於是前者和後者的e-learning 專業水平，便愈來愈相差得遠，出現一個鴻溝。

Beware of pedestrians

 I always find this sign amusing. In HK, any sign in Chinese that starts with "小心……“ becomes "Beware of ……" in English. That's why life in HK is so tense and hectic, because there are so many things we have to beware of: pickpockets, vehicles, drunk drivers, objects falling from above, wild boars...., as well as  pedestrians, hot food, the staircase ……..

I looked up the issue in some online discussion forums. Some native speakers do frown on this usage, preferring "Watch out for pedestrians" to "Beware of pedestrians", as "Beware of" should be followed by something or somebody which may potentially cause danger. 

But language is changing all the time. Has "Beware of" also come to mean "Watch out for"? And, do people also say "Beware of pedestrians" in Singapore?

Meanwhile, I will take the advice of this sign, which appeared inside Alexander Grantham, a retired fireboat berthed in Quarry Bay Park: "Beware of your head." This makes sense, because the brain inside one's head is potentially the source of all evils. 

"Reading Progress" in Microsoft Teams

 Thanks to the generous help of Kelvin Kan Ka Hei, I had the chance to test-drive the new AI-assisted Pronunciation Assessment function within Microsoft Teams, called Reading Progress. 

Under Reading Progress, the teacher uploads a reading passage to Teams, and assigns it as a Reading-Aloud assignment. Afterwards, the programme will (a) return a percentage grade for each submitted assignment, and (b) provide a diagnostic report on the performance (i.e.., words highlighted showing mispronunciations, omissions, insertions, etc.). The teacher does not have to listen to each recording, as the assessment is all done by the AI programme. 

My own test-drive shows that the AI programme is quite reliable in terms of assessing the pronunication of individual words, but still has to do further 'learning' in terms of listening for features of connection speech, such as weak forms, linking, elision, and assimilation. 

From 'teacher-student' to 'peer'

 今天下午到這學校和老師就著一個 P2 RaC Unit進行co~planning。其中三位是我的舊Education student，這是令我最有滿足感的活動。當年我是她們的師訓「班主任」，然後她們畢業後成為前線教師，積聚經驗，今天充滿創意和教學熱誠，然後我們由「師徒」變為教學的peer,一同備課。有我這樣經歷的同工應該不會很多哩。