Monday 29 January 2018

Vocal Recall: Audio Feedback with QR Codes

  I have just found an amazing app with a solid pedagogical idea behind! So I’m    back blog writing after almost 5 years!!!

  The app is called Vocal Recall @vocalrecallapp and allows you to upload audio  directly to preprinted stickers of QR codes.

  This is how it works: you need the mobile app (Android and iOS) and the printed QR code stickers, which you can buy from Amazon or print yourself with the free  QR Codes sent to you by email.



  1-     You record a message up to 5 minutes with the app.
  2-     You scan the QR code with the app to link the code with that recording.
  3-     You put the QR code sticker anywhere to be decoded with any QR code reader to listen to it.



  A test

  Scan this QR code to see how it works.

  
  Some ideas for the classroom:

  As a teacher:

  • Add a sticker to any print classroom materials to include oral instructions.
  • Add a ticker to students’ work to provide personalised feedback.
  • Add a sticker to each station in a treasure hunt for oral instructions.
As a student:
  • Add a sticker to a book you have read with your oral book review and recommendation.
  • Add a sticker to a project artifact explaining what you did.
  • Create a self-assessment sticker for any work or period of work.


  Considerations:

  I believe the value of the app is in the ready-made QR codes and the ease of use. You could of course make your own QR codes one by one, but that would take ages! Even if you order the QR codes from Amazon the cost is minimal, as the app itself is free.

  I will definitely be trying this out with my own students as from March and promise to come back with more ideas for implementation.

Sunday 25 August 2013

Organizing resources for teachers and teacher trainers

As a teacher and teacher trainer I have found that I need to have multiple resources, tools or websites at hand, easily available. I have over the past years experimented with a few different tools so here they are!

One possibility is using a startpage to organize the resources you regularly use.







Another possibility is to create an interactive bulletin board with these resources.




You can also use a social bookmarking tool to create lists of resources



Other tools to organize your resources







And last but not least, when you need to work with multiple tabs open in your browser, there are extensions or plug ins that allow you to save a “session” and re open it whenever you need it.









Monday 1 July 2013

Video-related tools

I have been working with my students on several projects that involve the making and editing of videos. So I have decided to share some of the tools I recommend.

Video repositories

There are several websites where you can find videos, You Tube being the most famous one, but not the only one.
You tube 



Vimeo 

Teacher Tube  


An interesting tool to remove all ads around You Tube videos is Safe Share TV



Downloaders

Some videos may be gone when you need them or you may want to avoid an internet access failure from spoiling your plans.

You Tube Downloader is a free piece of software that you install in your computer and easily downloads You Tube videos




 Save Vid is an online downloader if you do not want to install anything on your pc.



 Editing tools 

There is a variety of other tools to enhance You Tube videos in several different ways.

Tube chop allows you to choose a part of a longer video and save it.



Sometimes you need to add captions or subtitles
Caption tube



You tube itself

Blubbr.tv allows you to create quizzes based on videos


Here’s a tutorial
And here's an example based on a Blended Learning video.

If you want to edit your videos in order to create your own remixes, these are some options
Windows Live Movie Maker 
Creaza Movie editor 



Hope you have found some new tools to solve your video-related problems!


Sunday 26 May 2013

Isil Boy on M-learning: is it a portable circus or just an illusion?

My fifth post in this series related to technology-related IATEFL talks is Isil Boy's take on Mobile Learning. Again a post full of resources for you to explore!

Sunday 19 May 2013

Joe Dale on Mobile Technologies


Joe Dale: Combining hardware, software and mobile technologies to support classroom interaction, participation, distance learning and success : what really happens!

The fourth review in my IATEFL series is for Joe Dale's fast-paced talk about mobile technologies, especially iPads. There were so many resources mentioned in this talk that I'm sure I missed some!

Here are my notes and references.