Post on 17-Nov-2014
description
Technology and English Language Teaching: Telepresence Technology
Paul Woods Regional English Language Advisor,
The British Council, Argentina
Cartagena Policy Dialogue 31 September – 1 October 2012
Pace of change….
We are living in exponential times In 2 years time there will be early adopters using devices
for teaching and learning that we don’t even know about yet
In 10 years time handheld devices will largely have replaced books
“Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don’t use technology will be replaced by those who do” ~Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach~
The next generation will demand teachers who use methods they know and understand. This inevitably involves teaching with technology.
The Classroom of the Future
Teachers use a portable work station
All students have portable work stations (XO Laptops).
All schools have a high band width internet connection.
XO laptops in a Uruguayan Primary School
Robot Teachers in Korea
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/04/my-teacher-is-an-avatar/
Robot teacher clip
“This is Uruguay's problem: 40% of children who attend public schools come from the poorest fifth rung of society. And out of this fifth, just 3% makes it to college. Through Plan CEIBAL we decided to take a chance on making a change and to find a way out of this crisis we live in.”
Miguel Brechner, Plan Ceibal
Ceibal en Ingles• Every child has a laptop• Tele-presence
technology • Remote teachers
Colombia and Argentina • RT 1 hr per week• CT 2 x 45 minutes per
week• Proof of concept phase • Progressive expansion
2-way video & audio
Joint lesson planning
Students with Classroom
laptops
Local classroom:• TV screen showing
remote teacher• Lesson materials shown
via Webex
Joint lesson planning
Local class teacher
managing activity
Remote teacher using video-
phone
Uruguay – Remote Teaching using OLPC
Remote teacher
Learning Manage-ment System
British
Council
Materials
Lesson
Plans
Visual Aids
Worksheets
We intend to show that, with sufficient support, appropriate training for classroom teachers and appropriate materials for the pupils, learners will be highly motivated, develop autonomy and achieve measurable results through lessons delivered via tele-presence technology and 1 to 1 laptops, supported by classroom teachers with only a very limited knowledge of English.
Using the language
The Ceibal Project
What have we learnt so far?• Teachers need to be trained adequately,
both in how to maximise use of the software on the laptops and how to manage a class where the pupils have laptops, for example, encouraging students to create their own simple blogs
• Materials need to be mapped to or created for the local syllabus
• Not everything can be done on the laptops – young learners need to touch, feel, handle, move round the room, do things actively with other children
• Testing should test what the students have been taught!