AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA

MINI-STUDY ON TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS

Course: CALL

Instructor: Irshat Madyarov

Students: Hripsime Shabunts

Gayane Shabunts

Autumn 2010

Technological tools

• Glogster

• Voki

• Zimmer Twins

• Wallwisher

• Sketchcast

• Fotobabble

Mini-study questions

1. How user-friendly is each technology for the learners?

2. How effective is each tool for EFL learning and

teaching?

Methods

Participants

Name of the participant

Age EL level Computer/ technology literacy

Technologies used Time slots

Taron Harutyunyan

17 Advanced elementary

elementary 1. Sketchcast 30min

Varazdat Avagyan

28 Advanced elementary

advanced 1. Sketchcast 20min

Lilit Harutyunyan

19 Low intermediate

elementary 1. VOKI 2. Zimmer twins3. Wallwisher

1.30h

Ani Mirzoyan 21 Intermediate low intermediate 1. Glogster2. VOKI3. Fotobabble

1h

Methods

Data collection:

• Observation

• Semi-structured interview (with recordings)

The collected data is qualitative

Feedback

Feedback of the observers (teachers)

The type of feedback depended on the technological tool:

Jing project

Immediate feedback

Consultancy with the teacher-observers

Sketchcast

Number of participants:2Taron & Varazdat

• The problems and difficulties with this technological tool were connected with the simultaneous tasks: speak & draw.

• The best solution for this problem could be let the students just draw any thing like and express THEIR OWN IDEA about that drawing. (In our case the picture was a specific object, and the student found the information about it, and had to learn it.)

Glogster

Number of participants:1

Ani

• The main advantage mentioned by the participant was that she could include both video and audio files in her project. Another good point mentioned by her was that the others (her friends) do not have to create an account to be able to see her Glog.

• She mentioned that the bad side of this tool is that it is not so much interactive (as compared to Wallwisher, where others could comment, and share ideas).

A sample of Wallwisher was introduced to this participants for her to be able to draw comparisons among them.

Zimmer Twins

Number of participants: 1

Lilit

• The good side of this tools, as mentioned by the participant was that it develop creativity. However, this creativity should be limited, as the number of actions, settings, sound, etc., are limited.

• It is also good in sense it allows to write the text as long as she wished. She pointed this, cause she disliked this shortcoming in VOKI (where she had to limit her speech to 90 seconds)

• The limitation of this tool, as mentioned by the participant is that it does not have sound.

Wallwisher

Number of participants: 1

Lilit

• The participant mentioned that this tool was perhaps the best one among the three that she used (Voki, ZimmerTwins, Wallwisher). She could share as much information as she wanted.

• The only thing that was considereed to be missing was the opportunity to add videos and audios just on her wall, as compared to Glogster.

A sample of Glogster was introduced to her to be able to draw parallels between them.

Fotobabble

Number of participants: 1

Ani

– I liked this tool very much. I have always wanted to send photos to my friends abroad, and I had to write the description of the pic, or I just skipped it. So, I think this is the best solution for it. They can hear me and also can see the pic.

• The bad point of this tool, as noted by the participant, is that only one pic can be illustrated at one time.

Voicethread was suggested to her as a better tool, as she wanted to include more photos.

Voki

Number of participants: 2

Ani & Lilit

• The participants mentioned that the good thing about this tool was

that it allowed to choose a character or to create our own.

• They could type the text, here the pronunciation, and make

improvements on their own pronunciation.

• The time slot is very short.

• Problems with technology may sometimes be demotivating.

RESULTS

The usefulness of the tools from teacher’s perspective

Technology Voki Z-Twins F-Babble S-Cast W-Wisher Glogster

Skills

Listening + - + + - +

Writing + + - + + +

Reading + + - - + +

Speaking/pronunciation

+ - + + - +

Grammar + + + + + +

RESULTS

The discussion of the mini-study questions:1. How user-friendly is each technology for the learners?

2. How effective is each tool for EFL learning?

The evaluation of each tool is out of 5points.

The answers are based on the semi-structured interview with the learners (the average of the answers).

Technology Voki Z-Twins F-Babble S-Cast W-Wisher Glogster

Questions

Q1 3 4 5 4 4 5

Q2 3 3 4 4 4 3

RESULTS

NOTE: All the four students shared with each other the product of the technological tool they used.

The overall evaluation of the students(participants) was that Fotobabble is perhaps the best choice from the point of view of both questions. However each of the tools had advantages and limitations.

The choice of the tool should be based on the purpose of EFL teaching/learning.

LIMITATIONS

• Time limitation

• Small number of participants

• Not detailed and thorough explanation of the preferences

for the tools

• Technological problems

• Not sufficient level of computer/technology literacy

Thank You for Your Attention