INTERACTING AND LEARNING

WITHIN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

FOR CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

SLAĐANA MARIĆ (SLADANA MARIC)PhD student in Teaching MethodologyFaculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

THURSDAY, 12TH OCTOBER 2017GRAND HOTEL EXCELSIOR

VENUE: GILORMU CASSAR (LEVEL 3)

6th ELT MALTA CONFERENCEENGLISH FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS12-14 OCTOBER 2017, FLORIANA, MALTA

This research was conducted within the

research project No. III 47020, titled “Digital

Media Technologies And Socio-Educational

Changes”, funded by the Ministry of

Education, Science and Technological

Development of the Republic of Serbia.

The opinions expressed here do not reflect those of the funding agency.

Naming of brands and companies in this

presentation is not by any means for commercial

reasons. These names were used to present the

past and current trends in educational contexts.

CONTENT

Introduction

English for 21st Century Skills

CPD in Digital Environments

Webinars

Final Remarks

References

INTRODUCTION

The work examines the possible

ways of using English within

digital environments for learning

and developing 21st century

skills needed for continuous

professional development and

continuous improvement in

teaching as a profession.

THE AIM OF RESEARCH

to explore how teachers can foster:

communication in English

critical thinking

creativity

collaboration

innovation and entrepreneurship

all by interacting within digital

environments (webinars)

21ST CENTURY SKILLS

English – one of the main mediums

through which information is conveyed

worldwide

21ST CENTURY SKILLS

We live in always-on societies

where new skills are gradually

being identified and coming to

the forefront in education.

(Dudeney, 2015: 90)

21ST CENTURY COMPETENCES

In order to better address the

needs of learners in the 21st

century, ELT professionals are

required to demonstrate the

ability to repackage their existent

knowledge as well as develop

new competences.

(Xerri & Vassallo, 2015: 7)

Preparing a child for the world that

doesn’t yet exist is not an easy

task for any teacher.

GLOBAL INITIATIVES – FRAMEWORKS

FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

DeSeCo Framework (Definition and Selection

of Competencies: Theoretical and Conceptual

Foundations) - OECD (1997-2005),

Partnerships 21: Framework for 21st Century

Learning (2007/2017, USA),

ATC21S (2012): Framework for 21st Century

Skills,

World Economic Forum (2015),

Framework for 21st Century Competencies

and Student Outcomes by Ministry of

Education Singapore

The New Zealand Ministry of

Education defines five key

competencies for living and lifelong

learning:

Thinking

Using language, symbols, and text

Managing self

Relating to others

Participating and contributing

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies

The most prominent 21st century skills or

competencies found in international

frameworks are associated with:

Learning and innovation skills

(the 4Cs - critical thinking,

communication, collaboration,

creativity)

Life and career skills

Information, media and technology

skills

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

Whilst the terminology regarding

the conceptualisations of 21st

century skills (competencies) may

vary on its journey around the

globe, all these developed

frameworks have built sufficiently

on each other’s ideas while at the

same time introducing

complementary ideas to the

concept of 21st century skills.

(Dede, 2010: 72–73)

Key competencies

encompass knowledge, skills,

attitudes, and values, and are

demonstrated in performance

– they require action.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES

ENGLISH FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT - CPD

➢ a process of personal professional

change

➢ the set of activities to promote

personal professional change

➢ a lifelong project

➢ an overarching framework for

professional change

(Hookey, 2002:888)

CPD IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

➢ Webinars (online or virtual seminars)

➢ Online Workshops

➢ Online Conferences

➢ MOOCs

➢ Social Networking Sites (SNS)

➢Groups on social media

➢Video and blog sharing sites

➢Wikis

CPD IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS

Online learning communities offer a convenient

way to provide professional development

experiences, as they are comprised of a group

of teachers, as autonomous, independent

individuals, who are drawn together by shared

values, goals, and interests and who are

committed to knowledge construction through

intensive dialogues, interaction, and

collaboration.

(Salazar et al. 2010: 2)

The PD activities* or strategies** for TPD

Self-monitoring

Mirror coaching

(awareness coaching)

Team coaching

Co-teaching

Peer observation

Expert teaching

(empowerment)

Critical friends’ teams

Teacher support groups

Workshops

Collaborative action

research

Exploratory action research

Lesson study learning circles

Mentoring

Professional portfolio

Keeping a teaching journal

and/or dialogue journals,

and

Analysing critical incidents

*(Richards & Farrell, 2005)/** (Dìaz-Maggioli, 2017)

WEBINAR

WEBINAR PLATFORMS 2012 - 2017

WebEx

Blackboard Collaborate

Adobe Connect

WebinarJam

Zoom

Cisco

WEBINAR CHARACTERISTICS

a continuing flow of language,

information, knowledge, skills

development opportunities

WEBINAR CHARACTERISTICS

Video conferencing software;

Synchronous (in real-time) or

asynchronous (replay);

Open access (registration usually

required);

Recorded and available for a limited

or unlimited period of time on

websites or social media channels;

Enable synchronous interaction withthe lecturer/presenter, audience andcontent presented;

The number of participants andpresenters depends on the organiser(e.g. ELT webinars = 100-500 people);

60 – 120 minutes or a series of sessions (e.g. “webinar day”);

Short-term, in terms of one sessionduration, but continual in terms ofmonthly or yearly PD planning.

Social media pages and groups can

attract a wide range of teachers

interested in topics being presented

EXAMPLES ELT WEBINAR ORGANISERS’ PAGES

ON FACEBOOK

Likes/Followers (Note:

**NOT all Teachers)

Cambridge English **5,428,363 / 5,414,710

American English at State **3,683,245 / 3,672,077

British Council **1,916,273 / 1,904,015

TESOL International 468,275 / 461,914

Oxford University Press ELT 225,996 / 224,579

Pearson ELT 143,793 / 143,552

Macmillan Education ELT 90,108 / 89,095

CELT Athens 11,245 / 11,143

IATEFL 10,035 / 10,118

Edweb.net 2,963 / 2,877

EXAMPLES ELT GROUPS ON FACEBOOK Members

(*Teachers)

Innovative Teachers of English 213,268

Teachers Teaching Online 46,038

International Association of English Language Teachers

(IAELT)

31,672

IATEFL - International Association of Teachers of English as a

Foreign Language

15,651

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Greece

14,588

MOOC Group for Teachers 11,683

Teacher Voices: Professional Development 9,442

Webinars for English Teachers 8,946

CLIL 4,121

IATEFL Learning Technologies SIG 700

WEBINAR ARCHIVES

EdWeb webinar archive – 1,248 webinars (8th of January 2013 up to August 29, 2017)

(NOT all ELT webinars!) = 29 in Language Learning (2013 – 2016), and 40 in English, Language Arts, Writing category (2013 –2017)

Macmillan English webinar archive –82 ELT webinars (2010-2016) + 69 webinars (MEOC 2011-2015*)

British Council webinar archive – 50 ELT webinars (March 2011 – July2017)

*MEOC – Macmillan Education Online Conference

YouTube channels with the “ELT

webinars” playlist:

IATEFL (13 webinar recordings)

American English (36 recordings)

Macmillan English (57 webinar recordings)

Cambridge English (65 webinar

recordings)

Cambridge University Press (99 webinar

recordings)

RESEARCH (WITH PARTICIPATION)

PROJECT

6 years (2012 – 2017)

300 webinar sessions

314 hours of webinar attendance

Webinars in English language

Webinars of great diversity and

reach

TOTAL NUMBER OF ELT WEBINARS ATTENDED FROM 2012 - 2017

Attended

webinars (ELT)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 TOTAL

OUP - 17 36 21 16 14 104

MACMILLAN 1+

MEOC

12 ws

0 +

MEOC

18ws

7 +

MEOC

14ws

11 +

MEOC

19ws

9 - 91

CUP - 6 23 11 5 11 56

PEARSON 1 - - - 14 5 20

IATEFL* - - - - 3 8 11

BRITISH

COUNCIL

- - - 1 9 - 10

TESOL - - - 2 1 1 4

CELT Athens - - - - - 2 2

EdWeb - - - - - 2 2

TOTAL 14 41 80 65 57 43 300

14

41

80

65

57

43

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

The number of webinars attended per year

Total number of ELT webinars attended from

2012 - 2017

ATTENDED

WEBINARS (ELT)

TOTAL AVERAGE

DURATIONDURATION

OUP 104 60 min 104h

MACMILLAN 91 60 min 91h

CUP 56 60 min 56h

PEARSON 20 60 min 20h

IATEFL* 11 120 min 22h

BRITISH

COUNCIL

10 60 min 10h

TESOL 4 90 min 6h

CELT Athens 2 90 min 3 h

EdWeb 2 60 min 2h

TOTAL 300 314 h

64

40

26

18 1816 15

11 11 108 8 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 4 4 3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

THE MAIN THEMES OF WEBINARS ATTENDED FROM 2012 – 2017

WEBINARS FOR MUSIC TEACHERS

In English

Free CPD online events

provided by Online Communities

of Teachers on platforms for

sharing and interacting (free or

paid membership).

Small number of webinars on

specific topics

WEBINARS FOR MUSIC

TEACHERS

EdWeb.net

NAfME – National Association for Music

Teachers (USA)

ISM – Incorporated Society of Musicians

Tim Topham Creative Piano Teaching – webinars

for piano teachers

Midnight Music Community – webinars for music

educators on digital technologies in classroom

The Curious Piano Teachers webinars

Topics of Music Teachers CPD events are focused on building COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN ENGLISH, CRITICAL THINKING, CREATIVITY, COLLABORATION, INNOVATION andENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Building and marketing a music studio (school) online

• Flipping the music education classroom (private andsmall group lessons)

• Gamification and games in teaching music

• Tested and new applications in music learning andteaching

• Digital tools useful in teaching and managing thestudio/teacher work

• Online music, online scores, materials and activities

FURTHER RESEARCH

- How exactly teachers on a global

scale use webinars and other digital

environments to achieve professional

development, and

- Whether teachers’ adoption of

webinars, as part of their oTPD, as well

as use of social networking sites (SNS)

and digital media for professional

development is having an impact on

their teaching practices

FINAL REMARKS

Professional development can be

overwhelming – (short-term and

long-term goals)

Positive attitude towards

professional learning is necessary

Webinars in long-term can provide

input from experts and colleagues,

raise teachers’ motivation, develop

collegiality and support innovations.

The major benefits of teacher connectivity

through webinars as part of oTPD activities:

Bridging the gap between the institutional, in-

school and informal CPD activities.

Building skills for locating classroom

resources and developing lesson ideas.

Building teachers’ motivation for action

research.

Building teachers’ motivation for lifelong

learning of languages (LLL) and professional

development (PD).

Building teachers’ motivation for participating

in online community involvement and building

Personal Learning Networks (PLN).

Building teachers’ reflecting skills on their

own practice, with the aim of using reflection

to shape their teaching.

Helping new teachers bridge the gap

between experience and knowledge gained

at the university and their work in teaching.

Learning from experts and colleagues.

Providing access to resources and exposure

to the real world of teaching.

Providing opportunities for developing digital

media skills.

Reducing isolation among new teachers and

teachers with diverse expertise.

“If we can share our learning

and our challenges and

questions in a community of

critical friends, it is likely the

field will continue to grow.”

(Hobbs, 2007: 9)

REFERENCES

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Hobbs, Renee (2007). Approaches to Instruction and Teacher Education in Media. UNESCO, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0016/001611/161133e.pdf (March 13, 2017)

Hookey, Mary Ross (2002). Professional Development. In: Richard Colwell & CarolRichardson (Eds.) The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, (pp. 887-903), Oxford University Press.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGkmOj69cp4&list=PL7BlTIDdOgZJ63fcD0WsatBODvNCeHA0t

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqf5YGqEng&list=PL7or3SUT9MLrdJbr5TfvlWLlfTVwcoAOT

Image English Language http://ieltsresource.com/ielts-listening-english-a-global-language/

THANK YOU ALL FOR LISTENING

sladana.elt@gmail.com

SLAĐANA MARIĆ (SLADANA MARIC)

PhD student in Teaching Methodology

Faculty of Philosophy,

University of Novi Sad, Serbia

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