I Before class: INTRODUCTION I.1 Rationale Information technologies have affected every aspect of human activity and have a potential role to play in the field of education and training, specially, in distance education to transform it into an innovative form of experience The need of new technologies in teaching learning process grows stronger and faster The information age becomes an era of knowledge providing sound and unmatched feasibility for discovery, exchange of information, communication and exploration to strengthen the teaching learning process Information technologies help in promoting opportunities of knowledge sharing throughout the world These can help the teachers and students having up-to-date information and knowledge Accurate and right information is necessary for effective teaching and learning; and information technologies (Haag, 1998; p.10) are “set of tools that can help provide the right people with the right information at the right time.” Students are independent and they can make best decisions possible about their studies, learning time, place and resources Technology ushers in fundamental structural changes that can be integral to achieving significant improvements in productivity Used to support both teaching and learning, technology infuses classrooms with digital learning tools, such as computers and hand held devices; expands course offerings, experiences, and learning materials; supports learning 24 hours a day, days a week; builds 21st century skills; increases student engagement and motivation; and accelerates learning Technology also has the power to transform teaching by ushering in a new model of connected teaching This model links teachers to their students and to professional content, resources, and systems to help them improve their own instruction and personalize learning Online learning opportunities and the use of open educational resources and other technologies can increase educational productivity by accelerating the rate of learning; reducing costs associated with instructional materials or program In the era of technology, IT aids plenty of resources to enhance the teaching skills and learning ability With the help of IT now it is easy to provide audio visual education The learning resources are being widens and widen Now with this vivid and vast technique as part of the IT curriculum, learners are encouraged to regard computers as tools to be used in all aspects of their studies In particular, they need to make use of the new multimedia technologies to communicate ideas, describe projects, and order information in their work I.2 Aims of the study The general purpose of this study is to explore the use of ICT in teaching and learning languages Especially, this study focuses on the most useful and or the fastest way of exploiting the internet as well as some techniques to design an Elearning lesson with Adobe presenter software I.3 Scope of the study Within limit of this paper, this study will not cover all the ways of exploiting / mining the Internet and how to create an E-learning lesson with different software So, it mainly focuses on some ways to exploit / mine the Internet effectively and how to create an E-learning lesson with Adobe Presenter I.4 Research methods: To achieve these aims, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used in this study The data will be collected via questionnaires, student’s reflection, semi-structured interview The data for preliminary investigation were collected via questionnaires Besides, the data about the effectiveness of ICT of the study were collected via students’ reflection and semi-structured interview II DEVELOPMENT II.1 Basic Internet Search Techniques and Strategies 1.7 steps to search information, using google search engine When you begin, Google should be ready to a web search – and the word “Web” (at the top) should have a blue box around it If not, click one time on Web Type your search term or terms in the box, and then click one time on the Google Search button to get a list of possible Web sites If you click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, you will be taken automatically to the first Web site that Google finds You will NOT get a list of Web sites At the top of your list of results, you can see how many Web sites Google found that match your search term Single click on the blue underlined title of any Web page to view it Want to go faster when you view pages? Open the Web site in a new browser window When you are finished with the Web site, close that window and you will still see your list of Web sites in Google (This trick works with any search engine) Right click on the title and select “Open in New Window” OR “Open in New Tab” Try using the Advanced Search sometime You can give Google very specific directions to get better results TIPS The following pieces of basic advice can help you find what you want quickly: • The more words in your search criteria, the smaller the number of results • Do not bother with capital letters and small words such as the, in, and, etc, since most search engines ignore them • If you cannot find something you want in the first 30-50 results, rethink your search criteria Maybe add or remove words • Local versions of search engines are programmed to prioritize results from your country For example, if you are based in Vietnam try using http://www.google.co.vn or http://vn.search.yahoo.com Once you have mastered the basics, further techniques can be added to improve your search results: • Placing the + symbol in front a word means that this word must be on the web page for it to be included in the results • Placing a - symbol in front of a word means that no web pages with this word must be included in the results • Placing an OR between two words means the web pages must include either one of these words or both • Placing a phrase inside double quotation marks tells the search engine to look for this exact phrase Here are a few more tips that are unique to Google, the most popular of the search engines: • Placing the ~ symbol in front of a word means Google should search for this word and synonyms of this word, eg nuclear ~power produces results for nuclear power, nuclear energy and nuclear electricity • You can limit your search to a single website instead of the entire Web Your search criteria should be followed by site: then the address of the website, eg "nuclear power" site:www.bbc.co.uk will search for the term nuclear power, but only in the BBC's website • Google has a feature that allows you to limit your search to online glossaries You enter define: followed by the word you want to know the meaning of, eg define: nuclear power produces a short list of definitions of nuclear power taken from specialized websites • Google News, http://news.google.com, searches only websites of news-gathering organizations such as newspapers and TV companies Its homepage is generated automatically, and you can enter search criteria to find exactly what you are looking for Because Google News only covers a very small part of the Web, it is able to list articles that are very recent, sometimes only a few hours old Generally, typing sentences or questions in a search engine (e.g., Google) search box does not provide good results Instead, use the terms or keywords that describe concepts of your topic to construct search statements Identifying keywords before searching the Internet will save you time when you are locating information Often a keyword that works well in one search will not retrieve enough or relevant items in another Brainstorm synonyms or keywords for each concept Try asking a friend for ideas, or use a thesaurus if you are having difficulty identifying synonyms for your concepts Question Keywords Are there any games for games, teaching grammar? Synonyms & Related Words teaching grammar Where can I get a lesson lesson plan about plagiarism? grammar points should I in include beginner level class? a grammar present, English, English grammar, ESL grammar plan, plagiarism What activities, fun activities, instruct, class, syllabus, outline, copying points, topic, beginner, class structure, elementary, beginning, lower level, course (Adapted from Algren, M (2011) in Teacher Educator Workshops with Dr Mark Algren) Create Exercises from Internet Resources Using authentic texts One of the benefits of the Web is the ability to easily access authentic material Such material can be of great value for discussion classes, debates or project work in which learners need to explore the controversy surrounding a topic It can also be useful when the learners' needs are very specific, fall outside of the range of published materials or simply need to be authentic and current Once you have located a text that you want to use with your learners, it can be copied from the web page and into a word-processor document Do this by highlighting it with your cursor in the same way you would in a word-processor program Then right-click with your mouse and select Copy, or press the Ctrl key and the letter C on your keyboard Finally, open a new word-processor document and click on the Paste button, or Ctrl and V on the keyboard You can now save the text and edit it to create material to use with your learners The types of activities you can are those often used in reading lessons The following list gives examples of common modifications to texts to create activities: • Separating the headlines from the text as a predicting exercise • Simplifying the text to remove or replace vocabulary and idiomatic language you think will distract from the target of your lesson or is inappropriate for your learners' level • • Creating a gap-fill exercise by editing out target language or structures Creating an exercise to match sub-headlines with paragraphs or match text with pictures • Jumbling paragraphs or sentences onto separate pages to be put back into the correct order • Selecting a short passage to use as a dictation (reconstructing a text from memory, usually in pairs) exercise As well as using the Web as a source of texts to adapt, you can encourage computer-literate learners to find, choose and modify texts themselves to use in the classroom See the practical applications at the end of this chapter for an example Evaluate Knowledge and Information from Internet Teachers are frequently accessing material that is new to them Whether via Google or an educational website, the quality of material found on the Internet is far more random and variable than is normally considered acceptable in a formal educational setting Even material of variable quality need not be a problem if the students are orientated towards what they find in sufficiently structured and critical ways This, however, requires an evaluation of the information before using it Almost anyone can put up a Web page Your responsibility as a teacher is to carefully evaluate the web site for accuracy and authority Remember: although sitting at a computer to look for information is fun and easy, you are still responsible for the selection of any resources you use Because this is still a rapidly changing environment, you need to ask some serious questions about every Web-based resource you use Think critically; don’t believe it just because you see it on the Web! (The following is a list of questions taken from http://crab.rutgers.edu/~scholzcr/eval.html) WWW Evaluation Checklist Author Who is the author of the piece? Is the author the original creator of the information? YES NO CAN'T TELL Does the author list his or her occupation, years of experience, position, or education? If so, list: With this information or lack of it, you feel this person is qualified to write on the given topic? YES NO If yes, why? Local Institution or Home Page What institution (company, government, university, organization, etc.) or Internet provider supports this information? If it is a commercial Internet provider, does the author appear to have any affiliation with a larger institution? YES NO If it is an institution, is it a national institution? YES NO Does the institution appear to filter the information appearing under its name? YES NO Does the author's affiliation with this particular institution appear to bias the information? YES NO Document Information When was the information created or last updated? What appears to be the purpose for this information? (explain) To inform, e.g new information, current events, etc To explain, e.g describe a process, teach, etc To persuade, e.g change your mind, convince you to buy, etc Conclusion Given all the information you determined from above, is this piece of information appropriate for your information need? YES NO If yes, explain your decision and any reservations you would tell someone else using this information Practice and Exercises Exercise 1:(adapted from Googling, n.d.) In the address bar (URL, or ‘uniform resource locator’), type: www.google.com/ ; press the “enter” key on your keyboard In the Google search bar, type [efl young learners]; not type the brackets [ ] What is the first site listed? Right click on the name of this site Name a few things that are available on the site: Find the “Search” bar at the top of your screen You are already in the Google search engine, so you can now use this search bar as a shortcut In the search bar, type in [efl young learners]; not type the brackets This time, click on the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button What happens? In the Google search bar, type [efl young learners +songs]; not type the brackets! Describe the results you get with this strategy: In the Google search bar, type the following: (Optional) Select Zip Package to add all presentation files to a Zip file A zip package is useful if you need to give or send the files to someone else to preview (The View Output option is not available if you select Zip Package To view the files, use Windows Explorer to navigate to the published file folder.) (Optional) Select CD Package if you are going to distribute the presentation on a CD-ROM after previewing (If you select this option, you can burn the presentation onto a CD-ROM, and when it is opened, the presentation automatically begins playing.) Click Publish: When you publish, a new folder with the same name as the presentation is created and placed in your My Documents\My Adobe Presentations folder The new folder contains all of the presentation files, copies of attachments, and any audio, video, and image files that are part of the presentation If you selected the view output option in step 4, the presentation appears in you default web browser Add Audio & Synchronize Animations Choose Record Audio from the Adobe Presenter menu Set your microphone recording level Begin recording audio Clicking Next >> advances the presentation to the next slide Clicking Next Animation allows you to time PowerPoint animations to your narration If there are no animations on the slide, click Stop Recording, then Next>> to start narrating the next slide Add Multimedia Choose Insert Swf or Import Video from the Adobe Presenter menu Browse for your content using the Insert Flash or Import Video dialog The Flash/Video file is inserted / Imported on the slide To preview the inserted file, view the presentation in slideshow mode Capture Video Choose Capture Video from the Adobe Presenter menu Select Attach to slide as or Capture the video using Start Recording and Stop Recording Click Ok to insert it to the slide or Click to save it to a different file Create Quizzes and Surveys Choose Quiz Manager from the Adobe Presenter menu Click Add New Question to add a question or Import Quizzes from your existing presentations created in Adobe Presenter or Articulate Choose the type of question you would like to create and fill in question properties Continue until you have created all questions and click OK in the Quiz Manager New slides are added to the presentation for each question you created Edit Quizzes for advanced options like pooling, shuffling and branching Add a multiple-choice question to a presentation In Presenter, you can have multiple-choice questions branch according to user responses For example, in a question with three possible answers, you can set up branching in this way: If the user selects the first answer, go to the next slide; if the second, jump to a slide later in the quiz; if the third, open a web page In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file) Select the slide before the one in which you want to insert a question For example, if you want the new question to be slide in the presentation, click slide Select Adobe Presenter > Quiz Manager (PowerPoint 2007 users select Adobe Presenter > Manage Quiz.) Select the quiz to which you want to add a question and click Add Question (To quickly add a new question without specifying if the question is graded or not, click the arrow next to Add Question and select a question type.) In the Question Types dialog box, select Multiple Choice and specify how to grade the question: Create Graded Question The question is graded Create Survey Question The question is not graded On the Question tab, accept the default text for the name or enter a new name in the Name text box The name appears on the question slide in the presentation If you are creating more than one question of the same type (for example, multiplechoice, short answer, and so on.) in a single presentation, type a unique name for each so that you can distinguish between them In the Question text box, type the multiple-choice question exactly as you want it to appear on the slide (The Question text box cannot be left blank.) In the Score text box, type (or use the up and down arrows to specify) the number of points allocated to this question Assigning points signifies the relative importance of a question By assigning different point values to different questions, you can give introductory questions a lower value than advanced questions, for example You can enter any whole number value If all questions have the same value (for example, 10 points), they are scored equally In the Answers area, click Add and enter possible answers (A multiple-choice question requires at least two answers.) If necessary, click Delete to remove an answer from the list 10 When you finish, click OK twice Add a true-or-false question to a presentation Users answer true-or-false questions by selecting either True or False (or Yes or No) as an answer In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file) Select the slide before the one where you want to insert a question For example, if you want the new question slide to be slide in the presentation, click s lide Select Adobe Presenter > Quiz Manager (PowerPoint 2007 users select Adobe Presenter > Manage Quiz.) Select the quiz to which you want to add a question and click Add Question (To quickly add a new question without specifying if the question is graded or not, click the arrow next to Add Question and select a question type.) In the Question Types dialog box, select True/False and specify if the question will be graded: Create Graded Question The question is graded Create Survey Question The question is not graded On the Question tab, accept the default text for the name or enter a new name in the Name text box The name appears on the question slide in the presentation In the Question text box, type the true-or-false question exactly as you want it to appear on the slide (The Question text box cannot be left blank.) In the Score text box, type (or use the up and down arrows to specify) the number of points allocated to this question Assigning points signifies the relative importance of a question Assigning different point values to different questions lets you, for example, give introductory questions a lower value and advanced questions a higher value You can enter any whole number value If all questions have the same value (for example, 10 points), they are scored equally In the Answers area, establish which answer is correct by selecting either True or False 10 From the Type pop-up menu, select True or False, or Yes or No (To customize the answer options, select the existing text in the Answers area and type a new word For example, select True and type Valid.) 11 In Numbering, use the pop-up menu to select an option for how answers are listed on the quiz slide You can choose from uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or numbers 12 Select the Options tab 13 When you finish, click OK twice Add a fill-in-the-blank question to a presentation Fill-in-the-blank questions contain a blank space that users fill in by entering text (such as a word or phrase) or selecting from a list of possible answers In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file) Select the slide before the one where you want to insert a question For example, if you want the new question slide to be slide in the presentation, click s lide Select Adobe Present er > Quiz Manager (PowerPoint 2007 users select Adobe Presente r > Manage Quiz.) Select the quiz to which you want to add a question and click Add Question (To quickly add a new question without specifying if the question is graded or not, click the arrow next to Add Question and select a question type.) Add a short-answer question to a presentation Users answer short-answer questions by providing a word, phrase, or complete sentence as an answer You can also use this as an essay question and grade it or gather extended feedback as a survey question In PowerPoint, open a presentation (PPT or PPTX file) Select the slide before the one where you want to insert a question For example, if you want the new question slide to be slide in the presentation, click s lide Select Adobe Present er > Quiz Manager (PowerPoint 2007 users select Adobe Presente r > Manage Quiz.) Select the quiz to which you want to add a question and click Add Question (To quickly add a new question without specifying if the question is graded or not, click the arrow next to Add Question and select a question type.) In the Question Types dialog box, select Short Answer and specify how to grade the question: Create Graded Question The question is graded Create Survey Question The question is not graded On the Question tab, accept the default text for Name or type a new name directly into the text box The name appears on the question slide in the presentation If you are creating more than one question of the same type (for example, multiplechoice, short answer, and so on.) in a single presentation, type a unique name for each so that you can distinguish between them In the Question text box, type the short-answer question, exactly as you want it to appear on the slide (The Question text box cannot be left blank.) In the Score text box, type (or use the up and down arrows to specify) the number of points allocated to this question Assigning points signifies the relative importance of a question Assigning different point values to different questions lets you, for example, give introductory questions a lower value and advanced questions a higher value You can enter any whole number value If all questions have the same value (for example, 10 points), they are scored equally In the Acceptable Answers area, click an empty row or click Add and enter words or phrases that are correct answers to the question Click Add and Delete as necessary to write an appropriate list 10 When you finish, click OK twice III IV CONCLUSION REFERENCES Becta (2008) ‘What the research says about using ICT in Modern Foreign Languages’, available on the Internet at http://partners.becta.org.uk/uploaddir/downloads/page_documents/research/wtrs_mfl.pdf [accessed 24/5/08] Driscoll, Dr M 'Blended learning: Let's get beyond the hype', available on the Internet at http://www.ltinewsline.com/ltimagazine Hall, D (2010) The ICT Handbook for primary teachers USA: Routledge Sharma, P & Barrett, B (2007) Blended Learning: Using technology in and beyond the language classroom UK: MacMillan Smith, D.G & Baber, E 2005 Teaching English with Information Technology London: Modern English Publishing (n.d) Becoming a Creative Teacher: A Manual for Teaching English to Indonesian Elementary Students, available on the Internet at http://englishtips.org/1150825435-becoming-a-creative-teacher-a-manual-forteaching.htm ... of ICT in teaching and learning languages Especially, this study focuses on the most useful and or the fastest way of exploiting the internet as well as some techniques to design an Elearning... any games for games, teaching grammar? Synonyms & Related Words teaching grammar Where can I get a lesson lesson plan about plagiarism? grammar points should I in include beginner level class?... fun activities, instruct, class, syllabus, outline, copying points, topic, beginner, class structure, elementary, beginning, lower level, course (Adapted from Algren, M (2011) in Teacher Educator