Let your students get VISUAL

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Let your students get VISUAL using: ADOBE SPARKS, LUCIDPRESS and GOOGLE DRAWINGS

FirmBee / Pixabay

 

 

 

Together with my students I decided that the product of a series of lessons on DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP (see this post) will be a visual (poster, leaflet, flyer) with DOs and DON’Ts. Although there is a number of very good tools, we decided on a choice of four.

Below a wee overview and a selection of students’ work.

ADOBE SPARKS GOOGLE DRAWING

a short introductory clip from Lynda.com on what Adobe Sparks is. You can enrol for the whole course.

Watch a short tutorial by Richard Byrne:

 

 

 have a look how Jen Jonson created a beautiful infographics in google drawing

easy, fast, efficient, user super-friendly, FREE option is more than enough for your classwork

VIDEOS: your students can upload videos, add text , icons, music or voice without any sophisticated skills 🙂

 

 

in-house G-drive app; you can create: diagrams, posters, drawings; mindmaps, or concept maps;

good for individual work as well as collaborative project

FOR TEACHERS: just ditch a coursebook (joking) and prepare your own dynamic interactive lessons including videos for

example.

CANVA LUCIDPRESS 

a tutorial on how to use Canva – one of the best tools for any visuals

A drag-and-drop tool enabling you to produce wonderful visuals. Available as a stand-alone desktop tool or an in-built app (in G-Drive).

absolutely fantastic program using a drag-and-drop format, full of free icons, banners, templates, pictures, you name it. FREE version is enough;

a piece of advice: apparently, not good if you want to create a trademark and use it. Copyright issues. But for school use it is absolutely fine. If you want to find out more about legal issues, read an article by N. Styles here.

You can produce brochures, leaflets, banners as well as documents such as CVs, magazines or certificates.  FREE option full of templates, icons or images.

VERDICT: 

 

SPARKS – gold medal for the VIDEO creation tools and for the fact that is is really FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CANVA – gold medal for fantastic tools for static iamges/visuals

GOOGLE DRAWINGS – gold medal just because it’s google (joking,joking) – for simplicity and collaboration option

LUCIDPRESS – gold medal for simplicity and wide range of free tools

Below, simple visuals created by my students on DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP 

 

 

 

What is DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

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Digital Citizenship in plain English: norms, rules and regulations applied when using technology appropriately and in a responsible way.

See other definitions:

  • Digital citizenship is about confident and positive engagement with digital technologies. (….)”
  • “(…) the quality of a response to membership in digital community (….)”
  • ” (…) Digital citizenship empowers people to reap the benefits of digital technology in a safe and effective way(…)”

THE SEMANTICS OF DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP – elements, dimensions, pillars, core values, competences …… 

Digital Citizenship poster highlighting the nine elements of Digital Citizenship as defined by Dr. Mike Ribble, by Fractus learning https://www.fractuslearning.com

https://www.fractuslearning.com/digital-citizenship-poster/

Digital Etiquette electronic standards of conduct or procedure.
Digital Communication electronic exchange of information
Digital Literacy process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology
Digital Access full electronic participation in society
Digital Commerce electronic buying and selling of goods
Digital Law electronic responsibility for actions and deeds
Digital Rights & Responsibilities those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world
Digital Health & Wellness physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world
Digital Security (self-protection) electronic precautions to guarantee safety

 

The DQ (The Digital Intelligence Quotient) Institute identified eight core digital citizenship competencies constituting DQ.

https://www.dqinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/digitalcitizenship.png

Visit the the DQ Institute website here for more information and resources.

An absolutely fantastic website The Digital Teacher Cambridge features an interactive diagram of six areas: DIGITAL WORLD, DIGITAL CLASSROOM, DIGITAL TEACHER, DESIGNING LEARNING, DELIVERING LEARNING and EVALUATING LEARNING. Find out more about The Cambridge English Digital Framework for Language Teachers HERE.

PanJoyCZ / Pixabay

USEFUL RESOURCES: 

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP AGREEMENT – three, FREE TO DOWNLOAD, documents  published by Global Digital Citizenship Foundation HERE.

And my favourite Be Internet Awesome Pledge by google. [embeddoc url=”https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-interland.appspot.com/en-us/hub/pdfs/Google_BeInternetAwesome_Pledge.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES: 

  • POSTERS on the wall with tips (available free for downloading and printing HERE)
  • Collection of POSTERS from commonsense.org
  • Free classroom poster: I am a digital age learner
  • Free poster (British Council)

 

 

 

E-SAFETY RESOURCES

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E-SAFETY RESOURCES

One of the numerous e-safety images posted by Google

A collection of e-safety images posted by Google.

THINKUKNOW

Are you a teacher? Or a parent/carer? Check this out! Thinkuknow is the education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline. The resurces (articles, videos, games) are split into the target groups: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14+, parents/carers and children’s workforce.

Thinkuknow has their own youtube channel featuring a number of excellent educational videos.

DIGIZEN

Issues such as social networking and cyberbullying are explored on the Digizen website. Plenty of fantastic resources such as lesson plans, stories, videos or activities. See the digital citizenship  glossary:

[embeddoc url=”http://www.digizen.org/downloads/DIGIZEN_GLOSSARY.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

OTHER RESOURCES

CHILDNET INTERNATIONAL Childnet’s mission is to work in partnership with others around the world to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP  “Everything educators need to empower the next generation of digital citizens.”
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY COURSE by GOOGLE  “(…) online course is designed for you and your students to learn how they can help create a safe and positive experience online.”
NETSMART TEENS

Helping young people to make safer choices online through videos, games and interactive comics.

BETTER INTERNET FOR KIDS
WEB WE WANT  Created by young people for young people and by teachers for teachers. Available in 12 European languages.

 

 

LEARNING TO FAIL

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IF YOU’VE NEVER FAILED, YOU’VE NEVER TRIED ANYTHING NEW IN YOUR LIFE.

DO NOT GIVE UP. Help your mind to become a GROWTH MIND and build your confidence.

3 tips to boost your confidence  an excellent Self-Awareness video that might be used for listening comprehension, note taking etc.

An excellent article about the value of making mistakes.

 

 

 

 

VIDEOS ON SAFETY ISSUES

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VIDEOS ON SAFETY

These short videos convey important information about fire safety, child safety, home safety and crime prevention. Taken from the ITS Glasgow “Stay Safe Scotland” DVD, they can be used to accompany the ITS Glasgow ESOL packs. All videos © 2011 ITS Glasgow.

A collection of video and an example: CASH MACHINE

[mediacore height=”315px” public_url=”http://edinburghcollege.mediacore.tv/media/videos-on-safety” thumb_url=”http://cdnassets.mediacore.tv/sites/8595/images/media/2205045m-ATJiae6w.jpg” title=”09 04 2014 11 21 51″ width=”560px”]

MANY THINGS for your ESOL students ….. and not only :)

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MANYTHINGS

This web site is for people studying English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer assisted language learning activities. Even though the primary focus is for ESL, native English speakers may also find some interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising. TESL/TEFL teachers may want to recommend this site to their students.

I do recommend the site with a range of reading texts with audio files  READING TIME 🙂

FOR BUSY TEACHERS – YOU CAN’T MISS IT!!!!

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Do you want to start your lesson with something different? Something that everybody is talking about? Something that everybody should know? Do you need to find information quickly?

REFDESK.COM REFDESK.COM might be very useful . It can be accessed via computer or smartphone. It gives you:

Site of the day – for example Earth Cam. I’ve just seen what’s going on in Bangkok. Live! Good for DESCRIBING PICTURES.

Fact of the day – I’ve just learnt that many historians believe football (European version) originated in China around 1000 B.C. Good for DISCUSSION about – football, China, other inventions, you name it.

Thought of the day – “Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.” – B.C. Forbes, hmmm, I don’t know, I guess so. But I’m not going to tell my students!

This day in history – “The first American attack on Japanese soil during WWII, the Battle of Iwo Jima(…)”. No, I’m not choosing that. The page gives me other option for example BBC. So, I’m choosing 25.02 – well, well – 1982: Parents can stop school beatings: The European Court of Human Rights rules corporal punishment in Britain’s schools is a violation of the Human Rights Convention. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/25/default.stm) Good for COMPARING and CONTRASTING different school systems, CHATTING about school days; USED TO  etc.

In the newsDISCUSSING CURRENT EVENTS

Article of the day – homework: READING COMPREHENSION; WRITING A SUMMARY

Today’s birthday – good for WRITING A BIOGRAPHY; PRESENTATIONS

Today’s pictures – One of my favourite –  stunning images, shocking images, informative images, street photography, political images, etc. Good for SHORT TALKS or DESCRIBE THE PICTURE activities.

Word of the day – Love it! Every day – a new word. Today – a stalking-horse.

Dictionaries of different sorts (visual, talking, technical), translators and many, many other things which can be used easily and fast.

This website is a real gem for busy teachers. A real time saver!!!! And excellent for LEARNING ON THE GO!!!!  

DON’T USE RED INK IN PORTUGAL, DON’T LAUGH OUT LOUD IN PUBLIC IN KOREA and other tips

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DON’T REVEAL THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET TO OTHER PEOPLE IN SAUDI; DON’T USE RED INK IN PORTUGAL; DON’T SHOW “OK” SIGN IN TURKEY; DON’T CLINK YOUR GLASSES IN HUNGARY; DON’T TOUCH THAI PEOPLE IN THEIR HEADS; DON’T LAUGH OUT LOUD IN PUBLIC IN KOREA  and many other tips can be found on FASTEN  SEAT-BELTS  FASTENSEATBELTS – a wonderful lighthearted  guide how to behave and not when abroad – in 9 languages accompanied by audio files.

An excellent idea for a project prepared collaboratively by your students.

EYE CONTACT – are all our students comfortable with maintaining eye contact?

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EUROPE and USA: using direct eye contact is accepted and considered to be a sign of attentiveness, honesty, confidence, and respect

 

HISPANIC COMMUNITIES: direct eye contact is considered to be impertinent, confrontational, and aggressive

JAPAN: Japanese tend to favour indirect eye contact over direct. They may view direct eye contact as intimidating and threatening. They usually use indirect eye contact when speaking with their elders or superiors as a sign of respect and deference.

THAILAND: Eye contact should be very infrequent. Thai people rarely look the other straight in the eye.

ARAB COUNTRIES: Eye contact during discussions–often long and direct–is important. Staring is not necessarily rude (except gazing at women). Maintain eye to eye contact with your counterpart even if talking through a translator.