Online dictionaries

Macmillan have just put their advanced dictionary online for free.

It has all the usual dictionary things - definitions, examples, phonetics, frequency info - plus sound files of pronunciation, thesaurus and lots of other good stuff.

I'm sure you already knew about the Cambridge online dictionaries, which gives you access to five dictionaries: advanced, learner's (intermediate), idioms, phrasal verbs and American, but no sound files.

David

Interactive whiteboards - the 'digital divide'

Here is an interesting article from Guardian Weekly on IWBs and how they are affecting teaching and learning.

Interactive whiteboards that divide

Do you agree with any of the points that Pete Sharma makes?

He ends with the unsurprising conclusion:

"It can help create a rich learning environment, but it all depends on how you use it. "

Study Skills - help with referencing

Here are some useful links to information on the University of Birmingham website relating to referencing, plagiarism and software to help students.

There is a lot of help and advice for new students, and finding your way through to what you need is not always easy. This post aims to help with that by choosing some of the web pages that are most relevant and putting them into some context.

At the general level, the University's Guide to Effective Learning Resources offers a lot of advice, but is perhaps a bit daunting for new students. Concentrating on referencing and plagiarism for the moment, the 'guide to citing references' link is a good place to start, explaining that UoB has adopted the Harvard system (slightly altered) as the standard for academic writing.

For more specific advice on how to use the Harvard system in practice, this page is very good.
It gives short clear examples of how to cite other authors' ideas in your writing, and how to create a bibliography. The final link on this page is to a very detailed 'How to..' guide on preparing and quoting references using the Harvard system in accordance with UoB requirements.

South Bank University in London have produced a very detailed help sheet on Harvard referencing too - it is particularly useful on how to reference web pages (page 11).

The other links on the 'guide to citing references' page tell students about all the various software packages that are available to help with referencing. For students up to and including Masters level, Refworks should do the job. This is free to UoB students, there is training available online, and it will help students to:

• find texts and import full details into Refworks
• create a database of texts they have read
• use a 'Cite and Write' facility to create bibliographies very easily via Word
• make sure that their work conforms to the UoB Harvard standard

Endnote is another package which does the same job, but the library service recommend it more for PhD level students. It costs about £20-30 for students.

Most departments will arrange induction training for library services, so students will be able to get advice and support on the software when they need it.

Some comments and questions from David

Firstly, thanks to all of you for your contributions last week. It's very encouraging to know that people have done the foundation course, have ideas to share and want to know more.
I have a few comments and questions on these training requests.

Lorraine, Imogen and Judith: could you tell me which skills from the foundation course you would like to practise?


Richard N, Eira, Cathryn and Analeen: not sure if the tip of the day point was a joke, but just in case it wasn't, when it next pops up, uncheck the tickbox near the Help button.


Robert, Geoff and Susy: could you give me more details on what you want covered in the two integration items and text manipulation?

Finally, a couple of general points:

importing from powerpoint/exporting to word etc is all done by

• clicking on the menu icon at the top left of the toolbar (looks more like a newspaper coming through the letterbox to me)
• clicking on 'flipchart'
• and the import/export options are at the bottom of the dropdown menu (obviously to export you need to have a flipchart already open)

AND

We are storing any flipcharts that you want to share with others on the R drive in the 'Interactive Whiteboards/Shared Flipcharts' folder. Some tidying up still to do!

There are folders for each level and for IELTS, which is where you will find an example of an exercise 'Describing a process' used several times in class, which uses layers!

IWB training requests - staff workshop

I have put all of these into one post. If we don't manage to cover all of them in the training session on 12th June, I will cover them in a later session or do a quick 'How to..' sheet for it if it's a fairly straightforward one.

Lorraine, Imogen and Judith

• adding coursebook webpages to a flipchart
• how to add audio to a flipchart
• would like practice on tasks in the foundation course to consolidate learning and increase confidence
• toolbar (adding tools?)
• converting powerpoint to flipchart

Richard N, Eira, Cathryn and Analeen

• exporting flipcharts as word document/powerpoint/other formats
• layers: how to use and some practical applications
• how to turn off 'Tip of the day'

Mike, Hasan, Richard W and Dave B

• capturing text, sound and image from websites
• using gmail/word

Robert, Geoff and Susy

• activities for blind/reveal tool and spotlight
• integration of internal components (cut and paste)
• integration of external components (Word/web browsers etc)
• text manipulation

If you want to add to these points, ask questions or give more details, please comment or post here so that all can see it.
David

Staff workshop - IWB hints and tips 4

Mike, Hasan, Richard W and Dave B made these points:

1. use the clock for IELTS tests
2. use Gmail instead of Word so you automatically save documents and can send them to students more easily

If you want to add to these points, ask questions or give more details, please comment or post here so that all can see it.
David

Staff workshop - IWB hints and tips 3

Robert, Geoff and Susy made these points:

1. switch on early and in the correct order so you can call David for help
2. always recalibrate the board before you use it
   
3. try using the blind (also known as reveal tool) and spotlight
4. good for jumbled sentences /paragraphs
5. can store and reuse materials
6. teachers should share resources more

If you want to add to these points, ask questions or give more details, please comment or post here so that all can see it.
David

Staff workshop - IWB hints and tips 2

Richard N, Eira, Cathryn & Analeen made these points:

• mute the screen when not in use
• use weblinks within the flipchart
• toolbar can be moved where you want it, rolled up and customised to your needs
• use personalised template daily with the day's objectives as starting point
• convert powerpoints to flipcharts so that students can annotate during presentations
• use Word and Activmarker
• use grids/lines background (faintly) to improve quality of own handwriting
• be conscious of students' writing/note-taking speed - don't move on to new page of flipchart too quickly
• get students using keyboard (where wireless) or pen to write themselves

If you want to add to these points, ask questions or give more details, please comment or post here so that all can see it.
David

Staff workshop - IWB hints and tips 1

Lorraine, Imogen and Judith made these points:

• Don't use the WB for the whole lesson
• in place of colour photocopies, you can access webpages of a coursebook and add them to a flipchart (thumbnail)
• prepare flipcharts at home and bring them in on a pen drive
• concerns about lack of face to face teaching when using Promethean - it changes the classroom dynamics
• mute the screen when it's not the main focus of the class

If you want to add to these points, ask questions or give more details, please comment or post here so that all can see it.
David

Whiteboard training - Summer Term 2009

The online training seems to be going well. If you haven't made a start yet, please try to do so in the next week. If you want a copy of the program to install at home, ask me.

The second part of this term's training will be on Friday 22nd May immediately after a short staff meeting. This is more of a workshop, and I want you to do two things to prepare for it:

1. keep a note of any things that you do with IWB in class so that we can share ideas. Post them on here as comments, email them to me or bring them to the workshop
2. let me know what you need/want to find out about using IWBs, so that I can pass on our 'shopping list' to the Promethean trainer. Again, post a comment here, email it to me or bring it to the workshop

The third part of the training will be on Friday 12th June from 1.30 till 4.30.

David

Flipchart viewer program for students

Some of you have asked how students can read flipcharts that you save and send them.

The flipchart viewer is no longer available, but you could get students to download the free personal edition of ActivInspire.

For suggestions on how to lock the content, see http://community.prometheanplanet.com/en/technical_support/forums/f/152/p/18464/44176.aspx#44176

There is also the simple 'Export' option, which converts your flipchart to a word document, PDF etc.

David


-->