Creating spoken entries for an e-Portfolio via Horizon-Wimba

voice tools

Marina Orsini-Jones

Director, Centre for Information Technology in Language Learning

Coventry University

Motivating factors - How much do we speak?

• In everyday life, listening is used twice as often as speaking, which in turn is used twice as much as reading and writing. Rivers,W.M.(1981). Teaching foreign language skills.Chicago

• Inside the classroom, speaking and listening are the most often used skills. Brown,H.D.(1994). Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. Engelwood Cliffs

There is a saying that we learn:

• 10 percent of what we read,

• 20 percent of what we hear,

• 30 percent of what we see, and

• 70 percent of what we speak.

Self,J. (1987)The picture of writing to learn, in Plain talk : About Learning and writing across the curriculum, Richmond, p.13

Wimba Voice tools

• Voice Board– Audio discussions

• Voice Direct– Audio chat

• Voice Authoring/Recorder– Audio announcements

• Voice Email– Audio email to any email

address

The audio files are stored on a server in New York

Wimba Powerlink

• Embeds the tools into the ‘Add Page or Tool’

• Handles all the login and password details between WebCT and Wimba for tutors and students

Voice BoardSetting up Tutor and Student’s view

Tutor only icons

Play

Voice EmailSetting up Tutor and Student’s view

Record message

Tips for Wimba use

• Tell your students they must download Java (1.5) and enable pop-ups;

• Make sure that students click ‘always’ or ‘run’ when they obtain the large grey dialog box;

• Be as creative as you like with exercises, but make them real if possible.

Sample language activity with voice tools 1

Greetings & getting to know each other and reflection on task.

• Objectives: students will learn how to introduce themselves in Italian.

• At the end of the greeting/getting to know each other activity, students will engage in reflection – in English – about the new skills acquired this week.

Sample language activity 1 – Students will:

• Listen to the audio instructions containing information on the activities to carry out (voice message created by the teacher using Voice Authoring/Recorder);

• Practise speaking in Italian about themselves (with Voice Board);

• Practise reflecting in English about the skills learned (with Voice Board/Voice Direct and written discussion board);

Sample language activity 1 continued - students will:

• Share audio-discussion postings and engage in peer-learning (with Voice Board and written discussion board);

• Assess their understanding of the new vocabulary learned with the relevant, tailor-made audio multiple-choice quiz.

• Learn how to turn-take and improve their listening and speaking skills both in English and in the target language

(with Voice Direct).

Sample Language Activity 2 - linking academic and professional skills

• Each student told that they are a journalist from different newspapers and have to report on a lecture by a famous professor in the style of that newspaper;

• Students to listen to the lecture about Berlusconi F2F;

Activity 2 continued…

• Students to report on the major points heard, according to the style of their newspaper using Wimba as a ‘mock’ telephone call to the editor.

• Students to discuss styles further using another discussion board.

Sample Activity with Voice Board

Sample activity 3 – Voice Email for Problem-Based Tasks

and Work Simulations (Italian final year, advanced level)

In this activity the tutor simulated a work situation: each student was told that they had to collect some Italian delegates – historians from the University of Pisa - attending an international conference on globalisation at Coventry University. The delegates had to be collected from Coventry Airport, taken to the University and the students had to act as interpreters for them for the duration of the conference.

Sample activity 3 - continued

• Instructions for the task were sent to each student via Voice Email;

• Each student was told to reply to the instructions in Italian, providing details on how they would manage the task set.

• Tutors replied IN ITALIAN with further information and asked students to send a second voice email in which they had to summarise IN ENGLISH the instructions given.

Conclusion/discussion• Great and easy to use by students and

teachers;

• Teacher can export sound from boards to the hard disk (can be used for assessment – backup possible);

• Students can be creative: some have started swapping songs…

• Any ideas about portfolio entries? Try out the discussion board first, then we shall discuss it.