Blog Post #3: Synchronous and Asynchronous CMC Tools

Please review one of the Synchronous CMC Tools AND one of the Asynchronous CMC Tools we looked at this week in class.  Please include the following in your blog post:

1) Brief descriptions of the tools and links to their websites

[Scribblar: Synchronous CMC Tool] Here is the link: http://www.scribblar.com/

Scribblar seems like a blackboard in real classroom. It is the on-line based program used for real time teaching sessions. It is a whiteboard tool with on-line chat and audio option. It is very easy to create and use this tool. It's very user-friendly websites. Teachers can upload classroom materials like documents directly to the white board. The whiteboard tools are then used to review the documents with the students. Teachers can draw pictures, diagrams and write something to the whiteboard. It gives students a lot of opportunity to interact with their teachers and peers. They can present their opinion more freely. And this tool helps students focus on conveying message in order to communicate with each other in real time.

 

[VoiceTread: Asychronous CMC Tool] Here is the link: http://voicethread.com/

 

A voiceThread is a useful tool for creating and having dynamic conversation on on-line. It is very easy to sign up and use this tool. Students can create various forms of voice Thread files. When students make a file and upload, then their peers can comment about the file uploaded. Thus they can share their ideas more freely and comfortably. Students can upload, share and discuss documents, presentation, images, audio files and videos.

 

 

 2) Your thoughts about how the Synchronous CMC tool and the Asynchronous CMC tool could support learning and the development of language skills.  Are there any similarities and differences in how they could support language learning?

 

I think that CMC(Computer-Mediated Communication) is absolutely indispensable to the Education nowdays. And its influnce is becoming more powerful. Both these tools have a vital influence on English Education. These tools help teachers create and provide quality classroom materials. At the same time students can use these materials and devleop their learning skills.

There are some similarities between these tools. They have positive effects on students' language skills. Using CMC tools in classroom encourage students to participate in class more actively. They make classroom atmosphere more comfortable. Thus they can lower the students' affective filter. Students can learn and exposure their target language more comfortably(Perez, 2003).

 

However, there are some differences between Synchronous CMC tool and the Asynchronous CMC tool. First of all, synchronous tools can real-time communication. And participants share and co-work ideas or classes in different place but same time. On the other hand,  asynchronous tool can participate and share their ideas or classes in different time and different places. Second, synchronous tools relatively tend to focus on coveying message and meaning. Thus students can develop fluency about their target language. However, asynchronous tools relatively tend to  focus on accuracy. 

3) Some of your ideas of possible activities and ways that the tools could be used in a language class to supplement in-class content and instruction.

 

We can make various activities using these tools. I would like to suggest following activities. I can design activities about same topics using different tools.

 

[Synchronous CMC tool]

Teacher tells students specific topics like how to improve English ability before doing activity. Then teacher gives students enough time to think about this topic. And then teacher presents the time and place to meet each other for discussing the topic through synchronous CMC tool(Scribblar). Students meets and talk about the issue more freely in real time at Scrbblar. Teachers can give a feedback directly. And teacher and students can interact more actively.

 

[Asynchronous CMC tool]

Teacher gives students homework like how to improve English ability. Students can think about the topic. They can search related information or ask for advice. Thus they organize their ideas and thought, and then they make their videos, images, or audio files and so on. After uploding the files, students can comment and share each other's ideas.  

Blog Post #2 - Presentation Tools & Screencasting Tools

1. Describe the presentation Tool or Screencasting Tool you used. Provide a link to the website.

I used Prezi for my presentation. Here is the link:http://prezi.com/index/

It is very powerful presentation tool. It has a lot of strong points.

First, you can make your presentation more dynamic and flexible. And you cna see big picture of your presentation. Thus it makes your presentation more understandable.

Second, Prezi makes you a storyteller. You can embody your stroy and idea into visual image through this tool. It has a flow and narrative. You can express your story visually and emotionally.

Third, you can use it very easily. As you know, it isn't easy to make visual materials by using presentation tools like powerpoint. However, there are so many visual tamplates in this tool. Thus all you need to do is to choose the most suitable templates when you use this tool. It can turn you into a professional. You can easily dealt with this software.

Overall, Prezi is very useful tool to present your ideas and stories.


2. Describe the presentation or activity you created using the tool. Provide a link to the location of your embeded presentation on your google site.

I created very easy and interesting activity by using this tool. It is listen and draw activity. Through this activity, you can improve listening and speaking ability. It is designed for 4th grade elementary school students.
Before this acitivty, students can learn various place prepositions and relevant vocabularies. During this activity, student 1 describes a picture and student 2 listens to the description and draw. After the activity, students check their pictures each other whether they draw well or not. And then let the class vote for the top three most accurate pictures.

I could present my activity visually and narratively. It seem like that I made visual story. It has a flow and narrative. It's very understandable.

Here is the link:http://prezi.com/cbvot1cv1z4x/untitled-prezi/

Google sites: https://sites.google.com/site/hemilshyutesol/assignment/prezi







3. Describe your experience using the tool. Would you recommend it to other teachers?
Why or why not?

As I mentioned, Prezi has a lot of advantages. Even though I'm not skilled enough to evaluate this tool, it is a very powerful and useful tool. I could express my presentation just like telling a stroy. It seems like my presentation material is a living creature. I could express my presentation visually and emotionally. And it prevents losing a big picture of my presentation. It makes my audience more understandable. However, there is some limitations to express details. I feel it's very powerful tool to capture big picture of presentation, but it's a little hard to make details. Even though there are some limitations, I would recommend it to other teachers. I stronly believe that it provides a lot of opportunities to stimulate and capture students' interest. Visual materials can improve students' understanding. It can help classroom management more efficiently.

4. Describe potential uses the tool could have in the Korean EFL learning context.

Visual materials are becoming more important these days. Most teachers use and make useful classroom materials through various computer based programs. And they share their good ideas and materials.

In the past, teachers wrote down something that they wanted to teach to the blackboard and taught their students. However, as technology develops, teachers can create useful materials to use them in the classroom. It helps students understand the lectures, capture their interests and motivate their learning. According to many researches, visual materials can improve students' performance. Thus these tools can encourage students to study hard.

In Korea, education is very important, especially English Education. Teaching materials and methods have been developed in Korea. These tools have great potential in Korean Education system. And if teachers share their ideas more actively and freely, DB system that contain a lot of useful information and materials can strengthen. And it can improve the quality of education in Korea.

All things considered, these tools have great potential in the filed of Enlish Education in Korea.