Name : Septi Mardiana
NPM : 06211210665
Class : B / IV
Subject : Media Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris
UNIT 7
BLOGS, WIKIS AND PODCASTS
Social Software
Although these three tools are different, we are grouping them together in this chapter as they have certain features in common when applied to the classroom:
1.They can be set up and used by teachers and and/or learners.
2.They can be used to connect learners to other communities of learners, for example to a class in class n another country.
3.The ideas and content can be generated and created by learners, either individually or collaboratively.
Blogs in language teaching
An edublog can be set up and used by a teacher, by individual learners or by class. A teacher may decide to use a blog to provide their learners with news and comments on who were unable to attend, study tips, and so on. In this case, learners will access and Read, and possibly add comments to, the blog outside the classroom. A blog set up and learners to write comments in the blog. A teacher may encourage their learners to each set up and maintain their own individual blogs. Learners can be asked to post to their bogs once or twice a week, or however often the teacher judges convenient, and content can range from comments on current affairs to descriptions of daily activities. Other learners, from the same class, from other classes or even from classes in other countries, can be encouraged to post comments and reactions to student blog postings. Type of blog is the class blog, one by an entire class. Again, this blog can be used to post comments on certain topics or on class work or on any other issue the teacher thinks interesting and relevant to earners. In class blog learners all post to the same blog.
How to stare using blogs with learners
A simple blogs project that you can use with learners of all levels is to get your students to set up their own student blogs, writing about themselves, their interests, family, home, and country and so on, and including some photos.
Wikis in language teaching
A wiki is like having a publicly accessible word processing document available online, which anyone can edit. Essentially a wiki is not linear, like a blog. A blog consists of a number of postings, which are published on one web page, in reverse chronological order with the most recent posting at the top. A wiki has a non-linear structure, and pages may link back and forwards to other pages.
How to start a wiki with learners
The best way to start using a wiki with a group of learners is to set up a simple collaborative writing project. A topic that we have found works well is that of ‘(in) famous people’, in which pairs of learners write short descriptions of famous people that contain a number of humorous factual errors. These descriptions are then ‘corrected’ by another pair. Podcast directories are one place to start looking for podcasts. You or your learners can click on a category and scroll though a list of podcasts, listening to and subscribing to any that interest you. A podcast directory aimed specifically at teachers of English is English caster (http:// www.englishcaster.com).there are two main uses of podcasts in teaching. Firstly, learners can listen to podcasts made by others and, secondly, they can produce their own podcasts. It is becoming increasingly common in tertiary education, for example, for professors to record lectures as podcasts, so that students who miss a class can download the lecture pod casts for later listening on their computers or mobile devices like an MP3 player. The language teacher can direct their learners to podcasts already available on the internet, for self- study purposes, or even use them for listening in class via a computer.
