Month: February 2013

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Summary of 20th February 2013’s #Eltchat Discussion on Materials Evaluation

The topic this week was:

Materials evaluation: What would be your top tips for effectively evaluating materials for language teaching? What do you look for? What do you avoid? What influences your decisions in using or not using a given material?

When we evaluate materials, we inevitably ask lots of questions. Turns out discussion of materials evaluation generates a great quantity of questions too. Here is the summary I have cobbled together from a particularly challenging transcript:

(NB: I have filled in the missing letters from all tweets containing abbreviations, just to make reading easier!)

@Marisa_C helpfully defined materials for us: “Materials = coursebook, supplementary, own design, downloads, anything” and everybody jumped in with criteria they consider important. Further criteria arose throughout the discussion, but for convenience and clarity, they are all gathered together here:

Needs to provide good mix of skills and be interactive. Lots of heads-up activities. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Also important is clear structure and engaging topics. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Level should be appropriate. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Materials able to be connected to students’ intrerests/background/culture..? (@TomTesol)

We usually look at  whether suited to specific learning situation  + offer valid methodology in relation to course aims. (@AlexandraKouk)

I think materials need to allow us to communicate well with students – that creates rapport. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

For me, the point of a book is to help me present new input to ss — I have to do the rest (communicative stuff) (@TomTesol)

For me, an important criterion is how memorable is the topic/.content going to be so that language can stay ‘glued’ to it. (@Marisa_C)

How does the material lend itself or be adapted) to natural,meaningful,relevant communication? (@CotterHUE)

I don’t think a book should tell you what, but rather present a selection of things to choose from. (@teflgeek)

F=fun R=rapport I=ideology N=needs D=design. …Sorry missed the E=education (as in principles of) (@Marisa_C)

When I look at a page of material I see if I would be interested myself – then I decide. And I ask sts what they think too. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

I like materials which show you something interesting about the world and help learn/practise language/skills (@robertmclarty)

Systematically:  Does it fit age, level, syllabus criteria… (@teflgeek)

I also feel materials need to appeal to variety of learner types…Learner types can be sensory perception (VAK) but also global-analytic cognitive processing types. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Another issue to consider with mats is that subject matter might interest you, but does it interest sts? (@pjgallantary)

Assess supplementary audio: is it an EIL approach with non-natives holding conversations? Or native English speakers? (@CotterHUE)

Done and dusted? I think not. Materials evaluation is a complex business.

I posed the question “how do you identify the criteria and which are more/less important also?” and @pjgallantary supplied a useful answer: “course books are where we all start – knowing how they work helps us understand what to look for in materials”  Of course, being able to evaluate effectively isn’t the whole story – there are institutional constraints to take into consideration too. @Shaunwilden reminded us that course books  “are establishment enforced more often than a choice by teacher and students” and @teflgeek told us about a group evaluation process in which nobody agreed, and the resolution? “There were three of us and the DoS got the casting vote”.  Meanwhile, @TomTesol reminded us that materials evaluation is not just about selection prior to the beginning of a course but a continuing process involving “constantly reviewing, getting students’ and faculty feedback…”

The discussion meandered naturally into the question of materials adaptation, which is a common follow-on to evaluation and identification of shortcomings. Why do we adapt the all-singing, all-dancing glorious multi-colour materials on the market these days?

The following reasons emerged:

Books written for a specific demographic with set format from publisher…which doesn’t match your students (@CotterHUE)

Problems with delivery but mostly missing keys and audioscripts which meant I had to copy them for students (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Other reason was that book on ICT was really outdated. Or book for BEC prep didn’t deal with exam (@MarjorieRosenbe)

Main issue with coursebooks is their homogeneity – T needs to be able to make relevant to own students (@pjgallantary)

Ultimately NO book is ever going to be right for your class because it wasn’t designed specifically for your class. (@teflgeek)

The point in the book is that you may HAVE to use it in which case try to salvage what you can & improve (@Marisa_C)

I constantly adapt and update materials based on surprises, feedback, etc. design new materials too. Assessment important (@CotterHUE)

And how do we go about it?

To lessonize: first, look at relevance of content  i.e. what u want it for –  to teach language point, vocab., skills etc (@AlexandraKouk)

As to developing own materials, As ever we must start from sts needs -WHY are we using this text, this video, etc, then HOW (@pjgallantary)

I create materials for PEO using articles – lots of things you can do – vocab, discussion, grammar etc. (@MarjorieRosenbe)

I adapt to suit the SKILLS I want them to develop (@TomTesol)

As Marisa implied, if you can’t figure out a way to adapt materials so the inpurt will stick, your evaluation is finished: They stink. (@TomTesol)

The question of the role of the Teacher’s Book within the evaluation process, and ultimately teaching, was touched on a few times throughout the discussion and opinons were varied:

Never really use the teachers book, except for answers. Looking at teachers book means I’m unresponsive to the class.(@CotterHUE)

Depends. Came across word I didn’t know in ESP book, now have printed teachers notes.(@MarjorieRosenbe)

Most are now online and often very long. 120 pages or so of pdfs to print out.But lots of info. (@Marjorie Rosenbe)

Teacher’s Book Important to most ‘non-natives’ I’ve worked with. (@TomTesol)

Or inexperienced ‘natives’. Or experienced ‘natives’ looking for new ideas or something to bounce off maybe. (@LizziePinard)

For me not very [important] but if I am choosing for a group of teachers it is something I look at closely. (@Shaunwilden)

Well, depending on the market and availability of training – sometimes that’s all a Teacher can get – a good Teacher’s guide. (@Marisa_C)

A few curveballs were thrown near the end – broadening the scope of “materials” but there wasn’t enough time to go into this in any depth as the hour was fast drawing to a close and next thing we knew everyone was being invited to contribute their final five minute words of wisdom. This is what emerged amongst fielding of curveballs:

Constant assessment of materials, be it website, publisher, etc. What works with your style and students? What doesnt work? (@CotterHUE)

I think to evaluate effectively you need more awareness of your own beliefs/principles etc and good awareness of context etc (@LizziePinard)

Test drive stuff before landing yourself with a CB for a year of pain! Use good placement to match students to level especially important first (@oyajimbo)

Finally, here are the links that were thrown up throughout the discussion:

Very old blog post on choosing a CB or materials (@Marisa_C)

Here’s more recent research with v. useful checklist on p.6 (@AlexandraKouk)

Subject matter might interest you but does it interest sts? Wrote about that (@CotterHUE)

A useful research paper  (@AlexandraKouk)

Another useful research paper (@AlexandraKouk)

Have a look here and add sth if you can – been collecting interesting texts/topics for developing lessons. (@Marisa_C)

Pecha Kucha with mnemonic for evaluation (@Marisa_C)

This is a MATERIALS mnemonic from Tanner and Green (back in the day) (borrowed) (@TomTesol)

Phew! That finally brings me to the end of this summary. Thanks all for a great discussion. And, if you have any criteria you want to add to the list, anything you want to add, agree, or indeed disagree with, feel free to do so in the comments section. Nobody will object to the discussion continuing, I am sure!

Thank you to all who participated. 🙂

Postscript:

If you want an overview of all the literature out there on materials development and have access/can wangle access to journal articles, @HeatherBu2011 recommends the following:

“State-of-the-Art Article: Materials development for language learning and teaching” by Brian Tomlinson in Language Teaching (2012), 45.2, 143–179.

And here is an article I found on evaluating E-textbooks, which may lend itself to interesting comparisons with what we’ve discussed today…

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Summary of #Eltchat 6/2/2013 “How can we help colleagues new to edtech without doing all the work for them?”

Greetings all – after another long absence from the blogosphere! – and welcome to my summary for the #Eltchat discussion that took place in our little corner of the Twitterverse on the 6th February 2013 at 9p.m.! (For more information about #Eltchat and how to participate, please click here.)

We all came together to discuss, aptly enough, edtech (or technology used for educational purposes) and, more specifically, how to help colleagues who are new to it without being, as @ciocas put it, “the girl who can’t say no”, and doing it all for them. (You know who you are, you motherly and fatherly types who can’t resist swooping to the rescue like knights in shining techy armour!)

In order to best figure out how to help colleagues become more autonomous with edtech, it was important understand why they are reluctant. Here are the varied and insightful reasons that were suggested:

Fear (related to the technology itself or, indeed, the scary evangelical users of it!):

– a key problem with getting new Ts on board the Tech Wagon is basically fear – they’re afraid of something going wrong in class. (@pjgallantary)

– I think the trouble with encouraging edtech to newbies can be OVERenthusiasm-coming across as a bit obsessed doesn’t get people on side! (@lauraahaha)

Time and the easy way out:

– For some Ts I think it’s a time issue, but others would rather me give them fish than teach them how to fish! (@cioccas)

– I think both colleagues and trainees can smell out a mother type who will always come to the rescue. (@Marisa_C)

Obscurity of purpose:

– It’s tricky with real technophobes-but I think the major obstacle is the “why” not the “how” – teachers need to see the benefits first. (@designerlessons)

Not enough presence in Initial Teacher Training:

– My CELTA course in 2008 had zero tech – I’ve always been a techie, and twitter inspired me more. (@Sandymillin)

– My course has a multimedia module but it’s an M.A. My  CELTA only taught a bit about the IWB iirc (@LizziePinard) [Disclaimer: my CELTA course may have had more, but the IWB is the only bit I can remember, so based on that I assume that tech wasn’t a major feature or I would remember more about it! And this was in 2009-2010 so it may be different now, of course.]

Context/Experience:

I suppose it also depends on work experience – i’ve yet to work in a tech’d up school (IWB etc). So have forgotten how to use IWB… (@LizziePinard)

Having thus considered the “why”, we were ready to tackle the “how” [Disclaimer: with ideas flying around at high speed, of course the “why” and the “how” was not quite so separated in the transcript, I just thought it would be a convenient way of organising things here!]

Here are the suggestions that were generated:

– My 1st thought is get them to watch things & then come to you with questions.  Easier to make one screencast than explain 20 times.(@ljp2010)

– More effective to do hands on training rather than just show and tell. (@Shaunwilden)

– Make a deal – ” I have time for two half hour tutorials – record me; take notes; etc but then you’re on your own”: be firm. (@Marisa_C)

– Perhaps get some peer teaching happening? (ljp2012)

– Is there a list of very basic literacies that we could make with links and all lead Ts there? (@Marisa_C)

– We have found also that a printed guide of some basics helps at start – we are used to online stuff doesn’t mean OK with new people (Marisa_C)

– I use things, then people ask me about them. When a few people have asked, I do a seminar. (@Sandymillin)

– Also wrote introductory blogposts for students that I can point teachers too as well, like http://t.co/EDdT6RIx for Quizlet. (@Sandymillin)

– I do a short session after our Monday lunchtime meeting. One task, or website per week … It isn’t always a new site- just a new way to use something sometimes (@SueAnnan)

– Best idea I have ever had though was to ask each one to undertake to research & PRESENT a tool – works wonders. (@Marisa_C)

– I actually think fewer sites the better – really get to know them (@Shaunwilden)

– I think a webquest that you create or a guide like the ones we made for facebook twitter & nings might be a good idea (@Marisa_C)

Then, of course, it was also important to consider a few principles for teaching teachers to use technology with their learners and, indeed, for using it ourselves:

– Teachers who are new to tech also need to focus on the pedagogical outcomes – is it useful, or is it tech for tech’s sake? (@lauraahaha)

– I think using #edtech always has to emphasise the WHY – for teachers as much as for students…eg.WHY should you bother investing time learning to use a tool? is the time invested worth the return?

– Tech MUST have clear pedagogical reason, not just because it’s brand shiny new (@pjgallantary)

–  Important to be able to teach without any tech? Never know where in the world teachers will end up (@idc74)

– There’s plenty of here-today-gone-tomorrow tech – in which case, best to be a discerning techie (@designerlessons)

– My 1st rule for tech use: can student access it? eg some smartphone app: if st doesn’t have smartphone, he/she is disadvantaged (pjgallantary)

–  I think in ITT, have to ensure trainees not dependent on tech to teach (@LizziePinard)

– Tech is ubiquitous and as useful as the teacher’s imagination allows it to be. Just so long as that objective is always clear (@designerlessons)

– Ts should always remember that the 1st bit of tech they have is pen and paper – new tech is a bonus…. (@Shaunwilden)

–  Ts should think “why” not just “what” for tech tools. (@LizziePinard)

– As somebody or other said about course books, tech tools make great slaves but terrible masters – something to that effect! (@LizziePinard)

“Where’s your back up plan?” should be written on every classroom computer. (@designerlessons)

The next question to be considered was: “So, which tech tool would you introduce first? which do you think is best/most important to start with?”

– Quizlet/Edmodo good – little effort required for lots of return, student engagement, and educational benefits too. (@Sandymillin)

– pen and paper – plan HOW you’re going to use tech first, and Why! (@pjgallantary)

– I find it best to work with what they [teachers] want to do with Ss, then show them tool to wrk with. (@cioccas)

– Microsoft Word. I was amazed at the teachers who didn’t know how to use it efficiently 🙂 (@SueAnnan)

– I’ve been pretty successful in pushing everyone in the department to use Moodle, and it has shown some very positive results (@MajorieRosenbe)

There’s a limit to how much can be covered in a hour, but we certainly attempted to push that! Nevertheless, time, as is its wont, finally ran out. So to conclude this summary, here is a list of all the useful links that were thrown up in the course of the discussion:

– For using Edmodo, @Sandymillin’s blogpost and @Naomishema’s blogpost

– Useful techy blogs:

@Grahamstanley’s blog

Russell Stannard’s website

Nik Peachey’s blog

– For using MS Word effectively

– A demo of blended learning by @pjgallantary

– A list of basic computer skills by @ljp2010

– @Sandymillin’s summary of an ELTchat discussion on webtools, full of useful links.

– Using Technology in ELL Instruction | ColorΓ­n Colorado | (suggested by @yya2)

– Introductory blogposts for students that I can point teachers too as well, like http://t.co/EDdT6RIx for Quizlet (@sandymillin)

– My ‘a little and often”  post for edetch on courses (and staffrooms I guess) (@Marisa_C)

– the aPLaNet (Autonomous ‘Personal Learning Networks’ for Language Teachers) Self-Access Piloting Website – example of a web quest (shared by @Marisa_C)

Thanks to all contributors and to anybody who reads this, I hope you find this summary useful.  And: ** If you have any more ideas to add, useful websites/tools to share etc, please add them in the comments section!!** 🙂