the english language crystal ball: the past present and future of technology in elt

The English Language Crystal Ball: the Past, Present and Future of Technology in

ELT

Paul Woods Regional English Language Advisor,

The British Council, Argentina

The Past

The evolution of classroom technology

1890 18901870

1925 1925

1951 1958 1959

9

1980 1985 1999

Pace of change….

• We are living in exponential times• In 2 years time there will be early adopters using

devices for teaching and learning that we don’t even know about yet

• In 10 years time handheld devices will largely have replaced books

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos

Clip 1 wmv

Clip 2 Google

Making lessons fun by 2090

“Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don’t use technology will be replaced by those who do”~Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach~ 

The students in this generation and especially future generations will demand teachers who can teach them with methods they know and understand. That inevitably involves teaching with technology.

http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=457939

Clip 3 Robots in 2090

The Classroom of the Future The teacher will use a portable work station that can move

around the room.

Students will also have portable work stations.

The classroom walls will be covered in large screens giving access to visuals. The walls will also provide magnetic, writing surfaces for learning activities.

Each student will have a digital device such as an ipod touch or laptop computer for responding to and asking questions about presented visuals.

All schools will have high band width internet connection. The rooms will be energy efficient and make the best use of natural resources.

http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=457946

Classroom of future

By 2025 Digital Media Will Replace Print and Analog Media

Newspapers are not as popular as they once were. They are being replaced by online newspapers. This trend is happening to books as well. This trend will continue and classrooms of the future may not have traditional textbooks.

Media in future

The shoal effect

Juan Carlos Ortiz, President of DDB Latina

“The shoal effect comes from observing nature: the path of each fish is tied to the movement of the next fish, they all move at the same time and in the same direction. Just like social networks. Communication takes place between friends”

The shoal effect

Consumers analyse the experiences and opinions of others and obtain information through their digital social networks; in other words consumers are deciding as a group to go toward or move away from specific content.

Current Trends and Innovations

Eight Innovative Trends

(1) Rise in learning platforms

PublishersAuthenticTeacher-produced

(2) Publisher-produced software

• Your Text here

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

• Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

(3) Apps & M-learning

M-learning

British Council Apps

LearnEnglish Sports World

LearnEnglish Sports World

(4) The flipped classroom

(4) The flipped classroom• teacher-created vodcasts • more time interacting • classroom/homework paradigm is flipped • students take responsibility • teacher is not the "sage on the stage", but the "guide on

the side" • absent students don't get left behind • content archived  for review / revision• students are engaged• personalized learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc

(5) Interactive whiteboards

Upside Downside• Memorable presentations• Better review – flipcharts• ‘Saveability’• Range of digital materials• ‘Always on internet’ – JIT

teaching

• ‘cost’• need to calibrate• ‘interactivity’• Promote teacher-centred

approach• Pedagogical value?

(6) Exam Speak IELTS

http://www.examspeak.com/#Clip Examspeak

(7) Blogs

Upside Downside• Easy to set up / free• Encourage global

audience for learner work• Wash-back on accuracy

• Does everyone contribute?

• Does the teacher correct student work?

(8) Wikis

Upside Downside• collaborative• process writing• ‘history’ to see changes

• not intuitive• not everyone wishes for

peer correction

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Teacher Networking

Six degrees of separationFrigyes Karinthy (1930) “Chains”. It’s a small world.

Every human is connected to every other through a chain of six or fewer known elements.

Adrian Underhill - connectedness as a way to make senseof “mess”

In a world with 7 billion inhabitants, all the signs seem toindicate that we are all still connected at only 6 degrees of separation.

• This means individuals take ownership, • Students are participants in their own learning• They share information and learning activities with others in their

networks.

The Not-So-Distant Future

The Universal Translator Communicator™ provide instant spoken translation in a pocketsize system.

Simply speak, type, write or use Communicator’s touchscreen to select the words or phrases you want to translate.

WithCommunicator you both see and hear the translation. It’s that simple, instant spoken translation.

• Your Text here

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

The Not-So-Distant Future

Speechgear

http://www.youtube.com/user/speechgear#p/a

…..as you speak to the system, it repeats what you are saying in a different language and generates a transcript of the conversation..

No interpreter, dictionaries, or being constrained

to a limited number of phrases. No "click a button, say a phrase, click another button, wait for the translation", with Interact you just speak and as you are talking you will hear the translation being spoken

Translator in China

The Not-So-Distant Future

58 different languages. Translates words, sentences and web pages between any combination of supported languages. Goole says it hopes to make information universally accessible and useful, regardless of the language in which its written

Google translate

Robot Teacher

http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/04/my-teacher-is-an-avatar/ Robot teacher clip

Name of presentation

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

• Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.

Jarod Lanier

• You are not a machine, you are a person; even the coolest machine imagineable is not human, even if—maybe especially if—it is designed to make you think that it is; representations are not the same thing as that which is being represented; consciousness and relationships with each other set us apart

• The Turing test is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior. A human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each emulating human responses. All participants are separated from one another. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test

The Bouba Kiki Effect

Which of these shapes is Bouba, and which is Kiki?

Mapping the Internet

In some ways the growth of the internet, by a factor of a million in just a few years, is like the big bang that created the cosmos.The big bang expanded creating its own space and time in which it could move into. Likewise cyberspace is exploding into cyberspace and creating cyberspace as it expands. (BBC)

Uruguay – Plan Ceibal• Every child in government schools has an OLPC laptop• Videoconferencing tele-presence technology is being used by the British Council to teach children in primary schools using remote teachers based in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and The Philippines• High quality teaching by specialist English teachers – for an hour per week, supported by classroom teachers with little or no knowledge of English who give practice lessons for 45 minutes twice a week.

Claudia Brovetto

2-way video & audio

Joint lesson planning

Students with Classroom

laptops

Local classroom:• TV screen showing

remote teacher• Lesson materials shown

via Webex

Joint lesson planning

Local class teacher

managing activity

Remote teacher using video-

phone

Uruguay – Remote Teaching using OLPC Laptops

Remote teacher

Inside and outside classrooms in Uruguay

• A typical English classroom

• A video made by a class teacher in Uruguay after the first three remote lessons

• Using the language communicatively

The Uruguay project is like a journey…..

Clip paul.woods@britishcouncil.org.ar