moneftsi creative.classroom
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Synchronous communication and collaboration in eTwinningTRANSCRIPT
Anna Moneftsi,
1st Gymnasio of Sykies, Thessaloniki, Greece
Asynchronous VS Synchronouscommunication communication
not real time
at user’s
convenient time
real time
much like face to face
or talking on the phone
Communication in eTwinningAsynchronous most of the time !
The Wall Blogs Forums
Pros and Cons to AsynchronousCommunication
In pupils’ and teachers’ convenient time
o In class
o At home
time available for thinking & digesting info
No immediacy
Less interaction
Sometimes pupils get impatient, disappointed, or discouraged
Pros and Cons to AsynchronousCommunication
Yumm...yumm!
14 February 2014 14:49
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Please,see our work!!!! The recipes are...!!!!!!!Really!!!
Time for synchronous communication
Writing based chatting
Audio and video based
Video conferencing
Pros and Cons to SynchronousCommunication
Pupils love it
Stimulates interest
Increases participation and motivation
Positive influence on the whole project
Difficulties in synchronizing timetables
Language difficulties
Technical difficulties
Coping with difficulties (1) Inform your school/colleagues/pupils and ask
for help !!!
Timetable difficulties
Plan ahead and rearrange timetable if possible (school bells don’t ring at the same time)
allow for double the time needed for the activities (bad or good things may happen)
Language difficulties
It’s best if pupils have the same level of language competency (more competent pupils get disappointed when their partners have difficulties in communication)
Coping with difficulties (2) Language difficulties (cont.)
Prepare your pupils in advance
Technical difficulties
Use tools/hardware you(or a colleague) know well (Skype & Webcam/microphone)
Familiarize your pupils (if necessary) with tools/hardware
Ask the rest of the school to refrain from using the internet (in case of low bandwidth)
Chatting: What for? Suitable for collaborative activities
E.g.: Creation of a quiz on renewable resources of energy
10 parallel chatting groups, each collaborating on a particular form of energy
Each group has (at best) 2 pupils and sits in front of 1 computer
Questions agreed upon, are included in the quiz
Quiz about Renewable Energies
Good luck to all the students!!
What's your name? *
What does geothermal energy mean?
• Heat from the earth
• Heat from the people
• Heat from the sun
What materials does biomass use?
• organic material
• animal material
• polluting material
Chatting: What for?
Chatting: Most pupils feel at ease ! Comp Lab, Sykies: hello
pasteur wind2: hello
Comp Lab, Sykies: hi
pasteur wind2: what 'syour name
Comp Lab, Sykies: our names are Stella and Kostas
Comp Lab, Sykies: Your's???
pasteur wind2: i'm younes and ludovic
Comp Lab, Sykies: can you explain me if you are girls or boys because we can't anderstand???
Pasteur Sun: Bye bye !
Pasteur Sun: (wave)
Comp Lab, Sykies: Bye bye!!!!
Chatting: language difficulties accentuate Pupils must prepare their contributions to the
discussion (they must have sth written in front of them)
Pupils should be warned for the consequences of the language difficulties of their partners i.e. late/wrong answers (usually few have chatted in a foreign language)
A beforehand discussion on netiquette is important
The presence and help of one or more teachers is important in case of parallel chatting sessions
Recording chat sessions is useful
Video conference: What for? To strengthen ties between pupils, to help them
come closer, to make them feel like a team!!!
Put pupils in front of the camera
Role playing, debating, singing
It doesn’t matter what they do, they love it!!!
You need a plan/scenario
You need to rehearse, because most pupils haven’t had the experience of a video conference (other than a one to one communication)
If you have time, you can let them improvise and you will be surprised!!!
Video conference: technical difficulties
If you’re using standard Webcam/microphone
Quality of image/sound is an issue
It’s better to have a few pupils at a time in front of the computer screen, otherwise you can’t make out facial details
Some pupils (more than others) get disappointed with poor quality of image/sound
• It’s worth investing on video conference equipment
What do pupils prefer?
However, beware of different pupil characters. One of my pupils (a shy and intravert
character) said she felt more at ease with chatting and the written word in general!