Telecommunications
Lviv
College of State University of Telecommunications, Ukraine
Modern
development of the Internet is characterized by the extending of social
services (Web 2.0). They aim to establish communication between people. These
social services include: blog, wiki, podcast, Twitter, YouTube, bookmarks and
so on. At this level of the technological development of the society the Internet
communication is considered as a distinct kind of human communication. The
level of formation of students’ foreign language communicative competence of
students is determined not only the ability to communicate in a foreign
language is defined not only by the ability to speak a foreign language with
the personal presence of the communication participants but also with the
skills to communicate by means of all sorts of the Internet services.
However,
the students’ work with the Internet resources should be planned methodically
correctly. That’s because having an access to these resources isn’t a guarantee
of the fast and high-quality education. Therefore there appears an urgent need
to develop new methods of teaching a foreign language based on the educational
Internet resources and Web 2.0 social services. These methods would aim at forming and development the following
abilities and skills:
-
Foreign language communicative competence;
-
Informative competence;
-
Communication skills to discuss the results of the work with the resources of
the Internet;
- The
ability to use the resources of the Internet for education and self-education;
- The
ability to use the resources of the Internet and Web 2.0 services to meet one’s
information and educational interests and needs.
In the
terms of didactic the Internet comprises at least two main components:
telecommunication forms and information resources.
Telecommunication
forms include an e-mail, a chat, a forum, ICQ, video conferences, web-conferences,
and social services Web 2.0 (YouTube).
Information
resources of the Internet contain text material, audio and video material on
various subjects in different languages. However, a teacher must be sure that the
students wouldn’t be taken aback in a variety of information with the different
content and varying quality but they would use it for their educational and
professional needs in the most productive way. Here appeared a need to develop
educational Internet resources in order to teach students to work with the resources
of the World Wide Web. These resources include a hotlist, a multimedia scrapbook, a treasure hunt, a subject sampler, a webquest. These online
resources are created exceptionally for educational purposes. They can be
designed for various subjects including a foreign language.
Criteria for evaluating the Internet resources.
Nowadays
there are no single criteria which the material placed in the Internet must
satisfy. That’s why the evaluation of sources and the received information is
extremely important. A large number of foreign language information in the
network contains grammar, lexical, spelling mistakes (this is because the
authors of the most sites are not English native speakers while English is used
there most often). In addition, students often find the material that presents
an extremely one-sided position. This creates some problems when discussing
some social topics, as such information may create false beliefs and
stereotypes.
There
are some principles and criteria for the selection of the Internet resources
for students and teachers.
Criteria
for evaluating the Internet resources for teachers:
1.
Language complexity of the material.
2. Cultural
complexity of the material.
3.
Information source.
4.
Information reliability.
5.
Information relevance.
6.
Cultural appropriateness of information.
7. Information
objectivity.
Criteria
for evaluating the Internet resources for students:
1. The
content of the site.
2.
Source.
3. The
structure of the site.
Educational Internet resources.
There
are five types of educational online resources:
1. Hotlist
- a list of links to text Internet resources.
2. Multimedia
scrapbook - a list of links to text, image, audio and video online resources.
3. Treasure
hunt - links to various sites on the topic being studied; questions in each
section; a general question on the integrated understanding of the topic.
4. Subject
sampler - reference to text and multimedia Internet materials; questions to
each section; argumentation of one’s own opinion on the controversial issue
being studied.
5. Webquest
- links to text and multimedia Internet materials; questions in each section;
argumentation of one’s own opinion on the controversial issue being studied;
general question of the discussion.
Educational
online resources can be developed in two ways:
1. To
develop them on paper .
2. To develop
and place them on the Internet using a special software.
Creating
educational online materials on paper, the teacher must only follow the
structure of the chosen format (hotlist or webquest). The teacher should find
and select necessary materials, than indicate the exact Internet addresses of
the selected information resources on
the paper.
To
create educational Internet resources by means of the special software it is
necessary to enter the site http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/lognew.html,
than to follow the instructions how to create a particular type of the Internet
resources. In this case the newly created material will be posted on the
Internet automatically.
The
main difference between educational Internet resources on paper and those
located in the web is the work with links to the Internet sites. In the first
case students will have to enter addresses of the sites into the browser; in
the second case references will become hyperlinks. That means that while
clicking on them, the student will open the necessary page.
Hotlist
A hotlist
is a list of websites (with a text material) on the studied topic. It’s just
enough to create a hotlist and it can be useful in learning. A hotlist doesn’t
require any time for searching necessary information. All that you need is just
to enter a keyword into the Internet searching system, then you will get the
desired hot list. For example:
Hotlist subject:
"Easter Traditions in Great Britain"
traditions-uk.freeservers.com/Easter.html
www.learnenglish.de/culture/easter.htm
-
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/.../easte...
www.openclass.ru/node/53325
www.proshkolu.ru/gofile/117110-a55504/
www.smittenbybritain.com
/.../ easter-traditio...
A hotlist
allows students to develop the following skills:
- to search
for information;
- to distinguish
keywords;
- to
determine a topic (problem);
- to
separate the major information from the minor one;
- to record
the necessary information in the read material;
- to
present the content of the read material in details (or in a short form);
- to summarize
the information from the text.
Multimedia scrapbook.
A multimedia
scrapbook is a kind of multimedia resources collection. Unlike a hotlist, a scrapbook
contains references not only to text files, but also to photos, audio files and
video clips, graphic information and animation virtual tours. All files can be
easily downloaded and used by students as an illustrated information material
in the study of a specific topic. For example:
Theme
"Christmas Traditions in the USA"
Multimedia
scrapbook sites:
Text
files:
http://www.crewsnest.vispa.com/journeyusa.htm
http://www.christmasintheusa.com/
http://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions/christmas-usa.php
Audio
programs:
http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/200712/Audio/mp3/se-white-christmas.mp3
http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/200612Audio/mp3/se-mosaic-22dec06.mp3
http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/200612Audio/mp3/se-tia-christmas-traditions.mp3
Pictures:
http://www.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/candy-christmas-tree.html
http://www.painetworks.com/pages/ec/ec0134.html
http://www.family.webshots.com/photo/1055454583010148117JeJYXR
A multimedia
scrapbook allows students to develop the following skills:
- to
search for information;
- to
distinguish keywords;
- to
determine a topic (problem);
- to
separate the major information from the minor one;
- to
record the necessary information in the read material;
- to
present the content of the read material in details (or in a short form);
- to
summarize the information from the text;
- to
present the content of the listened (or seen) material in details or briefly;
- to
record the necessary information in the listened (or seen) material.
Treasure hunt.
A treasure
hunt is much like a hot list and a scrapbook. It includes links to various
sites on the topic being studied. The only difference is that each of the links
contains questions on the site content. The teacher directs the students’ searching
activity by means of these questions. At the end of a treasure hunt a student
is given one more general question to determine his integrated understanding of
the topic. A detailed answer on it will contain answers on the previous, more
detailed questions on each of the sites. For example:
Hunt for US Geography
Introduction
You'll
need to learn about the Geographical Background of the United States:
geographical position, relief, rivers and lakes, mineral resources, climate and
weather. The Web allows you to discover the way more than you may have ever
thought possible and it is a great supplement to the materials found in a
library. There is a list of questions about the topic of the seminar below.
Surf the links on this page to find the answers to the questions.
Questions:
• Where
is the USA located? What countries does it border on? What are the main rivers
in the USA? Where is the region of five Great Lakes?...
• What
climatic zones can be found in the USA?
• How
does the US relief affect the climate in the country?
• What
are the most and the least populous areas in the USA?
The
Internet Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA#Geography
http://www.southtravels.com/america/usa/weather/html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USA-2000-population-density.gif
The Big
Question
Now
after you have learned all this information about the geographical background
of the USA, try to explain the reasons of the different population density in
various parts of the country. Support your arguments.
Treasure
hunt can develop the following skills:
- to
search for information;
- to
distinguish keywords;
- to
determine a topic (problem);
- to
separate the major information from the minor one;
- to
record the necessary information in the read material;
- to
present the content of the read material in details (or in a short form);
- to
summarize the information from the text;
- to
present the content of the listened (or seen) material in details or briefly;
- to record
the necessary information in the listened (or seen) material;
- to
highlight facts (examples, arguments) in accordance with the given
question (problem);
- to
draw conclusions.
Subject sampler.
It is
next more complex Internet resource when compared with a treasure hunt. It also
contains links to text and multimedia materials, and after studying every
aspect the students are to answer the given questions. However, unlike a treasure
hunt, where the factual material is studied, a subject sampler aims at discussion
of social and controversial topics. Students should not only read the material
but also give their opinion about the discussed question. When working in
groups, one subject should be divided into several aspects. After discussing
their aspect in the subgroup, student can present the results of this
discussion to the whole class. The following skills are being developed in the
process of this activity: the ability to express and to argue one’s own point
of view, to identify causal and consequent connections of the events, to evaluate
deeds, to characterize characters, facts and events.
Webquest.
A webquest
is the most difficult type of the educational Internet resources. The webquest
is a scenario of the organization of students’ project activities on any topic
using the Internet resources. It includes all components of the four mentioned above
materials and it helps to involve all students into the project making. Here is
a possible scenario of the organization of project activities.
At first
the whole class learns the general information on the studied topic, it gets
acquainted with a problem of the future project. Then the students are divided
into groups. Each group is given a single aspect of the theme for studying and
discussing in the group. The teacher should select the Internet resources for
each group depending on the studied aspect. After studying, discussing and
perfect understanding of the specific problems the students form the new groups
so that every newly formed group would include one representative from the
previous groups. In the process of the discussion all the students learn every
aspect of the discussed problem from each other. In this discussion, students
should express their own opinions, draw conclusions, predict the possible
future course of events. As a result, after material studying and discussing,
students must answer one general controversial question.
A webquest
develops the following skills:
- to
search for information;
- to
distinguish keywords;
- to
determine a topic (problem);
- to
separate the major information from the minor one;
- to
record the necessary information in the read material;
- to
present the content of the read material in details (or in a short form);
- to
summarize the information from the text;
- to
present the content of the listened (or seen) material in details or briefly;
- to
record the necessary information in the listened (or seen) material.
- to
highlight facts (examples, arguments) in accordance with the given
question (problem);
- to
draw conclusions;
- the
ability to express and to argue one’s own point of view;
- to
identify causal and consequent connections of the events, to evaluate deeds, to
characterize characters, facts and events;
- to take
part in the conversation (discussion);
- to invite
and to share information;
- to
clarify and to detail information;
- to predict
the development (result) of the course of events.
As it
has already been said, in his teaching activity the teacher can either create the
educational online resources himself or use the ready-made bank (the English-language
resources can be found at www.kn.att.com.).
Blogs
are a personal page in a form of a diary or a journal, they are another kind of
social services which help to communicate online in the language that is
studied. To create blogs you can use the site www.blogger.com/start and
use a ready-made shell.
Literature.
1.
Дичківська І.М. Інноваційні педагогічні технології / І.М. Дичківська. – К.:
Академвидав, 2004. – 352 с.
2.
Казачінер О.С.Використання нових інформаційних технологій у навчальному
процесі / О.С. Казачінер // Англійська мова та література . – 2009.- № 33,
листопад.-С. 2-6.
3.
Коваль Т. І. Використання сучасних
електронних навчальних платформ у підготовці
фахівців з вищою освітою / Т. І.
Коваль // Іноземні мови. - 2013. - №
1. - С. 43-44.
4.
Олійник О. В.
Інноваційний підхід до застосування сучасних інформаційних
технологій на заняттях з англійської мови в коледжах та технікумах
[Електронний ресурс] / О. В. Олійник // Наукові праці [Чорноморського державного університету
імені Петра Могили комплексу "Києво-Могилянська академія"]. Сер. :
Педагогіка. - 2012. - Т. 209, Вип. 197. - С. 22-25. - Режим
доступу: http://nbuv.gov.ua/j-pdf/Npchduped_2012_209_197_5.pdf.