Telecollaboration Experiences: Connecting Students Globally

[christopher:::]

Hello everyone,

I'm a University teacher living in *beep* (Fu-ku-oka), Japan. For the last 2 and a half years I've been telecollaborating with a teacher (Paul) in Seoul, Korea. We've been using Moodle discussion boards that Paul had set up, and webcams to connect our students each semester. We started out using Yahoo.messenger and Hotmail.messenger, with IBM compatible computers and Logotech webcams, but found that it was really hard to get the video and audio to work perfectly. Most of the time the images moved in slow motion, audio didnt work, so he and I had to sit at the computer and type out text messages.

Then, in Feb of 2005, after hearing of the success a colleague was having with his Mac iSight camera and iChat we switched to that technology. It's been wonderful, so much easier and simpler to set up and use. One must make the initial investment of buying a MacIntosh computer, but after that everything is free. The video moves at around 15-30 frames a second, audio is crisp and clear. Last night the two of us had a video conference for almost 2 hours, discussing our project.

Next semester we plan to try to connect two classes in Korea and Japan with each other. We plan to give them about six weeks to talk together on the discussion board Paul will set up, and do 2 or 3 class-to-class videoconferences. I would be very interested in hearing about any similar projects that some of you have participated in or read about.

Last weekend I attended the 2006 AsiaTEFL conference, held here in my city (the name of which I can not get to appear on this board as it's spelling is too similar to a four letter English word). Anyway, I met a number of researchers who have been doing interesting things, in Japan, China and other countries. We had talked about setting up a discussion forum to talk about telecollaboration, so I thought I might start this thread here, as a way of beginning things. I will email them soon, and invite them over.

Right now I'm writing a paper on telecollaboration and our project, and I plan to say something about Dave's ESL Cafe. I had not visited Dave's website since about 2002, and was glad to see today that he has updated his forums to the php boards. I was over at ePALs also today, and found their threads to be frustrating. I really think this style of discussion board provides the optimal format for facilitating written computer mediated communication.

So I thought I would join you all and start this discussion, in the hopes that I might learn about what others have been doing, and maybe share any helpful hints that I can from what we have learned with our experiences.

One of the goals Paul and I had from the beginning was to explore ways of doing telecollaboration that were inexpensive and easy for teachers to do. We both feel that this is really the next front line of CALL, and foreign language education. By providing our students with opportunities to connect with others around the world they can experience the utility of English, and see how it can serve a purpose in their lives as a way of building relationships with others, and facilitating real life communication.

So, our hats are off to Dave and all of you that feel the same way.

Hope to hear from others, around the world.

Christopher Chase
Seinan Gakuin University
*beep*, Japan

[kathyfelts]

Hi Christopher,

I am very interested in your idea. I have been doing similar work. Do you have Skype? Please take a look at the forum we have just started at www.eslwebcamforkids.com/forum/ As you will see, I am interested in content development and delivery and am big on collaboration. I teach college English now, but I am also involved in Chinese language materials development and teaching.

BTW - have you checked out the Webheads?

My MSN and Skype ID's are kfelts.

Best regards,

[ujitani]

Hi Chris,
It was nice meeting you at the TEFL Aisa in *beep*.
My main reason for participating in the conference was finding collaborating partners in other Asian countries, so I'm so glad that you started this discussion forum.

I'm also very interested in having my students communicate with students from our neighboring countiries and get to know each other. I have worked with seveal EFL teachers before and it was such an eye opening experience. However, every year, I face difficulty in finding teachers who are interested in cultural exchange. I have posted requests in several discussion board for teachers, but I haven't heard any response yet.

If any of the teachers are interested in having their students communicate with my students (second-year English majors at a Japanese university), please contact me. Also if you happent to know how to find a class I can collaborate with, I'm open for any kind of suggestions.

Thank you.

From a desperate teacher

[christopher:::]

Hi Kathy and Ujitani,

I agree, that it can be hard to find partners. What kind of technologies have you been using? We are using a Moodle board (similar in style to this discussion forum) and iSight cameras using iChat with MacIntosh computers. I'm thinking also of sending some students over here to Dave's, this semester. Have either of you tried that?

Kathy wrote:

I am very interested in your idea. I have been doing similar work. Do you have Skype? Please take a look at the forum we have just started at www.eslwebcamforkids.com/forum/ As you will see, I am interested in content development and delivery and am big on collaboration. I teach college English now, but I am also involved in Chinese language materials development and teaching.

BTW - have you checked out the Webheads?

Your site looks really excellent, Kathy. I don't know anything about Skype or Webheads. Could you describe what they are, for those of us who do not know?

Thanks so much!



P.S. Do either of you have had experiences with Chatterbots? Those are AI programs that will communicate in English. I "talked" a bit with the ALICE program today, and I just read an interesting article about them:

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: Bots as Language Learning Tools
http://llt.msu.edu/vol10num3/emerging/default.html

[paulalex]

Hi Kathy, Ujitani, and Chris,

I just registered for this site, so a big hello to everyone. I'm the character in Seoul, Korea with whom Chris has been collaborating with for the past few years. Using the combination of a learning management system (Moodle) in tandem with videoconference software (Apple's iChat) has really been an interesting experience for both the students and the instructors.

Initially, we started our culture exchange projects small (i.e. 2 pairs of Korean university students interacting with 2 pairs of Japanese students - 8 students in total), but are now changing things up a little by using the aforementioned technologies class-wide (i.e. 20+ students).

With respect to the videoconferencing, you should see the students' faces when they first connect with their foreign counterparts! There is a definite paradigm shift afoot in how new technologies are developing new communities of practice!

Anyways, I wish all of you the best in your teaching endeavors.

Cheers,
Paul

[kathyfelts]

Hi Folks,

For more information on what other folks are doing, you can check ot the following resources:

1. The Webheads - ohhh... where to start? The Webheads talk about
telecommunicative instruction and are involved in many projects.
Start with Vance Steven's homepage. Vance is prolific and a rich
read.

http://www.geocities.com/vance_stevens/vance.htm
Then, go to Webheads in Action

http://webheadsinaction.org/

2. Venny Su's site:

http://venny.myweb.hinet.net/

And a really good paper at:
www.opensource.idv.tw/paper/Online%20Ch ... ning-1.doc

Google Venny's name to get more info on what he is involved in -
extensive work!

3. Skype started as a VOIP service and is evolving into a source of other
services, including Skypecasts that relate to a variety of topics
germane to to VOIP applications connected to instructional delivery.

You can augment Skype's utility by adding Unyte. You can use Skype
to talk with a group of folks - very good audio and good enough video.
Also check out Jyve -
a place for folks who want to interact with people specifially interested
in language learning, practice and issues. I don't want to forget MSN,
which is easy to use and allows user to share desktops, application
share, use a whiteboard and share files.

I hope that folks will email me about upcoming discussions on and about some of the available software. My email address is [email protected].

Best regards and good luck!
Kathy Felts

[Murtala]

Hello Cristopher and Everyone, I was looking for someone who has experience using moodle forum and thank God i found you, hope you will help me. First of all i am a student from Nigeria. I am doing a project on moodle. The title is "Implementing a discussion forum in Usmanu Danfodiyo University(the name of my school) using moodle". I dont know how to go about it. i have already installed moodle on my server. Here is how i plan to design the forum:

Faculty name1
--Deparments
----Units
------Courses
---------forum

Faculty name2
--Deparments
----Units
------Courses
---------forum


.
.
.
.
Faculty nameN
--Deparments
----Units
------Courses
---------forum


My school have never had any experience with discussion forum.If you think my method is crude please help me with a better one. And if you have any material that may be helpful to me please do send me though my email: [email protected]

[kathyfelts]

Hi,
Welcome to online teaching! The learning curve is steep, but once you get the hang of it, you will have some very important tools at your disposal. Have you used the www.moodle.com site's resources? I don't mean just looked at it, but really tried to do study and research about how it works? How about www.learningtimes.org. These site not only have many resources for new users, but can provide you with avenues for contacting and talking with other users.

Including other people in your project will be crucial to its success. Many people who take on big tasks such as the one you are getting ready to embark on soon find themselves overwhelmed with work. While it is true that it takes time to get other people trained and up to speed, in the long run, working on this type of project collaboratively is far more productive and efficient than attempting it single-handedly. Reach out to other people! If you like, I would be happty to give you a forum (free, of course) to invite the suggestions and advice of others. You can contact me by posting here in Dave's, post on our forum www.eslwebcamforkids/com/forums/ under "Collaborators Wanted - Projects," or email me at [email protected].

I admire your willingness to explore the use of Moodle. I think it is a wise choice. Good luck on your project!

Kathy Felts

[christopher:::]

Kathy and everyone,

Thanks so much ((all)) for jumping in. I've just been swamped with work this semester. Our project is going well, but now it looks like I'll have to move back to windows computers if I want a whole classroom of PCs set up to do videoconferencing. It's been so nice with iChat and the macs, but my school will not fund a room full of Apples. Any thoughts on which video host works best? I looked a little at the skype links, there is so much to read. One of the things I love about iChat is we can fill the screen with really crisp video images (accompanied by great audio), can one do that with skype?

The webheads look great kathy, but there didn't seem to be much discussion going on. If anyone knows of another discussion like this one we are having here, in another forum, it would be great to link the threads together. Invite other people over...

Also, has anyone used message boards that integrate in video? Seems like that's the direction where things will be moving, having online forums like this that also support videoconferencing.

Any chance you think that Dave will be upgrading?



Chris

[Ax]

I've been doing similar things to Chris (Chase) as well and enjoyed meeting him and seeing his presentation at the recent JALT conference. I was also fortunate to see his presentation on the other end of the camera at the KOTESOL conference presented by paulalex. I agree that this is the future!

I live in Kitakyushu and am very interested in getting my classes linked with other classes in real time. My angle is to set up a server with Flash Media Server. While Skype and MSN clones may be better in quality for a full room to a full room videoconference, my applications seem to work better at getting students paired up or in small groups for collaborative projects, within a full class setting. In my home school (University of Kitakyushu) we have a PC (or Mac) with headsets and a webcam for each student. I've been using these applications for about a year and a half with a teacher in South Korea. It was very interesting to see how similar the things we were doing to what Prof. Chase was doing.

For me, Skype and MSN clones are not an option in my classes due to our school's security. If anyone would like to link with us though, please let me know. I also use the CALLSIG forum on KOTESOL's CALLSIG forum. If you haven't checked out that site yet, you should! Again, if you are interested in linking up your students with mine, please get in touch! My website is at Prof Ujitani, where are you so I can get in contact with you?
http://clix.to/Ax and my email is sorensen atmark env.kitakyu-u.ac.jp. (Replace the atmark of course)
Let's link!

[christopher:::]

Hey there Ariel (Ax)!

Thanks for dropping in, and sharing about your project. Please don't call me Prof. Chase though!! If you want us to call you "Ax" the least you could do is call me Joe, Bob or Biff or something.



It was definitely really great having a chance to talk with you at the JALT conference. You're like Johnny Appleseed, one weekend in Korea, the next in Japan, spreading seeds.

I'm also really envious of the setup and encouragement you have at your school. Ariel requested webcams for all the computers, and *bam* he got em. I'm working on a proposal now for my school. Maybe we'll get some of the computers equiped, by April, at the earliest...



Got a couple of links I wanted to share here. The first is Robert O'Dowd's blog. Robert has provided many useful links over there to various stories and articles related to Telecollaboration.

http://dfm.unileon.es/telecollaboration/

I won't repost all the links he shares, but did want to provide one, cause it looks very promising. This is a site created by the BBC, called World Class, which is focused on connecting teachers in the UK to other nations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/

Finally, if you haven't read any of Robert's views and research on intercultural communicative competence and telecollaboration, a good place to start is here:

http://www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/thesis.htm

[seandoc]

Cristopher, I also have a Mac and use iChat (for chatting with my family mostly, I´ve never tried to use it in my classes) but I know of a free alternative that is almost as good. It´s called sightspeed. It works on both PCs and Macs. Look it up. Sean.

[christopher:::]

Thanks for that info, Sean. Your website looks really interesting. Are you doing research now on this videoconferencing project?

http://www.bittlelit.com/autoescuela/vi ... /home.html

[seandoc]

I'm afraid I've been so busy lately with work and moving house that my research has almost come to a stop. A few months ago I did a few free trial classes with some volunteers to see if I could work out a format for teaching small groups which would be dynamic and fun.

I found out that only about 10% of the volunteers that signed up had a webcam although all of them had a microphone. We used a trial version of Breeze and because a lot of them found a lot of technical problems with that we switched to Skype (voice only) with a browser based whiteboard.

I'm hoping to start some more free trials with either sightspeed or skypecasts. I also have a long list of videoconferencing software that I could PM you if you're interested.
All the best. Sean.