Designing learning communities
Professional communities for teachers
- TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages): https://www.tesol.org/ . There is a Global Membership option - a reduced price for teachers in certain countries.
- IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language): https://www.iatefl.org/ . The Learning Technologies Special Interest Group (SIG) has good information about CALL: https://groups.yahoo.com/group/LearningTechnologiesSIG/) and other SIGs: https://www.iatefl.org/special-interest-groups/sigs
- Webheads in Action (free) was created by language teachers who were early users of online technology. It's now a large group that welcomes others with an interest in using technology. The portal is at https://webheadsinaction.org/ - you'll see many other links there and ways to connect. Webheads share freely.
- European Schoolnet: https://www.eun.org/ - through Ministries of Education; this provides links to groups as well as other information
- Learning Times (free): https://www.learningtimes.org . Designed for educators and business trainers, this has a focus on online learning. Free subscription.
- TESOL Arabia: https://www.tesolarabia.org/
- EgypTESOL: https://www.egyptesol.org/
- Moroccan Association of Teachers of English: https://www.mate.org.ma/
Small group/pairs (free sites)
Explore these with a partner. Add useful ones to your Delicious page, with tags and notes. Be ready to explain to the group why you feel the site is useful, in what way, for what students.
Tandem learning
- Read an article about it at https://www.calico.org/html/article_144.pdf
- E-Tandem, one of the most established tandem learning networks: https://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etindex-en.html
- Another possibility: https://tandemlearning.ning.com/
Online chat
- English Club: https://www.englishclub.com/esl-chat/ (This includes moderated spaces.)
- EnglishBaby!: https://www.englishbaby.com/community/chat
- Skype: https://www.skype.com/ - with audio or video, this is best with no more than 3 people. Text chat can support more.
- Yahoo Messenger: https://messenger.yahoo.com - with audio or video, this is best with no more than 3 people. Text chat can support more.
Class-based (free sites)
Explore these with a partner. Add useful ones to your Delicious page, with tags and notes. Be ready to explain to the group why you feel the site is useful, in what way, for what students.
- Nicenet - designed for class-level discussions, text-only and free of advertising: https://www.nicenet.org (see how-to handout PDF - Word doc)
- Yahoo Groups - create a class group; share pictures and files, create polls, send email: https://groups.yahoo.com/
- Google Groups - create a class group: share pictures and files, send email: https://groups.google.com/
- Facebook - create a class Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
- Ning - another kind of social network where you can create your own group: https://www.ning.com/
- iEARN - International Education and Research Network - joint class projects, global projects: https://iearn.org/
- ThinkQuest - create class projects or join international class projects: https://www.thinkquest.org/en/projects/index.html
- Blogs - class blogs or individual blogs where students "follow" each other: https://www.blogger.com/ (see how-to handout)
Discussion forums – what would be useful to your students?
Explore these with a partner. Add useful ones to your Delicious page, with tags and notes. Be ready to explain to the group why you feel the site is useful, in what way, for what students.
- Student Forums at Dave’s ESL Café https://eslcafe.com/
- ESL Online Talk Community – via MSN Messenger https://www.rong-chang.com/talk/talksign.htm
Websearch for “Science forum” yields many possibilities
- The Science Forum: https://www.thescienceforum.com/ <= good potential
- Science Chat Forum: text and chat options in many science areas: https://www.sciencechatforum.com/ <= good potential
Websearch for “Business forum” yields many possibilities, mostly related to small businesses
- The Small Business Community Forums: https://www.smallbusinessforums.org/
- Small Business Ideas Forum: https://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/forum/
- The Open Forum: Articles and discussions about business topics: https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics - Networking and social media discussion: https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/lifestyle/discussion/networking-and-social-media (note the mini-business cards by each comment)
Putting it together
Share your favorite sites with the group. Please explain why you like them and how they might best be used. If time, work in groups to create an activity plan (Lesson plan template).