MALL

To dive deeper in the topic of mobile learning I would like to start with the core principles of the latter. So, yere they are.
Main principles of MALL:

1. the delivery of content on small devices
2. the mobility of the learner
3. learning across different contents and locations
4. mobility of the learner
5. the connection of learning seamlessly across contexts
6. consideration of the context of the learner

So, mobile technologies enable their users to learn whenever and wherever they want without any other tools. The one thing you need - is your mobile. Isn't it great? You can improve your English anytime, anywhere. Don't miss this opportunity😃

What do you know about QR codes?

QR- code - is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) first designed in 1994 for the automotive industry in Japan. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that contains information about the item to which it is attached.

I think almost everyone at least heard about this innovation. You can scan or generate it, for instance, to find extra information about something (even on a package of juice). But how can we use this in teaching or learning processes? As far as I know, there are lots of books for children (for example, with fairytales), which contain QR-codes with the help of which the pictures in these books become literally alive. So, we may try print such codes in workbooks to enable children or older students find some editional information on the topic or any different object of our learning process.
Learn how to create your own QR-code)

Do you want to memorise unknown words as quickly as possible? Then go to Quizlet and create your own flashcards which will help you achieve this goal. Furthermore, there are different games which can help you memorise these words faster and in an interesting way.

Check my flashcards💛 https://quizlet.com/336238678/4-hostilities-flash-cards/

Thank you for your attention!

MOOCs

Hey! Today we are going to explore what is MOOC and how it can help us to learn not only the English language, but everything we are interested in.

MOOC (massive open online course) -   is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. 

Nowadays, there are many different MOOC platforms. So, if you are considering a MOOC for yourself or your organization, you’ll first need to determine which tool you will use to build the course. The following is an assessment of five popular free MOOC (and MOOC-like) platforms.

At our university we use moodle platform to improve our knowledge on different subjects on a deeper 

level.

 

Also, Coursera.org is a very popular one. It is an online learning platform founded by Stanford professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller that offers courses, specializations, and degrees.

Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online courses, specializations, and degrees in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and others.

As of June 2018, Coursera had more than 33 million registered users and more than 2,400 courses. Isn't it impressive?

On their home page you can read the inset "About us" and find out their mission, which is "to promote openness and innovation in technology". There you can even take a training course through which you will learn everything you need to know to get started with your own Canvas Network course. 

https://info.canvas.net

EdX is an open-source platform offered by edX.org. It is the same platform that universities such as Harvard and MIT use to offer courses to 100,000+ students. It was released as open source in March 2013, and the goal was to act as the WordPress for MOOC platforms, allowing users to use plug-ins to expand the core functionality. edX has a fast, modern feel, with the ability to accommodate large enrollments.

edX is suitable for organizations that want a modern, flexible, robust course-management platform. Although it is open source, investment will need to be made in both installation and some maintenance. But the return will be a platform that can provide best-in-class content to thousands of students.

edX.org

It's really hard to chose among all the courses that are available. But, I've done a research and found out that there are so many different courses on Psychology (which I'm very interested in) on different platforms. So, if  I would like to take a course on edX "Introduction to Social Psychology". This course explores a range of topics in social psychology, from how we think about ourselves, how we think about others, and how we interact and communicate with others. We will also discuss the ways that we can influence others and be influenced by others. Finally, we look at some problematic aspects of human behaviour, such as prejudice and aggression. You should take this course if you are curious about why we behave the way we do. This will definitely help you on your way of productive communication with people.   
Here is the link to this course https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-to-social-psychology-0  if you also would like to explore the course.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4WbJdV_gC0#action=share - here youu may watch a video to understand better what the course is about. 

My WIKI experience

Hi! Today I'm going to tell you about WIKIs. 
Wiki is a web technology used for collaborative publishing on the web. Wiki is a type of server software that allows you to work with data on a remote server on the Web. Users interact with the software through a web interface that lets them read, edit and publish content.

All the information about WIKIs you can find on their home page. But, my goal for today is to get my own wiki experience and share my opinion with you. So, let's get started! For this purpose I went to Teflpedia - is a wiki dedicated to everything associated with teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) or second language (TESL). 

There you can find everything from questions to discuss in class to debates to participate in! I think, it's not only topical, but also interestingly presented for teachers of englih all over the world. It's amazing how every single teacher all over the world can share his/her own experience in teaching english and probably give a piece of advice to others, meanwhile taking into consideration others' advice.

So, I've chosen to participate in debate on the topic of "Accuracy vs Fluency". Firstly, I read about pros and cons of each one and then I found out other people's opinion on this topic (which is one of the pressing ones, actually) and decided to leave my own comment. 

Here it is!

Also, I would like to share a link with you https://friends.fandom.com/wiki/Friends_Wiki. On http://fandom.wikia.com you may find so much interesting about your favourite games, films, or series (just like I did). And the best thing is that you can edit your information related to the topic to improve the article, for instance. I'm a fan of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and when I found Friends Central - a collaborative encyclopedia for everything related to NBC's Friends I was sooo happy to take part in polls related to the series, read different amazing articles on it and even edit them. If you are crazy about it go there right now! If you are not go, watch a series (or read a summury on a season) and become one of us!

It's all for today. Go there, explore, find a Wiki that would be interesting for you and share your experience. Good luck!

SURVEY SERVICES

Where to create a poll? So, here are some options. But, firstly, let's look them through and find out what is the best. These are: 

• MyTextX
• Twitter
• Google Forms
• Socrative  

Here goes my own poll created with the help of Google Forms. I would appreciate if you take part and accept the invitation. follow the link to take a look!😃

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQbNzQACb0QtqkEw3H1tkr7dZduMLiM-eI7RH7R6BSBHI3mQ/viewform?usp=sf_link                                                                                                  So, let's start with the pros of MyTestXPro.

 It's a software system for creating and conducting computer knowledge testing, collecting and analyzing results.

With the help of the MyTestXPro program, we are able to organize and conduct testing, examinations in any educational institutions (universities, colleges, schools) both with the goal of identifying the level of knowledge in any academic discipline and with educational objectives. Enterprises and organizations can carry out certification and certification of their employees.

MyTestXPro works with ten different types of tasks. In the test, you can use both tasks of the same type and tasks of different types. The number of groups and tasks in the test is not limited. Questions with answer choices can include up to ten options. For each task it is possible to set up to five question formulations.

The text of the question and answer choices (where they are possible) support text formatting, inserting pictures, tables, symbols.

 You can organize both local and network testing with MyTestXPro.So, your students will be able to do the test from the distance. If something goes wrong with your computer or the Internet connection you don't need to panic you can just print the results, or tests themselves. But, you can use this programm only for 30 days for free. Then you need to get a license to use it.

Twitter

You may know Twitter as a kind of social media through which you can share your thoughts and probably just everything that comes to your mind.And if you are an active user of this app then you prabably know that you can also conduct your own survey there. It's called a poll. Ask your students opinion just right where they spend most of their time!

Google forms

It's the easiest one from the listed above, I think. Here you can choose a temple on the basis of which you can create yor own poll or  feedback form. It's easy to create and use. Make sure yourself!

Socrative

I used to think that this app is only for different tests ant things like that. but, it's as goog for creating polls as for making tests. You can ask your students about something and they give you an instant response! But, accounts are different there: the ones for which you have to pay and a free one. Of course, they offer different lists of opportunities for a teacher to use. Still, a free version is quite enough to exercise a lot of its possibilities.

Let's talk about Google services

The most important thing in the work of any Google application is collaboration. Google Docs and Google Sheets allow real-time tracking of any changes made to the document, which is super-useful, leave notes, corrections, use the built-in chat. An ideal tool for group work on text and work on bugs. A teacher is able to track changes made to a document by each of the participants using the Revision History function.

Google forms

Using Google Forms is very easy to create questionnaires, quizzes, questionnaires. Ideal for homework and self-study in class. You don't need to install any special tools just go to Google and use it! 

Google slides

I've mentioned this app in my previous post, but as they say "practice makes perfect". And this app really deserves to be mention even twice. Google Slides is a web version of Power Point with the same set of basic tools for creating presentations (just to refresh😀).  Nowadays presentations are used everywhere as they give us an opportunity to present information by sight which, in its turn, makes the information we want to communicate easier to understand and remember. I can't even imagine lectures at universities without presentations! 

Some other resources to use

Polls on Twitter allow you to answer questions posed by other Twitter users. In addition, you can create your own ones. Current results will be shown immediately. Which is an unprecedented advantage! The same you can do on Vkontakte. Of course, all the participants of your polls should sign up if they haven't done it before.

Also, all our social media help us to create different communities in which teachers, for instance, can send their students not only their hometasks, but also help students quicker if there is a need. Furthermore, I can say that I personally send different posts in English to everyone who knows english and can trully appreciate them (different humorous pictures, useful articles and so on). Teacher can do the same (secretely trying to encourage their students to learn english willingly ). Let's show students/children that teachers are also in the picture today!😛 See you!

BOOKMARKS

Have you ever lost an important link on sth on the Internet? Then, this post is for you. Today I want to tell you about special apps that are designed to help you to order the most frequently visited sites in your browser. Thanks to top-page  http://www.top-page.ru visual bookmarks of your favorite sites will always be at hand. There are so many pros in using this app:

1. It's absolutely FREE - to start using the service, you just need to go through a simple registration.
2. Unlimited number of visual bookmarks - you can create as many visual bookmarks of the sites you need. 
3. Convenient organization of site thumbnails - you can choose one of two options for organizing site thumbnails - either 4 pictures in a row, or 6 pictures in a row. In the first case, the pictures will, of course, be larger, in the second - a little smaller.
4. Themes for the express panel (actually, my faaaaavourite) - you can choose any color you like from the range of express panels offered as a background.

So, now I have not only arranged all the necessary stuff in my browser but also made the home page nice to look at! Give it a go! Tschüss! 

Top services to create your perfect presentation

1. Prezi

"Harvard researchers find Prezi more engaging, persuasive, and effective than PowerPoint." 

So, let's try and see. It's the 1st app for creating presentations nowadays. But, you need to know English to use this properly and be ready to pay for this usage.

2. Slideshare

The largest service for placing slide presentations on the Internet. A very simple tool for publishing lessons and guides combines a huge community of teachers from around the world. Here you can find lots of interesting and useful presentations. But, for every plus there is a minus it's also a resource for which you have to pay. Although, it enables you to share your presentations through social media.

Personal experience👱

There is a full free version of Prezi for universities and students (you need to confirm this fact).  So, I was able to try this app myself and I'm telling you that it really differs from Power Point and other stuff like that. I'm still a fan of Power Point, but Prezi just gives you a chance to make your presentation, m, let's say, more remarkable. It's not too difficult to use this as there are some patterns which you can use to create your own presentation. Then you may share your presentation with others in your blog or wherever you want. Just try and make sure! Good luck!🙋

Prezi:

https://prezi.com/view/4LvMqlpq5pVNzMMlRsll/

Google slides:

Now, some words about Google presentations. Thanks to Google Presentations, you can create presentations, edit them and work on them together with your colleagues - anytime, anywhere. Absolutely free. Also, you can download Google Presentations or open your prepared ones there.
I just tried to upload my presentation made in Power Point in Google Presentations and improved it. Then, again, you can share it wherever you want! Let's see mine!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V_nsmr3ODIQqHaQHRy9XmUniZOeiU02Kp2wXGOyx-zw/edit?usp=sharing