1. English Language teaching and
learning in the Age of
Technology
Vera Menezes

2. 1. The age of
technology
2. Theoretical Support.
3. Digital tools.
4. Conclusion

3. 1. The age of technology
845 million monthly active users at the end of
(December 2011)
More than 140 million active users, 340 million
Tweets a day, which means 1 billion Tweets every
3
days. (March 2012)
79.9 million = number of Brazilians with internet
access (home, work, school and cybercafés
among
others) (2011)
The Internet became really big

4. Fourteen years ago and now

5. Integration
Traditional media –
newspaper, books, r
adio – are giving
way to content
which is consumed
in cell
phones, laptops
and tablets such as
iPads.

6. Integration
Traditional ways of reading are
also being replaced by the integration
of readers.

7. The fantastic flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
by William Joyce

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW775HIlVMg

9. 2. Theories
 Connectivism
(SIEMENS, 2006, 2006)
 New literacies
(RHEINGOLD, 2012)
 Framework for technology-
based teaching and learning
(SCHNEIDERMAN, 2003).

10. Connectivism
“A central tenet of most learning theories is that
learning occurs inside a person” (Siemens,
2005)
“These theories do not address learning that
occurs outside of people (i.e. learning that is
stored and manipulated by technology)”.
(Siemens, 2005)
“Learning is evolutionary. It is not an event or
end goal. Learning is a process. Our personal
network is continually being augmented and
enhanced by new nodes and connections”.

11. Connectivism
Siemens (2005, 2006) proposes an
alternative theory integrating
“principles explored by chaos,
network, and complexity and self-
organization theories. He calls it
Connectivism – “the assertion that
learning is primarily a network-forming
process” (Siemens 2006, p. 15).

12. Connectivism
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardlow/278794913/

13. Principles of connectivism
Learning and knowledge rests in
diversity of opinions.
Learning is a process of connecting
specialized nodes or information
sources.
Learning may reside in non-human
appliances.

14. Principles of connectivism
Capacity to know more is more
critical than what is currently known.
Nurturing and maintaining
connections is needed to facilitate
continual learning.
Ability to see connections between
fields, ideas, and concepts is a core
skill.

15. Principles of connectivism
Currency (accurate, up-to-date
knowledge) is the intent of all
connectivist learning activities.
Decision-making is itself a learning
process.
Choosing what to learn and the
meaning of incoming information is
seen through the lens of a shifting
reality. While there is a right answer, it
may be wrong tomorrow due to
alterations in the information climate

16. Principles of connectivism
“knowledge as a river, not a reservoir”
Diversity
Autonomy Openness
Interactivity

17. Examples of connectivism
UFMG =Ingrede Project: 1500 students
(Moodle platform)
Diversity of opinions and learning routes
Autonomy :digital library and a collective
glossary
Interactivity: reading and posting
Openness ; new material brought by the
students themselves.

18. Examples of connectivism
UFSC: undergraduate course (Moodle
platform)
Diversity of material
Autonomy is one of the objective
Interactivity: forums for debates
Openness : students can post new content.

19. New literacies Rheingold (2012)
“Literacy now means skill plus social competency in using
that skill collaboratively”. (K.163)
Five Literacies:
Attention
Participation
Collaboration
Consumption of information (aka “crap
detection”)
Network smarts
Watch a video with Reingold at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxmG6VeNSuQ

20. New literacies Rheingold (2012)
Attention literacy refers to the mindful use
of media. Where are you directing your
attention to?
Participation: Rheingold (2012, K.2465)
believes that participation creates a sense
of belonging and empowerment in users.
“Participation, however, is a kind of power
that only works if you share it with others”
K.2482) and this leads us to the concept of
curation.

21. CURATION
Siemens (2006, p.32)

22. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW775HIlVMg

23. CURATION
http://www.scoop.it

25. New literacies Rheingold (2012)
Collaboration is a key concept in Rheingold’s
proposal. He says that “Collaboration is the most
purposeful means of collective action”.
A typical educational design based on collaboration
is tandem learning.
Examples: the work of João Telles and his
collaborators at UNESP. Braga (2004) and Souza
(1998) at UFMG.
Attention/Participation/Collaboration/Consumption
of information/Network smarts

26. New literacies Rheingold (2012)
Collaboration is still a problem. Example: wiki
Expected pattern Common
pattern
Attention/Participation/Collaboration/Consumption
of information/Network smarts

27. New literacies Rheingold (2012)
Consumption of information (aka “crap
detection”):
critical consumption of information
Network smarts: “the internet and the cell phone
have transformed communication from house to
house to person-to-person”. “,The person has
become the portal”. Network smarts are the ones
who are aware of their networks and the power of
getting things Attention/Participation/Collaboration/Consumpt
done.
ion of information/Network smarts

28. Shneiderman (2003)
“You are evaluated
today by “how many
messages you get a
day, how many groups
you contribute to, and
how many other people
link to your Web
pages”.
(Shneiderman,2003, K, 1062)

29. Shneiderman (2003)
The old education emphasized acquiring
facts and chunks of information,
Old education stimulated competition and
only a few students were supposed to get
good marks.
Students were prohibited from reading each
other’s work and required to work
independently.
The new education emphasizes
collaboration.

30. Shneiderman’s framework for
technology-based teaching (2003)
COLLECT (Gather information and
acquired resources)
RELATE (Work in collaborative
teams)
CREATE (Develop ambitious projects)
DONATE Produce results that are
meaningful to someone outside the
classroom)
CRCD

31. http://www.t4tenglish.ufsc.br/comoUsar.php

32. http://www.letras.ufmg.br/arado/

33. 3. Web tools

34. By Samantha Penney <http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm>

35. Collect
Relate
Create
Donate

36. Collect
Relate
Create
Donate

37. In spite of the natural resistance to
innovations, it seems that digital tools
have been gradually incorporated into
different kinds of learning contexts:
from face-to-face to blended or online
learning contexts.

38. We never know what new
tools will appear and
how they will affect us.
Korea is now testing two types of robots to teach
young students. One is programmed to teach
English using voice recognition technology and
the other is a telepresence robot with enables
children to learn from native speakers of English
who are far away.

39. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0T6uEEpiuQ

40. One 10-year-old boy said he was a little
nervous about the robot at first, but he
liked its singing and dancing.
His classmate, 10-year-old girl, said, “I
like the robot teacher better than
human teachers.”

41. I do not think we will compete with
robots in Brazil, but I think we will
surely be invited to produce more and
more digital material.
That seems to be the direction our
government intends to pursue.

42. O arranjo social da escola é do século 18.
Os professores são do século 20 e os
alunos, do século 21.” (iG 06/03/2012)
The school social arrangement is from
18th century. Teachers are from 20th
century and the students are from 21st
century.

43. Thank
You for your
attention!
Vera Menezes
http://www.veramenezes.com/