Wednesday 27 December 2017

Photos from the Xmas party on Smallworlds

 Great Xmas party today on SmallWorlds with fun activities, word games, snowball fight, and even a short graduation ceremony! Best wishes to all #dt4lt
 During the #dt4lt Xmas party on SmallWorlds we played lots of word games on the specialised digital board!
Everyone gathered for a group-selfie!
A few fireworks to colour the night and celebrate during our Xmas #dt4lt party on SmallWorlds
Eating from the buffet and getting ready for the graduation ceremony
Lots of clapping from participants when John Chalk received the graduation papyrus from Dr Cecilia Goria during the virtual graduation ceremony of the #dt4lt programme on SmallWorlds
Fireworks, music, dancing, and games after the virtual graduation on SmallWorlds! One of the best virtual parties of the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching programme

Thursday 21 December 2017

Students' reflections on the activity on SmallWorlds

Our students Maria, Eugenia, and Agata at the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching collaboratively reflect on their experience on doing activities on an online Virtual World. Read their thoughts:

We found it quite difficult at first to get involved with the topic of Virtual worlds. In our case, and probably based on our lack of experience, we could see little pedagogical potential in the activity at first, and were more inclined to take it as a fun last module of the course. However, after our tutorial on Friday, we realized this is the type of activities you need to personally experience to actually understand its potential. Once we were part of it, we could genuinely understand its possible uses as a learning tool as well as its limitations.
From the social point of view, we find that an environment like SmallWorlds could help build that sense of community that many times is missing in online courses. It increases social presence in a more relaxed and less controlled setting. Besides, sitting around the campfire gave us the feeling of a non-threatening environment, where sharing occurred in a more horizontal and democratic manner and roles of tutors and students were less marked.
As far as limitation goes, online security is an element that cannot be overlooked. If used with underage students, steps must be taken to ensure a safe environment were instances of interaction with strangers must be minimised.
Both of us created avatars which resembled our real-selves and realized that at certain points of our interaction we experienced a feeling of “self-awareness”, especially when dealing with some situations which could interfere in how we were viewed by others.

Tuesday 19 December 2017

Xmas party on SmallWorlds on Friday!

We are throwing a Christmas party on Friday 22nd December 2017, 12 pm (UK time), at the MA in DTLT space on SmallWorlds and everyone is invited! There will be food, games, dance, snow and lots of laughter so try not to miss it!
Directions to the MA in DTLT space: On SmallWorlds select Places (bottom of the screen), then Search (menu on the left) and then type in "MA in DTLT". On the right you will click on Go there (orange button) which will teleport you to the space. Or just click the following link: http://goo.gl/4xts6r

Thursday 24 August 2017

Presentation on implemeting openness in the MA in DTLT programme at the EUROCALL2017 conference

Dr. Cecilia Goria and Angelos Konstantinidis presented at the EUROCALL2017 conference which was held at Southampton, UK the pedagogical approach of the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching programme for implementing openness.


You can read their presentation below:

Tuesday 27 June 2017

Feedback & Text Revision in a telecollaborative project of KS 4 children in England & France

One of our alumni, Jane Basnett, presented her dissertation project at the 7th annual conference (#InnoConf17) in the Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University series at The Open University on 16th June.

Wednesday 14 June 2017

Presentation about the MA in DTLT at the #UONSmart conference

Dr. Cecilia Goria presented today at #UONSmart Conference the participatory pedagogy model that underpins the Master of Arts in Digital Technology for Language Teaching programme.


Thursday 8 June 2017

Dissertation talk by Jennifer Prescott

One of our students, Jennifer Prescott, will present her dissertation titled "Synchronous computer-mediated communication in a virtual world as preparation for structured oral production" on 23 June, 11 am UK time. You are invited to attend her online presentation which will be held on the Adobe Connect Platform.
In order to attend the event please fill in your details in the following form so we can reserve your place:
 https://goo.gl/forms/dvX4GJjxf9SaIXM52

Monday 29 May 2017

Just published: Using SmallWorlds to Enhance Social Presence, Group Cohesion, and Group Identity in an Online Postgraduate Course

The Handbook of Research on Collaborative Teaching Practice in Virtual Learning Environments has been just published. The book focuses on program developments in the realm of digital worlds in educational settings and features pedagogical methods relating to cooperative learning, hands-on curriculum, and meta-cognitive dimensions. Among the highlights of the book is a discussion on the use of a Virtual World for strengthening social presence, group cohesion, and group identity in the distance learning postgraduate programme Digital Technologies for Language Teaching in Chapter 5 authored by Angelos Konstantinidis.

Tuesday 28 February 2017

Studentships for the MA in DTLT

The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies is offering a number of studentships and fee waivers for students of the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching. Masters studentships include home fees-only awards and home-fees plus stipend awards.

To be eligible to apply for School funding, you must be holding an offer of a place to study at the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching of the University of Nottingham. The deadline for submitting your application to the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching for the studentships is on 20th of April 2017.

More info about the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching and application form: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/language-centre/teaching/dtlt.aspx
 
More info about the studentships: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/prospective/funding.aspx

Sunday 19 February 2017

Amending the Wikipedia article on Tandem Language Learning

During the first section of the "Telecollaboration in Language Learning" module of the Master of Arts in Digital Technologies for Language Teaching students amended the Tandem language learning Wikipedia page.