Open Up

Conversations on Open Education for Language Learning

  • Home
  • About
  • Archive
  • COERLL website
    • About COERLL
    • COERLL Projects
    • COERLL Publications
    • COERLL Materials
    • COERLL Events
    • OER
      • OER Glossary
      • OER Intitiaves
      • COERLL OER Wiki
  • Donate to COERLL
  • Submissions
  • Contact Us

Evaluating ed-tech tools

July 16, 2017 1 Comment

Here at COERLL we value the use of technology in the language classroom. As open educators, we believe that educational materials and tools should be open. By “open”, we mean: easy to access, customizable, affordable for teachers and students, and created for the greater good of a community of educators. Unfortunately, educational technology and openness do not always go hand in hand.

Openness involves tinkering and experimentation, but technology tools can be rigid in their functionality. Open educators share freely with peers, but technology tools often carry a copyright and may only be available to schools who can afford them. Ideally the flexibility of openness allows for more innovation, but some technology tools perpetuate outdated teaching methods, albeit in a more fancy and upgraded package.

However, we do not like to advocate for or against specific tech tools, preferring to focus on general best practices for using technology to teach language. One of these best practices is researching technology tools before using them to ensure that the tool and its creator align with your pedagogical approach and teaching philosophy.

Hybrid Pedagogy, a digital journal of learning, teaching, and technology, thoughtfully explores the ideology of using technology in education. In a recent article about Turnitin, Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel provide a useful set of questions to ask yourself about the tools you are considering for your classroom:

  1. Who owns the tool? What is the name of the company, the CEO? What are their politics? What does the tool say it does? What does it actually do?
  2. What data are we required to provide in order to use the tool (login, e-mail, birthdate, etc.)? What flexibility do we have to be anonymous, or to protect our data? Where is data housed; who owns the data? What are the implications for in-class use? Will others be able to use/copy/own our work there?
  3. How does this tool act or not act as a mediator for our pedagogies? Does the tool attempt to dictate our pedagogies? How is its design pedagogical? Or exactly not pedagogical? Does the tool offer a way that “learning can most deeply and intimately begin”?
  4. How accessible is the tool? For a blind student? For a hearing-impaired student? For a student with a learning disability? For introverts? For extroverts? Etc. What statements does the company make about accessibility?

Next time you are considering a new tool, try weighing the pedagogical benefits with the above questions. The final choice lies with you, the teacher and ultimate expert.

—

The above list of questions is excerpted from the article “A Guide for Resisting Edtech: the case against Turnitin“, written by Sean Michael Morris and Jesse Stommel, reviewed by Kris Shaffer and Robin Wharton, and published on Hybrid Pedagogy’s Digital Pedagogy Lab website under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Technology-based language learning Tagged With: CALL, computer enhanced language learning, edtech, educational technology, tech tools, technology

Find
Posts

Search by keywords

Popular categories

  • Badges
  • COERLL updates
  • Critical language study
  • Finding OER
  • Hybrid learning
  • Instructional Materials
  • Language Skills
  • Methods/Open educational practices (OEP)
  • MOOCs
  • OER initiatives
  • OER Research
  • Open education philosophy
  • Publishing OER
  • Remixing OER
  • Spanish
  • Teacher Development
  • Technology-based language learning
  • Uncategorized

Popular posts

  • 10 French Resources for Students Anywhere
  • BOLDD: At the Speed of Language
  • Re-Mixxer: Using French and German OER in The Mixxer
  • "We're Committed to Openness in Content Creation"
  • Activities for remote language teaching

Follow this
Blog

RSS Blog Feed
COERLL Facebook
COERLL Twitter

Subscribe2


 

Events

Upcoming COERLL events

    Join a Community of Open Language Educators!

    • Language OER Network
    • Heritage Spanish Community
    • Deutsch im Blick Facebook
    • Brazilpod Facebook

    Guest blog entries

    Submit a Topic

    Awarded Top 100 Language Learning Blog

    Awarded Top 100 Language Learning Blog

    Creative Commons License · COERLL · University of Texas at Austin

    We use cookies and external scripts to enhance your experience. By using this site you are accepting the use of such cookies.

    Privacy settings

    General cookie information

    This site uses cookies – small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymized tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers.

    Which cookies and scripts are used and how they impact your visit is specified on the left. You may change your settings at any time. Your choices will not impact your visit.

    Read the entire privacy policy.

    NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.

    Google Analytics cookies

    We use cookies to analyze our website traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from use of their services. Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser. They make it possible for us to store your navigation habits, recognize your browser when you visit. It is possible to prevent cookies from being used in your browser by turning the feature off, but in order to make your experience better, your browser must be set to accept cookies.

    Powered by Cookie Information