I was assigned to follow Joe Dale which we have read and listened to some of his stuff in our last blog post number 4. He is a very talented man and always gives very useful and beneficial information. In the blog I read and commented on was all about the aPlanet Project. Basically he explained everything broken down little by little of what the aPlanet Project was and every detail about it. This basically covers everything mentioned in his post. Summary
* introducing the aPLaNet project and explaining what the acronym stands for
* explaining the reasons for launching the project as a way of bridging the gap between those language teachers who use social media and those who don't
* promoting the concept of using a PLN and particularly Twitter as a professional development tool and showing the benefits of doing so
* piloting a mentoring and self-access approach
* explaining what is a personal learning network, the origin of the concept and the value of having a PLN
* maintaining contacts and support through a PLN instead of being tied to a PLE, VLE via an institution
* ways in which PLNs can help professional development
* the target audience for aPLaNet - language teachers who are experienced and inexperiend users of social media
* the challenge of finding mentees
* involving colleagues through face to face workshops as well as online mentoring
* becoming a mentor or mentee by joining the aPLaNet Ning and going on to the next step
* explaining the self-access option and carrying out a webquest
* translating the resources into a variety of languages and encouraging MFL teachers as well English teachers to get involved
* making the Ning the hub of the project
* where the idea for the aPLaNet project came from
* bringing together seven partner institutions for the eu bid
* asking for associate partners in January 2010 and seeing a great reponse
* the benefits of the partner institutions meeting up face to face and agreeing on the first steps
* preparing for the life of aPLaNet after the end of the project in order to make it sustainable for years to come
* explaining the resources in more detail: (Mentor and Mentee support guides, feedback questionnaires, teacher diary template which can be completed online or on paper, 150 page teacher reference guide, series of online workshops which will be recorded, webquests, video tutorials)
* explaining the differences between the mentor and mentee questionnaire and the importance of collecting data about the use of social media by language teachers to update resources and improve the effectiveness of the project
* explaining what are the markers of success?
* creating a cycle of mentees who become autonomous mentors themselves
* presenting the results of the project at an aPLaNet themed conference in Istanbul in September 2012 and feeding back on what has been achieved
* following the progress of the project and involving associate partners via webinars to maintain interest
* the importance of creating a community spirit around the project and drawing on members' PLNs
* sharing Twitter lists of UK language teachers and world language teachers in the first mentoring workshop webinar
* creating a report on the use of social networks amongst language teachers based on the feedback from the July 2011 survey which fed into the section on social networking in the teacher guide
* crowdsourcing colleagues for recommend resources and links before creating the mentor guide and seeing a great response
* drawing upon the "generosity and volunteer spirit of all of these wonderful language teachers all over the world"
* clarifying that during the life of the project, mentees are expected to be from the European Union due to the nature of the funding, but mentors can be from anywhere in the world
* rewarding mentors with different blog badges (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) which denote the number of mentees each mentor is supporting
* giving a t-shirt prize to the first mentor who mentors eleven mentees and achieves platinumn status!
* presenting aPLaNet at the Virtual Round Table conference 2011 and trying to connect with as many language teachers as possible and keep their interest
* explaining how the Language Resource Filter is designed to work as a way of crowdsourcing useful language specific resources and making them available on the Ning
* finishing off with some thoughts on quotes from Joel and Marisa about the value of PLNs
* seeing a PLN as a virtual staffroom full of connected, helpful and sharing language teachers
* giving a heads up to the MFL Twitterati!
* find a world of opportunities arising by simply posting on Twitter
* getting involved in the iTILT project about helping language teachers make the most of interactive whiteboards
* being asked to speak at a conference through Facebook
* using Twitter can open up a whole new world to language teachers and broaden their horizons exponentially - they can find answers to pressing questions 24/7, help another colleague in return, gauge opinion and discover a neverending stream of useful information from their online community
* concluding remarks
I used his summary of the main points so I would cover it all and to basically leave nothing out because all this information is very important.
aPlanet Project
This was my response
You presented a great deal of information in this post I was very overwhelmed, but all of it was very useful and beneficial in every single way. I greatly appreciated all the links you provided within your blog post. Links come in very handy when you have no idea about the information being presented. I think that the aPlanet project is a great project and so glad that is was able to get up and running and have so many supporters and people that wanted to be involved in a great idea as this one. I think it is amazing all the things that have came out of this project. I loved all the testimonies from people who this project has helped. It is really a remarkably project. Thanks for introducing me and filling me in on basically everything there is to know about the aPlanet project. I really enjoyed learning about it.
Dr Lid King on Lingu@net Worldwide
The Second post I commented on was Dr Lid King on Lingu@net Worldwide. This post was basically about introducing the online resources for adult learning styles and languages. There are different sections and things to you can access. In the first section you determine your language level and this helps you evaluate the resources you will need. The next section allows them explore information about language styles and the experiences of other language learners. The third section suggests how learners can keep in contact with each other and the final section lets them search through nearly five thousand free online resources which have been quality assessed by the Lingu@net Worldwide team.
My Response
I basically just thanked him for allowing me to know about this online resources and how beneficial this information was. It is a great way to communicate and I think that learning new languages would be very interesting and fun. I think that learning new languages and styles are really great for educators, students, or basically anyone who will take their time to explore them.
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