MoveNote: Make and share video presentations

Introduction

MoveNote is an online video presentation tool available on browser but also as an application on portable devices. It allows its users to make video presentations, with a webcam, screen and voice recording, and with a possibility to add pictures or other files as a slide show. MoveNote therefore promotes flipped or blended learning through mobile devices because it is user-friendly and flexible as learners can download the app and use it on the go. This tool works with any browser and you can easily access it with a google account. MoveNote is a useful tool that can be used in English Language Teaching and can develop your learners fluency and speaking skills.

Click HERE to access MoveNote
Click HERE to view an example made with the mobile app

MoveNote is flexible for teachers and learners

• Your Learners can make mini presentations and share their video on google drive or on a closed classroom Facebook page for peer feedback to promote collaborative learning.
• They can also use it for homework, i.e. speaking activities such as describing people and places.
• Finished presentations can be shared by email or via the social media to access a wider audience.
• Teachers can use MoveNote to flip the classroom by recording instructions or lessons for their students to access at home.
• You can add powerpoint slides if you are using your computer in order to make presentations that you can share with other teachers for the sake of online collaborative development.
• Learners can download the app and upload their files from their mobile devices.

Watch the tutorial 

Some limitations

• You cannot upload powerpoint slides on a mobile device, but only when you use your computer.
• With the free version, your presentations are deleted after 30 days. So you will need the premium subscription to save them longer.
• The guest account only stores your videos for 2 days.

An alternative is to share your videos on social media so as to extend their access for later use.

Wordle: Make and customise your word cloud

Introduction

What is a word cloud?

I had the same question, before I discovered how easy and fast it is to make one. As 'a picture is worth a thousand Words', I am just going to show you an example. There are several tools that you can use to generate your own word clouds such as Tagxedo or Wordsift, but today's post is about Wordle which is a flexible and intuitive online tool to make beautiful word clouds.

How to use Wordle?

As you can see in the tutorial, you can customise your clouds by changing the font, the layout, the language, or the color. An important feature of Wordle that I forgot to mention is that you can remove words from the clouds by simply clicking on them and on remove, which makes it interesting for classroom use, for various purposes.

What can we use word clouds for?

Creativity is a key word for English language teachers. We are always looking for new ways to bring variety in our classrooms by personalising educational tools to fit our teaching contexts. Original ideas often stem from imagination, therefore reflecting on how best we can integrate any tool for English language learning is a must. Word clouds from Wordle can be used in various ways.

1. Teaching vocabulary through brainstorming: As you can see on the example above, you can make a word cloud by copying and pasting a text that you are planning to use for reading comprehension. Then remove the words which are already familiar to your learners and leave the ones you think are relevant to the chosen topic. Show the word cloud and ask your students to guess topic by prompting if necessary with leading questions in the form of a brainstorming. You can then pre-teach the vocabulary with different strategies. It can be used to identify synonyms, antonyms, adjectives, verb tenses and so on.

2. Building sentences: Giving your learners mixed words from a text and asking them to make meaningful sentences that can be joined to make a paragraph, is another way of using word clouds. This activity can be related to sentence structures such as the place of adjectives and adverbs in a sentence. A great idea from one of my colleagues is to organise classroom groupings according to the different colors on the word cloud. For example, each group can be assigned a color and come up with a meaningful story or paragraph, using only words of that color. 

Limitations

As mentioned in the tutorial, Wordle only works with internet explorer and cannot be opened in Chrome or Firefox. Macbook users can use Safari but need to install java. 

Screencast-O-matic: free screen recording software

What is it?

Screencast-O-matic is an intuitive and flexible screen recording tool that makes screen capture videos. It is easy to use and does not really require technical skills. It works on Windows and Mac PCs, so you do not need to download or install the software if you already have java. You can download the recorder launcher as a stand alone application and use it as a short cut.

Screencast-O matic offers a fifteen-minute screen and webcam recording for free, the possibility to share your video on YouTube and save it as a compressed Mp4 file on your desktop. A big advantage is that you can pause the recording and reorganise your ideas when you get stuck before resuming. This tool is useful for both teachers and learners, and can be personalised for different educational purposes. 

Benefits for teachers

Screen capture tools were not originally made for Educational purposes, but they are currently being used in many ways to enhance English language teaching and learning. Screencast-O-matic enables you to flip your classroom by recording tutorials or giving learners recorded instructions related to a particular tasks that they can do online before the face-to-face class. It is an easy way of video recording your powerpoint presentation at home and send it to your students and peers, or share it online for teacher development purposes. 

The tool can also be used to give feedback on written work. You just need to open your students' work on the screen of your computer and highlight the different areas you wish to comment on. Giving video recorded feedback has several advantages compared to written feedback. Giving visual or oral feedback with this tool allows you to focus on more details, in a more personal way. It builds in teacher presence as learners listen to the teacher and can see him at the same time with the webcam recording. Recorded feedback is also useful for revision and can be efficient for distance learning. It can therefore be personalised in order to motivate learners.

Benefits for learners

• Develop learners' speaking skills: Because Screencast-O-matic records the computer screen, your learners can use it to record their own voice while making mini presentations that can be adapted to their level. For example, beginners can start with describing pictures of places they have uploaded, describing people such as classmates or family members. 

• Enhance your learners' presentation skills: You can also urge your students to use this tool in order to develop skills in making presentations. We always ask our learners to present their work in front of their peers without preparing them in advance. So allowing your learners to rehearse before class presentations by video recording a preview, to get feedback, and to correct pronunciation mistakes before performing is of paramount importance.

Watch the tutorial for more

Limitations and possible back up plans
Despite its affordance and flexibility, using Screencast-O-matic with your students will certainly require a little induction to show them the different features before getting started. They need to build confidence, so a little bit of scaffolding will be very helpful for beginners. 
The free version does not allow editing, drawing or zooming but it offers a fifteen-minute recording, which is enough for any task because good recordings (feedback or presentation) should not last more than two minutes.
 Giving feedback to all students in a large class can be jaw breaking and daunting for teachers, therefore give a general feedback on common errors for example.