A Tool for Authentic Speaking Activities with the World: Worldchat.live Education

Published March 7, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Anne-Marie Lafortune Teacher, Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles

In Winter 2020, I published an article in Profweb explaining how to use Worldchat.live, Worldchat.live: Let Your Students Do the Talking! Further development of the platform was made possible by additional funding granted by Entente Canada-Québec relative à l'enseignement dans la langue de la minorité et à l'enseignement des langues secondes.This article on the second phase of the project describes a teacher’s experience with the platform and includes testimonials from teachers and students.

Keeping Track of Students During Asynchronous Activities

Published March 1, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Catherine Rhéaume Editor, Profweb

When we give our students activities to complete asynchronously, especially if they are staggered over many weeks, it is pertinent to have strategies to accompany them and to help them develop their autonomy.

AI-based Apps and Accessibility Functions on Smartphones

Published February 22, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Ryan W. Moon Editor, Profweb

Assistive technologies are increasingly part of mainstream use, like audio books, predictive text or text production apps. I recently interviewed Rosie Arcuri, who has a great deal of knowledge of these technologies to learn more about the potential of smartphones as an assistive technology in the classroom. It would be beneficial, she says, if all people were aware of these technologies.

Digital Tools to Leverage the Power of Peer Assessment

Published February 21, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Alexandre Enkerli Educational Advisor, Vitrine technologie-éducation
Andy Van Drom Editor, Profweb

Teachers spend countless hours correcting student work because feedback is critical to students’ learning process. Regrettably, an important portion of such feedback is not understood or deemed irrelevant by students, or worse yet, left unread. How can we get students to understand the important learning that happens when they interact with feedback given during assessment activities? One answer is to have them engage in the process themselves, in the form of peer assessment.

Two-Stage Assessments: Teach While You Test

Published February 14, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Susan MacNeil Editor, Profweb

Two-stage assessment is an approach in which students first answer questions individually (Stage 1) and then discuss them in teams prior to resubmitting their answers (Stage 2). The student’s grade is determined by a combination of the scores at both stages. The advantage of this approach is that the test doesn't have to be purely summative it can also be a formative experience. Students can keep learning while they're tested.

SALTISE hosted a webinar on January 7, 2021, to present this alternative method of assessment. Various panelists shared how they have used 2-stage assessment in their own classes.

Streamlining Virtual Office Hours and Student Meetings

Published February 12, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Andy Van Drom Editor, Profweb

At the outset of 2021, students spontaneously walking into your office to ask a quick question may seem like a distant memory. In a context where distance and hybrid courses have become prevalent, hopping on a video call with a student has become easier than ever. One pain point, however, is exacerbated online: unless you spend long, uninterrupted stretches of time in front of your screen waiting for students to reach out, setting up a virtual meeting typically requires sending several messages back and forth to find a time slot suitable for both parties. Unless you let an online scheduling tool do the work for you! Sounds alluring? This article presents the possibilities of online scheduling tools, and presents a few free options that are interesting for college teachers.

Academic Integrity in Assessment at a Distance or Outside the Classroom — Part 1: Prevention

Published February 8, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Catherine Rhéaume Editor, Profweb

Plagiarism is on many teachers’ minds, especially in the context of distance learning. While there is no silver bullet against academic dishonesty, I offer you different strategies so that you can be confident that your students did write the answers or assignments that you are evaluating. In this article, I will offer strategies to prevent plagiarism and cheating.

Academic Integrity in Assessment at a Distance or Outside the Classroom — Part 2: Moving Away from the Traditional Written Exam

Published February 8, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Catherine Rhéaume Editor, Profweb

Plagiarism is on many teachers’ minds, especially in the context of distance learning. While there is no silver bullet against academic dishonesty, I offer you different strategies so that you can be confident that your students did write the answers or assignments that you are evaluating.

Bringing More Spontaneous Interaction to the Virtual Classroom with Proximity Chat

Published January 28, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Andy Van Drom Editor, Profweb

As distance and hybrid teaching and learning scenarios have become the norm since spring 2020, teachers and students alike have come to grips with the videoconferencing platforms that enable synchronous class sessions, such as Teams and Zoom. While strategies like using breakout rooms and varying group size or composition increase engagement by changing how and with whom students interact, they cannot equal the level of agency and spontaneity that in-person interaction offers. A new breed of web-based virtual environments offering proximity chat (also called spatial chat) mimic the possibility of speaking or collaborating with one or more peers while remaining in the same virtual space as the entire class group.

A Crash Course on Online Curation and Social Annotation - An interview with Patti Kingsmill

Published January 21, 2021  |  Multidisciplinary

Susan MacNeil Editor, Profweb

Online curation (OC) and social annotation (SA) are 2 collaborative strategies that can help students make meaning of the course content and relate to it in an authentic way. For this article I spoke with Patti Kingsmill to find an easy way to implement these effective digital teaching methods.