Web SpeakApps

Il progetto SpeakApps ha raggiunto anche le coste del sud d’Italia attraverso un workshop tenutosi il 22 ottobre nel “Liceo Linguistico Europeo” di Bitonto, un paese in provincia di Bari. I partecipanti, di tutte le età, includevano insegnanti di scuole elementari, medie e superiori, in prevalenza professori di spagnolo e inglese, ma non sono mancati insegnanti di sostegno per ragazzi disabili. Il workshop è stato sin dall’inizio molto interattivo. È iniziato con una sessione di brainstorming in cui si è riflettuto sull’insegnamento delle abilità orali nelle scuole e nelle università italiane partendo dall’esperienza degli stessi insegnanti coinvolti. … Continue Reading

On 13 June, SpeakApps was one of the projects featured at Spin UOC, an event aimed to promote the transference of UOC’s knowledge and expertise into its surrounding environment. Due to UOC’s involvement in the project — together with the universities of Groningen, Jyväskylä, Dublin City and Jagiellonian ― and the successful results achieved, the organizers invited SpeakApps to be part of the event. Check the video of the presentation below, which follows the Pecha Kucha style to explain briefly what is SpeakApps and what services it may offer. Enjoy it!

Society has undergone many changes in recent years, but according to Jacobs1 education has not been able to keep up. She posits that students feel like time travelling when entering schools, as schools have become distant from the world outside them. One of the reasons for this is probably that not many educational institutions have built a sustainable infrastructure for pedagogical development.

Another problematic issue is that new tools can be taken into use without any reconsideration of pedagogical practices. In this case, the potential of the tools may not be realized, and … Continue Reading

Bronnadh duais ar Cholm Ó Ciardubháin as an gcur chuige uathúil a bhíonn aige maidir le haiseolas a thabhairt do mhic léinn agus dá mhodhanna measúnaithe ar 15 Bealtaine ag Lá Teagaisc agus Foghlama DCU. Aithníonn Duais an Uachtaráin do Theagasc Ardchaighdeáin scoth na múinteoireachta i measc na foirne in DCU.

Mic léinn agus baill foirne a ainmníonn na hiarrthóirí don duais agus coiste ar a bhfuil an Painéal Comhairleach do Nuálaíocht Teagaisc agus measúnóir seachtrach ó institiúid tríú leibhéal eile a dhéanann cinneadh faoi na buaiteoirí.

Luaigh cuid de na mic léinn a … Continue Reading

The term open is somehow finding its way into educational contexts. In 2006, Lankshear and Knobel introduced two mindsets and stated that according to mindset 2, which is typical for the contemporary knowledge society, a space is perceived as open, continuous and fluid. Thus, the emergence of digital technologies and changing mindsets are also challenging language educators to rethink how to design for learning in an open world.

Openness was also a focal theme of the Eurocall CMC & Teacher Education SIGs Annual Workshop, held this year in Bologna, Italy. As part of … Continue Reading

El passat 26 novembre, SpeakApps es va presentar en el marc de les novenes Jornades de Llengües Estrangeres, organitzades pels serveis territorials del Departament d’Ensenyament a la província a Tarragona. Com a coordinador de SpeakApps, l’equip de la UOC va protagonitzar una de les darreres ponències de les jornades, en el transcurs de la qual es van detallar les principals característiques del projecte, com ara les eines de treball desenvolupades (Langblog, Videochat i Tandem). Així mateix, també es van explicar les dues àrees de les que consta la plataforma: … Continue Reading

The European project SpeakApps was launched during the month of February. The objective of this initiative, funded by the European Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), is to provide user access to a range of online tools whose aim is to facilitate oral practice of a language through an online platform. This project fills a gap in language training and allows us to go beyond simple grammar or reading comprehension exercises.

The base languages employed by this European project are Catalan, Dutch, Irish, Swedish, Polish and English but the idea is to … Continue Reading