News and Information for LearnIT2teach participants

August 30, 2019 - Issue #89

Project News

New LearnIT2teach Report: What Are the Effects of LINC Blended Learning?
What are the effects of LINC Blended Learning on learners, teachers and programs? Are there benefits or drawbacks? In September 2017 LearnIT2teach evaluators Jill Cummings, Matthias Sturm and Augusta Avram set out to gather evidence from field research at the LINC program of the Burnaby District School Board in the Lower Mainland of B.C. Three teachers, 45 learners, the program manager and a learning technology support instructor were followed over a ten-month period. ...
https://learnit2teach.ca/wpnew/what-are-the-effects-of-linc-blended-learning/

Training Materials Update
The Assignment module training materials have been updated to better support PBLA. The updates include information about using the new pre-made rubrics that can be adapted to assessing the productive skills. These materials are available in the Stage 3 training, as well as on the LearnIT2teach portal under the Support menu.

Web News

Syrians gradually integrating into Canadian society, latest report finds
Syrians refugees admitted to Canada under the government's landmark resettlement program are slowly catching up to other refugee groups when it comes to finding jobs and connecting with their communities. The final Citizenship, Immigration and Refugees Canada study of outcomes for the nearly 40,000 Syrians who arrived between 2015 and 2016 suggests that just over half are now working, with a further 23 per cent actively on the hunt for a job. ...
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/syrians-gradually-integrating-into-canadian-society-latest-report-finds--532206102.html

Using full stops on WhatsApp makes people think you’re rude, internet linguist warns
ENDING your sentences with full stops on WhatsApp will make pals think you're rude, linguists have warned. Even though your punctuation is perfect, experts now say the text you're sending will seem "passive aggressive". ...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/9630409/whatsapp-full-stops-rude-text-meaning/

Robots Are Teaching Language Skills, But Are They Any Good?
Education technology has many faces. A prominent one has long been computer-assisted language learning, offering great promise for struggling readers, non-English speakers, or those seeking to master a second tongue. And, in recent years, the technology has raced ahead. No longer do students simply repeat what they hear through headphones or get instruction from a computer screen—now they can talk to ROBOTS. How cool is that? The question, of course, is: Do robots actually help? Earlier this spring, in the Review of Educational Research, three Dutch academics offered a useful survey of what we know about robot instruction on vocabulary, reading skills, grammar, and more. ...
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2019/07/robots_are_teaching_language_skills_but_are_they_any_good.html

Ottawa Invests $1.2-Million To Help Immigrants Settle Into Saint John Workforce
The federal government is investing $1.2-million to help new immigrants integrate into Canadian society and workplaces, Saint John MP Wayne Long announced at the YMCA in Saint John Wednesday. Shilo Boucher, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Saint John, said the funds will enhance already successful settlement services programming operated by the organization. ...
https://huddle.today/ottawa-invests-1-2-million-to-help-immigrants-settle-into-saint-john-workforce/

Language training options for newcomers to Canada (A new video from IRCC)
The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Settlement Program helps newcomers to Canada improve their skills in one or both of Canada’s official languages – English and French. This video provides newcomers with an overview of the language training options available in Canada through IRCC’s Settlement Program, including formal language training, employment-related language training, and informal language learning. For more information, and to register for the option that is best for you, visit: http://canada.ca/newcomerservices. ...
https://youtu.be/H0nSq2ieS2g

Is It a Video Game—or a Better Way to Learn Foreign Languages?
A New York college is using artificial intelligence to give students an immersion experience without leaving campus. ...A student stands before a shopkeeper on a Chinese market street. The shopkeeper announces that he has many things to sell, from cake to postcards. The student, who is still learning how to master Mandarin, ponders the selection. Like many people learning a new language, he must consider grammar, pronunciation, and tenses before answering. ... This scene is not actually playing out in China, but at an American university where a classroom has been equipped with a learning game, enhanced by artificial intelligence, ...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rpi-creates-artificial-intelligence-lab-to-immerse-students-in-foreign-language

Is the Internet Making Writing Better?
A new book argues that our richest, most eloquent language is found online. ...
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/is-the-internet-making-writing-better

Blogs

6 Social Learning Techniques for Online Educators
Social learning can motivate learners and keep them engaged. Here’s how to help. ...
https://www.learndash.com/6-social-learning-techniques-for-online-educators/

How Learning Theories Affect eLearning?
Learning theories were created as a basis to explain, describe, analyze and predict how learning should take place. It is important for eLearning professionals to understand how learning takes place because they are in the business of helping people learn. This is what this article discusses. ...
https://elearningindustry.com/how-learning-theories-affect-elearning

How to Create Feedback Guidelines for Your Course
For feedback to be an important learning mechanism in your community, it has to be handled well. Feedback is an essential part of the learning experience. Without a positive feedback loop from the course design, the instructor, and even the fellow students, learners have a hard time assessing their progress. However, for that feedback to work, it has to be supportive and encouraging. ...
https://www.learndash.com/how-to-create-feedback-guidelines-for-your-course/

Mobile Learning: Advantages And Disadvantages
Mobile learning is getting prevalent in today’s world. It is the result of the ever-changing era of the digital world. But, everything has two sides. There are some pros and cons of mobile learning.. ...
https://elearningindustry.com/mobile-learning-advantages-disadvantages

Jobs

Online EAP Instructor
CultureWorks Headquarters is seeking skilled contract and supply English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers for its online, in-China EAP program, U First. Our programs are designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop their academic English skills to be fully prepared to continue academic studies at the university level at home or abroad. ...
https://www.teslontario.org/node/1574717

Online/Hybrid Instructor/Resource Developer, LINC
NorQuest College ... we are looking for a professional to provide LINC training and curriculum development in our online/hybrid deliveries. ... This is a position until April 11, 2020 with a possibility of extension. One position is available for the September 2, 2019 start, and an additional one for the January 6, 2020.
https://www.teslontario.org/node/1574721

Professional Development

LearnIT2teach Annotated Bibliography New Resource: Mobile Language Learning Innovation Inspired by Migrants
A thought-provoking article exploring the ways in which innovations and adaptations in the area of mobile language learning are being driven by the lived experiences and the actual learning needs and practices of migrant language learners. The article looks at some interesting and effective mobile learning initiatives in Europe, Australia and Canada and discusses how such innovation could benefit a range of language learning groups.
http://bib.learnit2teach.ca/blog/mobile-language-learning-innovation-inspired-by-migrants/

The Bewildering Language of Online Learning!
For many faculty members, instructors, practitioners, administrators and policy makers, the language used to describe and discuss online and flexible learning is confusing. What on earth is a “flipped classroom”? What is the difference between “blended learning” and “fully online” learning? Why do some programs not have “instructors” but do have “mentors, coaches and guides”? It can be confusing. Let’s look at the language of online and flexible learning and help understand what is being said when key terms are being used. ...
https://teachonline.ca/tools-trends/how-use-technology-effectively/bewildering-language-online-learning

How to Create Individualized Online Spelling Games for Your Students
Flippity's Spelling Words is a free Google Sheets template that you can use to create individualized spelling games for your students. To do this you simply have to make a list of words that you want each of your students to practice. You'll then put those lists under your students' names in a Google Sheets template that is provided by Flippity. … To get started ...
https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2019/04/create-individualized-spelling-games.html

e-Resource Corner

Understanding the Canadian Language Benchmarks (An Overview Video from IRCC)
The Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) standard is a descriptive scale of language ability in English as a second language (ESL). The CLB provides a common national framework for describing and measuring the communicative ability of ESL learners, and is the foundation for Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) classes funded by the Settlement Program of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). .....
https://youtu.be/dswbbWj-PtE

Quillionz
World’s first AI-powered platform for creating questions, assessments, and quizzes
https://www.quillionz.com

Flippity
Easily turn a Google™ Spreadsheet into a Set of Online Flashcards and Other Cool Stuff
http://flippity.net/

Pexels
The best free stock photos & videos shared by talented creators. ... Legal Simplicity - All photos on Pexels can be used for free.. 
https://www.pexels.com/

New Language Solutions Inc.

 

Send an email to admin@learnIT2teach.ca or call 1-855-522-2221 to inquire about the training.

Disclaimer
The links to external web pages and job postings are for information purposes only. Neither LearnIT2teach nor its funder endorses or is responsible for their content.

About LearnIT2teach
Through funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the LearnIT2teach Project provides LINC teachers with online tools and resources and extensive training to help them implement blended learning in their programs. Visit http://learnIT2teach.ca for more information.

LearnIT2teach News is researched and compiled by Jim Edgar