Category: Podcast

As today’s educator knows, Learning technology doesn’t stand still. In the past 25 years we’ve seen the Internet, and social media transform daily life and we are all experiencing the downstream effects on adult education. As demonstrated by his work on the TESOL Technology Standards, Dr. Greg Kessler is keenly aware of technology’s impact on language education. Through his teaching at Ohio University, Greg oversees

This spotlight on a teacher episode focuses on Agnes Kucharska, who teaches Literacy and CLB 1 for a LINC program in Hamilton Ontario. Agnes was nominated as an exemplary teacher by her LearnIT2teach project mentor. The LearnIT2teach team often gets asked what the learner courseware can do for lower level learners. Agnes describes what she’s doing with blended learning. Agnes started using the learner courseware

This is the first in a new series of podcasts where we focus on one LINC teacher making exemplary use of learning technology. Bonnie Sibley teaches for Abbotsford Community Services in the Lower Mainland in BC. Bonnie has been teaching ESL for ten years and has been “…loving it and growing ever since.” Bonnie has completed all four stages of the LearnIT2teach teacher training.She’s created

In Part Two of her conversation with Jim Edgar, Marijke Geurts discusses using PBLA in her context, and its benefits and challenges. Marijke concludes by offering some advice to other LINC teachers who may be required to use PBLA in a blended context

Marijke Geurts is an instructor at the YMCA of Greater Saint John, New Brunswick. She is implementing Portfolio-based Language Assessment (PBLA) in a LINC program through a format that blends face-to-face and online delivery using the LINC courseware (edulinc.org). Marijke’s teaching context is not a typical LINC program. She meets her students in class for half of her contact time and she assigns work for

Child care, transportation, cold winters and work shifts are some of the challenges learners face in getting to LINC classes in rural Saskatchewan. To make it easier to participate in LINC, Carleton Trail College in south central Saskatchewan has piloted a delivery model where face to face study in a classroom is combined with online studies at home, or in the workplace. The result for

Jen Artan is another in our series of LINC professionals putting blendedlearning to work. Her class of 12 newcomers in London, Ontario are studying semi-independently in a specialized class organized aroundface-to-face learning, on-the-job training and independent online study. Jen has applied the LINC courseware and the Moodle learning management system to create an online environment accessible to learners 24/7, anywhere they have an Internet connection.

Mirella Mosca teaches LINC at COSTI in the greater Toronto area. She has completed her Stage 4 course and is submitting the course she created on education for TESL Ontario’s Margaret Pidlaski Award contest (advertised on Tutela). She prepared this short video as part of her submission. The video paints a nice picture of what a teacher can do with blended learning and how learners

Mavis describes how her community college LINC program now implements the LINC online courseware and a blended learning approach in all classes. She describes what impact blended learning is having on the learners, teachers and the entire program. Learners now have more flexible options for learning and communicating. She tells how the key changes came about and profiles the ‘leading actors’. In conversation with Rob

Language teachers and program administrators who want to make the move to LINC blended learning begin with an important question: how do I get there from here? Pamela Manson and her colleagues at Algonquin College have made the big move. In this podcast Pamela describes how she became involved in LearnIT2teach and how that’s paying off for her teaching, her learners & her LINC program.

In the build up to TESL Ontario 2013, we are focussing lots of attention on practitioners. What are the classroom benefits of blended learning? What does it take to get it going? In this podcast, you’ll listen to Svetlana Lupasco describe her approach to ESL Literacy, the role technology plays in her teaching, and the courseware she has created for her classes. Svetlana also gives

Jim Edgar continues his conversation with Ken Beatty, a CALL professor at Anaheim University. Jim asks Professor Beatty to summarize an inspiring conference presentation he had given at TESL Canada. The topic was ‘The Unexpected Next’. In his summary, Professor Beatty lists six emerging language technologies. and their application to language teaching and learning.  These are really six key techniques for making the most creative