Digital badges: Show what you know!

Guest post by: Carl Blyth

In line with this year’s theme, “New Spaces, New Realities: Learning Anytime, Anyplace,” the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL) is bringing digital badges to ACTFL 2013! Digital badges are online representations of earned knowledge and achievements. ACTFL will give an award to convention attendees who participate in the ACTFL Convention Network. By visiting www.actflbadges.org, attendees can sign up to become part of the Convention Network and discover other Network members based on shared interests, geographic area, and languages taught.

As more educational institutions and employers emphasize the importance of marketable skills, ACTFL members are increasingly asked to “show what they know.” Digital badges are an innovative way to foster collaboration and display the diverse skills and accomplishments of language educators. It is COERLL’s hope that ACTFL digital badges will become an accepted means of professional credentialing and transform how learning is assessed.

I encourage all ACTFL 2013 Convention attendees to visit www.actflbadges.org to sign up to become part of the Convention Network, learn more about digital badges, and to begin making meaningful professional connections! Also, while in Orlando, be sure to stop by the ACTFL Badges Convention Network booth at ACTFL Central to meet other participants and to claim your physical Convention Networker badge. Wear it proudly and see how being part of the ACTFL Convention Network amplifies your convention experience.

To learn more about badges, view this short video produced by the MacArthur Foundation.

See you in Orlando!

Technology is all about transforming learning

As we slowly creep through summer and the thoughts of starting a new school year start to pop up in our dreams it is again time to reflect on how we are integrating technology into the learning landscape our our students.

I discovered this blog entry entitled: "8 things kids should be able to do with technology".  It is a powerful reminder about using the power of technology as a way to encourage learners to communicate, collaborate and create in our ever expanding global community.  Technology has so much potential for transforming learning in ways that are meaningful for our students.   Technology can also activate the authentic voices of each and every one of our students.

What I really liked about this entry was the image.  It is a clear and simple way to look at what we may have been doing with technology tools in the past to what we need to be doing in the future as we all continue to have more access to more tools.

So as we start to think about our classes, our students and their learning this year keep this image as a reminder of our continued growth and change in our learning landscapes.

Source:
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/07/8-things-kids-should-be-able-to-do-with.html

Travel photos? Really? Resume booster?

Certainly for those of us who have done a study abroad, traveled and volunteered internationally understand how to use those experiences as a highlight in a resume.  Why? Well, because we all know how those experiences can expand our global perspectives, increase our language proficiency, demonstrate leadership and indicate our willingness to be self-motivated.  These are certainly all valuable skills for the 21st century workforce.

But did you ever think about how the photos you took can visually show your personal network of international peers, your flexibility and adaptability in new situations or your respect and appreciation for new places?

In the article, 5 Resume Boosters Hidden in your Study Abroad Photos, the writer discusses how these photos can add leverage to your resume because they can help frame a professional international persona.  In this article there are several photos with examples showing how to change the caption of a photo from just describing a pretty sunset or glorifying the attributes of a well-know monument to
explaining how the photo could demonstrate your international collaboration or how the picture indicates your open-minded to new ideas, just to name a few.

We as both language teachers and life-long language learners have always cherished our memories from our travel and study abroad experiences. We have also encouraged so many of our students to take the same paths of getting out and participating in the world.  Now let's help ourselves and our students to take even more advantage of these experiences by sharing our photos and new explanations to show our global competence.

Here is the article source:
5 Resume Boosters Hidden in your Study Abroad Photos

It's summer! Sure, but keep on learning.

Dear World Language Colleagues,

As teachers we all love summer.  Many of us have at least some time to relax and rejuvenate.  But we all know that this break gives us some time to learn new things, get caught up on reading and create new lessons, units, activities or strategies for next year.  So I decided to write this blog to share things I am learning, exploring or creating.

First of all, we know that advocacy is an essential part of our job as a world language teachers.  There is hardly a day goes by that we are not explaining to others that the ability to be both linguistically and culturally competent are essential 21st century skills.  We know many of our students in the near future will have opportunities to work and collaborate in international teams and they need to be ready to meet those challenges.

So one of my goals this summer is to collect articles, videos, images and other artifacts that address the need for language learning in a more 21st century focus.  So far here are two of my articles.  I am going to collect them using an online tool called MentorMob.  This tool allows teachers and students to create learner playlists of relevant content such as articles, videos, images and podcasts which can be enhanced by quizzes and comprehension questions. These MentorMob playlists be shared on blogs, wikis, etc.   See a review of this tool in order to use it in your classroom.

Now in order to make this endeavor and goal of mine a resource also for you, I have made this MentorMob learner playlist public. That means when you find an article, video, podcast, image, etc. that would help us all better advocate for language learning in the 21st century, click on the link and add your artifact.  This way you will also learn how to use this tool and we will all have great advocacy resources.

So for now do take some time to relax and reflect.  Stay tuned for more sharing.

Best to all,

Toni Theisen
ACTFL President 2013