Posts Tagged ‘conference’
Monday, March 26th, 2012
From Terry Lamb:
Together with Turid Trebbi I am planning a one-week seminar to be held at Les Brunets in France. Many of you will have heard of these regular seminars, which enable a small group of people to come together and explore specific issues related to language learning and teaching in a pleasant environment. These are not like other seminars, in that they take place in a private house, where participants are able to spend their days together and engage not only in in-depth discussion and workshops, but also to learn something about the local culture and environment.
The seminar will be held from 15th to 22nd August 2012, and this year the focus will be
Teacher Training for Differentiation and Autonomy
The aims of the seminar are:
To enhance our understanding of a differentiated languages classroom
To help teachers to meet the needs of individual students
To explore ways of supporting teachers in the organisation of a differentiated languages classroom
To provide an opportunity for discussion about how a pedagogy for autonomy supports differentiation in language learning
The target audience is teachers and teacher trainers in schools, colleges and higher education institutions such as universities, as well as academics and research students involved in researching in the above areas.
Sessions will explore how those involved in training teachers of any languages, either in schools, in universities or other higher education institutions, or in training organisations and teacher associations, can enable pre- or in-service teachers to develop pedagogical approaches to facilitating learning.
Issues will include:
q Strategies to support language teachers’ professional learning and development needs;
q supporting teacher autonomy (e.g. through supervision, collaboration, portfolios and action research);
q approaches to meeting individual language learning needs in classrooms;
q encouraging learner autonomy, engagement and motivation;
If you want to learn more about the programme, please contact me (T.Lamb@sheffield.ac.uk) or Turid (turid.trebbi@if.uib.no) for further information. (I didn’t want to attach documents here, but details of fees and accommodation and a draft programme are available on request.) It will also be possible to incorporate individual interests and contributions within this overall topic, as we hope that everyone will learn from everyone else in Les Brunets.
Tags: autonomy, conference
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Saturday, June 25th, 2011
Come and join us next Tuesday at our Teaching & Learning conference where Julie Kevill and I will be presenting a paper and hands-on workshop, at Middlesex University in London. More information here: http://elearn.mdx.ac.uk/eassessment/register.php
“We have a huge numeracy problem in this country…We see having poor numeracy skills…as a badge of honour” 1 – Carol Taylor, Director of Operations at NIACE, 2011.
Also, in Higher Education many students enter with poor levels of maths and numeracy 2 – A report by David Burghes for the CfBT Education Trust.
At Middlesex the situation is no different; a recent University–wide diagnosis revealed that a very high percentage of entry level undergraduates could not calculate with simple percentages, decimals and fractions (LDP 2010/2011).
There is clearly a considerable need for numeracy support. Delivering this support, however, is challenging for 3 main reasons: lack of time for this support, lack of motivation on the part of both students and staff to dedicate time to maths and disengagement on the part of students when confronted with traditional methods of delivering this support.
In this discussion paper we report on our findings of the diagnosis of numeracy needs conducted at Middlesex in 2010 and our experience of using a computer game called Manga High to engage students with maths support. The findings show increased student enjoyment and engagement with this type of activity. We will show how this program avoids language difficulties and is accessible to all. We will also show how the game can be used as an e-assessment tool.
Tags: conference, digital games, games, maths, numeracy, workshop
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Thursday, March 17th, 2011
5th International Independent Learning Association Conference 2012
When: Thursday 30 August – Sunday 2 September 2012
Where: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
The Organising Committee is pleased to invite you to support and participate in the 5th Independent Learning Association Conference (ILAC 2012), hosted by Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
ILAC is an international conference for passionate teachers, learners, and researchers in the field of independent learning and the theme for 2012 is “Autonomy in a Networked World, Te Tū Motuhake i te Ao Kōtuitui”. The conference sub-themes are intended to capture dimensions of the relationship between: the personal, social and cultural identity of the learner, the self and the ‘other’ as agents of learning, the learning environment, and the role of assessment for the autonomous learner.
The conference website www.ila.net.nz has just been launched, providing full details about the conference.
Call for Papers Now Open
The Conference Committee welcome proposals for workshops, papers, colloquia, language fair, swap shop and poster sessions.
Abstracts should address at least one of the key themes of the conference:
1. Framing learner autonomy in today’s world – where we are now and where we are going…
2. Autonomy and identity
3. Autonomy and agency (motivation and strategies)
4. Autonomy and learning environment (classroom, distance, technology-supported, language learning centres, etc.)
5. Autonomy and assessment
For full details and to begin the submission process, visit the conference website.
The deadline for submissions is 4 November 2011.
Key dates
Call for Papers opens March 2011
Sponsorship opens March 2011
Call for Papers closes 4 November 2011
Early Bird Registration opens February 2012
Early Bird Registration closes July 2012
Conference Convenors
Averil Coxhead
Senior Lecturer
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
Victoria University of Wellington
Edith Paillat
Language Technology Specialist
Language Learning Centre
Victoria University of Wellington
Tags: advising, autonomy, conference, self-access
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Friday, November 26th, 2010
Call for proposals
IATEFL Learner Autonomy SIG Pre-Conference Event in Brighton, Friday, 15th April 2011:
Developing learner autonomy –
Success stories, constraints, and the role of practitioner research
The structure of the day: There will be two input sessions on practitioner research, one in the morning by Anne Burns (Australia), one after lunch by Dick Allwright (UK). The main aim of the PCE, however, is to get participants to discuss in groups how to get started, how to improve practice, and the value of of practitioner research in developing learner autonomy.
As starting points for these discussions in groups, we need your stories of success and constraints experienced, success story, experienced constraints, or your examples of practitioner research in developing learner autonomy. Your presentation should either take the form of a poster presentation, a short talk of up to 10 minutes, or any other short interactive presentation (e.g. video).
Therefore, if you are a practising teacher (at any level), a learning advisor, a teacher educator, or a manager/director at an institution where autonomy is being developed – please send us your proposal! Please feel free to submit a proposal even if you have just started with a learner-centred approach.
Proposal form available from: http://www.learnerautonomy.org/pce2011proposal2.doc
Send completed proposal to: pce@learnerautonomy.org or lenidam@hotmail.com
Extended deadline for proposals: Wednesday 1st December, 2010
Confirmation of acceptance: Wednesday, 15th December, 2010
For more information, including a provisional programme for the day, please visit: www.learnerautonomy.org
On behalf of the organizers,
Tags: autonomy, call for papers, conference
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Sunday, April 18th, 2010
Glenn Stockwell and I are excited to announce a panel at the forthcoming Eurocall Conference in Bordeaux (September 8-11) on ‘The Learner in Changing CALL Environments’. Speakers include Cynthia White, Phil Hubbard, Jozef Colpaert and Glenn and myself. We hope you will be able to join us in Bordeaux!
The past few years have produced a new body of research where the learner is given a more central role in a range of different ways, prompted to a large degree by new developments in technology. For example, learners may express their opinions through forums such as blogging (e.g., Pinkman, 2005) or various forms of computer-mediated communication (e.g., Darhower, 2007). The emergence of social networking sites such as Active Worlds and Second Life have empowered learners to make decisions about who they wish to converse with, by what mode (i.e., text chat or oral communication), and to freely engage in discussion with a real audience who shares similar interests (e.g., Dudeney, 2008). Furthermore, learners have free and easy access to an enormous quantity and variety of authentic text, audio, and video material along with tools to aid comprehension. These new developments can leave educators with problems in how to deal with the freedom that learners are given while at the same time designing courses to achieve certain learning goals, raising several pertinent questions. How much freedom should learners be given? Is there such a thing as too much freedom? How can specific goals be incorporated into these learning environments? What are learner expectations regarding instruction? What forms should feedback take? The panelists in this session will address these questions and consider other questions related to the issue of learner centeredness in CALL, and considerations educators need to be aware of with the changing balance between teacher and learner.
Tags: call, conference
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
COMPUTER-ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING AND THE LEARNER
AILA ReN Symposium
Call for Papers
Background and Aims
Recently, attempts have been made to make learning more flexible for the learner. With developments in mobile technologies, learners have freedom that was previously unavailable to them, and researchers have started capitalising upon this, through provision of lessons that learners can access whenever and wherever they wish (e.g., Stockwell, 2007, 2008), or through encouraging them to access audio and/or video resources of their choosing (e.g., Gromik, 2008). Other researchers have chosen to use these mobile technologies as a supplement to class activities (Levy & Kennedy,
2008; Reinders, 2008) and to make increasing links between formal and informal learning, for example by capitalising on the potential of computer games (e.g. Ranalli, 2008).
Social networking sites such as Active Worlds and Second Life have also empowered learners to make decisions about who they wish to converse with, by what mode (i.e., text chat or oral communication), and freely engage in discussion with a real audience who shares similar interests (e.g., Dudeney, 2008). This is a growth area, where researchers examine the way technology facilitates interaction between teachers and learners, between native speakers and learners, and between learners themselves and the unique characteristics of this type of communication. Another related strand of research looks at the identities learners create online and the ways they develop and build on communities of learners for their language development (e.g., Lam, 2004).
These recent developments in the area of social networking and mobile-assisted language learning are of particular interest to researchers interested in understanding in changes in the way learners approach the learning of a second language. In saying this, however, a crucial question that remains is how best to support learning in these environments. We are only starting to develop methodologies for investigating these forms of language learning, where the teacher’s role is less dominant in controlling learners’ actions, but rather one where the learners must be guided to use the existing resources in a way that has the potential to lead to personal development and to language acquisition. Furthermore, in such an environment where a good deal of the learning may occur outside of a classroom situation, methods of ensuring maintenance of learner motivation also become paramount.
Although research is carried out in the above areas in many parts of the world, the research is not connected and studies done in one field may not be informed by research done in another. It is the aim of this Symposium to bring together people working in the different areas related to the role of the language learner in CALL.
Themes of the symposium include:
- Learner motivation
- Computer-mediated communication (with a focus on the role of the learner)
- Learners’ beliefs in CALL
- (Materials development for) individualising instruction
- Social networking and computer games and second language acquisition
- Mobile-assisted language learning
- Supporting out-of-class language learning
- Teacher education for CALL (this follows on from the AILA Symposium in Essen).
Submitting a proposal
We are inviting proposals for contributions to the symposium. Each paper will be given 20 minutes and there will be time for questions and discussion at the end. To submit a proposal, please send a 250 word abstract to
callandthelearner@gmail.com
You do not need to submit your paper to AILA, as ReN symposium papers are vetted separately.
You can find more information about the conference here: http://www.aila2011.org/en/default.asp
To find our more about, or to join the Research Network, please visit: www.callandthelearner.info
The deadline for submitting a proposal is May 30.
Tags: call, call for papers, conference, interaction, mall, mobile, virtual worlds
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Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
CALL FOR PAPERS
Immersive Technologies for Learning: A multi-disciplinary approach
First Annual Conference of the International Virtual Worlds
Research Group (iVERG)
28-29 June 2010, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK
Keynote speakers will be confirmed shortly.
Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be submitted electronically to s.m.martin@tees.ac.uk. Abstract submission deadline: Friday 26 February 2010.
The Organising Committee encourages submission of individual abstracts in the following general areas:
Collaboration in immersive learning environments;
Communicating in immersive learning environments;
Designing learning environments and experiences;
Implementing tasks in immersive learning environments;
Innovations in immersive learning environments;
Learning in Digital Worlds – identification, metrics and effects;
Multidisciplinary approaches in virtual worlds;
Place and space: physical, virtual and social;
Planning educational experiences in virtual worlds;
Problem-based learning in immersive learning environments;
Rethinking learning in virtual worlds;
Rethinking pedagogy in virtual worlds.
Schedule dates:
Abstract judgments due to authors 26 March 2010 Full conference papers due 3 May 2010 (5,000-7,000 words)
*All accepted conference papers will be published online in the iVERG Conference Proceedings. Selected papers will be included in a special edition of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
Please visit http://www.tees.ac.uk/schools/sssl/sssl_events_details.cfm?event_id=2851
PDF flyer available at http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8duprm
We would also like you announce an International Virtual Environments Research Group.
Please see http://www.tees.ac.uk/schools/sssl/iverg.cfm
Tags: conference, immersive technologies, virtual worlds
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Saturday, December 5th, 2009
An interesting conference will take place at Zirve University in Turkey next year. More information here.
The conference goals are to
• provide a full understanding of the theoretical basis of learner autonomy in language learning
• review both theoretical and practical gains in the field through the experiences of academics
• present innovations to promote learner autonomy not only in classrooms but in other sites including but not limited to homes, private courses, and self-access centres as well
• pioneer the growth and expansion of the concept of learner autonomy worldwide, especially in Turkey and in the neighbouring region
• highlight the relationship between learner autonomy and e-learning
• shed light on teacher education programmes that train teachers to create learning environments appropriate for learner autonomy
• underline the importance of very early childhood and parental attitudes in nurturing autonomous individuals by reflecting on character or whole-person education
• remind us that learning is an on-going, life-long process and can be enhanced by encouraging independent learning
• provide academics with a space for sharing the results of the newest empirical research in a way to build onto the existing body of research and discussion on all aspects of learner autonomy.
Tags: autonomy, conference
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Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
I just returned from Mexico where I attended a wonderful conference in Ensenada, in Baja California: The XXIII Foro de Especialistas Universitarios en Lenguas Extranjeras with the theme ‘languages: a windown on intercultarality’. Ensenada is the place where 90% of Mexico’s wine is produced (I had never tasted Mexcian wine but can now attest with certainty that it is very good!). It was great to catch up with old friends such as David Toledo Sarracino, and meet new ones such as Maria Elena Solares from UNAM in Mexico City. There were excellent plenaries by Thomas Ricento from Calgary, Jitka Crhová from Tijuana, Teresa Feuentes Morán from Salamanca, and even a lecture on ‘how to appreciate wine’, which always seems a sensible topic for a conference on languages.
With over 600 participants in attendance, compared to around 300 in previous years, this edition of the FEULE conference was a great success. The live music and food prepared by students from the school of gastronomy were a very nice touch.
Tags: conference, mexico
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