Learning Management Systems & Personal Learning Environments

Due to technological innovations it is possible to manage your learning in a very organized, effective, interesting and accurate way. Among those technological tools are LMS and PLE which are different from each other, but both contribute to community learning.
LMS is usually set by an institution, e.g. it can be a university. LMS gives the learners the chance to access and obtain the content, perform different kinds of activities, receive feedback, etc. It can be characterized as a centralized tool, where the center of learning and performing activities is the same tool for all the community members. Due to LMS the learners access to the collaborative environment, but with the condition of having their own accounts, otherwise communication is impossible. When performing different activities, a lot of data is accumulated there. The thing is that when you decide to leave LMS, the data remains in the system, and it is not managed by you, but by the LMS. While in PLE you manage your own data, as it is already decentralized as compared with LMS. It means that the center of the system is you and you can access to your content from different places of the web.
Both types may have their limitations and advantages, but, anyway, these are good means of community learning, sharing ideas, etc.

For more information please go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu

Distance Language Learning

It is well-known that nowadays direct face-to-face communication can be replaced by online communication. It means that learning through direct instruction can be replaced by distance learning by means of technologies.
I think that for educators direct teaching is more easier, when there is face-to-face communication and interaction, when the educator can see and feel everything that happens during the learning process. While in distant teaching more energy and effort is needed from the educator to convey all the material properly and to reach all the learning objectives. I, personally, have never done distance tutoring, but I think that it would be difficult to first of all observe the learner and identify his/her needs. It would be also challenging to provide immediate feedback to the learner. All in all, everything depends on different kinds of technologies.
In spite of all the difficulties that distance learning may create, it is a very good means for the learners who live, for example, in remote areas and don't have good teachers in their area. Or, if someone's teacher has to leave to somewhere else, in this case distance learning will help them not to interrupt the process of teaching and learning.
In distance education the teachers should follow several maxims, which are also necessary in face-to-face education, but are more critical in a distance education. First of all the educator should empower the learner, for making him/her more encouraged, motivated and confident about his/her abilities. The educator should also be open, i.e. the learners should always feel free to sent the educator mails whenever they have questions connected with the lessons. The factor of being honest from the part of the educator is also very important, as they need to always tell the learners the truth about their language competence or performance progresses. Also, the educators should always provide appropriate explanation of any linguistic issue being explained, as in a distance learning they should be very careful for the learners to not miss a point.
The learners have also a lot of work to do by themselves, as in distance education they have to be more autonomous learners. They have to manage their self-management and initial motivation at first. They have to be more watchful so as to plan their work carefully. They also have to identify the learning strategies which work well for themselves. It would be better if the teacher also were aware of their learning strategies, because in that case the instruction would directly fit the learners needs.
Thus, we, as language teachers, should be very careful and aware of these factors which directly affect on the quality of distance learning.

For starting your own distance learning you can create an account with either http://www.livemocha.com/ or
http://www.busuu.com/ .

Open Sources and Educational Resources

Nowadays open sources and educational resources have become very significant tools for all people around the world. They give us the chance to feel ourselves in the shoes of global citizens. They somehow create equal opportunities for all to get to know any thing they want irrespective of their rank or other things.
Open sources refer to any kind of computer programs which are free for the general public to use. They provide social and interactive learning.
Educational resources have specific educational purposes. E.g. there are a lot of free online courses which can be very beneficial for people who are eager to learn.
Thus the most significant advantage of the OER is that it gives people the opportunity to become life-long and autonomous learners.
Here you can find a list of open courses:

• https://www.coursera.org/
• https://www.udacity.com/
• https://www.udemy.com/
• https://iversity.org/
• https://www.edx.org/
• https://novoed.com/

MALL in TEFL

The need of mobile phones is huge in our lives. When I want to call someone, I turn to my mobile phone, when I want to listen to music, I turn to my mobile phone, when I want to record a talk, guess what I do? I turn to mobile phone, when I want to access the internet, I again use my phone. I'm sure that many many people do the same thing. Thus, they are the inseparable part of our life nowadays. Almost everyone has a mobile phone, and besides using them for calling or receiving calls, they are also used for language learning purposes. In my opinion, the most essential benefit that the mobile phones can give EFL learners is the development of the listening skills. E.g. learners can record a talk, then listen to it, or, if it is a smart phone, it can be used for listening to podcasts etc.
Reinders (2010) mentions 20 ideas for using mobile phones in a language classroom. I will outline some of them in my blog. One of those ideas is taking notes in the phone. I think that it's really useful for taking notes and later using them for recalling some information or for writing down unknown words and then clarifying their meanings. Another function mentioned is the ability of taking photos of texts. For example, one of our classmates, Nelli, always does that after curriculum design class. She takes the photo of the homework assignment from the slides and later posts in the facebook for rest of us to use. Another function is using it for making flashcards. When I was observing one of my classmate's class at the Argentinian school, she actively used her ipad for flashcards for teaching the times. The function of the circular writing is also in the list, but I think that it is not the type of writing skills we need to develop, because it is mainly colloquial and full of contractions, slang, jargon, etc. But if the phone has the internet connection, it can also be used for writing blogs, in this case it fosters the development of the writing skills.
In my opinion, using mobile phones during classes has also its limitations, as students are very often distracted by facebook or other things. So, we have to be very careful when implementing the usage of mobile phone in TEFL. I think it's better to use them with high level students, as they are more conscious to really get the meaning of using phones in the process of language learning.