Yes, I teach a course on Applied Linguistics this semester and we can work some exchanges

Excellent, Miguel.

I will add you to a project group. Hopefully we can get one more educator involved, as three member project groups are supposed to be the prime number.

Have a look at this web, it may help you.

Kind regards,

http://www.uni-collaboration.eu/

Simeon

Would you be so kind to explain me this a bit further? I haven't worked with cloud computing before

@Liliana Waicekawsky

As far as I understand the technical side of things, Cloud Computing (or Software as a Service) is when the software running the application is hosted on a virtual server, not your local computer. This allows for the application to be very dynamic (and scalable). This makes for quick response to increases or decreases in user access, and also makes things possible like collaborative editing in real time of a shared document over an internet connection.

Things like Google Docs (https://drive.google.com/) are good examples of the benefits of Cloud Computing, in that multiple users can edit a single file, and there is limited strain on the system when users increase or decrease.

The pedagogical benefit of Cloud Computing is that it supports Collaborative Learning theory by allowing learners to collaboratively construct documents, or video projects (as in the case of WeVideo: http://www.wevideo.com/), or poster projects (using things like Lucidchart: https://www.lucidchart.com/); this makes it an important technology for implementing modern Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). It is also financially beneficial; this makes it important technology for implementing low cost educational reform.

For more information, see my article: How Cloud Computing should be Changing our Pedagogy: http://dmll.jaltcall.org/2014/03/09/how-cloud-computing-should-be-changing-our-pedagogy/

Thank you very much for youe explanation. It is clearer to me now.

That sounds brilliant, Simeon. I am very excited to work collaboratively with EFL/ESL teachers from other parts of the world. I am not so sure if poster project fits with my classes. Can you kindly explain what the purposes of the Cloud project are and what if there are specific (language) skills the projects wants to improve.

@Dararat Kham

Thank you for your support and interest. I am an English teacher, and as such am always looking for ways to get my students using real English in real situations. In the homogeneous environment of Japan, this can be difficult. A collaborative project connecting students from different language backgrounds will support an English as a Lingua Franca approach to English education.

One way to connect students, is by giving them a project to complete together. Students with different language backgrounds will need to communicate in English to complete such a project, such as a poster project. With cloud computing services like Lucidchart (https://www.lucidchart.com), or Prezi (http://prezi.com/) students will be able to create a poster on-line collaboratively. They can communicate by text chatting in real time, or e-mail, or orally with a variety of technology such as Skype (http://www.skype.com/en) or Google Hangouts (http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts).

Students could then collaboratively create a video presentation using WeVideo (http://www.wevideo.com), or, they could use a combination of Prezi and Skype, Google Hangouts or Ustream (http://www.ustream.tv/) for a real-time final presentation. There are many possibilities and many technological solutions available.

Thank you Simeon Flower. Very interesting. I am in.