LinguaConnect.org a tour and introduction
I hope that this presentation will serve as a quick overview and introduction to the LinguaConnect online community.
Enjoy!
Why LinguaConnect.org?
I wanted to find a way for language teachers to have more opportunities to dialogue and collaborate. I thought about the positive experiences that I've had in conversation with other teachers. In the United States, it is not uncommon for there to be 1 French teacher at a school or 1 German teacher. This can lead to teachers feeling a bit isolated and with limited opportunities for collaboration.
LinguaConnect.org is an online network for language teachers that that will enable us to converse, connect, and collaborate as a global community.
The Landing Page
Before joining the LinguaConnect community, site visitors only have access to the information on the landing page and the "About" section of the site. They can access a video tour, written instructions, some video tutorials, and the Terms of Use and Privacy policies. Check out the visitor landing page using the link that follows. Have a peek at the video tutorials in the "About" section. It's my hope that these tutorials will help teachers less confident with technology become enthusiastic users of the site.
Take a tour of the LinguaConnect community!
When a teacher joins the community, he or she has full access to all of its features. The homepage is the starting point for members and offers the following features:
- overview of all site activity represented on the timeline
- ability to post a question, thought, idea, challenge to the timeline
- scan a feed displaying Tweets tagged with the hashtag #langchat
- check out the latest news on the site
- see who has joined recently
NEWS
This section of the site is intended to house a selection of interesting stories related to language teaching, professional development opportunities, as well as updates about the LinguaConnect community. I'm really happy that I was able to build in a strong search feature for the news. This means that all the news is categorized and tagged with keywords which makes it both browsable and searchable by members.
Resources
This section of the site will offer a permanent collection of useful links. Additionally, members can suggest that new links be added by completing a brief form to submit. There are separate pages of resources by language and also a page devoted to different teaching approaches.
Each page in the "Resources" section is structured the same way. There's a box that contain the resources as well as a column on the right that offers a language specific Twitter feed.
Files and Videos
Members of the LinguaConnect community are able to upload files and video links to share with other members. Similar to the "News" section, all uploaded files and videos are categorized and tagged to make them fully searchable.
Groups
It's easy for members to find groups in which they are interested using the pre-set categories. Members can also suggest that new groups be added to the LinguaConnect community.
Once a critical mass of users is established, the groups will be aa great place for teachers with similar interests to "meet". Within the groups, they can post to a group forum, chat using the messenger feature, as well as upload resources to the group library.
Making Friends
I really wanted to find a way for teachers to connect with each other. Maybe they are interested in finding fellow Spanish teachers or perhaps they would find it rewarding to chat with other teachers interesting in a particular topic... Both options will work.
People search
Using the "people search" tool, teachers can identify others that they'd like to connect with. They can search in the following ways:
- by name - eg. you meet at a workshop and want to continue the conversation online
- by professional interest - simply type in some keywords in the field and see who else is interested
- by language taught - check the box and see what other Mandarin teachers are part of LinguaConnect
Searching the Site
The search function of the network was something that was important for me. I didn’t want things to become huge mess with no organization. So, it’s possible to search for different keywords and different types of material. For example, members can search for all types media using the keywords “technology” and see what has been posted.
The above picture shows the results of a "technology" keyword search. There are currently 3 members who have listed "technology" as a professional interest. There are also 2 tech focused news articles.
I hope that this has provided a nice overview and discussion of what the LinguaConnect community looks like.
I wanted to develop this community to help teachers support each other in their efforts to bring language learning to life for students.