I’m posting the abstract and the Power Point presentation together with the links to some Twitter Fiction writers in both languages.

Abstract

Since the turn of the 21^st century the web has evolved from a vast source of information into an ever growing multimedia platform –Web 2.0 – that allows users to share, (co-) create, (co-) author and (co-) edit digital content. At the core of these developments, social networks facilitate connections, instant communication and multimedia format sharing worldwide.

Among the most influential web 2.0 applications, Twitter is a social network and microblogging service that allows users to publish status updates, called tweets, of up to 140 characters, which are distributed to subscribed followers by instant messages, mobile phones, email or the Web. Although it was initially conceived as just a social medium for electronic communication, some users have stretched its limits and have now transformed it into an open publishing platform for micro fiction.

Far from belonging to a unified scholarly literary movement, Twitter fiction has emerged haphazardly from individual and collaborative experiments on the web. Its diversity can be illustrated in terms of a wide variety of genres that range from short stories and thrillers to haiku-style poems. In addition, the phenomenon has spread beyond its original web application to other electronic publications such as twitterzines and e-books.

Current information and communication technologies harness the weightless materialization and viral dissemination of new forms of literature in which the voice of readers and writers blend in participatory interconnected digital literary circles.

Some Twitter Fiction writers:

http://twitter.com/twitterfiction

http://twitter.com/thaumatrope

http://twitter.com/effeffingeff

http://twitter.com/ccocca

http://twitter.com/mcrfccn

http://twitter.com/microtxts

http://twitter.com/nanoism

http://twitter.com/nanoed

http://twitter.com/AStoryIn140

https://twitter.com/arjunbasu

One-minute film based on Arjun Basu’s Twister: Life

Voicethread
MobaTalk Comment System
Skype
WiZiQ

Combining endless web exploration with deep educational theory, I first learned about the scaffolded pedagogical design of webquests in 2005. Later, TESOL EVO 2006 sessions helped me discover the power of the Web 2.0 through blogs and wikis. I now coordinate a team of seven teachers designing and delivering computerlab sessions. In these four years we’ve designed sessions for more than twelve levels of children, teen and adult courses. I’ve also carried out a variety of online blog exchanges and projects with both my lab students and my regular classes.

Although at present the sessions are delivered only by the computer lab team, I’ve always felt that all teachers should be able to design activities for their own classes, so in 2007 I organized the first computer lab workshop and we’ve held training sessions every summer since then. Little by little, we see new colleagues overcoming their initial resistance and after three years most of the staff have attended the workshops and are at least familiar with and have started using some web resources with their classes at the lab.

We still have a long way to go until technology becomes fully integrated into language classes, but we can be sure we are going through the paradigm shift and it feels great to be a part of it!

Eternal thanks to my computer lab mates, the real pioneers! (in order of appearance!) Elida Fittipaldi, Leda Siburu, Patricia Stanley, Jesica Bassani (the e-learning diva!), Verónica Miranda and Natalia Furlán.

First published on ARCALL Blog March 10, 2009

Last month, I had the pleasure of putting together a collaborative article called Cartoon Festival: An International Digital Storytelling Project for TESL-EJ with two dear online collegues, Mary Hillis from Japan and José Antônio Da Silva from Brazil, about our experience during the “Learning with Computers” Cartoon Festival . Mary started a Google Doc where we worked on the drafts under the supervision of Vance Stevens. Besides helping us reflect on the project, it proved once again the power of the Web 2.0 to harness international collaboration and professional development .

You are all kindly invited to read it!

I really treasure this space, not only because it witnesses my learning adventures and my professional development, but also because it allows me to connect with EFL colleagues all over the world and build virtual networks of collaboration. However, at a certain point, I also feel the need and the responsibility to help spread those networks f2f. I know that there are still very few EFL teachers in my area that would commit to such a venture, but what if we invited other (foreign) language teachers, of Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc.? Then, the network would be stronger, allowing diversity while focusing on the special interest of language teachers, and in our mother tongue, letting us also become a part of the general educational community.

So I thought a team blog would be a good starting point. I contacted Griselda Sassola, a teacher of French who’s been working with ICT for a long time. We’ve started a blog called TICs y Lenguas (ICT and Languages), which intends to be an open space for discussion and interaction. We are going to invite teachers to publish their posts as authors and we have also set up static pages for announcements and resources.

I know this is going to be a long path, but we’ve already set the ball rolling!

A spin-off of RosarioBlogDay, MateyBlogs, the first collaborative blogging workshop in Rosario, took place today at CEC combining one of our dearest Argentinian traditions with the 2.0 spirit.

After three brief presentations conducted by Fernanda Rubio, Francisco Sanguinetti on how to integrate mutimedia content, and Federico Aikawa, who shared some practical blogging tips, we divided ourselves into three groups to share experiences and discuss questions with the coordinators. Surprisingly enough, I was in a group full of teachers! I was especially glad to meet Gabriela Spadoni and María Sabina Codarín, Edublogger Argento members, after our failed f2f meeting last night.

The wrap up presentation was in charge of Federico Picone who discussed the importance of social networks and other Web 2.0 tools.

Some tools that were mentioned:
Gickr
Luna Pic
Photoshop Express
Twitxr
Alianzo

Once again, it was great to meet such an enthusiastic and diverse community of ArgenBloggers face to face.

See you all at the next MateyBlogs!

When Blogging4Educators started, I understood we had designed a number of environments to interact with participants, mainly, our YG and two blogs to host weekly discussions. During the first two weeks, fascinating conversations developed as we shaped, defined and built ideas dialogically on our blog threads.

On week 3, however, the task was to post entries and tag them blogging4educators and/or b4echallenge. We started experimenting with the power of tagging not only to organize, classify and describe our user-generated content on the web, but as a way of bringing conversations together, helping our edublogs talk to each other by decentralizing the discussion. We all started reflecting on different aspects of the week’s topic making it even more enriching and multifaceted as we allowed the new bloggers in our session to find their voice and to build their own readership. (Not bad in less than 4 weeks!)

So instead of converging on one spot, conversations are distributed, helping ideas flow creating interconnected semantic contexts. We are generating blogtalk, edublogtalk, metablogtalk, we are seeding the web with our ideas, but through tagging we are generating a context that helps us build open circles of thought and interaction.  

Since week 4 started, I’ve been reading non-stop. From Konrad Glogowsky’s reflective post to Lilian’s teaching context and Carla’s reaction with Fear 2.0 plus all their comments!  I simply don’t know where to start contributing to the discussion. It’s so deep, so broad, so complex and so essential.  As Will Richardson said in The New Face of Learning “In this new interactive Web world, I have become a nomadic learner; I graze on knowledge”.  I guess this post is just to say I’ll feed a bit more on your reflections and add my own piece to this learning puzzle. What do we talk about when we talk about blogs in education?

Image: this is what Edublogtalk looks like in Websites as Graphs

Related readings: Deconstructed Distributed Conversations
                                 The Web as Distributed Knowledge

 After a very hectic semester, Jesica and I have been finally able to submit our final assignment for the Teaching Business English Course – E-teacher Program scholarship.

During the course we explored and gained a deeper insight into various aspects of TBE such as needs analysis, CLT, resources, cross-cultural business communication and material design, among others. As in most online learning experiences, the greatest advantage was to collaborate with colleagues from other countries and learn about their particular culture and teaching contexts.

The aim of the assignment was to design a 6-hour workshop to share all we have learned in TBE with our colleagues. We chose to focus on the use of web-based material to design communicative activities for Business English classes. Through the wide array of authentic multimedia material that is available on the web, we can provide our students with relevant updated resources that address their specific needs and interests and enhance their motivation. Although we couldn’t include it in the current schedule, a further development would be the integration of web 2.0 tools, which have already made their way into the business setting as well. (See Blogs Will Change Your Business)

Towards TBE 2.0…

- I attended kindergarten in New York City and cried every single day because I couldn’t understand what my teacher said. (See related post)

- I studied drama for seven years and performed in a play called “Wonders in the Land of the Alices”.  In 1998, I decided to quit and focus on Teaching Training College since at the time I worked as a secretary and I really hated that job. I do think, however, I still channel my creativity into teaching.

- I have button phobia. Yes, that’s right! Buttons! (I don’t even like the word) People generally don’t believe me or simply laugh at me when I tell them about it, but I’ve discovered I’m not the only one. Check this out: Unusual Phobias – buttons from Unusual Phobias

- I don’t drink alcohol at all. No particular reason. I’ve simply never tried it. Oh, but I love chocolate! I’m a chocoholic.

- I’m a big fan of Woody Allen. I love his films, especially the ones he made between 1977 and 1992 (i.e. From Annie Hall to Husbands and Wives – the classics ) When I was in 4^th year in high school, we saw “Another Woman” in my Philosophy class and I’ve watched every new film he’s made ever since. (My secret dream: to be in one of his movies. Maybe I can play the role of an English teacher who lives in NYC and goes to the shrink because she has a phobia of … you know! )

I’m now in the hands of Technorati.

Who’s next?