As in previous years, the Electronic Village was a bustling, lively place with teachers buzzing between BYOD (bring your own device) presentations, miniworkshops, and showcases, and that does not even include the technology-related presentations going on in the rest of the convention, of which there were many. Some of the hot topics in technology at this year’s convention are repeats from last year, such as the flipped classroom and gamification. New hot topics include the implementation of BYOD programs, and security and privacy concerns.

Notable Ed Tech Sessions

The Flipped Classroom: Back to the Basics

The Hot Topics presentation on the flipped classroom, which was presented as part of the Electronic Village, brought together a panel of experts who talked about the brief history of the flipped classroom, common concerns and pitfalls when flipping, examples of flipped project-based learning, and assessment in flipping teaching and learning. When methodologies and techniques became popular so quickly, it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the hype and never really get to the development behind it all. This presentation was a return to the basics of the flipped classroom. I particularly liked the panelist, Christine Sabieh, who focused on common concerns and potential problems of implementing this methodology. She spoke about how in flipped learning the expectations that teachers have for their students change drastically. Students go from relatively passive in the learning to active participants, which is something that they may resist. Student expectations and the concept of autonomy in learning vary from culture to culture, so it was nice to see this recognized.

The Flipped Classroom: On Student Motivation

Another notable presentation that I attended on flipped learning was “Flipping Your English Classroom: Flipping Your Students’ Motivation to Learn,” presented by Kriengkrai Sakulprasertsri. It was a research-oriented session, which shows that more dedicated study is being focused on the potential of flipped learning and teaching in TESOL. This particular study focused on students’ motivation to learn English and their engagement in their English classes. The presenter included videos he had created and spoke about his process for making them. The videos and accompanying assignments were great, practical examples for teachers to follow but at the same time they were well-produced, showing that it is possible to make great videos without a lot of resources.

Writing, Speaking, Pronunciation: Giving Feedback

A topic that was not identified as a hot topic but was represented in a variety of presentations was giving feedback on writing, speaking, and pronunciation. Presentations that focused on this area include “Phonemes to Sentence Stress: Using Technology to Practice Pronunciation in a Multilingual Classroom,” “Customizing Pronunciation Practice with an E-Toolkit,” “Automated Writing Evaluation: When Is It Right for Your Students?”, and “Eli Review - an Effective Peer Review Tool for Writing Class.”

What I Would Like to See Next Year

As has been noted in this article and previous ones, the Electronic Village and sessions focused on technology are very well-attended. Based on this, I would like to see BYOD sessions held in larger rooms with tables and power strips, which would allow presenters to attend to more participants more effectively and for participants to have the room to use their devices during the session. In addition, adding play spaces equipped with tablets equipped with applications or other types of devices would be another way to give participants hands-on experience with new and innovative technological tools. In my experiences, playing with a program or piece of equipment is the best to evaluate it and see its potential for your program or institution.

I would also like to see the convention expand its web conferencing coverage. Currently, the keynote addresses and a few of the sessions of the Electronic Village are available live during the event and then later as recordings. However, in order to make the convention accessible to more TESOL members around the world, a fuller online offering where participants could get the experience of having attended virtually would be a great professional development opportunity for many.

Finally, the TESOL convention app could be used to encourage participants to interact with one another. Currently, the app enables participants to scan other participants’ QR codes. This could be extended to a game or scavenger hunt that would award points for each participant QR code scanned and for scanning QR codes found at the entrance of the keynote addresses and in other parts of the convention.

Predictions

Most of the tech presentations focused on blended learning environments where the students and teachers interact face-to-face, and then the online platform or tool is used as an extension of the classroom. With so many universities and other educational institutions offering programs and degrees online, the next step for ESL and EFL programs is to offer courses completely online. Many of the tools already in place, such as those for evaluating writing and speaking, will be key in this transition.

Another upcoming technology trend with the potential to make a big impact in the teaching of English is adaptive learning technologies. According to the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition, which is a yearly publication on emerging technologies, “adaptive learning technologies refer to software and online platforms that adjust to individual students’ needs as they learn” (p. 44). The software and platforms make adjustment using vast amounts of data collected. This type of technology could be used to meet students where they are in their language learning, especially in mixed-level classes. It would also enrich blended learning environments already in place.

Conclusion

The hot topics this year show that some trends are here with us for at least the next few years. They also show that English teachers are still in the process of learning about, implementing, and evaluating new methodologies and techniques that come along with the integration of technology as well becoming more comfortable with the technology itself. It will be interesting to see what contributions the field of English teaching makes to educational technology in the years to come.

Reference

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., & Freeman, A. (2015). NMC horizon report: 2015 higher education edition. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium.

______________________________

Heather Gaddis has been an ESL/EFL teacher and administrator in the United States, Mexico, and Turkey since 2008. She became interested in teaching online after taking a TESOL course. She then completed a master´s degree in educational technology. As of July, she will be transitioning from her current position as the academic coordinator of English at a K–12 bilingual school in Queretaro, Mexico to the academic coordinator of education technology at the same institution.