For each newsletter, I will invite members to answer a set of questions:

• What is your favorite platform?
• What is the one indispensable tool/webpage?
• What is your most unexpected source of information about CALL?
• What was your favorite CALL creation?
• What are you working on now?
• What area would you like to see developed/researched?
• In a sentence, what advice would you give to a newbie starting out in CALL?

Beginning with the first column in 2005, members have shared a wide variety of experiences and interests. I hope you will enjoy this opportunity to compare experiences, to share advice, to nurture inspiration, and to make connections within our community.

Please e-mail me at stamper@ied.edu.hk if you have suggestions or contributions to "Making Connections."

Claire Bradin Siskin
Claire has been a member of CALL-IS since 1984 and served as chair in 1991. Her principal interests in CALL are faculty development and research. Through the years she has organized and participated in many of the outreach activities of the IS—including fairs, workshops, and colloquia.

Email: csiskin@edvista.com
Affiliation: English Language Fellow, U.S. Department of State
Years in CALL: 30 years

Q: Favorite platform?
A: Macintosh.

Q: For you, what is the one indispensable tool/webpage?
A: A word processor.

Q: What is your most unexpected source of information about CALL?
A: Twitter

Q: What was your favorite CALL creation?
A: Teacher-made activities created with HyperCard and its descendants: MetaCard, Revolution, and LiveCode.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am learning how to make smartphone apps with LiveCode.

Q: What area would you like to see developed/researched?
A: We need further qualitative research about instructional CALL. It is still being used extensively, but it isn’t being studied as much nowadays.

Q: In a sentence, what advice would you give to a newbie starting out in CALL?
A: Attend the annual TESOL conference and attend as many CALL-IS sessions as possible!

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Claudio Fleury
Claudio has been teaching EFL for more than 20 years and is an enthusiast of technology in the classroom.

E-mail: claudio.fleury@gmail.com
Affiliation: Casa Thomas Jefferson - Brasilia - Brazil
Years in the CALL-IS: 4 years

Q: Favorite platform?
A: I've been using WiziQ lately for online classes, and we use MOODLE for the online courses created in our institution.

Q: For you, what is the one indispensable tool/webpage?
A: Diigo. It's the easiest way to keep and share my favorite websites, on different computers.

Q: What is your most unexpected source of information about CALL?
A: Fellow teachers and students. Students usually offer suggestions of apps that we can adapt and use in the classroom.

Q: What was your favorite CALL creation?
A: Using Evernote on iPads for in-class writing. It gave students a different kind of motivation for writing and made peer-editing easier.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm testing some LMSs [learning management systems] to implement an advanced online program in our institution.

Q: What area would you like to see developed/researched?
A: I'd like to see more apps for practicing speaking and teaching and enhancing pronunciation.

Q: In a sentence, what advice would you give to a newbie starting out in CALL?
A: Technology is there to help you; don't fear it.

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Luke Coffelt
Mr. Coffelt is an instructor in the Ohio Program of Intensive English (OPIE) at Ohio University. He became immersed in the world of CALL while earning an MA in applied linguistics at Ohio University. Since then, he has been involved in the CALL-IS by volunteering at the TESOL EV in 2011 and giving CALL-related presentations at MITESOL, 2011; TESOL, 2012–13; Ohio TESOL, 2012; and the Ohio CALL Conference, 2010–12.

E-mail: coffeltl@ohio.edu
Affiliation: Ohio University
Years in the CALL-IS: 3 years

Q: Favorite platform?
A: My favorite platform is Mac OS X. The first time I used a Mac, I fell in love with its simplicity and efficiency and have been hooked ever since.

Q: For you, what is the one indispensable tool/webpage?
A: One tool that I cannot live without is Dropbox. I use it multiple times everyday, and I can’t imagine my life without it.

Q: What is your most unexpected source of information about CALL?
A: The colleagues I work with are very creative. There is almost always something new to try in the classroom that others have found useful.

Q: What was your favorite CALL creation?
A: Google has made my life so much easier. Whether we are using Google Docs for collaborative writing projects in the classroom or Google Forms for assessment creation, the quality of work produced always seems higher.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on developing a vocabulary course that combines academic reading with COCA’s wordandphrase.info.

Q: What area would you like to see developed/researched?
A: I would love to see corpora being used more in pedagogy. Data-driven learning is the wave of the future.

Q: In a sentence, what advice would you give to a newbie starting out in CALL?
A: I would tell a newbie not to be overwhelmed by the amount of CALL-related resources out there, and if the opportunity to try something new arises, don’t hesitate!

Q: What is your funniest CALL-related incident?
A: While teaching in Cairo in the fall of 2009, The Ministry of Education shut down all schools due to an outbreak of swine flu. Thanks to multiple CALL-related resources, my students have still not forgiven me for improvising a full schedule of distance learning with new teaching material, homework, student presentations, and group projects.

Suzan is an instructor in the Centre for Language in Education at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. She has been a CALL-IS member since 1995.