Planning and facilitating web-conferences with English language learners
Description
Web-conferencing or synchronous virtual classrooms allow real time communication in which multiple users can simultaneously interact with each other. Creating synchronous virtual classrooms through web-conferencing applications will allow your learners to communicate with you and with each other using features such as audio, video, text chat, interactive whiteboard, application sharing, instant polling, emoticons, and breakout rooms.
Web-conferences can provide a place for language learners to practice course-related language and cultural strategies, focusing either on a specific language point from the content or on a language point that emerges from the discussion forum. Web-conferences also allow you to deliver course content in a way that is interactive, that is engaging, and that contributes to the overall variety of media used in your course or learning activity. Opportunities for speaking and listening practice are often limited in online learning. Web-conferencing tools offer language learners these needed opportunities to practice their speaking and listening skills.
This resource is an explanation of the steps you can take to plan and produce a web-conference for your learners. It includes information about the impact of web-conferences on language learners in online learning.