I was fortunate enough to have moderated a few Avenue webinars on Poodll technologies in June. The webinar speaker was Justin Hunt, the founder and CEO of Poodll. I have since been developing learning experiences for the CanAvenue.ca project using Poodll technologies and would like to share some of the basics with the TESL Ontario community through this blog post and a TESL Ontario webinar.
TESL Ontario: Speaking Activities with Poodll Plugins
Wed Oct 23, 2024 07:00 PM EDT
https://tutela.ca/GroupEvent?organicgroup=8594&itemId=51396
Some of you may be familiar with the Poodll media tools used in Moodle assignment submissions or feedback. These tools include whiteboards, audio and video player recorders. These are separate from the tools discussed in this blog post.
Poodll’s tools: ReadAloud, Wordcards and Solo allow teachers to offer vocabulary, speaking, and pronunciation practice in their Moodle courses. If your institution uses the Moodle learning management system, it is possible that you have access to one or more of these tools. Look on the “Add an Activity or Resource” table while in editing mode on Moodle.
Wordcards
Wordcards is a digital flashcard tool designed to enhance vocabulary acquisition. It supports the creation of interactive flashcards that can include text, images, audio and video, making it a dynamic way to learn new terms and phrases.
Wordcards keeps learners engaged through its multimedia approach and adaptive word selection to enhance individual learning by focusing on challenging words.
Key Features of Wordcards include:
- Customizable Flashcards with various media combinations that accommodate different learning styles.
- Students interact with the flashcards through different matching, spelling and multiple-choice quiz activities to reinforce and practice new vocabulary.
- The Wordcards tool tracks student progress and adapts activities to focus on terms requiring additional attention.
Just a note about Poodll Wordcards use of video. It uses the YouGlish resource to provide different uses of the term or phrase from YouTube clips.
Read Aloud
ReadAloud is an advanced tool that allows students to practice their oral reading skills. It allows instructors to create and assign reading passages. Students then record themselves reading the passages aloud. This is a useful language learning activity, as it helps to improve reading fluency, pronunciation and confidence.
Ideally, Poodll’s ReadAloud improves pronunciation through students listening to their personal recordings. This potentially allows them to identify and remedy pronunciation errors as regular practice helps students become more fluent readers. Students are provided with immediate feedback through automated grading, which allows for timely improvements. As well, teacher feedback provides human insights.
Key Features of ReadAloud include:
- ReadAloud uses speech recognition technology to automatically grade student readings based on accuracy and fluency.
- Students can record themselves reading passages directly within Moodle.
- Instructors can provide detailed feedback on each recording. This can help the students identify their reading strengths and issues that they can address for improvement.
Solo
Solo is a self-recording feature that encourages learners to independently practice speaking. It’s designed to help them improve their spoken language skills by providing a more open opportunity to regularly practice and self-assess their speaking.
Solo promotes regular speaking practice in a low-pressure environment. The engagement is between the tool, the student and the teacher. Students develop their self-assessment skills by appraising their personal recordings. Teachers can offer targeted feedback based on individual student needs, from digital and in-class experiences.
Key Features of Solo include:
- Learners can listen to their recordings and self-assess using task required criteria.
- Students respond to instructor generated prompts or questions by recording their answers.
- Teachers review student recordings, provide feedback, and track their learners’ progress.
Conclusion
Poodll’s suite of tools, including ReadAloud, Solo, and Wordcards provide innovative ways for students to practice and improve their target language reading, speaking, and vocabulary. By integrating these tools into Moodle courses, more engaging and personalized learning experiences can be available for your students.
For more information on Poodll tools and how to integrate them into your Moodle courses, visit the Poodll website. To actively practice with Poodll tools online go to the Poodll ‘See and Try Poodll for Yourself’ site, locate a tool and the click on the Try Now button.
Resources
Poodll, https://poodll.com
Poodll See and Try Poodll for Yourself, https://poodll.com/see-and-try
Youglish, https://youglish.com
John Allan @mrpottz
Hi—I'm John Allan. I am an educator who works in the technology enhanced language learning field. I create online learning opportunities and mentor instructors on the Avenue project. I have experience teaching ESL and EFL in Canada and the Middle East. I hold an MSC in Computer Assisted Language learning, a M.Ed. in Distance Education, TESL B. Ed., a B.Ed. (OCT), and a variety of TESL relevant certifications from TESL Canada, TESL Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Education. For more articles, learning objects, projects and blog links see https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnharoldallan