Two simple ways of using technology for teaching purposes: virtual libraries and vocabulary or language banks

Since I practically grew up using technology, there are many simple tasks I perform using electronic devices. Most of these things, according to the SAMR model  would belong to the category of substitution: typing handouts, asking students to type compositions, using eBooks instead of printed versions of books, etc.

However, there are other ways of integrating technology in the classroom. In this post, I would like to mention two ways in which I use technology regularly with my students.

1) Virtual libraries. I always set up virtual libraries for my courses, as many of my students prefer reading or using the material on their computers, tablets or mobile phones. I use Google Drive, and I find it useful to create one folder per lesson, with the corresponding date, and handouts, audio files and videos used that day. Within the main folder, I also include a spreadsheet with a course schedule. That way, if students are absent, they can still follow what we have been doing.

I have created an example here with only two folders.

There other sites that you can use to do this, such as MediaFire or Dropbox. However, if you are looking for something similar to a virtual classroom, like Edmodo, these may not be the right options for you. Bear in mind that I only use Google Drive as a virtual library, with very small groups of 4 or 5 students at a language school, but perhaps for larger groups you might want to consider using a virtual classroom, where you can post updates and easily keep track of assignment deadlines, among other things.

2) Language Banks. I got this idea from two colleagues, but I modified it a bit by making it permanently available online for the students to access and edit. The Language Bank is a spreadsheet, and the idea is for the students to fill it in, not for the teacher, and ideally, in class, if they have access to computers and an Internet connection. Us teachers should only check on our students' work and correct any mistakes (since all of the group is going to profit from it).

Here is an example. As you can see, I have added as many columns as I felt necessary, but you could modify it as you like. In my Language Bank, there's also a 'Recurrent mistakes' section, which is usually quite useful.

I usually include the Language Bank in a folder together with the virtual library and the course schedule, and I share it with my students, but as opposed to the rest of the folders and files, students have editing permissions to edit the Language Bank.

According to the SAMR model, which offers an interesting way of analysing technology in the ELT classroom, these two ideas I've mentioned would belong to the category of 'augmentation,' or maybe 'modification,' in the case of the Language Bank.