Enhancing Student Learning Through Co-teaching

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Louise Posted in Education, English | Leave a comment

“…when teachers engage in collaborative practices, they experience a reduction in isolation, enjoy more occasions to share their expertise, and appreciate the opportunity to shape the way the ESL program operates in their schools.” – Dove and Honigsfeld (2010) Dove and Honigsfeld’s seven models for co-teaching cover different types of interaction between teachers, such as one teacher covering more general English and the other teaching specific subjects, or even one teaching and one assessing. They give a more informed … →

The Learning Technology Quiver: How to choose

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Louise Posted in Education, Learning Technology | Leave a comment

How to choose a learning technology tool There are two ways to interpret the title of this post. Which did you think of first – the object or the action “to quiver”? If you first thought of fine arrows in a bag then you are likely comfortable with learning technology and know that we are about to explore the former. However, if you felt the icy coldness of fear and shuddered at the thought of taming a learning technology … →

Aviation English Live: Presence, Immersion and Simulation in ESP training

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Louise Posted in Company news, Education, English, Learning Technology | 2 Comments

We’re nearing the end of the beta trial of our newest course, Aviation English Live. It is the world’s first ever virtual aviation English course, created by Languagelab.com in partnership with Emery-Roberts, leading provider of aviation English language training. The feedback that we have had thus far from students and teachers alike has been incredible. Here are a few comments that capture the essence of feeling: This evening I’m attending another class. Personally I think this is the best distance learning course I’ve ever … →

Why culture affects the way students learn

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Louise Posted in Education, English | 2 Comments

“The entire process of education is shaped by the culture within which it operates. So long as a culture is shared by teachers and students, the problems of learning that arise are merely those of educational expectations and methods. Much less tractable problems arise, however, when students shift from one education system to another and the normally shared cultural assumptions no longer obtain.” – Ballard and Clanchy, 1991 A teacher of English will often find that students ‘warm up’ … →

Language Production Tracker

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Louise Posted in Company news, Education, English, Learning Technology | Leave a comment

Remember the old quote “The internet is just a fad”? Bill Gates supposedly said that.* Time will tell whether that was the most incorrect thing anybody has ever said. Here’s a quote that is more likely to prove true in the future: “The textbook is a fad.” When learning a language, there is nothing more valuable than authentic language production. The internet has revolutionised the way we access information and opened up new and more effective ways to learn. … →

Adaptive Learning

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Louise Posted in Education, Learning Technology | Leave a comment

Knewton Educators and learners are becoming increasingly aware that a one size fits all approach to education is not working. Traditional classroom-based learning in many cases only services the middle ability students, as if you finish the task quickly and want to look into a topic more intensively you are held up by the class. Conversely, if you are struggling with the topic and want to back track and review a related topic to aid your understanding you do … →

V-lang conference 2011: Future Learning Now

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Louise Posted in Company news, Education, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Jessica Driscoll presenting at the V-lang conference, Warsaw 2011 – By Jessica Driscoll (@JessieDriscoll) Product Development Manager, Languagelab.com The V-lang conference, ‘Future Language Learning Now: Innovative Applications and Methods for Language Training’, took place in Warsaw on 17 November 2011. Funded by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme, the conference focused on new and innovative ways to learn languages. There were presentations on learning in virtual worlds, online classes via Skype, and games for language learning. It also included discussion on … →

A chat with Jessica Goyder, singer-songwriter

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Louise Posted in Company news, Events, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

We are excited to announce that our next ‘A Chat With’ event will be a live concert and interview with Jessica Goyder, British singer-songwriter. Jessica is a classically trained pianist, singer and self-taught guitarist. She has played at Glastonbury five times. Jessica will be playing a special live concert with cellist Emma Butterworth in English City, Languagelab’s virtual English teaching platform. After the concert, Jessica will be speaking to Mike Solly, EFL expert andLanguagelab teacher, about her music and other … →

The State of Digital Education

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Louise Posted in Education, English | 1 Comment

This is the dawn of an education revolution: the internet continues to disrupt entire industries, and vastly improved technology and increased student drop out rates have now set the stage for massive disruption to the way people teach and learn. Over 90% of educators surveyed by Knewton recently said that they believed online tools improve education for their students, and the landscape is changing fast – from a one-size-fits-all model with unprepared students, to technology-enabled solutions customised for each student.

Upcoming event: A chat with The Economist’s Alison Goddard

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Louise Posted in Events | 3 Comments

We are proud to be hosting an online event with Alison Goddard, Education Correspondent for The Economist, on Thursday 8 September. Alison reports on schools and universities in Britain and worldwide. She is particularly interested in how different education systems function, and the role of education in economic growth and social mobility (see her biography). Alison has worked for other high profile publications including The Times Higher Education Supplement and for New Scientist as a freelance journalist. She has a … →

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