Join us for the 2013 Electronic Village Online!
TESOL’s computer-assisted language learning-interest section (CALL-IS) provides free professional development for teachers online! The Electronic Village Online (EVO) takes place annually during the first part of the year but is not a certificate course; instead, it provides a variety of sessions free of charge. EVO started as a special CALL project in 1999 by Christine Bauer-Ramazani, Tom Robb, and Susan Gaer.
EVO’s mission statement: The EVO is a creation of TESOL’s CALL Interest Section. In this age of electronic communication, it seems a natural way to bring the issues of our profession to the international stage. Our goal is to allow learning anywhere, anytime, with as little expense as possible. Thus EVO moderators and mentors are all volunteers, and participants need only provide their own Internet access to take part in activities. Contribution as a moderator is a significant act of volunteerism, and forms an important service to our profession.
I co-moderated an EVO 2010 session for elementary teachers:
http://internet4younglearners.pbworks.com/w/page/1992157/FrontPage.
Even though the session has ended, you can still view the content. Generally, the sessions are participatory and conclude with a final project. For ours, we had teachers post their lesson plans that incorporated technology. Furthermore, we collaborated on a list of our favorite English language learning websites for children. Here’s a copy of our handout.
Since then, I’ve enjoyed being a part of EVO as a mentor. If you’d like to get involved, look for the call to participate in December. These are generally shared on the TESOL listserves, so make sure you join the one connected to your interest section. If you’re interested in moderating a session online, then contact a member of the CALL-IS, so you can submit a proposal around September. The coordination team and mentors will provide moderator training free-of-charge when your session is accepted. Feel free to contact me to learn more about the Electronic Village Online.
Here’s the call for participation for EVO 2013:
http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/61742103/Call_for_Participation2013
Here’s a list of several different blog posts about EVO:
1. EVO is for Newbies and Techies Alike:
http://blog.tesol.org/blog/electronic-village-online-is-for-newbies-and-techies-alike
2. Vote for EVO as the Top Tech Innovator:
http://teacherrogers.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/vote-for-evo-as-the-top-tech-innovator-on-the-chronicle/
3. EVO Provides Free Professional Development Annually:
http://blog.tesol.org/tesol-convention-blog/evo-provides-free-professional-development-annually
4. EVO: A Collaborative Professional Development Model:
http://teacherrogers.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/evo-a-collaborative-professional-development-model/
5. Read a professionally written article about EVO in TESOL Italy’s Newsletter (See p. 9):
It’s time to send in proposals for EVO 2013: http://evosessions.pbworks.com/w/page/54628672/Call%20for%20Proposals%202013
Wow! This year we had 2000 participants! That’s a lot of learning.
I’ve nominated TESOL’s Electronic Village Online (EVO) for The Chronicle of Higher Education’s competition of top technology innovators in higher education. They’re asking for votes and stories, so please add yours to the event at the link below. If you’ve ever learned with the EVO team, please share your story. As any threaded discussion, they ask that you “like” or reply to my initial post to vote for EVO. (Some site visitors are erroneously posting separate likes of the same person or group.)
Please vote! http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/who-are-the-top-technology-innovators-in-higher-education/34638?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en