ITTT Specialized Course
Teaching English Online
TEO 002
Unit 2
Equipment
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International TEFL and TESOL Training
Where the world is your classroom
Unit 2
Equipment
2.1 Hardware
and Software
2.1 Hardware and software defined
2.2 Minimum requirements
n 2.3 Getting connected
n 2.4 Unit 2 comprehension text
n
n
Let’s start by first defining the terms as they relate to
this course.
Computer hardware is any physical device, which
includes your computer and any other material object
connected to it. These devices may be inside the
computer (internal) and outside the computer
(external).
Examples of internal hardware include the hard disc
drive, RAM, the CPU and internal CD player.
Examples of external hardware include a mouse,
printer, monitor and headphones.
Computer software is generally divided into two
categories, system software and application software
and is usually stored in the computer hard drive.
Examples of system software include the operating system, the disk operating system and file management system.
Examples of application software include publishing (MS Word, Adobe Acrobat), word processing (MS Word, Apple
Works) and internet browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge)
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Page 1
Unit 2
Equipment
Some computer abbreviations
It will be useful to familiarize yourself with a number of abbreviations and acronyms generally used in computing.
(Adapted from https://www.kitchentablecomputers.com/computer_acronyms.php )
BIOS:
Basic Input-Output Services. This information is stored on a chip commonly referred to as the CMOS chip,
which really isn't a CMOS chip at all. Usually it's a Flash-ROM chip. But they used to be CMOS chips back in
the old days, and the name stuck. By whatever name, the BIOS contains the most basic information
needed by the computer at the hardware level to let it know that it's a computer (rather than, for example,
a toaster), how to boot up, and how to find the rest of its parts.
CD:
Compact Disc. A type of optical media, so-called because it uses light to read the data stored on the disk.
CD-R:
Compact Disc Recordable. A CD that can be recorded, but from which data cannot be deleted, so the
space cannot be re-used. You can record on a CD-R multiple times, but the remaining space will be
reduced by whatever's already occupying space on the disk.
CD-ROM:
Compact Disc Read-Only Memory. Basically the same as any other CD, except referring specifically to a
disk that contains computer data rather than music.
CD-RW:
Compact Disc Re-Writable. A CD that can be recorded multiple times, and from which data can be deleted
and the space re-used.
CPU:
The Central Processing Unit, Microprocessor, or simply Processor.
DDR:
Double Data Rate. A type of memory that sends and receives data twice every clock cycle, and therefore is
capable of twice the data transfer rate of standard SDRAM.
DIMM:
Dual In-Line Memory Module. A type of memory chip that uses a 64-bit bus, as compared to SIMM chips,
which used a 32-bit bus.
DV:
Digital Video. A protocol for the storage and transfer of audio-visual information, often used to transfer
information from a camcorder to a computer, usually over a Firewire interface.
DVD:
Digital Versatile Disc. A type of optical media that allows far more storage than a CD.
DVD+R:
Digital Versatile Disc Recordable. A type of DVD that can be recorded, but from which information cannot
be deleted and the space it occupied re-used.
DVD+RW:
Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable. A DVD that can be recorded, and from which information can be deleted
and the space it occupied re-used.
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Equipment
DVD-R:
Digital Versatile Disc Recordable. A type of DVD that can be recorded, but from which information cannot
be deleted and the space it occupied re-used.
DVD-RAM:
Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory. A DVD that can be written, erased, and re-written, and
which also are capable of error-checking and other advanced sorts of stuff that RAM can do, making
them suitable for us as RAM. They are much slower than real RAM, however, and are starting to fade from
use.
DVD-RW:
Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable. A DVD that can be recorded, and from which information can be deleted
and the space it occupied re-used.
ECC:
Error Correction Code. ECC Memory uses a parity bit to insure that data has been transmitted correctly. It
is both slower and more expensive than non-ECC memory, but it's more reliable. In order to use ECC
memory, your motherboard must support it, and all of the memory on-board must be ECC. It's mainly used
in high-end servers.
GPU:
Graphics Processing Unit. The chip on a video card that processes graphics and video. Sometimes the
GPU is integrated on the motherboard, and sometimes it's part of the CPU itself.
HDD:
Hard Disk Drive. An array of magnetic disks that store data until it is intentionally deleted by the user, the
system, or a program.
HDMI:
High-Definition Multimedia Interface. A digital standard for transmitting high-definition video and audio
using a single cable. HDMI is rapidly becoming the standard interface for computers and home
entertainment devices.
HDTV:
High-Definition Television. The over-the-air television standard that replaced NTSC in the United States.
Tuners are available that allow HDTV signals to be captured and processed on a computer, enabling the
user to watch TV on his or her computer.
I/O:
Input/Output. Kind of a generic term for data moving into or out of a computer or component.
IGP:
Integrated Graphics Processor. A video processing unit or video "card" that's integrated onto a computer
motherboard, or sometimes onto the CPU.
LAN:
Local Area Network. Network cards are sometimes referred to as "LAN cards" or "LAN interfaces.”
LCD:
Liquid Crystal Display. A type of solid-state display technology used in computer monitors and other
electronic displays.
LED:
Light-Emitting Diode. A semiconductor that emits light. Often used for indicator lights, panel lights, and to
illuminate LED computer monitors.
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Unit 2
Equipment
MAC Address: Media Access Control Address. The unique identification number of any network connection device, such
as a network card or modem.
MBR:
Master Boot Record. The section of the hard drive located in the boot sector, which contains (at a
minimum) the partition table and the bootstrap code.
NIC:
Network Interface Card. Connects a computing device to a network. Often integrated into the
motherboard nowadays and called simply a network interface or network adapter.
NTFS:
New Technology File System. The preferred file system for Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and all
Microsoft server systems.
NVMe SSD:
An SSD drive with a very fast interface. It uses the PCIe bus rather than the much slower AHCI ATAPI bus,
which was designed for spinning disk drives and is unable to take full advantage of SSD data transfer
speeds. As of this writing, NVMe drives are available with actual data rates approaching 3 GB/s.
NVRAM:
Non-Volatile Random Access Memory. NVRAM retains its data even when the computer is powered down.
OSD:
On Screen Display. Information that is outputted via the computer's monitor, such as the settings for the
monitor itself.
PCB:
Printed Circuit Board. Generic term for any phenolic board to which semiconductors are mounted, not just
one in a computer.
PCI:
Peripheral Component Interconnect. One of the expansion interfaces that replaced ISA. Many devices are
still available for PCI, and most motherboards still contain at least one or two PCI slots. But PCI has largely
been replaced by PCIe.
PCIe:
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express. A newer expansion interface designed to replace the PCI,
PCI-X, and AGP interfaces. Not to be confused with PCI-Extended (PCI-X).
PCI-X:
Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended. A higher-bandwidth, 64-bit version of PCI used mainly in
servers. Not to be confused with PCI-Express (PCIe).
PMU:
Power Management Unit. The circuitry on a Macintosh computer than controls power-related functions.
PROM:
Programmable Read-Only Memory. Read-only memory that is programmed after manufacture.
PS/2:
Personal System/2. An historical IBM designation that still defines certain computer hardware, most
notable the familiar purple and green mouse and keyboard connectors still used on some computers.
PSU:
Power supply unit.
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Equipment
RAM:
Random-Access Memory. This is memory that's writable by the system and by programs, that stores
information while it is needed for running the system and for the execution of programs.
RDRAM:
Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory. A very fast, very expensive, proprietary type of RAM
manufactured by a company named Rambus. (See? Some things do make sense.) It was very good
memory, but it never quite caught on because of its proprietary nature.
ROM:
Read-Only Memory. This memory is not easily writable. It consists of information that is necessary for the
system or component to operate, which is usually called an "instruction set." Some types of ROM can be
"flashed" by the user to change or update the instruction set, but it must be done deliberately.
SATA:
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. A faster, more reliable interface that has largely obsolesced the
older PATA technology used to connect ATA hard drives to the computer's motherboard.
SCSI:
Small Computer System Interface.
SIMM:
Single In-Line Memory Module. An obsolete type of memory chip that used a 32-bit bus, as compared to
DIMM chips, which use a 64-bit bus.
SMART:
Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology. A technology to monitor a hard drive's performance
and hopefully warn the user of any problems.
SPOF:
Single Point of Failure. This refers to one piece of hardware (or less often, software) which, if it fails, will
render something inoperative. For example, a failed hard drive will render a computer inoperable, a failed
switch will render a network inoperable, a failed RAID controller will render the RAID array inoperable, etc.
SRAM:
Static Random Access Memory. Pronounced "ESS-ram." A type of RAM that holds data statically rather
than dynamically. Faster and much more expensive than DRAM, SRAM is used mainly as cache memory
on hard drives and processors.
sRGB:
Standard Red Green Blue. The color standard now used by most image-related hardware, such as
monitors, scanners, printers, and so forth.
SSD:
Solid State Drive. A mass-storage device with no moving parts, which stores data in arrays of flash
memory. Although early versions were painfully slow, currently-available SSD drives have much faster
data access speed than hard disk drives. In addition, because they are not sequential devices, there is no
degradation of access speed when the drives become fragmented. On the down side, SSDs are more
expensive than HDDs, have a limited number of read/write cycles, and may be difficult to recover data
from in the event of failure.
TWAIN:
The protocol used to connect most scanners, etc. Amusingly, TWAIN stands for Technology Without An
Interesting Name.
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Page 5
Unit 2
Equipment
UPS:
Uninterruptible Power Supply, a type of battery backup that provides a truly uninterrupted flow of current
to the connected devices. Also a company that delivers stuff in brown trucks.
USB:
Universal Serial Bus. The most common connector used for computers.
USB-C:
A more compact, faster version of the USB connector.
VGA:
Video Graphics Array. The analog interface standard for attachment of monitors and other VDUs to a
computer.
VDU:
Visual Display Unit. A monitor, projector, or other device used to display or project a computer's visual
data.
VRAM:
Video Random Access Memory. Memory used by the video processor to store image data being
processed and sent to the monitor.
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Page 6
Unit 2
Equipment
2.2 Minimum
requirements
In unit 5 we will look at some of the recommended
systems used by the larger teaching companies.
In order to operate effectively as an online teacher
whichever working mode you are using, you will need a
certain minimum of equipment.
A starter system must include a computer (be it a
laptop, tablet, or phone) which has a secure and
reliable internet connection. You will need a headset
for speaking and listening, or earbuds with
microphone and some two way audio-visual operating
system (such as Skype) on which to interact.
The sky is the limit on how extensive and expensive
your system becomes.
an
d
Additional reading:
www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-mobile-videoconferencing-apps/
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re o
se p
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rc
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Page 7
Unit 2
Equipment
2.3 Getting connected
The choice of connection system you use to be in
contact with your students may depend on the type of
working environment you choose. If you work for a
company for example, you may have no choice in the
matter as they may have their own proprietary system
(larger operators) or they have a contract with a
provider.
If you work for yourself, or you have a choice in the
matter there are a large (and ever growing) number of
options to choose from. Below are examples of both
free and paid options.
Before using any system we would highly recommend
looking around teaching forums and blogs for some
user experiences on these systems. The systems
below are presented in no particular order of
preference or recommendation.
Use a search engine such as Google Chrome or Firefox
to search the details of the systems below.
Free systems
Paid options
FaceTime (Apple devices only)
Google Hangouts
n Rabbit
n Skype
n Zoom
n Amazon Chime
n Cisco Web Ex
n Join.me
n Google Classroom
n WeChat
n WhatsApp
Appear.in
Gruveo
n Slack
n Zoom
n BlueJeans
n Cisco Web Ex
n Join.me
n Pexip
n
n
n
n
(Please note that these were free at the time of writing)
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Page 8
Unit 2
Equipment
Worksheets and whiteboards
For any teacher in a physical classroom, presenting exercises to students during a class is fairly straightforward: print out
several paper copies of the materials you intend to use and distribute them around the class. This might be in the form of
worksheets or exercises or something as simple as a photocopy from a book that you’d like them to read. Students can
then complete the exercises or worksheets in the classroom and review them afterwards. Boardwork is another
complication for teaching online , i.e. presenting ideas visually while students watch in real time.
What can we do in a virtual classroom? How can students studying online access these activities and complete the tasks
required? Here are some solutions:
1. Google Docs
Anyone with a Gmail address already has a Google Docs account. You can create document for use in teaching online
that both you and the students can access. There’s an example of a worksheet here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bAO-T_3D7AeqAcXcSgsablVyrGK1XKetjoNtFoUhAHc/edit?usp=sharing
You then share the document with your student using the options on the page, making sure that they are allowed to edit
the document. Once they have access to the worksheet they can start completing it independently. You can see
everything they are doing in real time. Important: Allow the student to complete the worksheet without interrupting them,
and leave feedback until later.
Google Docs files are as easy to create as anything in Microsoft Word, so there are as many options here as you would
have if the worksheets were being created for your classroom. Additionally, your students will have access to these files
online indefinitely.
2. BitPaper
Bitpaper offers what they refer to as a “collaborative whiteboard”. This is a good alternative to Google Docs which is
probably more suited to graphics and drawing purposes. Unlike Google Docs, your students don’t need to have an
account; all you need to do is share the URL to collaborate. You and your students can import existing documents and
files, copy, paste, re-size, reposition and edit, then export files as PDFs. More details at https://bitpaper.io/.
As you are participating in this course, you are currently a student yourself. We would suggest creating a free ‘student’
account for yourself in case they start charging for this service at some stage in the future. This way you will be able to test
the system and see what it can do.
3. Bramble
Another alternative would be Bramble, a platform that offers live online lessons with every session recorded and fully
searchable. Additional information at https://about.bramble.io/pricing-tutor.html.
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Unit 2
Equipment
2.4 Comprehension text:
Five free resources
Read the following text and additional readings.
Knowledge of the text will be tested.
Resource 1
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Unit 2
Equipment
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Page 11
Unit 2
Equipment
Resource 2
Diigo
https://www.diigo.com/
Diigo offers the following:
Features
Save and tag your online resources for easy access anytime, anywhere
Annotate web pages and PDFs directly as you browse online
n Organize your links, references and personal input to create a structured research base through Outliner
n Share your research with friends, classmates, colleagues or associates
.
n
n
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Page 12
Unit 2
Equipment
Resource 3
Wizer.me
https://app.wizer.me/about-us
Build beautiful, engaging online worksheets.
Create worksheets
Add video, audio, images and a variety of question types, all
wrapped in a beautiful, engaging & easy to use app.
Assign to students:
1-click to share with students via Google Classroom or any
learning management system.
Assess answers:
Save time with automatic checking & grading, or review one
by one to give more personal feedback.
Share & discover:
Browse the Wizer collection of FREE digital learning
resources created by our community of teachers.
.
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Page 13
Unit 2
Equipment
Intuitive
The Wizer worksheet builder compliments teachers’
experience and creativity by allowing quick creation of a
wide variety of question types: open questions, multiple
choice, matching pairs, fill in the blank, fill on an image,
tables, etc..
Beautiful
Visually appealing Wizer worksheets engage students more
deeply in learning and are likely to spend more time
thoughtfully interacting. Wizer worksheets are beautifully
designed and teachers can choose from a variety of
backgrounds and themes.
Engaging
Wizer allows teachers to easily add any rich media (video,
audio, images) directly to the blended worksheet. Videos
can captivate the mind for learning or practicing new skills
and sparking the imagination for creative tasks.
Inspiring
Everybody loves inspiration. The Wizer gallery is a
collection of beautiful, engaging blended worksheets
created by our community of teachers. Browse by subject or
grade to find inspiration for what you can do with Wizer. See
a worksheet you love? Click ‘use’ to make a free copy you
can use with your classes.
Time Saving
Teachers are some of the busiest people on earth. We want
you to spend all your time and energy nurturing young
minds - not messing around with technology. Wizer is built
to save you as much time as possible.
.
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Page 14
Unit 2
Equipment
Resource 4
SpiderScribe
Adapted from www.spiderscribe.net/tour.php
Connect and organize ideas
"A picture is worth a thousand words". With SpiderScribe
you can visualize your ideas by connecting various pieces of
information together. Unlike other mind mapping
applications, SpiderScribe allows you to create free-style
maps by connecting your stencils in any way.
SpiderScribe.net is the easiest mind mapping app you might
ever see.
Text, images, files, events, etc.
SpiderScribe maps can combine elements like text, images,
files, calendar events and geographic locations. More type of
stencils will be added in time. Stencils can be customized change colors, resize, format, etc.
Share and Collaborate
You can create public and private maps. Private maps can
be shared with others and multiple people can collaborate
on them at the same time. Public maps can be viewed by
anybody, without having to login into SpiderScribe.
Access from anywhere
Your collection of maps is stored online and can be accessed
from anywhere, through internet. All you need is a web
browser (Flash plugin is required).
.
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Page 15
Unit 2
Equipment
Embed maps into your website or blog
You can create public and private maps. Embed
SpiderScribe.net public maps into your website easily with
our Embed Wizard. You can modify the map size, zoom
level, even the visual area position and generate the embed
code in one click.
Drawing mode
Drawing mode is a fun, alternative way to work on your
mind maps. Simply draw a shape of a stencil – round one for
the text (it does not have to be perfect), rectangular shape for
a file and a triangle for a picture – and the stencil will be
added to your screen. You can also draw lines to connect
stencils or cross out connectors and stencils to delete them.
Give it a try!
Full features list:
Text, Images, Files, Events and Location Maps stencils
Link maps to 5pm project management app
n Zoom in/out
n Private/Public map access
n Easy map sharing
n Quick search inside maps
n Thumbnail maps preview
n Real-time collaboration
n Group selection (CTRL+click)
n Redo/Undo editing functions
n Navigator panel for managing large maps
n Duplicate Maps
n Print Maps
n Export Maps to Images
n Embed maps into your website
n Auto-align stencils
n Drawing Mode
n Paste text from clipboard into maps
n Keyboard shortcuts
n Folders
n
n
Watch the 2-min Video Introduction
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Page 16
Unit 2
Equipment
Resource 5
Triptico
https://www.tripticoplus.com/tutorials/
(As of November 2020, this page is offline as it's being
rebuilt. However, the content of the web page is below,
then up to page 20 of this unit. For now, you may want to
watch a video here that shows how easy it is to create a
Triptico activity.)
Ideas and Tutorials to Inspire Imaginative Teachers!
Fruit and Vegetable Cards
Hello – and thank you for visiting the Triptico blog.
I have created two new activities which I hope will be helpful
for teachers of many different subjects.
They are Card Board activities, one set of cards with fruit
images and one with vegetable images. You can see them
both in the picture at the top of this post.
How you use them is up to you, but here a few ideas:
– As the basis of a discussion about healthy eating
– To teach young learners about different food types
– To learn the names of foods in different languages
– To create imaginative recipes – and so on.
I hope that these activities are helpful – please let me know if
you have any comments or feedback or if you have any ideas
for other activities that it would helpful for me to create.
Here are the links to the activities:
Fruit Cards
Vegetable Cards
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Page 17
Unit 2
Equipment
A Dramatic Spinner
I shared an idea with a teacher this week that I thought could
be applied across lots of different subjects – and so here it is…
The idea uses the Text Spinner – one of the free Triptico
resources and therefore this will hopefully be a helpful idea
for people new to the site to try.
Please share the idea with colleagues if you think it could be
helpful to them.
As you can see at the top of this post, I created a simple
spinner containing different emotions.
The idea is that students spin the spinner and then press the
‘Extra’ button once a selection has been made. This reveals a
line from a play which they must deliver in the style selected
by the spinner.
In the example above, the selected task was to deliver the
following line in a excited manner:
“What’s in a name? A rose by any name would smell as
sweet.”
This idea would obviously work well in an English or drama
lesson, but I thought that it could be applied to other subjects
too.
For example, in an MFL lesson, the spinner would select an
emotion and the extra information would reveal a sentence
for students to translate and deliver.
What do you think? Is this an idea that you could use in your
classroom?
As with all Triptico activities, the idea takes very little time to
create, save and share.
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Page 18
Unit 2
Equipment
Flipping Names!
Thank you for visiting the Triptico blog.
I thought I would share a simple Word Magnet idea that I
used as an introductory activity to a workshop I ran recently.
I began with a ‘Present / Absent’ background and added the
name of each participant to the board as a magnet. I was then
able to learn a little about each member of the group before
moving their magnet across to the ‘Present’ side of the board.
I then changed the background and asked each participant
to flip their name over to reveal a word. Their task was to
move the revealed word to the correct area of the board. The
other members of the group could help them and it was a
nice way of introducing the Word Magnet resource and
some of its features.
The activity required a little bit of preparation on my part: I
had a list of all of the participants and so I was able to use the
‘Load a List’ feature to create the ‘name’ magnets instantly. I
then flipped each name over and added text to the back
using the ‘Edit’ feature, before flipping all of the magnets
back to the name side and saving the activity.
The image at the top of the post demonstrates one way in
which this idea could be used: flip over your name to reveal a
country and then move it according to the continent it
belongs to.
You could flip to reveal a sum which has to be dragged to the
correct answer, a word which has to be moved to the correct
word class, a trait to be matched to a particular character and
so on – the possibilities are endless.
You could also create a similar activity a lot quicker if you left
one side of the magnets blank and asked people to choose a
magnet at random to flip over and position. The benefit of
creating an activity in this way is that it can be used time and
time again with different groups – although it does not have
the ‘personal’ touch of the name version.
International TEFL
and TESOL Training
©
Where the world is your classroom
TEO 002 Copyright © 2019 International TEFL and TESOL Training. All rights reserved.
Page 19
Unit 2
Equipment
Key Words
I will try to keep adding simple ideas to the blog for using the
Triptico resources – ideas which take very little preparation
and which can be used by all teachers of all subjects and in
all languages.
This simple idea is a perfect way to revise key terms or
vocabulary or dates – or whatever you like!
To create the activity, add a number of key words as Word
Magnets and arrange them on the board. Then, simply flip
each magnet over.
(You can also add a background to your activity if you like,
as I have done in the image at the top of this post.)
To begin the activity, a student or group must select a
magnet and flip it over to reveal the word. Once revealed,
they must – for example – define the key word or use it in a
sentence.
It would also be easy to add a competitive element to this
simple activity if required.
The same idea would also work with images – add a number
of images, flip them over to hide them and ask students to
select one at random to describe or define.
You could also create the same activity with the Card Board
resource, adding new cards each week until you have tens,
hundreds or even thousands of cards to use in class or to
share with colleagues or students.
One of the selectors could also be used to develop this ‘key
word’ idea – for example, the Spring Selector. In the video
below, this resource is selecting names at random, but it
could be used to select key words:
You could even ask a group of students to provide the key
words and ask them to judge whether the other students in
the class have used the selected word correctly.
International TEFL
and TESOL Training
©
Where the world is your classroom
TEO 002 Copyright © 2019 International TEFL and TESOL Training. All rights reserved.
Page 20
Unit 2
Equipment
Word Magnet Background
Just a quick blog post with a link to a background that a
teacher asked me to make to help with a Word Magnet
activity.
The background can be used for any activity which requires
students to position magnets according to whether they are
positive or negative and to what extent.
For example, the activity in the title image is all about the
connotations of various words.
If you would like to download the background to add to
your own activities then you can do so by clicking the link
below:
Link to the Background
I hope that this will be helpful – if anybody has any ideas for
other backgrounds that I could create then please let me
know and I will try my best to help.
You should now be ready to attempt the test for unit 2.
Go to your course control panel to open and take the test.
International TEFL
and TESOL Training
©
Where the world is your classroom
TEO 002 Copyright © 2019 International TEFL and TESOL Training. All rights reserved.
Page 21