Online Learning Platforms

Jigsaw Reading: A Powerful Collaborative Strategy for ESL Classrooms Looking for a student-centered strategy that boosts communication and comprehension in your ESL lessons? Try Jigsaw Reading—a cooperative learning technique where every student becomes both a learner and a teacher. What is Jigsaw Reading? Students are divided into groups and assigned different parts of a text. They first become "experts" in their assigned section, then return to their groups to teach what they've learned. This approach promotes active reading, listening, and speaking skills—all essential in language acquisition. How to Implement It: 1. Divide students into home groups (4–6 students). 2. Assign each member a unique section of the text. 3. Students join expert groups to study and discuss their section. 4. Return to home groups—each student teaches their part. 5. Wrap up with a class discussion, quiz, or reflection activity. -Why It Works for ESL Learners: Builds communication and collaboration Encourages peer teaching and accountability Supports reading fluency and comprehension Boosts learner confidence with manageable text chunks -Pro Tips for ESL Teachers: Scaffold with vocabulary lists and sentence starters Use visuals to aid understanding Monitor and guide group discussions Choose level-appropriate, culturally inclusive texts Integrate speaking or writing tasks as follow-up -Bonus Tip: You can extend this strategy into a project-based task—students create a summary poster, infographic, or even a mini-podcast to present their topic! Let your students lead the learning—because when learners teach, they remember more. #ESLTeaching #CollaborativeLearning #JigsawReading #ActiveLearning #ELT #ESLStrategies #TeacherTips #TESOL #TEFL #LanguageLearning #StudentCenteredLearning #EnglishTeaching #ReadingSkills

One of the most overlooked resources by students: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Let's say you're a junior marketing student who's developed an interest in entrepreneurship. You've got a great idea but need to build up your ENT knowledge to bring the idea to life. You might face one (or more) of these hurdles: • Your institution doesn't offer any ENT courses • You're looking for courses in a specific ENT niche • You can't fit any ENT courses in your graduation plan • You want to build knowledge in a low-stress setting • You can't afford to pay for additional courses MOOCs can help. Check out YouTube, Coursera, or any other site that offers MOOCs and you'll find individual lectures and even semester-long lecture series on ENT from: • Harvard • Wharton • Stanford • Berkeley • U of Virginia • Georgia Tech • U of Michigan Any many many others. Top quality lectures from some of the most insightful faculty members and industry professionals. All free to access. Students (and professionals alike) have unprecedented access to top quality self-education today. And the summer is a great time to start taking advantage of it. PS. Learning through MOOCs also gives you a great answer to interview questions like "How do you build your knowledge and skills outside of the classroom?"

The secret to learning a language isn’t about how you study. It’s about how you feel: Many people learn poorly   👉🏻 spending hours on vocabulary/grammar 👉🏻 following instructions, exercises & apps 👉🏻 reaching a plateau and getting frustrated   Linguists can tell you   👉🏻 Languages are about communicating, not speaking correctly 👉🏻 Everyone has their own best style of learning. 👉🏻 You learn most effectively when you’re “present”   Every method has something to offer. But you’ll learn faster and better when you: 👉🏿 Embrace immersion and mistakes. If you can’t spend time in country, surround yourself with a language-rich environment: TV, podcasts, conversation partners, exchange apps, social media accounts, online fora. Write daily journal entries or posts. Change your phone settings. Solve problems, complete real tasks imperfectly. 👉🏿 Make it fun your way Use what you love: News videos? Soap operas? Social media? Movies? Podcasts? Audio books? Lessons? Group lessons? Social activities? Sport? Comedy shows? Support networks? Hobbies? Events? Language challenges? What’s enjoyable? Brainstorm and learn with AI. 👉🏿 Fall in love with the culture Explore all that intrigues you. Ethnicities, histories, music, cuisine, pop culture, youth trends, regions, hierarchies, families, art, entertainment, traditions, ideas. 👉🏿 Work in an environment that lifts you up and gives you energy Dive in and get things done using your new language, however badly. Make mistakes and laugh at yourself. It's not what they taught at school. It took me time to change. Once I did, it helped me improve my Thai, Spanish, Korean and other languages. What’s your best tip? #diplomacyforall

After years in the UK, I thought my English was ok.  Until I moved to Hungary. I had been living in the south of England for a while, and then a year teaching in Glasgow. I felt so confident about my English that I remember thinking: “This is too easy, I need a new challenge - let’s move to Hungary, at least learning the language will keep me busy.” English wasn’t so popular back then in Hungary, so at the beginning I’d always ask English-speaking people for help. But I was gobsmacked that they simply couldn’t understand me! 🤯 I went to the bank to open an account.  → My friend had to translate English-to-English for me. I tried to discuss the contract with my landlady.  → She couldn’t understand me either. I tried to ask a question in a souvenir shop.  → The shop assistants were staring at me like I was from a different planet. Their faces of confusion were priceless. Then I realised - it didn’t matter how good my English was.  If I couldn’t communicate in English with the people around me, then it wasn’t good enough. I had to adapt.  ➡️ Forget colloquialisms.  ➡️ Develop a more neutral accent.  ➡️ Use simple language. Simple structures. I had spent YEARS trying to blend in with natives.  Now I had to re-learn how to use the language in a way that helped me communicate. With people who were NOT native speakers of the language. I carried those skills throughout the rest of my career. Meetings at the EU?  → Everyone will be using their own version of English. Speaking at the UN?  → You’d be lucky if there were any native speakers in the room. Working for American multinationals?  → Most of my colleagues were from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. International English is NOT the English native speakers use. If you are learning English for international business, you don’t need to sound like a native or speak like them. Focus on what matters.  👉 Communicating your idea.  👉 Connecting with the people.  👉 Using simple language everyone can understand. That’s what makes a great communicator in English today. Have you had any similar experiences with English (or with any other language)? 😅 ***** I am Dr. Esther Gutierrez Eugenio, PhD in Language Education. 👆 Follow and hit the 🔔 for daily insights on language learning, international communication, and the role of English in global business.

Virtual Reality to Improve Language Teaching and Learning Experiences 🤖 Over the past week, I engaged with our dedicated CAC educators during some training sessions on Virtual Reality (VR) as part of our ongoing commitment to innovation at CAC - Eurocentres Colombia. This session was about introducing a new technology and exploring its potential to transform the English learning experience in our classrooms and community. We covered the best practices for integrating VR into our English programs, it was inspiring to see the enthusiasm and curiosity of our teachers. We discussed how VR can make abstract concepts tangible, bring distant cultures closer, and create immersive environments that deepen understanding. The discussions were rich, and filled with ideas on how to align these experiences with our curriculum and how to best support our CAC students’ language learning journeys. Training educators with new methodologies and tools, like VR, is essential in the education field where students usually look for new ways to learn and improve their skills. As educators, we have a great responsibility to keep up with technological advancements and resources that support and make us excel in our roles. When we are confident in using new tools and methodologies, we can create more engaging, effective, and inclusive learning experiences for our students. In terms of the benefits of integrating VR into the classroom, I highlight three of them: 🗣 Immersive Language Practice: VR allows learners to engage in realistic simulations of real-world environments, where they can practice English in context. 🌎 Cultural Exposure: VR can transport learners to different countries and cultural settings, allowing them to experience and understand the cultural nuances of English-speaking regions. 🔝 Engagement and Motivation: The interactive and visually engaging nature of VR makes language learning more enjoyable and motivating. All these sessions with the teachers were friendly reminders of the power of collaboration and continuous learning. As we get more motivated to explore and integrate innovative approaches, I am confident that our team will lead the way in setting new standards for language education.  This is beyond teaching and learning English, this is about creating a better future for our students and increasing the quality of education. #vr #innovation #learnenglish #virtualeducation #caceurocentres

🎓 English Teachers — This One’s for You! 🌍 The British Council has pulled together a treasure trove of FREE resources to support your teaching, inspire your planning, and boost your professional development. Whether you’re in the classroom, online, or designing training materials—there’s something here for you. From lesson plans and teacher development courses to research and practical classroom tips, these links are pure gold! 💡✨ 📚 Here’s your curated list of must-visit resources: 1. Teacher Essentials: https://lnkd.in/dfSGXf_E 2. Adults Teaching Resources: https://lnkd.in/dQ_nmUiG 3. Teens Teaching Resources: https://lnkd.in/d2RSVFrQ 4. Primary Teaching Resources: https://lnkd.in/dysYwkXN 5. Teacher Development Courses: https://lnkd.in/dH4XqdA8 6. CPD Framework & Self-Assessment: https://lnkd.in/dr_XBmNH 7. Teacher Educator Resources: https://lnkd.in/dqdjHJf5 8. TeachingEnglish Podcast: https://lnkd.in/dd-2SiBn 9. TeachingEnglish Webinars: https://lnkd.in/dFPVFWH8 10. Global Teaching Community: https://lnkd.in/dH9KsKGe 11. Publications & Research: https://lnkd.in/d6wYy5G2 12. Development Pathways: https://lnkd.in/dSB8SVHW 🎯 Whether you want new ideas for tomorrow’s class or you’re planning your next step in your teaching career, these links have something powerful to offer. Save this post 🔖, share it with your fellow teachers, and let’s continue growing—together! #EnglishTeachers #BritishCouncil #TeachingEnglish #ProfessionalDevelopment #CPD #ELT #TeacherSupport #UnmutedVoices

Researchers introduce Adaptive RAG - a new framework for LLM-powered question answering using RAG. Not all user queries are equally complex. Sometimes a simple lookup is enough, while other times multi-step reasoning over multiple documents is needed. Yet current retrieval-augmented LLMs tend to handle them all the same way—either too simply or too elaborately. Adaptive-RAG dynamically adapts its strategy based on query complexity: * No retrieval for the simplest queries * Single-step retrieval for moderate complexity * Multi-step retrieval for the most complex queries The core innovation is a query complexity classifier that enables seamless switching between strategies. On a mix of single & multi-hop QA datasets, Adaptive-RAG achieves: * Higher accuracy than non-adaptive baselines * 2-3x speedup over always doing multi-step Smarter and more efficient retrieval. Paper https://lnkd.in/gNdSPk9X — Join thousands of world-class researchers and engineers from Google, Stanford, OpenAI, and Meta staying ahead on AI http://aitidbits.ai

Overwhelmed by the endless stream of new apps for content creation? You’re not alone! Here’s how to streamline your workflow and stay on track Every week, it feels like there’s a new “must-have” tool. But when it comes to content creation, picking the right apps depends entirely on your strategy and what you need to achieve. I used to be someone who jumped on every new app – registered, tested, and soon found myself looking for the next big thing. With a more focused strategy, you can refine your choices, ensuring each tool fits into your goals without the distraction and overwhelm of endless switching. The right tools help keep you organised, efficient, and on track. Here are my essentials: ↳Notion: Brilliant for team communication and tracking tasks. It keeps everyone aligned on goals, deadlines, and priorities. ↳Canva: The go-to for all our design needs – graphics, templates, and social visuals. Easy to use and consistently reliable. ↳CapCut: Perfect for story, reel, and video editing, helping us bring our video content to life. ↳Metricool: Essential for scheduling posts and analysing performance. This way, we can see what’s working and refine our strategy to hit our goals. What are your go-to apps? A well-chosen set of tools keeps your strategy on track, helps you avoid distractions, and ensures you spend time where it matters most. Stay focused, stay strategic – and create with purpose! #ContentCreationTools #StayOnTrack #ContentStrategy

Then next frontier of #AI: building adaptive expert systems that learn and evolve. Adaptative AI goes beyond Static AI: While large language models (LLMs) are impressive, they currently lack the ability to autonomously learn and evolve over time. Adaptive Expert Systems are AI-driven “teachers” that not only answer questions but continually acquire new knowledge and evolve. Core Components: - Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): Enhances AI’s ability to pull accurate information from up-to-date sources, critical for specialized fields. - Active Learning: By analyzing user questions, adaptive systems focus on relevant knowledge gaps. - Automated Data Collection: Enables AI to autonomously gather new information to fill identified knowledge gaps. - Self-Tuning: Fine-tuning itself, an adaptive AI maintains expertise without overfitting, akin to a professor updating knowledge for their students. Real-World Examples: There are many projects but the most known projects are AutoGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, BlenderBot 3, and Squirrel AI are paving the way with features like autonomous data collection and feedback-based learning. Challenges & Ethics: Ensuring data quality, avoiding model drift, and maintaining ethical safeguards are vital as AI systems become more autonomous. Adaptive expert systems represent the next frontier in AI – interactive, ever-evolving “professors” that not only teach but learn from their interactions. As AI technology grows alongside human understanding, industries like education, healthcare, and business intelligence could transform through real-time, continuously updated insights. https://lnkd.in/ex-cbVMM

You may think ChatGPT and the likes will revolutionise higher education. But a much better use of AI is…  ...how it can support the creation and editing of multimedia content—making the process faster, easier, and more collaborative. Tools like Descript & Hipclip use AI to revolutionise the way we edit our video and audio content, which, for obvious reasons, has become crucial in academia. These AI-powered content editing tools offer: Effortless Transcription AI-powered tools significantly enhance the transcription process by converting audio and video files into text with remarkable accuracy and speed. This efficiency is particularly beneficial for generating subtitles, scripts, and other text-based content, thereby reducing the time and effort traditionally required. Text-Based Editing A revolutionary feature of these tools is the ability to edit audio and video content through text manipulation. Users can cut, copy, and paste sections as if editing a document, making the process intuitive and highly efficient. Enhanced Collaboration These platforms support real-time collaboration, allowing users to share projects, leave comments, and work seamlessly with team members across different locations. This capability is analogous to using Google Docs for multimedia projects. Rich Multimedia Integration Users can easily incorporate images, sound effects, and video clips, supporting various multimedia formats. This functionality enriches the content and enhances engagement. Voice Over and Dubbing AI-driven voiceover features enable the creation of natural-sounding synthetic voiceovers, facilitating corrections and additions without requiring extensive re-recording. Benefits to academics and researchers: Efficiency ➡ These tools streamline the content creation process, from transcription to final edits, allowing more time for producing high-quality research and teaching materials. Cost-effective ➡ By consolidating transcription, editing, and collaboration into a single platform, these tools reduce the need for multiple software solutions and services. Accessibility ➡ Precise subtitles and transcriptions make content accessible to a wider audience. Have you used any AI-powered content creation tools? Your insights and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Please share your thoughts below. 👇 #AI #Research #AcademicWriting #University #HigherEducation #EdTech #SciCom P.S. Would you like to see how this works in real time? Happy to run a live session!