Dear participants,

Welcome to our TESOL EVOnline session "ICT4ELT 2015." 

A hands-on workshop for language teaching and learning on how to use Web communication tools to connect to educators around the world and transform your teaching.  

Joining the session 

In order to enroll, you need to join our Google + Community  where a lot of the interaction will take place.

If you don't have a Gmai ID (an account), you will be prompted to do so. Follow the instructions to join (it's free).

If you have any problems with this try our Help Page.

Once you are registered you will receive a ''Welcome message'' from the group and you are ready to go!

Here is a brief outline of what to expect in Week 1. You can find more detailed information if you click on "Week 1" in the right hand sidebar.

Week 1 is mainly about getting to know other participants and finding out about the platforms we will be using. 

How we will communicate during the workshop

There are two types of communication used during this workshop: asynchronous and synchronous.

The asynchronous mode (not live, not in real time) 

The synchronous mode (live, in-real-time sessions)

We will have weekly live sessions with guest speakers. These will take place at a fixed date, time and place. They will be announced well in advance. You can find out more about this on the  Live Sessions page.

We will also have Question and Answer times when you can ask your questions right away. These will be announced in particular week pages and in Google+.

Very Important The time for live sessions will be given in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). If you have any doubts about the time please check  The World Clock website.  You can also check  GMT time using the clock in the right hand sidebar. This is a quick way to calculate the time difference (+ or - ) from your location.

As we are an international group with very different time zones, the time of the live sessions may not always be the right time for you. We know from experience that consensus is difficult to achieve. We also depend on the availability of the guest speaker.

However, if you are unable to join our live presentations, a recording of each session will always be uploaded to our wiki for you to listen to!

Methodology

There are Weekly Activities or weekly tasks (check the links for each week in the Sidebar) to be completed and shared with the other participants. If you have questions about the tasks, you are encouraged to do two things:

• try the Help Page  If you still have doubts the next step is ... 
  
• post your question to the  Google + Community group  You can do this from your own email or directly from the G+C group 

Don't worry if you fall behind. You can always post your completed tasks at any time. 

Hints

For timely tips on some of these first steps and many others, please refer to our  Help Page. 

Don't forget  

The  Help Page  is always a good place to start if you have a question.  

You'll also find help in the Tutorials page and many useful links to software and applications in the Tools page (both in the Sidebar). 

Certificates

You can earn a badge every week (the criteria are specified in each week at the bottom of the week page.)  If you get all five badges, you will earn a certificate of attendance.