The feature most requested by teachers, learners and language experts was the ability to personalise MYLO, to make it their own and provide feedback on progress.
In the latest release of MYLO we have introduced the Avatar. This allows registered learners to customise their home page and a create a character that represents them on the site. As they develop their language skills learners earn kudos points and badges for exceptional work. A badge could be earned for getting activities right first time or having work published by the teacher.
The more kudos and particularly badges a learner accumulates the more they can personalise their Avatar. They can ‘unclock’ accessories, pets, new backgrounds and so on. As they become better in a language they earn ‘bragging rights’ as their Avatar shows their ability and status. Learners can show off their status through their public home page, showing how many points they have and how cool their Avatar is looking.
The Avatar also gives learners details about their learning journey. Learners can click on the Progress Details option on the Avatar to view a detailed breakdown of what they have done on MYLO.
For each module they can see which activities have been completed, how many points scored and if there is more work to be done.
MYLO is structured as Challenges and Basics activities. In this post I'm going to talk about the Challenges. Challenges allow learners to practice their productive skills by preparing a response in the target language to a request for help. Responses can be either written or spoken.
When we started developing MYLO we spoke to lots of language learners. Two messages came through clearly, that learners wanted to be creative with their language and that they wanted activities based around topics they felt were interesting and relevant to them. As we came up with ideas we took them out to schools and asked pupils if they liked them. Any that didn't resonate were scratched, or re-worked. We re-tested amended concepts to check that learners liked them.
How are challenges structured?
Each Challenge starts with an introduction from your contact, the person who explains why your language skills are needed to help them. Below is the intro from Swiss Bliss - a challenge that is currently under development and will be available on the site soon.
To support learners in developing the language skills they need to complete the task, each 'Challenge' is accompanied by a series of preparation activities. The 'Get ready' activities introduce new language and concepts. The 'Jump in' activities show the key language being used in audio and written materials. The 'Use it' activities provide learners with an opportunity to manipulate the key language for themselves.
At the end of each block of preparation activities is a 'Compete Activity' re-enforcing the learning covered in the preparation activities. In order to succeed in the 'Compete Activity' learners must answer questions correctly against the clock. Kudos points are awarded for both successfully completing the preparation activities and doing well in the competitive game.
Support is available from every screen, links at the bottom of the screen provide access to a 'Dictionary', 'Phrase Book' and cultural notes. Learners can search the whole Dictionary or Phrase Book or browse the sections relevant to the current challenge. In the 'Insight' section are links to learning to learn videos that illustrate key skills useful to responding to that particular Challenge.
Reviewing work
When learners are working in a school group they can submit their responses to their teacher for review. These will appear on the teacher's group home page when they login and the teacher can provide feedback to the learners. Teachers can also choose to publish this work to the wider MYLO community. Teachers can assign Challenges to learners too, learners are notified by email and the Challenge will then appear on the group home page.
We've released MYLO and you can access it at http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk. There are modules available in French, German, Spanish and Mandarin. MYLO is free and you don't need to register to use MYLO and all of the content is available on open access. However if you do wish to register you will be able to save your work and personalise your use of MYLO. Anyone can register as a learner, but UK schools can create special accounts that allow them to create groups of their pupils so they can work together and get feedback from their teacher or peers. Our eGuide provides lots of information about registering and getting started. If you are a teacher please click here for an overview for teachers.
Pre-registered schools
Over 600 schools have pre-registered with MYLO. We're now processing pre-registered schools and a form for your Head Teacher to sign will be with you shortly. Why do we send a form for signing? Schools can create groups to allow their pupils to work together. This is the only way two learners can work together and so to make sure our learners are safe online we write directly to schools.
We're looking for teachers to get involved in trialling new content
We're looking for schools to get involved in the rollout of MYLO by providing feedback on our new challenges when they are ready. This will involve completing a survey about the challenge. If you'd like to get involved in this process, please contact us at info@hellomylo.com once your school is activated.
