Creating Virtual Classrooms

Duolingo's launch makes Virtual Classrooms a Real Possibility for all EFL Teachers.

    With a much more simplified procedure, Duolingo makes Virtual Classrooms a reality even for teachers that don't posses an ICT background. In just a few clicks, any teacher can create his own e-classroom, send links and invitations to his students and post materials and comments in his own personal e-class blog. And all that is completely FREE.

    Duolingo isn't new, although its new version the "Duolingo For Schools" was launched yesterday. And if the aforementioned hasn't caught your attention yet, I really think that even the most sceptic teachers need to experience this new feature and give their students the chance to experience what looks to be for many the future of learning. 

    Drawing from my personal experience, I can honestly say that such tools have proven to be invaluable in the lifelong learning sector and especially now when Continuous Professional Development often results in increased teacher mobility. More specifically, my decision to further my career by undertaking a full time MA in ELT with a specialism in ICT at The University of Warwick, meant that I would have to move from my country of origin, Greece to the UK, for at least a year. And although I had made sure that all of my students had either successfully sat through their exams or found a substitute teacher, I still received many requests for further support.   

    In this exact respect, I really think that Duolingo's efficacy is mainly located in its nature as an additional tool or solution rather than a new way of teaching. Possibilities are endless, especially in countries such as mine where heavy winters make English Language Acquisition extremely difficult especially in remote islands and mountainous regions.    

    Below I will illustrate how easy it is for anyone to set up an account and create his own virtual classroom(s).

7 easy steps to create your own e-classroom.

1. Visit https://www.duolingo.com/
2. Register an account.
3. Visit https://schools.duolingo.com/

4. After registration, a link appears and you just forward it to your students.

5. After your students have clicked on the link it then directs them to the "registration" template.

6. Once students have signed up they are then re-directed to a main screen where your name and class appear.

7. All that students have to do now is to click on "Save Changes" and that's it. 

    Learners progress can be monitored through the teacher's dashboard.

    It all looks pretty straightforward and I can't wait to try it out with some of my old students that have decided to further their education at numerous reputable English Institutes of Higher Education in the UK and need some support with their Academic English, so please stay tuned for my feedback.