Describe below how being a webhead has led to professional advancement and/or career changes for you.
Ronaldo Lima Jr (Brazil):
Becoming a webhead has helped me foster one more direction in my career. Now I have one more duty (besides teaching) at the school I work in Brasília, working with Carla Arena and Erika Cruvinel in the Educational Technology Team. I also started presenting workshops and training sessions in conventions and seminars about CALL, and most of the things I use in the presentations is webheads-based. Here is a wiki where Carla, Erika and I keep our presentations:
Stella Saubidet (Argentina):
I think it has helped me a lot since I got private tuition, professional assistance for free! I see that in this community everybody is alike, I mean, everybody helps his/her colleague, though there are really BIG NAMES, they're humble enough to help fellow teachers.
All in all, I consider being a webhead highly profitable. The EVO seminar takes place in Jan/February, which is a problem for me because we're on holidays in Argentina and I feel I can't profit as much as I could (I have TIME, but I also have a FAMILY to look after, and I relax or go to the beach, or...), so I take the seminar and I go on throuhgout the year experimenting.
I hope next year, I've learnt enough to profit even more!
Erika Cruvinel (Brazil):
Berta Leiva (Venezuela):
Being a Webhead since 2005 has changed me a lot personally and
professionally. I feel updated, confident, able to use certain tools
and help my students use them. I can "speak" the same language as
many of my digital natives and can follow the main trends in our
profession (except second life, ha, ha. My computer does not have
enough SL power ;-(, it seems). And especially, I have met wonderful
people online who are very close to my way of thinking, have my same
values and principles, and have the same goals in life (like you, of
course). I feel nurtured, respected and special, even if I have
never participated in the Sundays meetings at Tappedin -not even
once- and usually do not read the Webheads2002 group mails, just
once in a while, like today, ha, ha).
Webheads at WorldCALL 2008 in Fukuoka, Japan
The following webheads received full scholarships to attend WorldCALL 2008:
Erika Cruvinel (Brazil)
Hala Fawzi (Sudan)
Neny Isharyanti (Indonesia)
Evelyn Izquierdo (Venezuela)
Nina Lyulkun (Ukraine)
Susan Marandi (Iran)
Nelba Quintana (Argentina)
Jennifer Verschoor (Argentina)
Eight of the thirteen awardees were webheads!
They created a Webheads at WorldCALL2008 wiki to share their experiences with each other and with the CoP.
(Applicants from "Higher Income Economies" according to the World Bank were not considered.)
Hala Fawzi (Sudan):
I believe all what I have learned about online learning/teaching goes back to the webheads community of practice for teachers. I started as newbie, a co-moderator for Becoming a Webhead in 2006, a moderator in 2007 and I ended up as an awardee of a scholarship to attend World CALL 2008, because of my accomplishment in the field of CALL and the benefit I offered to both my students and teachers in Sudan. All goes to the webheads help, sense of commitment, sense of belonging, diverse skills and knowledge; shared objectives, understanding and above all, mutual trust and respect. In the university I teach, I am the first teacher who integrated online learning in EFL classroom in Sudan. This led to more university recognition, more advancement in my teaching and above all, a salary-bonus on the latest promotion scale at my college!
Claire Bradin Siskin (USA):
I have been a member of Webheads since 2002 (I think!), and I attend the Sunday chat in Tapped In (http://www.tappedin.org) as often as I can. I have "attended" from places as diverse as Egypt, Dubai, Brazil, Montenegro, and Japan, but usually it's from my home in Pittsburgh. It's fun to be in touch, and it's social, but I can honestly say that I learn something in every single session – whether it's information about a new tool or a new perspective from a fellow Webhead.
Teresa Almeida d'Eca (Portugal)
I joined the Webheads in Action (WiA) community of practice in January 2002 and my professional and personal life changed completely. Though I was already using ICTs in my teaching, I started using them in more innovative ways with my 5th and 6th grade EFL students. I began blogging with them in 2003 and later using Web 2.0 tools as add-ons to the blogs.
The 45-minute CALL lesson every two weeks is an extremely motivating and eye-opening experience for the students, who commit themselves with heart and soul during class. But their commitment is prolonged outside the classroom when they interact with a worldwide audience who coments on their work. This blog won the European Union international "e-Learning Award 2007", Gold Prize in the category of "School of the Future", in December 2007.
There's also an extracurricular blog, Have Fun with English! 2, for informal interaction away from the classroom, which has an embedded voiceboard for voice messages. This blog was awarded the Edublog Awards "Best Teacher Blog" 2006.
Thanks to work developed with WiA and Becoming a Webhead (BaW), a 6-week teacher development workshop that I coordinate with Dafne Gonzalez since 2004, I have advanced professionally, enabling me to introduce my students to the latest ICTs for learning English. Above all, through these two online communities, I've met fabulous colleagues worldwide and have made some of the best friendships, as is the case with Nina Liakos. We met f2f for the first time at the TESOL Convention in Seattle last year and once again this year in New York City.
These online communities enhance your professional life and enrich your personal life to unimagined levels. Embrace them! Seize the opportunity! You won't regret it. :-)
Robert Squires
I was made aware of the Webheads at the 2007 TESOL convention in Seattle. Moira Hunter was presenting about Dim Dim, and I was interested in learning more about these type of synchronous tools. She suggested the Webheads Yahoo! Group, and what a great tip that turned out to be. I also had the chance to meet many of the Webheads in New York in 2008, which also encouraged me to be a more active member of the community. Since joining the Webheads, I have helped the English Language Institute at The University of Montana establish and deliver their first online programs. I have had the opportunity to share some of the learning at local and national TESOL conferences, and run an online training session for a Taiwanese audience. The dissemination of information to our partner institutions has been greatly enhanced by the use of online tools that I have learned about through the Webheads, and I have embraced a number of other learning opportunities that have come my way through them. At the end of December 2008, I will leave my position at the English Language Institute to work as an Instructional Designer for the University of Montana's online programs. This is an opportunity that I would have never been able to take if I had not had such wonderful support, and such a wealth of practical information from Webheads. I see my move into instructional design as an opportunity to repay some of the favors I have received, and I look forward to becoming perhaps more useful to my colleagues. I would just like to sincerely thank all of you for being an incredibly powerful source of learning, and I would also like to thank all the individuals that have scaffolded these unexpected opportunities to develop professionally. Perhaps we will get to meet in person some day. Thank you.