CoSpaces Edu

Author names: Violeta Almor, Natalia Ballesteros, Laura Márquez and Alba Martín

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TOOL:

CoSpaces Edu is an online platform that enables students and teachers to create, share, and explore virtual 3D spaces. It is designed to support creativity, storytelling, and collaboration in a digital environment. It is a popular and innovative app for developing educational projects in different subjects.

Price: To use it you can use a basic plan, which is free or pay for the pro plan. For the latter you have to pay 50€ per year, but the final price can increase depending on the number of seats and add-ons selected. The free version only allows you to create one class and one assignment for that class. But you can create as many groups as you want. There is a limited option of objects you can use, and the others are locked for the pro plan. You can add only 10 external files including 3D models, images, 360 images, videos and audio files. Furthermore, you can only invite 29 students. 

The location of the activity is in a primary school classroom. The target age is 5th grade children (10–11 years old). Following the CEFR reference, the activity's target language level is destined for A2 level.

In class, they have worked the names of the different animals and their habitats. They have learned about their characteristics and the habitat where they can be found. Also, they have worked with descriptions: their structure, the vocabulary needed, adjectives… 

Specific objectives based on CEFR:

Reception: 

LISTENING TO ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS

• Can understand basic instructions on times, dates and numbers etc., and on routine tasks and assignments to be carried out.  (p.58)

Production: 

DESCRIBING EXPERIENCE 

• Can tell a story or describe something in a simple list of points. (p.70)

Interaction: 

OVERALL SPOKEN INTERACTION 

• Can interact with reasonable ease in structured situations and short conversations (p.83)

1. To collaboratively design a virtual habitat environment in CoSpaces Edu, choosing appropriate landscapes and animals in the target language in order to strengthen vocabulary of natural habitats and animal classification.

2. To write and record animal descriptions using CoSpaces Edu’s audio feature in order to reinforce oral fluency, pronunciation, and descriptive language skills.

3. To explain each group’s virtual habitat to the class in order to develop listening comprehension, presentation skills, and giving constructive peer feedback.

The CoSpaces Edu sequences take considerable pre-class preparation. Approximate time is 1 to 2 days. 

• Teacher should become familiar with Cospaces Edu. (15 minutes)

• It is highly recommended that the teacher creates visual instructions on how to access the web experience (at least for the first use). (10 minutes)

• The teacher needs to prepare in advance the assignment and the groups before class. (5 minutes)

• The teacher should prepare scaffolding for the activity. (15 minutes)

• The students need to have an account created on the computers before the class. If not, this takes an additional 10 minutes. 

To conduct the activity, students must have a CoSpace account created (as a student) on a computer. They are given a code to begin the sequence of activities. 

Equipment: 

• Learners need (at least) one computer per group.

• WIFI connection.

• Projector to present the group's virtual habitat.

• Scaffolding and language support (see below). 

1st step: They would be divided into 4 groups. Each group will be assigned to recreate a natural habitat (ocean, desert, savannah and forest) with CoSpaces Edu. Once they have opened the app, they will be given the instructions for the activity, and they will have to read very carefully! 

• The instructions will be the following: Select the correct environment that has been assigned to you, and find at least 3 animals that belong to this habitat.

2nd step: Once they have created their habitats, they have to add a short description of every animal they have chosen as if the animals were presenting themselves. For example, "I am a reindeer, and I live in the cold mountains. I have two antlers, and I’m a mammal." 

3rd step: Using the app's audio, they record their voice and reproduce the sound of the animals. The audio must be paired with an object. This way, they can join each animal with their sound. 

4th step: Each group will present their work to the rest of the class, with the teacher's account on the board. 

• Classroom organisation: as they need to record their voice, to control the noise, there must be a considerable distance between the groups. 

• This activity allows studentss to have an active role and create their own resources through the instruction given. Not only they are being engaged with the tool, but also creating, aplying and reflecting on language.

• The teacher will have an observation grid throughout the session to examine how they work, if they cooperate, if the follow the instructions, use English to communicate, etc.

• The teacher will record the students' presentations in an audio format (to assess fluency and speaking skills). 

• When sharing their habitats, students will have a basic rubric to assess their peers.

• Exit ticket at the end to examine what they have learnt and their opinion regarding the tool.

• Vocabulary reminder

• Modeling animal descriptions

• Checklist: this is a key support to allow them to self-control their learning process and assess whether they are following the steps.

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