About ECOSTAR Resource Bank
The ECOSTAR Resource Bank provides teachers and students with a wide range of EFL instructional resources that support implementation of a framework for English Teaching in Higher Education.
1. Curated collection of existing resources
Overwhelming numbers of EFL internet-based resources are already out there, available free of charge. The ECOSTAR team has sorted through hundreds of websites to 'curate' - find, select, organize, sort by CEFR level, attach metadata to - a collection of existing resources so that teachers no longer have to 're-invent the wheel'.
2. New multimedia instructional resources or 'learning objects'.
ECOSTAR's team has developed over 100 new instructional resources or 'learning objects' as examples of multimedia materials that support the new EFL framework. Learning objects are a new way of thinking about learning content: Traditionally, content comes in courses of one or two semesters - learning objects are much small units of learning, ranging from 2 to 30 minutes.
Learning objects let teachers adapt a flexible, modular approach rather than an “all or nothing” approach to curriculum change.
Advantages of Learning Objects
Self-contained or 'pick and mix'
Each learning object can be used on its own, or grouped into larger collections around a content theme (modules). Teachers who want to use only part of a module can choose and use the learning objects that best fit their students’ needs.
Instructional resources in the Bank support 3 CEFR levels:
- A2 Elementary Level (Besisi)
- B1 Intermediate Level (Mitkadmim Aleph)
- B2 Upper Intermediate (Mitkadmim Bet).
ECOSTAR's Resource Bank has 8 zones. Each zone contains resources that support different aspects of a new Israeli framework.
As you can see on the landing page of this site, these 8 zones include:
- A Framework for English Teaching and Can-Do Statements
- Classroom Activity Exemplars
- Professional Development Resources for Instructors
- Independent Learning Resources
- Online Professional Development Course (this is the only section that will be 'closed' and will require a password)
- EFL Community Sharing
- Resources for EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction)
- Technology Toolkit
Resources in the above zones can be used to support
- classroom activities
- 'flipped classroom' models
- independent study and learner autonomy