Week 7 - Reflection # 2 - One Computer Classroom & Wallwisher (Padlet)

Gradually technology has been incorporated in the classroom in the last years. However, we have to deal with another issue: the number of students VS the number of computers. Sometimes the situation is even worse when many teachers want to schedule a computer lab class and you want to wait in line or when the school or institution doesn’t have any kind of technological tools.  

If we are facing these problems, we can use one computer or laptop in the classroom and take advantage of that in order to apply interactive activities in class and give our students the opportunity to use technology in an effective and meaningful way. We can plan activities such as class or school surveys, group or individual projects, video discussions, learning stations and so on. The idea is to create simple but authentic activities where students can have access to technology in class in order to help them improve their proficiency and also become more interested in learning.

related links

One Computer Classroom

How to Thrive in a One Computer Classroom

Wordprocessing Ideas

Internet Ideas

Strategies and Applications For One Computer Classroom

25 Ways to Integrate the Internet

Word and PowerPoint

Learning Center

Self-access Center

What is PADLET?

Padlet is an Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device.

Think of it like a multimedia friendly, free-form, real-time wiki.

(Source: Padlet: http://jn.padlet.com/knowledgebase/topics/25447-getting-started)

Is it Worth Using?

Of course, it is. This application is free and easy to use and also gives us the opportunity to collect students’ ideas and opinions, ask questions, post assignments or projects, post feedback, evaluate students, post book or movie reviews and so on. The most important thing is that we are interconnecting technology and active students’ participation by using this useful application inside or outside the classroom. 

related links

Wallwisher is now Padlet

32 Interesting Ways to Use Padlet in the Classroom
Wallwisher in the Classroom

Week 7 - Reflection # 1 - Learner Autonomy

Hello, Donna and classmates

This week’s topics have been very inspiring because we are learning new ways to use the internet effectively while we are also discussing evident classroom problems which are common around the world.

The first topic was “Learner Autonomy”. We might believe this is something that implies “to be able to learn by oneself”, but in fact it is a whole process in which teachers and learners are closely involved.

The first stage starts in the classroom and definitely the most important step is taken by the teacher. Student-centered classes are a must if we want our students to get learner autonomy. How can we reach this goal? Teacher should be willing to change their roles from lecturers to facilitator and motivators. Sometimes this is a bit scary because we are used to having control of our classes, but it is necessary to give our students some responsibility during their learning process so that they will be able to become more autonomous and be aware of self-improvement. In this stage, teachers should have clear objectives focused on this goal and also plan activities that promote learners’ interaction and autonomy such as: pair or group work, discussion topics, self-evaluations, oral presentations, reflective logs, problem-solving tasks, etc.

The second stage refers to motivation, encouragement and use of technology. In class, teachers should encourage their students to improve every day and learn something new outside the classroom. In this stage, it is important for students to put into practice what they have learnt in class and technology must be our best friend. It is necessary to plan activities that include the PRE-, DURING- and AFTER learning process. Technology can help us a lot to maximize our students’ performance and commitment to develop their learner autonomy. We can use: blogs, interactive PowerPoint presentations, Webquests, discussion forums after watching videos or listening to podcasts, projects, discussions through chat rooms, etc.

Sincerely,

JC

related links

Learner Autonomy

Learner Autonomy Definition

Autonomy and the Web

Interesting Articles About Technology in the clasroom

Hello, Donna and friends

I hope you like these interesting articles.

What Students And Parents Think About Mobile Technology
(Source: Edudemic)

Interesting Ways To Use Technology In The Classroom
(Source: Edte.ch)

The Best 10 Tools To Create Posters For Your Classroom
(Source: Educational Technology and Mobile Learning)

60 Inspiring Examples Of Twitter In The Classroom
(Source: 21st Century Fluency Project)

7 Ways To Create An Engaging Online Science Course
(Source: The Online Science Educator)

Road To Success – Plan Draft # 1

From now on, the biggest task has begun. And the hardest question is: what can I do: A Project or a Plan? Meanwhile, I have decided to make a plan because my classes change every month and they can be in a different English level. Therefore, I want to make a plan for a blog that would include extra activities for all levels of English learners. That way I would not limit those activities for a specific class. I have been thinking of focusing on grammar extra activities because most of the students that I have taught have asked me for extra grammar help and clarifications so that this blog would be a helpful source of extra practice for them.

I would like to include self-test activities, printable activities, videos with explanations and podcasts. I am sure this way my students would be able to practice English as well as improve their L2 proficiency.

Week 6 - Reflection # 2 - Interactive PowerPoint

This week's second topic was about Interactive PowerPoint. Let’s start talking a little about PowerPoint and then we can understand how useful this program can be for teaching. 

What is PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is a complete presentation graphics package. It gives you everything you need to produce a professional-looking presentation. PowerPoint offers word processing, outlining, drawing, graphing, and presentation management tools- all designed to be easy to use and learn.

The following gives you a quick overview of what you can do in PowerPoint:

When you create a presentation using PowerPoint, the presentation is made up of a series of slides. The slides that you create using PowerPoint can also be presented as overhead transparencies or 35mm slides.

In addition to slides, you can print audience handouts, outlines, and speaker's notes.

You can format all the slides in a presentation using the powerful Slide Master which will be covered in the tutorial.

You can keep your entire presentation in a single file- all your slides, speaker's notes, and audience handouts.

You can import what you have created in other Microsoft products, such as Word and Excel into any of your slides.

(Source: http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/tutorials/csc101/powerpoint/power.html)

Is It Important To Create an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation?

In fact, it is. Why? Basically PowerPoint can help us create interactive activities or slide presentations so that our students or listeners can do much more than only looking at colorful slides filled with a lot of information. The idea is to create a slide presentation that can encourage our students to interact with the teacher or lecturer and help them understand and learn the topic that we are explaining.

related links
10 things you can do to give your PowerPoint presentations a heartbeat
How to Create an Interactive PowerPoint Presentation
Make a PowerPoint Multiple Choice Quiz

Week 6 - Reflection # 1 - Technology Tools for Creating Student-Centered Classes, Including Large Classes.

Hello Donna and classmates

I hope you are doing fine and enjoying your weekend. I have to say that this week’s topics have been very interesting. The first, teaching large classes, is generally one of the most common educational issues and challenges that public school teachers and administrators have to face in my country every day. It is quite hard to speak in front of people, but it is much harder if there are more than fifty people in the audience. Therefore, the lecturer (or teacher) needs to know different ways to keep those listeners active so that they can take advantage and acquire the knowledge that they are receiving in an effective way.

Technology plays an important role in these situations. However, the technological tools that we plan to use in our classes must be carefully chosen as well as the activities have to encourage our students to participate more actively. If we forget some essential tips for teaching large classes, our students can feel bored and they won’t learn anything at all.   

Sincerely

JC

related links

Teaching Large Classes

Large Classes

A Survival Handbook for Teaching Large Classes

Pactical Tips For Teaching Large Classes

If You Can’t Beat Em’, Join 'Em… on Facebook! - Using Social Media in the Classroom

Hello, Donna and classmates

I found this article very interesting and basically it explains how to include social networks in the classroom and how effective this can be. Nowadays, it is impossible to deny that most teenagers and young adults enjoy using these communication and interaction tools. Therefore, let's take as many advantages of them as possible.

Sincerely,
JC

related links
How To Use Social Media In The Classroom
(From Busy Teacher - busyteacher.org)

How Students Benefit From Using Social Media
(From Edudemic - edudemic)

Week 5 - Reflection # 2 - Project-Based Learning And WebQuests

What is Project-Based Learning?

PBL is an instrumental approach that is based on the use of authentic learning tasks that helps our students become skilled at solving real life problems, collaborating, communicating and thinking critically. These kinds of projects are meaningful because students can put their knowledge into practice and acquire a sense of responsibility and true commitment because they have to work and do research (alone or in group) in order to fulfill their projects.      

What are WebQuests?

These are activities that offer students the chance to use Internet tools and resources in order to solve a problem. This is a kind of PBL and they are excellent because they can help teachers increase their students’ interest and motivation for learning. WebQuests are also useful because our students can do these tasks at school or at home and they can include different tasks or resources such as: videos, podcasts, surveys, web-searching, experiments and so on. The only limit is your imagination. Additionally, these interactive and online tools get our students to become knowledge researchers and help them learn how to use The Internet more efficiently.

            

related links

What Is PBL?

PBL

About PBL

Webquests

Webquest – Putting Discovery into the Curriculum

What Is A WebQuest?

Week 5 - Reflection # 1 - Rubrics and Alternative Assessment

Hello, Donna and CLassmates

This week’s topics have basically been related to effective assessment. What do I mean? Traditionally, pop quizzes, weekly tests and final exams have been widely used to assess our students’ performance, progress and mastery in a subject during the school year or a course they have been taking. However, I wonder: How many of us have suffered from test anxiety before and during a test? How sure can we be that our students have learnt something well enough by only considering written evaluations? Is it okay to judge a student as good or bad depending on how he or she does on tests? These are important questions that we have to keep in mind because every student learns in a different way and his or her progress and performance are determined according to some factors such as interests, motivations, skills and learning environment.

Therefore checklists and rubrics are very useful tools for authentic and effective assessment and alternative assessment helps our students become more self-confident, committed and organized while doing a task or making a project.

1)      Checklists

A checklist is a list of items and steps that are required to accomplish an activity. Checklists are used in many fields or areas. Basically, they help us keep control of the things that we need or have to do in order to achieve a goal. Therefore, it is very important to check, verify and never skip any items in a checklist. In education, checklists are useful because they give students the control of what they are doing as well as what the teacher is expecting from them.

2)      Rubrics

A rubric is a sheet of paper where teachers can determine which aspects are going to be considered while assessing students. At the same time, when students are given a rubric, they can know exactly what to do and how to do it in order to get a grade. This is a fair and well-organized way to assess students because they become more involved and committed on their tasks and they can know in advance how good or bad their grades might be depending on their progress and performance.

3)      Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessment implies the use of non-traditional approaches or tools in evaluating students’ performance. Nowadays, the use of technology and the internet has made it possible to assess students in a more authentic way. Besides, alternative assessment gives teachers the opportunity to become facilitators and students to become builders and evaluators of their own knowledge and performance.

related links

What Is A Checklist?

Checklists

Create Checklists

Checklist Creator

What Is A Rubric?

Rubrics

Grading By Using Rubrics

Know About Rubrics

Create Rubrics

Teacher Tools

Alternative Assessment

Practical Ideas On Alternative Assessment

About Alternative Assessment

40 Alternative Assessments for Learning

Overview of Alternative Assessment Approaches

                 

Week 4 - Reflection # 2 - How To Create A Technology-Enhanced Lesson Plan

Nowadays, technology is becoming more and more useful and it has had a great impact on our society and daily life. Education has also been benefited from these technological changes for the last 10 years. Therefore, it is very important for teachers to be ready for this new challenge. Traditional teaching methods and resources are still valid; however, the use of the internet and other electronic devices has created a very motivating and interesting class environment that is ideal for our students regardless of age in order to help and encourage them to learn English in a friendly way.

Besides, these technological tools offer teachers an excellent opportunity to make their classes more authentic and globalized, so that students will be able to “live” how people speak English all over the world.

There is something very important to keep in mind. Technology is a tool, and as a tool, teachers have to know how to handle and use it accurately.

related links:

How to Write An Integrated Lesson Plan

Curriculum-Based Technology Integration Activities

Writing a Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan