Week 10 - Reflection # 1 - End Of The Course

Hello Donna and classmates

During this interesting online course, I have learnt many things that have been useful and motivating.

What topics were most successful?

I found some topics very interesting and useful such as:

1)      Web searching: I am a big Google fan, but I learnt how to use other search engines that can be as effective and useful as Google.

2)      How to write clear objectives: Writing objectives has been my weakness and a headache sometimes. However, I could clarify some doubts when we had to do it using the ABCD model. This way of writing objectives is very accurate and measurable.

3)      Multi-skill activities and websites: Most of the time, I provide my students with extra grammar activities, but during the 3^rd and 4^th week, I learnt how to use other resources or websites to exploit all the language skills.

4)      Rubrics and alternative assessment: This is helpful to assess our students’ performance more accurately.    

5)      Teaching large classes and learning styles were also very interesting topics because we have to face these issues in the institutions or schools where we work.

What topics were most useful for you?

1)      Saving bookmarks with Delicious: I used to have many websites that I kept in my browser’s favorite list, but they were really disorganized. After creating my account and using Delicious, all my favorite websites are classified according to the topics that I am interested in; I can follow other Delicious’s users and share our links.  

2)      Creating an academic blog: I think this is a very simple and effective way to help our students to practice writing outside the classroom because they can feel more confident to write and share their opinions and ideas.

3)      Tools for assessment and creating exercises: these tools were very useful because I like to give my students extra practice. Therefore these tools can help me a lot to create my own worksheets.

4)      Interactive PowerPoint: I have used PowerPoint presentations several times, but during this week, I learnt how to create better and interactive presentations that can maximize the use of this visual tool.  

Which tools will you use in your classes?

I will definitely use a blog, interactive PowerPoint presentations and multi-skill activities.

Which, if any, do you think were not relevant to what you do or will do?

I think most of the tools and topics that we used and discussed during the course were important, but some of them are not feasible to put into practice in our classes or we need to get more familiar with them to start using them in the classroom.

For instance, I would need to practice more how to use webquests and ANVILL tools before starting to use them in my classes. I think they are very useful and interesting to the students. However, it might take me some time to learn well how to use these technology tools.  

What other tools might we have covered or would you suggest that we could have looked at?

Nowadays, social networks, cell phones and tablets are becoming more and more popular among teenagers and young adults in my country and also all over the world. It would be a good idea to include some tips or activities to use these technology tools in the classroom.

Sincerely

JC