Passion and curiosity are massive driving forces that give me a deep purpose to learn and to teach. Technology allows me to not only learn in a new and different way, but also to teach my students in a much more creative way. Thus, as an educator, my mission is to educate my students not only by teaching but also making use of available technologies to help them build their understanding of the technology as a part of the education process and to increase their motivation. My vision is to help my students to graduate with 21st century skills to succeed in work and life and to be productive members of the society so that my students will be good explorers and communicators of knowledge by using technology while I also expand my role of teaching from teacher to a facilitator, modeler, learning architect, connected learner, change agent, and synthesizer.
Therefore, I use technology in many ways because I believe it better demonstrates my passion and curiosity. I use technology to find answers to my questions and to accomplish my goals. I connect with other teachers through social networking, blogging, and online courses. When I have a question in mind, I send it out to these people whose personal interests or expertise can help me to find answers to my questions or to solve my problems. I use mails, group discussion boards, wikis, blogs, Google docs, Twitter, and Facebook to connect with these people. I use social bookmarking tools to manage and organize bookmarks of resources online because just like other people, I have those days that I struggle to keep track of new ideas. I also use technology to create new tools to address the needs of my students better.
As for how I use technologies to inspire passion and curiosity in my classroom, technology in my classroom is used for communicating and working collaboratively, facilitating student learning and creativity, using critical thinking skills to plan research and to manage projects, modeling instruction, record keeping, and sharing work. To accomplish that, I teach using videos, podcasts, online graphic organizers, interactive online activities, webquests, and websites. I also make use of the interactive white board I have in my classroom. I also use numerous tech tools to teach and among my favorites are Glogster, Prezi, Powtoon, Voicethread, Weebly, Mind Meister, and Facebook.
In conclusion, I believe the process of learning is devalued by focusing on the result. We, as teachers, need to honor that process and our students’ desire for passion and curiosity. Technology is a great way to inspire passion and curiosity in our classroom because if the content is presented in different ways and provides options for learners, then it can be guaranteed that information is accessible to learners with different learning styles and comprehension is also easier for many students in the class.
Please find below my something I created using something. It highlights the main ideas from this post.
The purpose of the survey was to collect data on the ways my colleagues currently use technologies, would like to use technologies, and would like to engage in professional development about technology integration at work. This information would be used to guide the planning and implementation of future professional development trainings. This report presents the results collected through the Professional Development Needs Assessment in Technology survey.
Methods
I created a survey using Google Forms and sent it to my colleagues. 34 responses were collected. Data collection began June 10, 2013 and ended June 15, 2013.
Organization of Report
This report is divided into three sections:
· Teacher demographics: data on my colleagues’ years of experience
· Open-ended responses: data on my colleagues’ responses to two open-ended questions regarding the ways my colleagues currently use technologies and would like to use technologies
· Teachers’ professional development and technology: data on my colleagues’ interests in particular forms of professional development
Teacher Demographics
Years of Experience
Most participants in this survey (50%) have less than 1 year of experience. Those with 1-2 years of experience are the second largest group (31%).
Open-ended Responses
My colleagues responded two open-ended questions in the survey. These questions were:
1. How do you utilize technology in your daily lessons?
2. In what ways would you like to change or improve how you use technology in your classroom?
Before summarizing the responses to these questions, it is important to note that most of my colleagues (71%) use technology daily during instruction. Yet, the result is not surprising as all teachers in our university are given laptops to take home so they can integrate technology into their classrooms and carry on preparing resources and other materials ready for school.
1. How do you utilize technology in your daily lessons?
After reviewing responses from my colleagues, I noticed some trends. Most of my colleagues use Microsoft PowerPoint or Word. They also use videos/YouTube in their teaching in addition to the coursework software, CDs, and DVDs that accompany the books. Facebook is highly familiar to my colleagues and also the most popular social network integrated into the classroom while some other social media tools such as blogs, wikis, and Google sites are less used to teach. Most of my colleagues also use technology to project websites, worksheets, and presentations on the board.
2. In what ways would you like to change or improve how you use technology in your classroom?
We have interactive whiteboards in our classrooms, but the majority of my colleagues felt that they needed training on how to thoroughly exploit the smart board. My colleagues are especially interested in learning more about Web 2.0 tools and smart phone applications. Although the biggest concern by my colleagues is that they use technology in the traditional sense such as using the projectors, PPTs, and some websites, they are all eager to learn more about technology because they believe that integrating technology into their classrooms can increase student engagement.
Teachers’ Professional Development and Technology
1. Technology-focused Professional Development
The majority of responses from my colleagues (31%) are requests for trainings with interactive whiteboards. The second largest group of responses (23%) is requests for trainings on the use of Web 2.0 Tools and the third largest group (20%) indicates a desire for training on e-Portfolios. Finally, the fourth group of responses (16%) points toward an interest in training on Website Design and the fifth group of responses is requests for training in Computer Troubleshooting.
2. Professional Development Delivery Format Preferences
More than half of my colleagues (59%) indicate a preference for a combination of both while 29% indicate a preference for face-to-face professional development. Finally, 12% indicate a preference for online/distance learning.
Conclusions
Overall, the findings from this survey offer three conclusions. First of all, most of my colleagues integrate technology into their classrooms on a daily basis, yet they feel that they are using basic technology tools. Thus, future trainings should address this issue and focus on how teachers can use the technology in their teaching. Secondly, my colleagues seem interested in both online professional development and face-to-face professional development; therefore, online forms of professional development should also be implemented in our program. Finally, I believe that we need a carefully designed technology plan to effectively use technology in our teaching as clear goals for the use or integration of technology can increase confidence and willingness of my colleagues to use technology to create a rich and meaningful instruction for our students. Therefore, I will be working on planning technology related professional development starting this summer as I know that my colleagues value technology as an important part of our program. I hope that consistent professional development opportunities will help to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools in support of student learning.
Thank you for your time in providing this important information. The purpose of the survey is to collect data on the ways you currently use technologies, would like to use technologies, and would like to engage in professional development about technology integration at work.
In the 21st century, the intensification of globalization has made global transaction easier and led to the growth of international finance indifferent to the constraints of time and space, resulting in the commodification of knowledge, that is, the advent of the mass media has created information societies in which knowledge is something that can be traded in the market-place. In addition to the marketization of information, the globalization of economy has also shifted the focus from education and schooling to learning. As a result of this, the definition of learning has changed and Shahrzad Mojab (2009) defines this new kind of learning as
‘learning by dispossession’, by which I mean that in the process of learning and work something other than ‘learning’ (which can be measured, evaluated or assessed on the basis of categorisation of ‘formal’, ‘informal’ and ‘non-formal’, or ‘paid’ and ‘unpaid’) is happening. (p. 14)
In other words, this learning places the responsibility for lifelong learning not on the state but on the individual and has a neutral meaning. Therefore, it is the learner who defines learning based on their preferences and takes action for their own learning. Yet, to choose responsibly from the massive amounts of information available in our networked world, learners should participate as reflective consumers in a market.
To this end, I decided to revisit my own infodiet. My current infodiet consists of facebook, twitter, and various websites and I am well aware that although my infodiet should open up many doors to sources of information, it still needs to be controlled and organized due to the growing number of new technologies. Thus, I decided to add some new resources to my infodiet because I realized that they would make my definition of “learning” more meaningful, more delicious, and most importantly more like me.
To start with, for my continuous professional development, I chose to follow @iateflonline and @AAEEBL. IATEFL is one of the biggest communities of ELT teachers in the world and each spring they organize The IATEFL International Annual Conference and Exhibition; therefore, to watch recorded video talks and interviews, to share ideas with other teachers in the world, and to stay up to date with new developments in the ELT world I am now following IATEFL. Additionally, nowadays I am interested in learning more about eportfolios because I believe in the value of eportfolio for learning. That’s why, I decided to follow AAEEBL because it provides me with an opportunity to watch conferences and webinars and helps me to find online eportfolio resources and to follow news about the upcoming eportfolio events.
My second group of new resources is focused on news on teaching because teaching is what I do in the classroom. They include @GuardianTeach and @tedtalks. I think following these is a great way to keep connected to my work life because by reading the articles on GuardianTeach and by watching the videos on TedTalks I can find solutions to the problems that I face in the classroom and also I can find the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching.
Finally, for news and updates on technology, I chose to follow @TechCrunch and @TechSmith. Technology is an indispensable part of my life and an indispensable aid to my colleagues and students; thus, it is crucial that I am up to date on what is happening in the world of technology.
To conclude, I feel happy to have added to my infodiet because I believe it is my responsibility to choose what to learn as a self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner!
REFERENCES
Mojab, S. (2009). Turning work and lifelong learning inside out: A marxist-feminist attempt. In L. C. & S. W. (Eds.), Turning work and lifelong learning inside out (pp. 4-15). South Africa: HSRC Press.
“Hav ingdys lexiac anmake it hardtoread! Translation: Having dyslexia can make it hard to read” (Woliver, 2008). So what is dyslexia? The British Dyslexia Association defines dyslexia as
… a complex neurological condition which is constitutional in origin. The symptoms may affect many areas of learning and function, and may be described as a specific difficulty in reading, spelling and written language. One or more of these areas may be affected: Numeracy, notational skills (music), motor functions and organizational skills may also be involved. However, it is particularly related to mastering written language although oral language may be affected to some degree (The British Dyslexia Association, 1998; as cited in Helland, 2007, p. 26).
Before starting to talk about dyslexia in depth, it is necessary to mention the components of reading ability to have a better understanding of dyslexia. As I searched for this issue, I found that reading ability consists of “adequate language comprehension” and “fluent word identification”. In other words, “while written words are encoded symbolizations of spoken words, spoken words are encoded symbolizations of environmental experiences” (Vellutino et al., 2004, pg. 3). Thus, reading ability is a complex phenomenon that includes different types of knowledge and skills, which also depend on reading-related linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive abilities.
Figure 1. Cognitive processes and different types of knowledge entailed in learning to read. The model indicates the cognitive processes and other types of knowledge involved in reading ability (Vellutino et al., 2004, p. 4).
Therefore, since reading ability is composed of the complex interplay between these different memory systems and processes, Vellutino et al. (2004) state that difficulty in reading may come from the deficiencies in reading-related cognitive abilities resulting from abnormal development and malfunction in one or more of these coding and memory systems or from less mixture of reading-related cognitive abilities resulting from the interaction between the child’s experiences in her environment and “genetic endowment”. Hence, I will first discuss the manifest and underlying (cognitive and biological) causes of dyslexia and then I will move onto the discussion of what should be done to help dyslexic children.
To start with, research has shown that early reading difficulties basically manifest itself in deficiency in printed word identification besides deficiency in spelling and phonological decoding. According to this, Vellutino et al. (2004) define dyslexia as “a basic deficit in learning to decode print” (p. 6). Studies that examine the relationship between language comprehension and word identification have shown that even if the child is good at language comprehension, the child will still have the problem in reading comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Perfetti, 1985; Snowling, 2000a; Stanovich, 1991; Vellutino, 1979, 1987; Vellutino, Scanlon, & Tanzman, 1994; Vellutino, Scanlon, & Chen, 1995a; Vellutino et al., 1996, as cited in Vellutino et al., 2004). On the contrary, these studies also report that if the child has deficiency in reading comprehension, she will also have deficiency in word identification and word level skills such as spelling and phonological decoding. Therefore, it is possible to say that word identification, which results from difficulty in learning to decode print, is the most basic cause of dyslexia.
Apart from these studies, there are naturalistic studies, intervention studies, and controlled laboratory studies which have found out that deficiency in phonological awareness and alphabetic code may lead to difficulty in reading (Vellutino et al., 2004). In addition to this, as shown in the model above, phonological awareness and alphabetic code are two components of metalinguistic analysis (analysis of language structures), and orthographic awareness and general orthographic knowledge are the other two components. As a result, Vellutino et al. (2004) state that children who have difficulty in phonological awareness and alphabetic code will also have difficulty in orthographic awareness and general orthographic knowledge since there is a reciprocal relationship among them. Thus, in addition to the difficulty in identifying printed words, difficulties in phonological awareness and alphabetic code also result in difficulties in reading.
Yet, Vellutino et al. (2004) question whether these deficiencies are causally related to dyslexia. They further state that although aforementioned studies have found out evidence that limitations in knowledge of print concepts have been observed to lead to early language difficulties, they are not the basic causes of dyslexia in the biological sense since these deficiencies are mostly led by “experiential and instructional deficits” instead of “biologically based cognitive deficits” (p. 7). This result is supported by studies which indicate that children who are good at metalinguistic analysis and identifying printed words have still difficulty in learning to read (Vellutino et al., 1996, as cited in Vellutino et al. 2004).
As a consequence, it is important to discuss the underlying (cognitive and biological) causes of dyslexia:
For many years, cognitive deficits have been studied as the basic causes of dyslexia (Fletcher, Foorman, Shaywitz, & Shaywitz, 1999; Lyon et al., 2002; Snowling, 2000a; Vellutino, 1979, 1987; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1982, as cited in Vellutino et al., 2004). For instance, dyslexia has been ascribed to the difficulties in selective attention (Douglas, 1972, as cited in Vellutino et al., 2004) and associative learning (Brewer, 1967; Gascon & Goodglass, 1970; as cited in Vellutino et al. 2004). Thus, difficulties in one or more of these general learning abilities have been thought to lead to specific language disability (dyslexia). Yet, empirical research has disproved the theories under general learning abilities as the basic causes of dyslexia since these theories did not eliminate group differences in verbal coding ability and working memory processes that could be influenced by verbal coding deficits (Vellutino, 1979, 1987; Vellutino & Scanlon, 1982; see also Katz, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 1981; Katz, Healy, & Shankweiler, 1983; as cited in Vellutino et al., 2004). Visual deficit theories were popular in the 1970s and 1980s, and when linguistic deficit theories started to compete with visual deficit theories, visual deficit theories lost their popularity due to lack of empirical support. Other than these, some language related theories emerged as many scholars thought that since language is a linguistic skill, deficiencies in semantic, phonological, or syntactic knowledge would lead to dyslexia.
Apart from these factors, neurobiological factors have been considered as the underlying causes of dyslexia and studies on brain structure, brain function, and genetics have been conducted. Regarding brain structure, post mortem studies and anatomical magnetic resonance imaging have been carried out. Post mortem studies focus on the structure of temporal lobe known as the “planum temporale”. In normal adults, this structure has been reported as larger in the left hemisphere. Yet, according to post portem studies, there are unexpected symmetries in the left versus right hemispheres of dyslexics, that is, symmetry is seen as the cause of dyslexia (Galaburda, Sherman, Rosen, Aboitiz, & Geschwind, 1985; Humphreys, Kaufmann, & Galaburda, 1990; as cited in Vellutino et al. 2004). Yet, since it is difficult to find available brains for such studies and to control learners’ backgrounds and characteristics on the basis of post mortem studies, neuroimaging has emerged. Anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI) has been used to conduct studies about the causes of dyslexia. Although a wide range of structures have been evaluated including planum temporale, temporal lobes, and corpus callosum, aMRI is time-consuming and requires human effort that in turn puts constraints on the size of the samples. In addition, since there is variety in the measurement of brain structures, it is possible to have mixed results. As for brain function, functional neuroimaging methods are used in order to collect information about the response of the brain to cognitive challenges. There are five methods that are used: PET, fMRI, MSI, MRS, and electrophysiological methods.
Shaywitz et al. (2005) report that functional brain imaging studies are important because they have been also used to “describe the organization of brain for reading, specifically identification and localization of specific neural systems serving reading and their differences in typical and dyslexic readers” (p. 279). According to the results of these studies, there are three left hemisphere neural systems for reading and good readers show much more activation in the three left hemisphere neural systems than do dyslexic children. With maturation, there is compensation “in anterior regions around the inferior frontal gyrus, so that differences between older nonimpaired and dyslexic children are confined to two posterior regions, the parieto-temporal and occipito-temporal systems” (Shaywitz et al., 2002, as cited in Shaywitz et al., 2005, p. 279). Another conclusion from these studies is that “poor home and educational environment could be jointly responsible for the concurrent expression of low IQ and poor reading” (Olson, 1999, as cited in Shaywitz et al. 2005, p. 280).
At this point, it is possible to say that dyslexia has a neurobiological basis, but one should not also disregard the possible effects of school and home environments and cultures in which children learn how to read on dyslexia because reading is a complex phenomenon. Yet, now it’s time to talk about what all this means for the future. First, the research on the causes of dyslexia is important for people who work in school systems because the research reviewed here questions the use of the psychometric assessment as the only means for determining the main causes of reading difficulties for purposes of educational planning, that is, the research is against the assessment to determine underlying (cognitive and biological) and manifest causes of dyslexia because such research results in the classification such as learning disabled children versus socioeconomically disadvantaged children. As a result of this, the child’s reading difficulty is attributed to a cognitive deficit and then to neuro-developmental anomaly. However, as also pointed out earlier, psychometric approaches do not have a control on the child’s educational background and early experiences and most early reading difficulties are caused primarily by experiential and instructional deficits. Therefore, although I have categorized the causes of dyslexia as manifest and underlying, it should be clear that there are no clear-cut criteria to determine the ultimate origin of a child’s early reading difficulty as neuro-biological. Hence, the question that should be answered is what can be done to help dyslexic children.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for designing curriculum that can help teachers to differentiate instruction for differing learners. UDL can allow educators to design curricula from the beginning to address individual differences; therefore, disabled curricula can be reduced and be flexible and customized via new interactive, flexible, and malleable media. Thus, by applying the UDL principles to the creation of web-based materials, educators can provide their students with an environment that supports all learners and one such technology that they can use as a guide for technology integration in their classroom is Text-to-Speech Technology (TTST) which will not only support their students but also will address to the special needs of their dyslexic students. TTST aims to support students who struggle to read or have a reading disorder. Today nearly all computers come with some basic TTST programs. Most TTST programs can speak letters, words, and/or sentences as they are typed, but of course TTST programs are most helpful if they highlight the words as they are spoken because I think they could help dyslexic students focus their attention on the text, understand the text, and most importantly be aware of their learning needs as dyslexic students’ strength is not in the visual modality. They could also help students to express themselves better because dyslexic children face barriers when they try to access information via print materials. TTST could also mean a shift in focus in school systems, that is, rather than focusing on the psychometric assessment to determine the causes of dyslexia, the integration of TTST into the classroom could mean a step to provide differentiated support in the classroom and to develop effective educational programs for helping dyslexic children.
To conclude, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Walt Disney are all dyslexics; yet they are known as the best representatives of their fields. That is, being dyslexic cannot stop someone from achieving her goals. Let’s not kill creativity in our students!
Some Free TTST Resources
Accessibar : It is a Firefox browser extension that adds visual accommodation tools and text-to-speech. http://accessibar.mozdev.org/
ATBar: As well as text to speech, it offers other tools such as changing the layout of the web page to make it easier to read and using spell checking and word prediction when writing on pages, but no high-lighting. https://www.atbar.org/
Balabolka: It can speak with synchronized highlighting. It colors the text, and leaves the color on what has been read. It can create mp3 files. http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm
CLiCk, Speak : A Firefox browser extension that adds text-to-speech. Students can hear web pages read aloud. http://clickspeak.clcworld.net/
Natural Reader: Write in, or copy and paste into, its own word processor for synchronized highlighting. http://www.naturalreaders.com/
ReadingBar: It adds text- to-speech to Internet Explorer on Window. Web. It can save web pages to audio and can enlarge the graphics and text on a web page. http://www.readplease.com/
REFERENCES
Helland, T. (2007). Dyslexia at a behavioral and a coginitive Level. DYSLEXIA, 13, 25-41. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1002/dys.325
Woliver, R. (2008). Alphabet kids - from ADD to Zellweger syndrome: a guide to developmental, neurobiological and psychological disorders for parents and professionals. London: Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley.
The relationship between society and educational institutions is one of the hotly questioned issues all around the world. In chapter 1 of his book, The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning, Gee (2013) points out that society generates unequal conditions for people concerning race, gender, and class. That is, those who have the power lead society the way where they want it to go. Despite this, we humans ignore this evidence and continue on giving power to them. However, Gee opposes to this idea and suggests taking action against dominant powers in society because awakening of learners with critical thinking will help them to lead their lives. This demonstrates that the relationship between society and education is not one-sided; while educational institutions are influenced by fluctuations in society, they generate changes to better society and to guarantee the creation of a good society. The question is whether educational systems reflect this reciprocal relationship between education and society. More specifically, the question is whether educational systems guarantee the formation of a good society.
In quest for an answer to this question, Gee (2013) states that “schools treat memory as a bank that can be filled with accurate information” (p. 27). In his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire (1970/2003) defines this type of education as “an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat” (p. 72). This type of system does not give chance to students to critically evaluate the world in which they live, in turn; they lose the opportunity to better their lives by making changes. Yet, critical thinking stimulates creativity and consciousness toward the problems and situations faced in our lives. That’s why, teachers should give importance to critical thinking by preparing the environment for such a dialogue to occur. In other words, teachers should allow students to ask questions. In this way, students can make connections between society and education. This process, which Gee calls as “the circuit of reflective action” and Freire calls as “praxis”, is defined as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it” (Freire, 1970/2003, p. 51). With such a dialogue, it is obvious that our students and citizens will be more critical about the decisions that are made on their behalf. Because if they get this consciousness, they will feel free to state their ideas about anything and will be able to offer alternatives to “frozen solutions” which are offered by institutions that are defined as “frozen thought” (Gee, 2013, p. 85). This will also lead to a decrease in the habit of making certain ideas prominent in the society; as a result, people will not be informed about what constitutes proper ways of thinking as they will actively “think about, reflect on, and make new decisions about institutionally frozen solutions” (Gee, 2013, p. 89). This will then help us to deal with complexity that we face in our lives since critical thinking respects the individual and the social context that she comes from and does not derive from ideas given status by dominant powers in society.
All in all, educational institutions should be socially constructed in order to meet the basic demands of society. Teachers are the ones who can change today’s society and educators of adults are the ones who can encourage adults to take action in regard to their own lives because education is not banking; education is getting freedom to tell anything about our own lives. This is the only way that education can guarantee a good society.
REFERENCES
Freire, P. (2003). Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30th ed.). (M. B. Ramos, Trans.). New York: Continuum. (Original work was published 1970).
Gee, P. J. (2013). The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students through Digital Learning (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.
For my graduate course (CEP 812), this week we have focused on defining problems of practice we face on a daily basis. The kinds of problems that we solve vary dramatically, yet for this week we have learnt about well structured, ill-structured (complex), and wicked (unsolveable) problems.
My first assignment asked me to create a screencast focusing on one of these problems. I decided to focus on previewing a text for reading comprehension. My Advanced Level English Language Learning students struggle with the complexity of the academic texts. I consider this a well-structured problem because students must preview a text for improving comprehension before they actually read it. Although there are some ways to preview a text, all of these strategies aim to help students to identify the key vocabulary and to get a general idea about the whole text.
Below is my screencast about WordSift. You can find this great tool here.
That comment is not easy for a teacher to hear. So far, I have heard comments like “I’ve tried everything. This student doesn’t care about anything.” These students sometimes can be the most frustrating ones to teach. But, why would someone give up so easily? My experience in teaching has taught me one good lesson: Students fail not because of “stupidity or banality” but because of their “desire to protect themselves and to survive” (Palmer 2007, p. 46). With this in mind, I started Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University.
Before I started the certificate program, I had been integrating technology into my lessons since I first started teaching and I thought I was good at preparing interactive lessons that put my students at the center of their learning. To me, I was ahead of the curve. But, that was all before I took the first class and experienced an amazing transformation in both my learning and teaching. The Educational Technology Program I became immersed in with MAET brought a new awareness. For instance, each week I am expected to turn in some assignments and that helps me a lot because I find the opportunity to reflect on my experiences and to get feedback on my progress. My contention is that reflecting on my experiences and getting feedback on my progress greatly influence my teaching as well as my interactions with my colleagues and my students because my experiences are one of the most valuable resources to improve my own teaching. In addition, since I have started using what I have learnt so far in a productive way, reflecting on my experiences has allowed me to use my experiences as a point of learning not only for myself but also for others because I try to share what I learn with others and each time I share something new with them, I get impressed by the surprised look on their faces and this encourages me to share more!
When reflecting back on this course, I found myself achieving a great deal concerning technology because the course provided us with a wealth of useful readings. One thing that I learnt was that a teacher should be comfortable with the idea of harnessing in newer technologies to be able to have meaningful lessons based on technology and to be able to integrate 21st century skills into their lessons. Also, being familiar with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) led me to think about the importance of addressing individual differences and thus, I now know that presenting content by using multiple media and providing differentiated support, providing options for action and expression, and providing options for engagement are some ways to catch the attention of more students because if the content is presented in different ways and provides options for learners, then it can be guaranteed that information is accessible to learners with different learning styles and comprehension is also easier for many students in the class. Additionally, I learnt about how to blend content, pedagogy, and content through TPACK framework and in my opinion this framework is vital to students’ success in foreign language learning because students as digital natives are savvier than I am; therefore, I have to keep abreast of the latest technologies and try new ones in my classroom.
Apart from these, I worked on several face-to-face instructional resources during the course and created my “UDL Enhanced Lesson Plan”, “Paraphrasing or Summarizing?” StAIR, and my “How to Use Evidence” WebQuest. I have already implemented my lesson plan, StAIR, and WebQuest into my classroom. My StAIR and WebQuest focus on teaching students paraphrasing and summarizing and how to integrate evidence from multiple sources into a research paper, respectively. After my students used “Paraphrasing or Summarizing” StAIR, they have started working on their research paper by using my WebQuest. Now, they are really happy to be working on their research paper because the use of a WebQuest means employing a variety of teaching strategies such as team-based learning, cooperative and collaborative learning, and inquiry-based learning through a discovery process.
One of my goals is to continue to learn about various methods of incorporating technology into my teaching repertoire to enhance and increase my use of technology in education. To this end, I would like to learn to introduce using e-pals in the classroom and how to integrate podcasting into the curriculum and. One technology that I would like to use is interactive discussions with experts. This technology can cover a variety of content, but for my language learning students I would like to focus on speaking and listening. Throughout the next two months, I plan to continue my learning with CEP 812 in the Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University. After this course is over, as an educator, I plan to continue to increase my educational technology knowledge by harnessing in newer technologies and also engaging in knowledge-building activities.
Language teaching is one of the most thought-provoking issues in the area of education. It has been around for many centuries, and over the centuries, it has changed a lot. There have been many changes that have affected language teaching. Based on these changes occurring in the area of teaching and learning, the advent of digital technology and online learning has provided students with an abundance of communication tools and 21st century learning and 21st century skills have emerged.
Taking these changes into consideration, as an educator, my mission is to educate my students not only by teaching but also making use of available technologies to help them build their understanding of the technology as a part of the education process and to increase their motivation. My vision is to help my students to graduate with 21st century skills to succeed in work and life and to be productive members of the society so that my students will be good explorers and communicators of knowledge by using technology
Technology in my classroom is used for communicating and working collaboratively, facilitating student learning and creativity, using critical thinking skills to plan research and to manage projects, modeling instruction, record keeping, and sharing work. So far, I have incorporated online learning into my classroom in a variety of different formats including Learning Management System, WebQuests, blogs, educational gaming, online research, online research validation, online projects as well as interactive discussions between students and blended instruction. Yet, using career planning tools would be harder to use with my students because of the timing problem. Since each module in my workplace lasts 7 weeks, it would be difficult to keep track of student work although I believe that using this kind of career planning tools would help my adult students a lot.
Although I have been infusing some aspects of educational technology into my classroom, one technology that I would like to use is interactive discussions with experts. Actually, to improve students’ speaking skills, a colleague of mine and I created a website, Discuss With Us. The website blends two learning environments, face-to-face learning environment and online learning environment. By using this website, students interact with a real audience in the target language via computer-mediated discussions and this authentic nature of interaction augments student motivation. But, using interactive discussions with experts would complete this online experience. This technology can cover a variety of content, but for my language learning students I would focus on speaking and listening. However, one drawback of using this technology is that students might have difficulty in concentrating on a screen for longer periods. Thus, before I start using this technology, I have to plan some activities and add variety into the sessions to help students maintain their levels of interest and concentration. For instance, to prepare my students for the video conferencing, before the sessions I can send a welcome letter to all students which will introduce them the video conferencing. Additionally, I can provide regular feedback sessions for my students because they may be apprehensive and not sure what to expect from a session. I can also prepare some “in the session activities” such as discussions, role-plays, and quizzes because I think variety is an important part of video conferencing which also increases student engagement.
To get informed about interactive discussions with experts, I tried the links in Michigan Merit Curriculum Online Experience Guideline Companion Document. Unfortunately, many of the links were outdated. Below are some helpful resources that you can also use to incorporate video conferencing for learning into your classroom.
In general, a StAIR (Stand Alone Instructional Resource) is an educational resource that allows students to navigate through information on their own and provides instant feedback based on learner's interaction with the information.
Posted below is my StAIR. This Stand Alone Instructional Resource on Paraphrasing and Summarizing is an interactive lesson designed to help students practice for paraphrasing, summarizing, and differentiating between paraphrasing and summarizing effectively.
I created this interactive lesson for my Advanced Level English Language Learning students. Although they can refer to sources when paraphrasing or summarizing by using APA citation guidelines, they have trouble paraphrasing sentences and texts, summarizing texts of their level, and differentiating between paraphrasing and summarizing.
Also find this resource on MERLOT - Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning Online and Teaching
UPDATE: Below is the power point show version of my StAIR. This retains all the effects of the kiosk mode. Thus, this version runs much more smoothly. You will need PowerPoint to view. The file is compatible with PowerPoint 2008 for Mac and PowerPoint 2007 for Windows.
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