week 10

In this final week we are very relax because not only it is the shortest week of the program but it is also the least busy one. It is indeed the wrap up.

Short as it is, I have discovered two important models/frameworks to assess technology usage in the class. These models are:

 State of Washington: Tiers of Technology Integration  

University of Southern Florida: The Technology Integration Matrix

I liked best the last one because not only it is more effective but it is clearer and simpler for me as well. From the Entry level to the transformation level via the adoption, adaptation and infusion levels the teacher knows exactly what to do at each stage. What’s more, it incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative.

We were asked to give advice to the future participants of this program. I liked this section too much.

Talking about the course on the whole I dare say everything is perfect. The topics and concepts were all interesting and often new for me. For concepts I had ever known before, the course has been an opportunity to better understand them.  I liked best: Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks with Delicious (week3). On this stage I preferred the document entitled The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking skills. The latter clearly demonstrates that the computer environment is highly motivating and less threatening psychologically.  Therefore, as modern teachers, we ought to change the traditional language learning context.  Other topics that draw my attention were Skill-building Websites for Reading/writing skills and technology-enhanced Lesson Plans (week 4) and Learner autonomy and one-computer classroom developed in week 7 among others. Week 2 also was very useful for me as we saw web searching tools and creating behavioral learning objectives. I received teacher full time training for 3 years at Faculté des Sciences et Technologies de l’Education et de la Formation (Dakar, Senegal) but it is with this 10 week-online course that I better understand how to set goals/objectives when planning a lesson. What I learned in this section was specially the ABCD method. Besides it is here that I have better understood the Bloom taxonomy.

 As far as technology tools are concerned, I think all of them are relevant for me. They are on the whole new for me. I have started using blogs, board discussions and e-mails. I will try to implement other like WebQuests, wiki, rubrics, power point, padlets and so forth.

 

 Today, with the end of the course, I feel very sad. I will indeed miss the professional and renowned instructors from the University of Oregon. I mean Donna Shaw and the whole team who were quite perfect, particularly Donna Shaw. I have learnt a lot of positive things from this brilliant teacher. She has been very pragmatic and very helpful during the whole training. Because of all of you, I am thinking about registering at the University of Oregon to learn more. Besides, we will miss the fruitful interactions and nice help from the brilliant participants of this program. Everybody was wonderful. I hope our interactions and collaboration will continue on Facebook, Twitter and through other social media like Linkedin.

 

Week 9: Learning styles - technology connections

In the last but one week, we have seen concepts about learning styles. Specialists has shown that we all have around nine to ten intelligences but no two people are exactly alike. So in a classroom we have mixed abilities. We've seen how we can use technology tools to cope with this situation. The idealistic learning style for me is the verbal/Linguistic where the students are able to verbally or in writing explain, convince, and express themselves.
This week is particularly important because we had to submit our final project. We have based on our partners comments to bring necessary changes.  

week 8

A very busy week! It is quite different from last week. We have to write and submit to our partner our project report. Then we read our partner's report, complete the checklist and add finally comments about his or her work. Though interesting, it was very hard since we do not always have time regarding teachers' hectic days.
Another important thing we have done this week is to  create an online course or an exercise to use on line or offline. I have created a class blog where i have described my class. Then I asked the students to add comment by saying if they like their class or not and to give their reasons. This was for me a way to let them write and get used about blogging.


In a  nutshell, the week was interesting though busy.

Week 7: Learner autonomy and one-computer classroom

Honestly this has  been the most relaxed week so far. We had some readings about the two above main topics. For the discussion on Nicenet, I opted for Learner autonomy.
I think the most striking idea when talking about learner autonomy is that shift from man "product of his society", to man "producer of his society". Unfortunately the learning system is often so inappropriate that ultimately the product is a 'person who has been taught to fear failure above all and therefore to refrain from potentially rewarding risk-taking or innovative behavior'.
So I think we have to help our students be more active. For this they need to take charge of their learning. This responsibility can't be taken as long as they don't have enough intrinsic motivation. 
The other activity was to find and post a link( reading, video or message) on the class padlet site about how this tool could be used to enhance learner autonomy. I have posted an ELT research paper on computers and learner autonomy: trends and issues written by Huw Jarvis and published by the British Council. With Padlets one can share files anywhere online. For instance you can have your students paste their work and this will appear instantly.
As far as the project task 5 (continued), like all participants who are teaching this term I have been implementing my blog in my class. However because of the second term exam I didn't have the opportunity to work with them. They say that they are too busy these days. I am going to meet them tomorrow in the computer lab, however. Another interesting step this week wast o choose our partners with whom we are going to share our project task by next Wednesday.
This week has been interesting because of the discoveries I made on learner autonomy and Padlets.

Week 6

     In week 6 (Monday May 6th to Sunday May 12th 2013) we have seen how technology tools can enhance learning, especially when you teach large classes. In fact, teaching large classes is among the adverse circumstances one can encounter. The documents propose techniques or any other ways to deal with these circumstances for our professional success.

     The point I like best is the techniques used to improve in-class discussions. Many students don't participate in the classroom for different reasons. Asking the whole class to have an online discussion might help integrate those students since they feel themselves more relaxed and more confident. Besides, the teacher can gain much time since he/she does not need to wait the next session to interact with them. 

     Another important tool that many teachers neglect is  PowerPoint which is a very powerful suite, used not only for straightforward presentations but it also to create website mockups, and even interactive learning tools. Each one of us has created and posted his interactive PowerPoint on wiki.

     We were asked to begin to implement our technology-related change this week. I have helped my students to create their own blog. It was fantastic to get the students in a computer room. They were very excited and everybody wanted to do something. For this week, I have just helped them create a blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     I really loved this moment I have spent with my students in the computer room.

week 5: the half-way program

This week started on Monday April 29 2013 and the emphasis is laid on  Project- based learning, WebQuests, and rubrics. 

It is a very important part of the program because of the new teaching/learning concepts that we have been presented.What is more important in them is their learner-orientation. These concepts  indeed raise students' interest and motivation since they are built around everything that is directly related to them. With the Project- based learning, for instance,  specialists say there is 'less teaching and more learning.' If we know that the goal of teaching is to help our students learn something, there could be, therefore, no better principle. It was certified that when we use project-based instruction in place of  traditional methods our students learn more. What I like best in it is that it involves all the students through group works. This will help the weaker students be integrated and develop confidence. There will be a kind of collaboration between all of them. For a better use of this a project-based learning, the teacher can resort to WebQuests and  rubrics. 

I do like the latter which is one of the most important methods used in alternative assessment. In fact, a rubric informs about the quality of performance on the basis of established criteria. 

We have learned many things this week through our readings. But I what I liked best is the necessity to involve the student in alternative assessment. For me, this concept is important because it matches with CLT (Communicative Language Teaching), the method our National syllabus requires we use to teach English. I loved also the task where we had to create a rubric . It is the first time that  I have created a rubric and I think it is an effective  method teachers can use to assess learning. I am becoming a modern teacher because I didn't know all this. These new concepts can help teachers make a real change in their classes.

Besides, we are progressing slowly but surely with our project task. This week we had to describe the technology we are going to use to solve the problem that was identified in the previous week. My objective is  to develop a motivational strategy that values students' ideas and participation, encourage autonomy and give the chance to make the classroom space theirs. And for this, the easiest tool for me and my students is blogging. We will be able to work every time and every where.

 

Best regards.

Elias 

week 4

week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/writing skills and technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

 

As  it is entitled, this week focuses on two skills: reading and writing. But what is more important in what we have seen this week is the scope of vocabulary in English Language Teaching.

We've read a lot of articles from different web sites. These new things we've been learning have not only been changing the teachers we are but they are changing our students as well.

I was applauded by my students the day following my reading of the documents related to the use of CALL in reading and writing. I was sharing with them what I had learned from my reading. What I liked best and they did approve was 'the five-finger-method' usually used by our American colleagues to recommend a book for their students. We have always urged our students to read no matter how difficult is the text. From now on, I know we have to take into account the level of our students, especially in an EFl context. For this, Larry J. Mikulecky wrote '

In order for benefits to occur, the reader must already understand the majority of vocabulary on a page. For beginning and intermediate level students, this means relatively simple language such as that found in children's and young adult literature.   Laufer (1989) and Liu and Nation (1985) demonstrated that unless a reader has control of at least 95% of words on a page, it is unlikely that he or she will be able to use context to guess the meaning of unknown words.  Subsequent research (Hsueh-Chao and Nation, 2000), indicates that previous mastery of even higher percentages of vocabulary (i.e. 98% or more) is associated with the most benefit in new vocabulary growth.

The tasks were useful too. We read a lot about lesson planing integrating a new technology. Besides, we have made, this week, a new step regarding our project task. We had to identify a student/teacher-oriented issue in our class. 

 

Week 4 has been particularly useful for me in so far as I have learned new things about lesson planing, vocabulary teaching.

Week 3

     Week 3 began on Monday April 15th 2013. It is for me one of the most useful parts of the course. This week' s title is: Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks with Delicious.

     The week starts as usual with very interesting readings. The main topic being Teaching Aural/Oral Skills, we had to read a lot of documents on how to build listening and speaking skills using CALL (Computer Assisted Learning Language). All the documents have discussed the neglect of these two skills in Second and Foreign Language.classrooms. Julia Gong thinks ''the introduction of computers in language classrooms has opened a new door to both teachers and learners.'' What I like best  in her article The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills: is that she has clearly demonstrated that the computer environment is highly motivating and less threatening psychologically.  Therefore, as modern teachers, we ought to change the traditional language learning context.
       The same idea is developed by Lindsey Miller  in Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials. She focuses on the scope of listening in ESL/EFL today and how important it is to change things by using technologies. Something new I have learned from Miller's article is that in the daily communication listening is the language skill which is most often used ( Listening +40%, speaking 35%, reading 16% and writing 9%).
     In a nutshell, the philosophy behind these readings is that computers and other technologies allow students a greater degree of independence. We have discussed about all this in Nicenet and as usual the discussion was fruitful.

     Another important task we have done this week is to create a Delicious page. A new discovery for me and for sure this will help me and my students work more effectively. With the Delicious page I can from now on save my bookmarks. 
     The last but not the least activity was to read and discuss a past sample project. With this task I know better what I am expected to do by the end of the program regarding the project.

Week 3 has particularly risen my interest in the employment of CALL in English Language Teaching. 

week 2

The week 2 of the 'Webskills' course started on Monday April 8th 2013 at 8 am Pacific Time. For week 2, the focus is on web searching tools and creating behavioral learning objectives. 

We have learned a lot of things with the readings especially how to write learning objectives, following the ABCD method. The letters stand for: A (audience, meaning who are your learners?); B (behavior, meaning what do you expect them to be able to do?); C (condition, how to do it?) and D (degree, meaning how well will the behavior be performed?).  Experts' views about learning objectives are highlighted in the documents. One of them was Bloom with his very interesting taxonomy that helps to classify objectives. The pedagogical implications are to help us to state explicitly what we want our students to gain from a specific lesson. If the statements are explicit the teacher indeed knows what to accomplish and how to do it.

From the readings, we have also had guidelines for creating further searching. Google has so far been the sole searching tool used by many people. Now it's obvious that depending on our needs we have a variety of tools for better searches. Among those I had never discovered before we have: Intute, Surfwax, iseek Education to name a few. 

Insights into these documents have made possible very fruitful discussions through Nicenet. The first is about Web searching and the other about the ABCD objective. We were asked to apply what we have read and to give our impression.  Regarding the ABCD method I have particularly learned to be more precise and concise when planning a lesson. The best thing I like in it is the evaluation level of this method and the fact that the learner is at the center of the lesson.

In addition, we have made in this second week the first steps of our project task. We have to bring into our class 'a technology inspired change'. In fact, we experiment in our classroom a new technology that we have never used before. I tried it last Friday and it was wonderful. This is a good way to enhance learners' motivation and consequently to make the teaching/learning process more effective. 

To sum up, it is not an exaggeration to say that I have been learning how to teach by principles. The knowledge is very sophisticated creating a positive shift. Week 2 has been very practical. The instructor is intervening less and less, letting the participants actively working themselves. We are indeed enjoying both theory and practice and an interesting interactivity. 

   

week 1

REFLECTIVE WRITING

This is a 10 weeks teacher online training with the American English Institute, Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.

 The course started on Monday, April 1 st 2013 at 8 am pacific time. We received a mail from Donna Shaw, our instructor, with very clear instructions regarding the course materials, websites, and documents.

For the first topic '' Self Introductions”  we had to talk about ourselves, our professional background and everything that is related to us and which can be useful for the participants. Then everyone joined the class discussion on Nicenet  where we posted our introduction and discussed with the other participants. It was a very interesting task because we learned a lot from the experience of other participants. It was also an opportunity for us to brainstorm about the course topic. Consequently, we set a real learning community because since then we have been sharing through the three main sites of the course but also through different social networks.

The following day, on Tuesday April 2^nd, we were given some documents to read in order to prepare the next discussion. The documents dealt with the Ground Rules, the grading rubric and blogging. The documents are very interesting in so far as we discovered new ideas about classroom management and blogging.

On Wednesday 3^rd, we went back to Nicenet for Topic2 ‘’Discussion’’ to discuss about the Ground Rules and how we are evaluated. We posted our positions and commented some participants’ views.

Thursday April 4^th 2013 corresponds to the 4^th day of week 1. We were asked to create a blog, share our URL and write about what we have done so far. It was a little stressing at the beginning but it was done finally. The discussion on Nicenet, thereafter, helped a lot especially for colleagues who did not manage to do themselves. I really appreciated for instance when Monica Popluharova advised me to change my URL and assisted in posting the right URL.


The Webskills Google Map is an optional activity but it is very useful for at least two reasons. Not only will it help to use Google Map in our classroom but we can easily identify our fellow participants as well.

The instructions are well designed and very clear that’s why we are getting more and more involved. This is a testimony that ‘’a teacher is like a brick layer’’. At the beginning, I was very stressed, I was skeptical about my capacities to do all this myself. I am looking forward to practicing with my students.