A bit of reflection on ICT in Education

The main aim of UOO course was to develop a formal plan for incorporating technology into our teaching or class preparation in at least one new way and share our ideas with a group of teachers from all over the world.

Well, I think that aim was not wide enough to what we all experienced!

We were in touch with different online tools that are available FOR FREE for all teachers who are willing to give technology a go and who are trying to take advantage of the time students spend online doing things and activities that are not useful for them whatsoever.

What a huge challenge for me, a teacher who in spite of being in touch with technology for some time, has not been able to convince her peers that ONLINE learning really works!

Now that I am nurtured enough by all the readings I have done, all the activities made, etc., I am ready to sit in front of the teachers I work with and support my idea of introducing ICT to the Modern Languages Department.

A piece of advice? Keep on innovating! Do not be afraid of searching and trying new web tools and once you find anything interesting and useful, share it with other teachers! There is nothing better than sharing knowledge! That’s what teachers are really good at ;)

As I have said in previous posts, this is not the end of anything! This is just a great start to a new path of trying online tools to enhance our students’ learning.

Once again, thanks to UOO, Deb, all of you for reading me and making me a better teacher!

Love,

Eve

Technology in ELT

The course I am taking with the University of Oregon is coming to an end.

What a great experience it has been!

I have read tons of articles, comments, posts, etc in order to build my teaching skills taking into account technology. It sound easy but it could not be further from the reality!

Introducing technology in the language classroom is a tough task a teacher MUST face.

Nowadays students are more online than before and taking advantage of the time they spend on the internet to help them enhance their language skills is something we need to consider when planning our lessons.

But, to do so the teacher needs to have certain ICT skills (word processing, searching, online tutoring, etc.) so as to update his or her teaching practice and commit their students into their own learning.

During this week I had the chance to finish a project dealing with blogging for developing writing skills, using free and creative writing as a framework. Thanks to Prem, a teacher from the Himalaya, who kindly offered his help!

I have been working with blogs for some time but I had never thought of having leaners’ blog inside the class blog.

What my students usually did was post on the blog and that was it!

After taking this course at UOO, I have enhanced the blog with new web tools and have asked my pupils to comment on other classmates’ posts.

Apart from that, I guided them to create their own blog and they could not be more excited!

I think with this I am giving them the chance to be autonomous (a word that hasn’t left my mind since last week) because they are in charge of their own development, I am there just to guide them but they have the control of their writing.

What a commitment! What a compromise!

This project I have just finished is nothing but a start of this path I will be taking to drive my students to be independent writers and learners. It has opened my eyes to a new world of possibilities in English Language Teaching (ELT)

I would like to thank you all for reading me and sharing your expertise with this humble teacher from Venezuela!

I will keep this blog for sharing my teaching experiences weekly! there is nothing like networking!

Eve