Final Reflection

The course of New Technologies in TEFl was one of the most overloaded courses for me. One huge technology was following the other without giving any time to breathe. When I imagine the amount of information that I managed to get during this time I feel confident. Truly speaking, I didn’t like to get information through readings. I mostly preferred the practical part of it, when we were applying the technologies in groups in class or individually  at home. Or at least I liked to watch tutorials due to which I could use the time more efficiently. Also, class discussions and blog posts contributed to the better understanding of the material because they served as a source of revision of the material and a means to reflect on the technologies trying to integrate them in the Armenian TEFL environment.

While having all the above mentioned sources of information at my disposal I managed to learn some specific skills such as: 

• making Igoogle my home page
• add and use RSS subscriptions
• linking  RSS to igoogle
• connecting twitter to the cellphone
• creating an audio episode and posting it to the class podcast by installing Audacity and Lame encode to save audio in mp3
• using Wiki
• creating a digital story(moviemaker, powerpoint)
• creating video footage 
• creating  an account in Second life and using it
• adding blocks in the Sandbox
• using animoto 
• creating games with special apps
• creating a Googledoc

Not all the above mentioned skills proved to be suitable to use in the Armenian TEFL environment or at least I wasn't eager to do it both as a student and as a teacher. First of them was second life

and another connecting cellphones to twitter. Anyway I don't exclude using them in future.

Also, I failed to create any game. It seemed rather difficult.

But on the other hand there were such skills that I have managed to apply successfully in my learning and teaching processes. As a student I use Igoogle as my homepage, I have lots of subscriptions to RSS, I have created digital stories and as a teacher I used animoto, powerpoint,  Google doc and many others. 
The course totally changed my profile. Before this course I tended to avoid typing but now  I started to avoid writing. No lesson is conducted without at least one technology now. And computer doesn't make me so tired as before. Before this course I was trying to keep computer away from my children considering it to be dangerous for their health but now I encourage them to use it to contribute to their creativity and desire to make explorations in this Flat World.  

Google Apps For Education and Cloud Technologies

       
                       

                                                               

Retrieved from:  https://www.google.am/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=picture+of+Google+apps&oq=picture+of+Google+apps&gs_l=serp.3...205144.207421.0.208183.7.7.0.0.0.2.452.1644.3-2j2.4.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.r0_MmK2bnvo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=a92c86d7c69537ee&bpcl=39650382&biw=1280&bih=665

The first thing I heard about Google apps was the note from our instuctor that it is not available personally but only students that use google apps as an institution can use some of the apps available in the video. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those students to be able to use all the google apps, but the ones that I can use provide great support and contribute to collaborative and meaningful learning.

One of the most interesting apps is google doc.
As presented in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ksK2uzDW-4 it is a great tool for teachers to collect and revise data about students and contribute to collaborative learning. With the color coding it's clear who edited, what was deleted and also the teacher can look at the earlier version of the document.
Also, it's worth mentioning that our class uses google doc to collaborate. For example in the class of Second Language Acquisition we did our Evaluation Charts in Google doc. Even the recipe of the cheese cake was shared in this way.
I liked the way of creating survey questions and I wish I could create the survey questions of my Capstone Project in this way: one of the major things about this is that the data is seen in real time and another one is that google does some basic analysis for you.
Google sites is also a magic tool. I liked the idea of uploading my resume and spreading throughout the world(may be I can find a prospective job for me :)). But there is also an opportunity to allow it for a restricted number of people (Bernard, 2011).
Here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpnxyNm8x_0 you can watch a video tutorial about how to upload images to Google Picasa.
And now the  question is how google apps can be used on the campus???
In the article by Sarah Ring (2011) different google apps are suggested for different teaching purposes. One of them is google maps which can be used before a field trip. Through it students study the area and create their personalized maps. Using blogger permits to update and edit your posts from anywhere. I myself use blogger and know how effectively it works.
Google Teacher Academy apps would be preferable for those teachers who want to get the most out of tech tools. By the way, Google + could create discussion groups without having to worry about the followers that come up with Facebook or Twitter. Google Hangouts allows up to 10 people to video chat ith one another.This app is suitable for public gatherings (Watters, 2011). Retrieved from:http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/07/how-are-educators-using-google-plus-hangouts/
Now we know how google apps can be implemented in education. And the time has come to see
it in the lesson plans.
From the lesson plans suggested by our instructor to observe I chose the one entitled: The Place in Time with Google tools by Cheryl Davis 
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=16kkKBqOlLdBjLQoJ7eSq1jqia6XOQ5AeIkaUm2GqCa8 The Impact of Photography. One of the  instruments used in this lesson is google site where teacher creates a class Google Site and adds students as collaborators.In teams or individually, students create page in the class site and link to a historic photograph, research the history or context  in which the photograph was taken and provide information on the photograph. I think, this is a very meaningful  and productive lesson because it not only develops geographic literacy but introduces to the  history of  photography as well.

Another major tool is cloud computing. No servers and storage, no technical team, no upgrades, just open a browser, log in, customize the apps and start using it.
                                                                                       

 Picture retrieved from: https://www.google.am/#hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=665&sclient=psy-ab&q=picture+of+cloud+computing&oq=picture+of+cloud+computing&gs_l=serp.3..0l2.187839.196681.0.198055.28.19.0.4.4.1.1393.5889.2-1j1j4j1j0j2.9.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.65I4461yinw&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=a92c86d7c69537ee&bpcl=39650382

 It is a software delivered over the internet to interact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88ysB-EKA9U  There is no need to install the data in all the computers of the community. It allows the user to access a web browser regardless of place. 
However, too much personal information in the cloud is not recommended. It would be much better to be flexible and make the existing limitations a strength to use both. 
As a future EFL teacher I would strongly recommend using google apps as a tool through which various interesting activities could be done and cloud computing, which will allow to share any information via internet without having to install it in all the computers of that institution. Google apps make the lessons more interactive and cloud computing would help to save time and money.

Learning and Academic Analytics

                                        
                                         LEARNING AND ACADEMIC ANALYTICS


When I first heard the expressions learning and academic analytics I thought they were the same and we could use either one or the other. But now, as I understand, learning analytics is more specific and narrower than academic analytics. Learning Analytics  as defined in the first international Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (Long & Siemens, 2011) is analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts for purposes of understanding learning. Academic Analytics analyses data at an institutional and international level (Goldstein & Kats, 2005).  
Before trying to express my impressions about Analytics I would life to refer to my positive impressions about Online education. Though I did this in my previous post the video by Daphne Foller made me do it again and again.First of all, it gives opportunity to move away from the constraints of the physical classroom and second, as Foller presented in the video, gain  the best content taken from the best courses of the best institutions.WOW:))) it really does wonders. 

However, the video not only aimed to show how best quality education is brought to so many people online but also how it becomes a way to acquire a huge amount of learners to provide the administrators managing the "business" of institutions with  sufficient data to research how people learn (Goldstein & Kats, 2005). This will help to analyse and find out what are the best learning strategies and what steps could be taken to improve the quality of education.
As mentioned in Goldstein & Kats' article (2005), with the growth of users trying to access information analytics is required to be expanded  to cope with the arena of higher education which is becoming a "burning platform. 
Observing the excel file provided by our instructor I saw how every click of the students in one writing course was collected together. So many data and that was only a very little fraction of what could be observed? This thought made me open my eyes wider and wider and think harder and harder to find ways to assist Data analysis. 

Picture retrieved from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_jones/5342991372/sizes/m/in/photostream/     

Distance Education/Online Learning

                                     DISTANCE LEARNING AND ONLINE EDUCATION

I have always sought ways to pick up information about distance education and programs that would give me an opportunity to study abroad. With online learning as a tool we can handle the problems more easily first because the interaction between the instructor and the learner  becomes more available, faster and meaningful than it was  in the times when learners had to go to the post office, send the letter to the instructor,and wait for months to get his response. Peer interaction becomes more feasible as it can be done through skype, messaging and other ways. Students, as for me, don't need to have advanced proficiency level of  technological skills to be able to take an online course.
As we know from Hill's article(2012), there are different types of online courses meeting some particular needs Ad Hoc Courses, Fully online courses, Hybrate courses. And through this same article I found out that the logical extension of this approach is called "flipped class". Before this I could never imagine that I was studying in the flipped class at AUA which uses class time for practice and actual application moving the content delivery to be available to students via technology.
Now let me introduce my viewpoint from the teacher's perspective:  Let me remind my peers and instructor that I had intended to write a paper where I would be an online trainer and train intermidiate level learners. . Before getting to know the challenges I though it was really a great idea. With so many PLEs and VLEs at hand, Open Educational Resources at hand I would become a great trainer. I even chose the open resource to find a useful course where I could be enrolled as a teacher and my students can take courses without having to pay any money for them http://odijoo.com/. And what happened? Why did I switch on a new topic? First it was because I was short of time. On the one had I had to develop materials and do a course proposal. On the other hand I needed to be a professional in the field of technology to be able to cope with the problems. As  from the maxims introduced in White, Murphy, Shelley & Baumann's article (2003) the image of a distance education teacher should be like this: a teacher with high IT skills. In addition to this a teacher  is a trainer,who is honest, supportive and approachable to the students.Other important issues are self-management and pedagogical expertise, professional skills and responsibilities.

Photo retrieved from: https://www.google.am/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=distance+education+photos&oq=distance+education+photos&gs_l=hp.3..0i30l2j0i22l2.4802.15222.0.16304.25.20.0.5.5.1.1329.9126.3-7j1j2j3j2.15.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.BnZQQs6dkYE&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=e7979636f5974184&bpcl=39314241&biw=1280&bih=709

PLE and VLE

PLE and VLE

After the first quarter at AUA from time to time I visit my previous courses on Moodle both to review some materials  and also to reassure myself that I still have an access there. Also, I have always wondered whether or not it would be possible to go there after the graduation and also I was curious about the amount of price AUA has invested on it. Truly speaking I had decided to ask my instructor one day but I didn’t dare to. Fortunately the technology  class on Open Source Softwares and Open Educational Resources  made everything clear for me. So I found out that “Moodle is an Open Source Course Management Software designed to support and enable instructors to create online courses. It is available for free on the Web and  that anyone can download and install it”.

Retrieved from

http://www.oerafrica.org/moodle/UsingMoodle/tabid/1195/Default.aspx

Moodle is really a great educational support as it can be used to teach online or hybrid classes. The answer of my second question whether it would be possible to go there after the graduation came with the class on VLE/LMSs and PLE. Listening to the explanation given by  Stephen Downs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu

I found out that Moodle is a VLE/LMS and that if you have no account this means you can’t have any access. And as compared to PLE to which  you can trust your data  and where you have a direct access VLE becomes less trustworthy for Stephen Downs.

 However, VLEs or LMSs as for me could surely be  valuable in the Armenian educational environment.Instructors could use it for multiple purposes. They simply have to download and install it for free, spend some time on exploring it like our class did in  Sandbox for TE 307" and you will give your students an opportunity to  have online discussions or use wikis and blog tools,they will be provided with quizzes, self-tests. These and many other advantages of the VLE are worth taking it for granted being sure that it will meet our teaching purposes.

Pictures taken from:

https://www.google.am/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&tok=DLtQwxvhb0KYOfpP7M7QrQ&cp=16&gs_id=2l&xhr=t&q=moodle+as+an+OER&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38625945&biw=792&bih=487&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=_c6pUJj5JsvZsgblkIDADA#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=PLE+and+VLE&oq=PLE+and+VLE&gs_l=img.3...0.0.4.6684.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.MKQ_utKgXz4&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=e260a8099dfee804&bpcl=38625945&biw=1280&bih=709

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

I was not familiar with the term OER before but when I first heard it I imagined it to be first of all something open to public, something free of charge,   and truly speaking, something of a lower quality and not so much valuable. Maybe this is because it’s typical of most Armenians to think like I do (Թանկից էժանը չկա) it’s a saying which means the more you pay the cheaper the product becomes for you at the end. I was partially correct. The wrong thing was to doubt about the quality. During our technology class our instructor showed us an open Source animated video and it became clear that it was with  high quality graphics, visuals. Evidently great sums of money was invested on the program  so that now we could not only download and  use it but also edit. Yes, editing is one of the greatest advantages that OER has which “allows for the continuous evaluation, improvement and growth of courses and course materials”  http://oli.cmu.edu/get-to-know-oli/learn-more-about-oli/
I observed many educational resources, found many useful courses. For example I would surely participate in the course named “Communicating Across Cultures”  which was designed “to help you become more sensitive to intercultural communication differences, and to provide you with the knowledge and skills that will help you interact successfully with people from cultures other than your own.” 
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/21f-019-communicating-across-cultures-spring-2005/
On the other hand, I have always dreamed of creating my own online training course to support learners who  have a great wish but lack opportunities  to attend face to face courses. I intend to realize my wish through the Capstone project. Before being acquainted with OER  I wasn’t sure that I could realize it because I thought it would either cost me much money or I would fail. But now with OER in my  hands I can surely say as a teacher that I will  do it successfully. And one of the resources that I think could be useful to me is http://odijoo.com/ through which instructors  can create, publish and share online courses.
The work in the field of Open Educational Resources in Armenia is at an initial stage (Danielyan & Alexandryan, 2010) and one of the main reasons for it is  the low level of information culture development.
During our class discussions our instructor strongly recommended to become really good educators  in future and  try to guide those teachers in Armenia who are more or less uninformed and encourage them to use  all these resources for the benefit of our schools. I agree that the suggestion would improve the situation and having resources at their hands our teachers would become more creative, although  I strongly doubt that some Armenian teachers of older generation would agree to learn anything from the younger ones.  Also, I have noticed that they are not so motivated to become creative and traditional classes based on  grammar-translation  is what they prefer. However, this doesn't mean that I have completely lost my hope. In my turn I'm  eager to invest all my efforts and  knowledge for the benefit of our nation and future generations.
Pictures retrieved from:
https://www.google.am/searchq=Photos+of+open+Educational+resources&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eJ6cUIS8J-aQ4gSwuoDYAQ&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=665 

MALL

                                                                    MALL

As David Crystal mentioned during one of his lectures in Armenia “Internet Linguistics” worldwide web is only 20 years old. As far as I remember mobile phones are even younger but they have developed so rapidly, they have been involved in our lives so smoothly that even young children now would hardly do without it, not to mention those who are busy solving problems lying. It was 1990 ies when mobile phones appeared in Armenia for the first time. I was nearly 14 years old and was so much surprised to see that extraordinary phenomenon as I would be now if I were to see walking mobile phones, who are instructed by their owner to go to a certain place.

You may wonder (as I did) what MALL could be when you see it for the first time. I’ll tell you at once that it’s Mobile Assisted Language Learning.Yes, not only have mobiles established themselves in this flat world as a means of communication but they have also become a very useful  technological tool to be used in Foreign Language Classes. I would personally replace my laptop with a mobile at least not to carry that heavy device with  me to my classes at AUA. However my mobile is still unable to function in a way I would need him to as it doesn’t have certain apps. Also  internet access via mobiles is quite expensive in Armenia so synchronous use of mobiles at Language classes is not so realistic yet. But students could use their cameras, record players or emails to do certain assignments. Also they could download podcasts to their mobiles and listen to them extensively simultaneously travelling by bus, walking in the street or doing the washing up.I liked all the projects suggested by my peers via mobiles: shooting a film on environmental issues, interviewing and recording people, taking some pictures to write on them later in class.

Even with certain disabilities mobile phones in Armenia could still be used  as an effective technological tool giving learners to be as creative as they become with other tools such as blogs, digital video cameras, power point, second life and so on.

picture taken from:

http://www.gettyimages.com/creative/mobile-phone-stock-photos

SECOND LIFE

Virtual world  is  really entertaining and before being introduced to Second Life during our Technology Class I was a little familiar with it. However I had n’t  thought of using this technological tool at EFL classes with others such as gaming, blogging and so on. Seems  interesting.  Form a group, include your learners  into it and simply enjoy teaching English. During our class discussions we came up with really interesting ideas how to integrate SL in EFL classes. Most  of all I liked the idea of interacting with different communities all over the world and also having  classes  in  different settings such as : 

                                                                                  OR

BUT NOT ALL THE TIME 

                     
                                                                              OR

The learners can learn words by touching them, watching them and using them. I was personally   very exited about opening my account and using the Second Life chance to communicate and create my Second World. I still encourage my peers to form a group together and build our lives. However my  view is optimistic from the point of view of a student. But I would hardly risk integrating my own students into the  SL as a teacher. First of all it’s  public-access  and  as  mentioned in Welche’s article the designer s don’t know what you’re doing there as they want  you  to be creative http://moodle.aua.am/file.php/28/Course_Materials/Virtual_World_/VirtualWorlds_InterviewWelch_2008.pdf  

In the same way teachers are not  safe as students can go beyond the limits of the class requirements.  On the other hand,  I consider it useless to forbid pupils to go to certain places and not to do things which they think are more entertaining.It’s like  discouraging your own learners to be creative. So, I will fail to have successful virtual classes because  I lack risk management mentioned in Cinthia M. Calongne’s article as  one of the features  leading to successful  virtual classes . http://moodle.aua.am/file.php/28/Course_Materials/Virtual_World_/VirtualWorlds_Calogne_2008.pdf

Sources of pictures:

http://www.google.am/search?hl=hy&biw=1280&bih=709&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Photos+of+avatars+in+second+life+who+do+lessons&oq=Photos+of+avatars+in+second+life+who+do+lessons&gs_l=img.3...33862.40054.0.40245.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.1.z-wbGa8VCTM

http://www.google.am/#hl=hy&site=&source=hp&q=photo+of+learners+during+the+class&oq=photo+of+learners+during+the+class&gs_l=hp.3...3810.17374.0.18103.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.1.GW0jgJ7HbIg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=7138acffcd4c83&bpcl=35466521&biw=1280&bih=665

COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES

Computer and Video Games

Marc Prensky introduces the radical technological growth of our  World in his book “How Learners have Changed” http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Ch2-Digital%20Game-Based%20Learning.pdf

 Following him  I would like to refer to  the Armenian environment and see how this developing country has grown technologically during the recent years and how it is reflected in the TEFL environment. Our younger generation is quite handy with technologies.  During these last two days for example I was watching on TV how Armenian young learners created various computer games http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93_7COJi9sw . All of them were rewarded by Orange Company. Or let me take my own children. They are all the time busy exploring new things on the computer. If I want to play a game on Ipad or any other device I need to know the instructions, read about it, see how it works. It  certainly takes time. But my children  try them out immediately and easily find how to play, how to win and boast. This is one side of the picture. The other side is quite disappointing. Most teachers at Armenian schools are still unable to integrate technologies into  their classes because they are technologically illiterate. Also, I have heard them complaining a lot that technologies, especially games only harm the learners.They say, games are always noisy and disturb their classes.  There is always the tendency to calm the learners down. I agree that children may sometimes try to play threatening games which  makes  them become psychologically depressed or simply very aggressive as  my son usually does when he imagines himself to be the hero of the game he plays. But on the other hand  he learns a lot. These games are quite useful. Learners learn a lot by  playing. They do not have to sit and follow the classes nervously to learn something. I have such students at EEC that become motivated only because they hear  that they are going to use a computer.  For such students especially it is a requirement to offer computer or video games as a learning tool. Our task is to keep our children and learners away from dangerous games but with the same time integrate many other useful games into our reality to make the English Language classes more  and more interesting.  I can hardly create any computer game by myself to introduce it to my learners but I’m quite capable of choosing the games my learners need and use it to meet their requirements.

DIGITAL STORYTELLING AND VIDEO PRODUCTION

Our class of New Technologies in Language Teaching  opened before us other useful technological tools which can make English classes in Armenia more interesting and productive. Because  now with wikis, blogs and podcasts we have also been taught to integrate digital storytelling and video production. Sometimes those materials  that are provided do not match to  our needs in this or that way.  

  And we want to create them by ourselves. Handmade stories would not impact the learners motivation in the same way as it is with digital storytelling because I think it’s not only important what you tell to your learners but equally important how you do it.

I was previously used to doing powerpoint presentations but inserting sounds, animations and designing the presentation made me get interested in it so much that I have decided to teach it to my students  too. Also, I was shocked how my classmates made films with a moviemaker and I’ll certainly try that magic tool too.

Storyboarding seems to me a good idea as it allows to organize images, music, text and the motion in advance. Let me find a tutorial and see how I can make a storyboard in Microsoft office Word.  One of them is http://www.microsoft.com/education/enus/teachers/guides/Pages/digital_storytelling.aspx

This is a PDF document which shows everything step by step. Here is what I got:

1.      Text 2.      Music 3.      Narration 4.      Title slide 5.      Interview
This is my daughter. In this picture she is three  years old. She is playing a game and seems to be  very happyJ

When all the pieces of the story is in front of the creator  he can see everything more vividly and the planning of the story will be more detailed. And I completely agree with the statement that “storyboarding transforms video projects from chaos into order” which was mentioned in Sadun’s book.

The lesson following digital storytelling was about video production. In my life I have shot a lot. But film production was something new to me and I was eager to folow the process. At first it seemed to me easier but then too many  details  made my work more and more challenging and interesting. In our group we created the story tutorial. Technological unawereness made us face a hard time. At first we shot in my Ipad. Then we were wondering how to transfer it to the moviemaker. The solution was that we copied it in PC. The next problem was that the video was  of a different category which couldn’t be read. Then that video was transformed to the Mac  and  the video was made in Imovie. As we hadn’t used Imovie before that so it took us a lot to concentrate and find the necessary steps.

While shooting our video we used Sadun’s book as a guide. I especially referred to the second chapter and was finding out the three main shots and POV variations.

Overall these two tools as the other previous ones will  also serve a great deal to Armenian teachers. They can provide our pupils with lots of authentic information such as we created with our peers. It will introduce just what is needed no more no less. Iideos. It’s also a good idea to involve Armenian learners in the process of creating digital stories or   videos. Let them shoot and write stories, make films. As podcasts, blogs, wikis and other tools, these two also require creativity, engagement in the job and peer interaction. This is where our learners  can put their vivid imagination and soul.

WIKIS

When I want to read or write I simply  use my blog to which I have a direct access through my Igoogle page. When I need to listen to obtain the needed information  I go to Itunes  and listen to podcast episodes or just double click on Audacity to create my own podcast episode and make others listen to me. And at last when I want collective discussions or forums with virtual presence of my peers I use Wiki, one of the 20 tidbits that Liza Dabs offers as a teacher supporter.http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-tips-new-teachers-lisa-dabbs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29

Is it me to write this paragraph? If I read it last year I would evaluate it as a paragraph full of incomprehensible   terminological  phrases. At least I would only understand them by their definitions. Fortunately I have managed not only to include these terms into my vocabulary but also to use those web tools and I think that  they are excellent means to provide students with. I am getting more and more flatteners  on my way to realize that the world is really flat. Everything changes so fast that I don’t even believe how fast I can acquire certain skills. It’s me-a thirty-year-old woman with two children. And I am sure that young learners develop much faster.  I would offer future teachers get together and collect teacher ideas in Wiki. And I agree with Kevin Carney that teaching “shouldn’t be alone on an island”.  http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-budget-resource-collaboration-video?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29

Teachers should help each other so that they could help to each other’s students. As a class of future teachers we also  start using wiki and store there our valuable judgements. Go to  this link  http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/05/using-wikis-for-teacher-development.html you will find two videos instructing you how to embed video into wiki pages, how to use hyperlinks to link together text and pages across the wiki.

Always share your thoughts with your peers in  

Podcasts

Before podcasts

After podcasts

PODCASTS

New technologies lead us to great developments and make our academic life extend the borders of boredom and official style. If blogging has come to replace book reading and essay writing then podcasting is here to provide us with various listening materials giving a great chance to speak and share our thoughts.

I was first introduced to podcasts during our English for Language teachers course. The opportunity to listen to  podcast episodes for different purposes and of various areas seemed to me fascinating. I felt that I was gaining a lot more new information with podcasts than if I were without them. I really agree with Professor Daniel Foster “to weed out class papers in favor of podcasts” because they are more practical and closer to real-life situations.

And this year our New technologies in TEFL course offered us to become  podcast creators. I was shocked. I didn’t expect such a great shift in my life. Previously I was in the opinion that people who created podcasts were real professionals but it turned to be an easy task: I only followed some instructions, downloaded Audacity and……

Podcast creation is very useful as it develops creative skills, contributes to mastering the whole material to be able to express your thoughts. Background music creates harmony and makes you feel relaxed.

I’m impressed and as a future TEFL professional I’ll use this tool to have student-creators. I liked the suggested activities when the students create recipes in dyads, exchange their recipes, critique and put their critiques into podcasts. Here the learners are not only creators but they also review their peers’ jobs.  

                                    

LEARNERS DO WONDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      When I listened to Sugata’s speech my impression was that he was speaking about the remote village in Armenia which I happened to visit  this summer in Ijevan.

 It was really disappointing to hear that young generation  wants to move to Yerevan and  teachers there are also very ignorant towards their work because they know for sure that there is no future in that village.  Really when I walked through the village I was in the same opinion: no other work to do except for farming, no place to go except for fields, no motivation to learn and no tool to use. I was sure then that children there wouldn’t have the same amount of intelligence as children living in cities have. However, I was wrong in m judgments. As I had to stay there with my family for some days I took my laptop with me. The two children aged 8-10 had the luck to sit in front of my computer during  those days and as Sugata mentioned they acquired the necessary skills to use it very quickly. The desire to conduct the computer made them learn lots of English words by themselves. Here again I agree with Sugata that children are very self-organized, especially those who are more or less unprivileged.  When I was returning home they said they had two great wishes. First they wanted to have a laptop and then desired to know English well to use it. I doubt  if any child living in the city and obtaining a computer could digest so much information for such a short time.

And the same refers to blogging. There is no point in saying that it’s impossible or just quite difficult to use blogs in language teaching. If given the tool, if given the opportunity our learners can really do a lot. And I quite agree with a “snob blogger” Will Richardson that “through blogs more learning happens” and that “students become network creators”.

I will do my best to become a teacher-blogger, making blogs a part of my practice because blogging is what we need for technology access. With blogging I will promote collaboration among my students, their parents and myself. I do agree with Will Richardson in that by blogging students do a metacognitive thinking and improve their reading and writing skills. I will mostly ask my students to read their peers’ blogs and those of famous bloggers.  By the way, RSS has made the reading process faster by means of which they can collect lots of blogs in one place and save time. Also I will ask the learners to synthesize their ideas and write their stream of thoughts in their blogs. It would also be great to motivate the students with positive feedback and high grades.

THE WORLD IS FLAT

 I have always been taught that  "The world is round". And the the assumption that it would turn to be flat was far too far from my understanding. However, Thomas Friedman's lecture proved to be quite promising.

The World is really flat meaning  that there are no walls, no boundaries. New technological flattenners such as: the Berlin Wall,The Netscape, Workflow, Outsourcing, Fiber-optics and many others contributed to the creation of  the  completely new Universal World which is an open platform where people can collaborate and  work in manyfold ways connecting each others' applications.
Do you imagine what it means to be a TEFL professional at this New technologically developed age with such advanced geniuses as Cameron,Dylan, Dana, Nafiza and Olivia.What struck me most is that those children use their technological skills to do useful jobs: animal protection, movie making, helping peers and professors with their problems etc.

Children,children.....

They really deserve great attention. I am sure that all the children are skillful enough only to  be given the right tools to use. In my turn  I shall encourage  my own children and students  to sit in front of the computer,why not help me with my problems as those children's professors did.  We future teachers should make our classes technologically biased, our students should be guided through the Flat World where technological knowledge is the key core.