Week 7 was very interesting, just as this whole course. This week I read a lot of interesting things about one-computer clasroom and learner autonomy. As we all agreed, one-computer classroom is an ideal way to organize interesting classes with a minimum technology. As I mentioned in my posts, I began using an online classroom several months ago, and it was a huge positive change for me and my students.
When it comes to learner's autonomy, it seems that we all agree that it must be encouraged by teachers, and that we need to raise students' awareness about the importance of it.
Anyways, it was very interesting to exchange opinions on these topics with other participants in this course.
This week I also continued the implemantation of the project with my students, and they are very collaborative, and they like the idea of an online classroom very much. I am going to start writing a draft of my project this coming weekend.
All in all, this has been another productive and interesting week of the webskills course.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Week 6 - reflections
Another week is behind us! The most important thing that we learned this week is that PowerPoint presentations can be interactive, and that they can be used to launch a number of different, interesting activities. We also created our own interactive presentations - mine was about phrases (and how we differentiate them from clauses). I am going to include interactive presentations in my classes in future since I believe it is a great tool that can facilitate teaching and learning a lot.
As always, it was nice and beneficial to read interesting posts of my colleagues about their ideas how to manage big classes, and how to harness technology to do that.
This week we finally started implementing ideas for the final project! I created a virtual classroom on Nicenet for my translation class students, and sent them detailed explanation along with instructions how to join Nicenet. This is something completely new to them (as it was to me only 5 weeks ago), so I talked to them about all upsides of such an online tool, and how we are going to utilize it. Their first assignment was to join the class and write their first impressions. They all wrote positive comments and they think that this tool will bring a positive change to our classes. I already gave them a new assignment - to post their translation of a poem and to comment on one another's posts. We'll see how it works.
As always, it was nice and beneficial to read interesting posts of my colleagues about their ideas how to manage big classes, and how to harness technology to do that.
This week we finally started implementing ideas for the final project! I created a virtual classroom on Nicenet for my translation class students, and sent them detailed explanation along with instructions how to join Nicenet. This is something completely new to them (as it was to me only 5 weeks ago), so I talked to them about all upsides of such an online tool, and how we are going to utilize it. Their first assignment was to join the class and write their first impressions. They all wrote positive comments and they think that this tool will bring a positive change to our classes. I already gave them a new assignment - to post their translation of a poem and to comment on one another's posts. We'll see how it works.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
week 5 - reflections
I can't believe that half of the course is behind us! This week I learned about some web tools and resources that I would most certainly like to use a lot in my classes in future. It seems really incredible to me that I wasn't aware of so many resources that were there all the time.
So, this week I created my first rubric - and I didn't just do it because it was one of the assignments, but with intention to use it in class immediately. I believe that it is an indispensable tool for modern teaching process. I heard about rubrics before, but I wan't using them until now.
PBL and Webquest are two more great things that can introduce lots of fun and boost the motivation of our students to learn while engaged in some interesting, meaningful activities. I still don't have clear ideas how to incorporate these in my classes, but I will come up with something soon. Those are great ways to enhance teaching / learning process, I and want to harness them.
This week I proposed a technology-related change for my translation class - I am going to create a virtual classroom on Nicenet, where my students will be able to submit their homework, make comments and remarks, and, generally, have access to one another's translations. We'll see how it will work!
All in all, this course is just outstanding, and every new week I learn fabulous things about online resources that we have at our disposal, but are unaware of them.
So, this week I created my first rubric - and I didn't just do it because it was one of the assignments, but with intention to use it in class immediately. I believe that it is an indispensable tool for modern teaching process. I heard about rubrics before, but I wan't using them until now.
PBL and Webquest are two more great things that can introduce lots of fun and boost the motivation of our students to learn while engaged in some interesting, meaningful activities. I still don't have clear ideas how to incorporate these in my classes, but I will come up with something soon. Those are great ways to enhance teaching / learning process, I and want to harness them.
This week I proposed a technology-related change for my translation class - I am going to create a virtual classroom on Nicenet, where my students will be able to submit their homework, make comments and remarks, and, generally, have access to one another's translations. We'll see how it will work!
All in all, this course is just outstanding, and every new week I learn fabulous things about online resources that we have at our disposal, but are unaware of them.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Week 4 - reflections
It's been another fruitful, interesting week of the webskills course. I learned about some interesting websites offering great ideas and exercises for developing writing and reading skills, as well as vocabulary building. Again, other participants were a great source of links, proving that exchange of ideas and online materials among the participants is a crucial part of the course.
Another activity that we did this week was to make a technology-enhanced lesson plan. We had the opportunity to read both instructions how to write it, and some sample lesson plans of this sort, so it wasn't difficult to come up with our sample of it.
Finally, we made another step towards the completion of our final project. This week we were supposed to identify an issue that could be addressed with the use of technology. Having in mind that there are many issues that I could solve with tech tools, I had plenty of ideas. Eventually, I chose students' homework - I need to find an online solution which will enable them to submit and store it in one place, so that other colleagues can access it easily.
All in all, it was fun and it was productive at the same time. Let's see what week 5 has to offer!
Dzemal
Another activity that we did this week was to make a technology-enhanced lesson plan. We had the opportunity to read both instructions how to write it, and some sample lesson plans of this sort, so it wasn't difficult to come up with our sample of it.
Finally, we made another step towards the completion of our final project. This week we were supposed to identify an issue that could be addressed with the use of technology. Having in mind that there are many issues that I could solve with tech tools, I had plenty of ideas. Eventually, I chose students' homework - I need to find an online solution which will enable them to submit and store it in one place, so that other colleagues can access it easily.
All in all, it was fun and it was productive at the same time. Let's see what week 5 has to offer!
Dzemal
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