Last night we had a very productive session evaluating online resources in ELT. I was pleased with the obvious effort that you had put in. Here (again) are my general comments on that session and I would be very happy if you would give me your impressions of the session by responding here:
On the whole the presentations were well done. As a general comment (with notable exceptions), you evaluated the functional aspects of the web sites very well and were able to point out their strengths and weaknesses in design. I would have liked to see a clearer awareness of the underlying pedagogical assumptions and how these matched with your own contexts. If we are going to use computers in classrooms we should be clear about why we are doing that, and what difference technology can make to the learning process, as opposed to say, using a book or a whiteboard. One obvious possibility of technology in language teaching these days is to bring communities together across the internet, and provide opportunities for students to engage in authentic communication (as with integrative CALL). Obviously there are many many ways to use computers in classrooms, but a key challenge to language teachers now is to understand how technology can be used in a less transmissive way, and allow students to take control of the learning process.
What did you think about the session? Do you have any thoughts about how teachers might use technology in a less instructivist, more constructionist way? Or perhaps there are limitations that I can't see?
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5 comments:
Dear Mr. Christoph Hafner and classmates,
I really enjoyed our session last Thursday. Classmates had paid lots of effort to do preparation and to do their presentation.
I think most students are eager to learn and eager to succeed. I think new technology could help students to be an active learner and controller when they play interactive activities. It is not only to arouse students' interest to learn English, but also help them to explore unlimited English learning resourses from the Internet. Gradually, students have an ability to learn English or new things independently.
We are as teachers, I think it is good to spend time to learn more new teachnology for teaching and learning English.
Fanny
Hi Fanny,
One feeling I got from the session was that an important feature of internet software is its ability to track the learners' usage. That way, we can be sure that students aren't opting out, but are completing the required exercises online. This is certainly an important function, and more detailed feedback over time is invaluable to learners.
My question is what support do our learners need, in order to be able to learn independently through technology?
Christoph
Helena's comment here.
I think we are as teachers. When we ask students to do on-line interactive exercise. Our role is as factilitor. We give students guidlines and help them to operative on-line excerices. We help them to develop their life-long learning skill. At the beginning, we motivate them and we teach them how to do interactive exercies. Later, when students has some improvement, they feel happy. Lastly, they will automatically create interest to learn and they gradually get independent learning skill.
Fanny
Hi Fanny,
Thanks for the comment. I would agree that motivation is central to learning. How do you go about motivating your students? Do you think that using technology in language teaching can be motivating in and of itself?
Christoph
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