Reflections on PP107

Having made a list with all the tools I can use, made me realise how much I learnt in this course, and also that there are many others  that I need to learn. I believe PP107 has worked as a trigger for me, since it created a positive need to learn and explore more about it.

 During these four weeks, I have experienced different feelings as a result of not focusing on what I actually needed. It was not until I read Vance’s comment that it dawned on me what my objectives were. Fortunately, I was able to set my objectives and at this point , I can say I have achieved them.

Web 2.0 tools + examples

The following GoogleDoc contains all the information. Please click here to view the file.

I have included all the tools and some examples of the things I have done so far.

Web 2.0 tools

This presentation shows the Web 2.0 tools I am familiar with as a result of doing TESOL PP100 - PP 105 – PP107.
I have included a brief description of each tool.

Web 20

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Web 2.0 tools

I have just used Wordle to generate this word

cloud , which includes some of the tools 

I have become familiar with while 

doing PP100,  PP105 and PP107.

Are we edupunks?

What's an EDUPUNK?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edupunk is an approach to teaching and learning practices that result from a do it yourself (DIY) attitude.^[1][2] The New York Times defines it as "an approach to teaching that avoids mainstream tools like PowerPoint and Blackboard, and instead aims to bring the rebellious attitude and D.I.Y. ethos of ’70s bands like The Clash to the classroom."^[3] Many instructional applications can be described as DIY education or Edupunk.

Jim Groom as "poster boy" for edupunk

The term was first used on May 25, 2008 by Jim Groom in his blog, and covered less than a week later in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Stephen Downes, an online education theorist and an editor for the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, noted that "the concept of Edupunk has totally caught wind, spreading through the blogosphere like wildfire".

Click here for more information.

Porfolios work as another tool for assessment

How would ePorfolios work as an assessment system where you teach, as opposed to the standardized testing and other exam-based criteria that might be driving your curriculum now?   
Please click here for the answer.

Reflections on Play, Pedagogy, and World of Warcraft

While tweeting , I read Mark Pengrum's link on Reflections on Play, Pedagogy, and World of Warcraft by Landon K. Pirius and Gill Creel. As I read World of Warcraft, I immediately remembered my students (who are doing their second year at the Polytechnic School in Escuela y Liceo Elbio Fernández in Montevideo) and I thought it might be good to have a look at the article . At the same time, I posted the key takeaway part of it in a note on FACEBOOK.  No more than half an hour had passed when they started posting comments about it. They became really interested in knowing more about the article, I 'm going to work with it in our next ESP lesson and see what their reaction is. 

I believe the way the instructor approached the game was really holistic, I would dare to say that he squeezed WoW dry. Unfortunaley, I cannot work with WoW in class at the moment, since we are about to finish the term. I`ll show this project to my Coordinator and see how I can adapt it in order to work with it during next year.

 

talk by Jennifer Verschoor

talk by Jennifer Verschoor at http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p57572846/

I have attended Jennifer’s PPT and I can say it has been very fruitful. During her talk, she showed us the way she uses technology to teach English, she mentioned that she teaches both technology and English to do this she uses blended teaching in order to foster learner’s autonomy, through technology she opens the classroom to the world.

She quoted Michael Kapor “Getting information off the internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant “and used a similar picture to this.

I would like to include a picture which shows how I sometimes feel while doing this course.

This picture clearly depicts my feelings when I come across all the information we are provided. But then, as I sit in front of the PC to process the information I can see it is not like that. I have to select what I consider is going to help me in my classes. (this, was also mentioned by Jennifer).

(While googling these pictures I came across this article:  Information Overflow, though it has to do with Marketing , I believe in some way can be applied to teaching.)

Going back to her talk:

She showed different tools she uses in her lessons:

• ·       Glogster
• ·       Voki
• ·       Animoto
• ·       Voicethread
• ·       Mixbook

Jennifer also mentioned some of the characteristics of Digital Natives

• ·       Graphics come first –> they need to see, everything should be through images.
• ·       Multi- taskers  -> they can do different things at the same time.
• ·       Instant Feedback -> they want everything straightaway.

She explained why she created a blog for her daughter and she also showed us the wiki she has for her students. Through these two examples she told us about the way learners work, learn and play on their own blogs/wikis.  She has noticed a change in classroom management, as students are constantly asking questions.

I’d like to finish this, by including two quotes she used In her PPT :

“Don’t try to innovate for the future, innovate for the present” by Peter Drucker.

“If you are not failing every now and again, it is a sign you are not doing anything innovative” by Woody Allen.

All in all, If I take into account Woody Allen's quote I can say I am doing something innovative. 

My objectives and what I have achieved

After three weeks, I am still completely overwhelmed by all the tools that are available to use in e-learning. I can definitely say that the more I advance in this course, the less I feel I know. But looking on the bright side, there is something positive behind all this, and it is the desire to learn more and to become familiar with all these tools. I know it will not happen overnight and I am not sure if I will be able to accomplish it before this course finishes, but I am sure I will keep on working to make the most out of these tools.

Looking back

I can say that I have learnt to use different tools.

Delicious.com has proved to be a very effective tool for me, since I normally use three different computers. I tend to bookmark any useful website I come across and it becomes really tedious when I have to repeat the same thing in all the computers I have access to, so using Delicious to bookmark all my favourite pages has been really practical.

I have become familiar with blogging. I had never tried even to create one, I just looked at them without wondering if they would be useful for me or for my classes. During this course, they’ve proved to be really effective.  From “7 things you should know about microblogging” I can list some of the uses:

• to offer a backchannel forum during live classes,
• to send reminders of test dates and project deadlines,
• to build online community, and
• to offer notification of class cancellations due to bad weather.
• to offer multiple points of view on a topic,
• to conduct research from different library locations, or
• to send a virtual shout-out to colleagues about a discovery or the results of an experiment so that all members can discuss what that means to the project at hand

 

I have started to use Twitter with a different purpose. Before PP107, I just posted comments as an alternative to Facebook. In this course I have learnt that it can be used as another tool. I have read the article “7 things you should know about Twitter “ and  there are some aspects I’d like to comment on. I agree on what is expressed about being in touch with a certain group of people in a shared space, sometimes we do not have enough time to go over different social networks, web pages, wikis or blogs to see what is going on around us, so using Twitter could be an alternative, since you can access it through different means. It is also stated that it enables “interaction about a given topic. Twitter can be a viable platform for metacognition, forcing users to be brief and to the point. “The fact of forcing the user to be brief is something positive, sometimes learners tend to start beating around the bush when writing, and this can be good practice for them.

I have yet to learn more things, it will take some time and a lot of practice, but I am sure I will achieve my goals in order to provide my students with the best.

Graham Attwell's presentation - Key aspects

After having seen Graham Attwell's presentation , I'd like to share some of the aspects that I consider to be important when it comes to e-portfolios. Please, follow this link to open the file Key aspects

PLAYBACK: Why Educators Should Embrace Texting, Tweeting and All That Mobile Technology Has to Offer

Why Educators Should Embrace Texting, Tweeting and All That Mobile Technology Has to Offer

I think that we are going through a period in history in which everything revolves around technology. Students have access to a great array of gadgets. They use all these gadgets at the same time, they are multitasking. They can study while listening to their ipods, while contacting their peers through a social network using their PCs or mobile phones, so why not use all this in order to boost their learning,

I have many of my students as friends in Facebook, and I am  really surprised to see how much English they use to express their views, feelings, some of them even have their Facebooks in English,  their level of English ranges from Pre-Intermediate to Advance. I tend to write quotations from famous people on my wall in English , and my students make comments on them. I find this as another way of practising their English outside the classroom, I have yet to use mobile phones  as suggested in the post.

I'd like to share the following article I found while surfing the Web:  Uruguay pioneers mobile phone English language teaching, I have to be honest that I read it many months ago, it caught my attention, but I did nothing to find out more about it. Now, after reading Christine Cupaiuolo's post , I immediately remembered it and I thought it would be a good opportunity to share it.

Many Lenses

Many Lenses

(Mark Pegrum's From Blogs to Bombs)

From what I've read, it is clearly stated that it is our duty as educators to provide our students with the necessary tools to be able to go through all the information they find on the Web.

I really liked the metaphor used when talking about the technological lens -> "The technological wave will carry us with it". I do believe that no matter what we do, it will carry with us anyway, therefore it is our obligation as digital immigrants and educators to be ready to face it and to take full advantage of it.  

Another relevant aspect that I'd like to comment on is the importance of not only listening but also understanding what these digital natives have to offer and teach us, so as to guide them.

All in all, we are responsible for the use our students give to technology.

PP107 - week 1

This has been a very hectic week for me, not only because of my classes but also because I started a new course online : Multiliteracies for Social Networking and Collaborative Learning Environments.
It's been really hard for me to  find my way through the course since it doesn't follow the lay out of the previous courses. I believe this is what makes the course really challenging, the fact of having to adapt ourselves to changes, sometimes this is not an easy task. 


I'd like to quote Heraclitus :There is nothing permanent except change.