Week 10: Wrap-up

I like the models suggested for assessing teacher's technology usage in the class, both of them are quite meaningful and convenient -
State of Washington: Tiers of Technology Integration
University of Southern Florida: The Technology Integration Matrix
I believe I have reached Tier 3 of Technology Integration into the Classroom Indicators, or level Adaptation of Technology Intergation into the Curriculum, since I still have to encourage the students to apply technology tools for English learning purposes and facilitate in doing this with all possible means.
Everything that I learnt throughout this course is worth implementing into the classes I teach. Now I use Delicious to save useful links, I know how to make successful interative PowerPoint presentations, and technology-enhanced lesson plans (with Hotpotatoes exercises, listening activities, videos, etc). The students, in their turn, are learning how to exchange data with Pudlet tools, do WebQuests and make use of different search engines. I hope that I will be able to motivate the students to take even more interest in using technology for learning English on their own.

Week 9: Learning styles - technology connections

I have been interested in the concept of learning styles for a while and has become convinced that it is technology that will inevitably help address the learning style preferences of all students. Now that I have read about tech tools whichsupport multiple intelligences I am able to identify which technology I use in class is best suited for each of the multiple intelligences:

Verbal/Linguistic- e-mails and forums,

Logical/Mathematical - Webquests,

Visual/Spatial - Powerpoints,

Bodily/Kinesthetic - Animation (Macromedia Flash),

Musical/Rhythmic - Sound and music files,

Intrapersonal - Blogs,

Interpersonal - Peer tutoring.

Moreover, I suppose the article "LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES" is absolutely necessary for students to read, since it explains how learners can enhance their progress if they follow the recommendations for taking up information in the manner which is more efficient for the learning style they have. I believe what teachers should primarily do is to let students find out what multiple intelligences they prefer and then provide them with instruction of how to benefit from this fact. It is practicable even to teach a lesson about multiple intelligences, for example the one provided by the TeachingEnglish community at https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/multiple-intelligences-what-are-you-good

Also, I have come across the examples of lesson plants aimed at some of the intelligences: http://esl.about.com/od/teachingenglish/a/l_multiple.htm
Some more quizzes followed by recommendations
http://www.brainboxx.co.uk/a3_aspects/pages/vak_quest.htm
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Week 8: Teacher Resources Online

This week's collection of online technology tools was too varied, so I decided to focus on those which I had never explored before, trying to look closer into whatever appeals most. As I am now familiar with the online classroom technology nicenet.org, a free platform for creating blogs at www.blogger.com and the Padlet tool, I didn't check the links provided to study these resources in detail.
ANVILL, sites.google.com and SMILE seem to be sophisticated platforms, so I need more time to sort things out concerning the registration and the like, but I will certainly try all these out.
Among simpler tools I have got interested in are
http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html
http://bogglesworldesl.com/lessons/job_fair.htm
http://www.easytestmaker.com/
It also reminded of http://www.lessonwriter.com/, a web-site for creating lesson plans.
These resources seem to be quite appropriate for helping me with ESP classes, while most of the others are intended for yourng English learners.
I have Hotpotatoes already installed on my laptop, so I have created a few exercises to extend the range of activities of the Webquest I am desiging for my ESP class. Now I need to learn how to get a link of my online task and add it to a web space.
I can get a link by uploading the .htm files designed with Hotpotatoes on a web-site created by http://www.ucoz.ru/. That was a discovery of a lifetime!
Now I will go on completing my WebQuest http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=229857

Week 7: Learner Autonomy, the One-computer Classroom, and Mobile Devices

As I have only one computer at my disposal rather than a computer lab, I was interested to read about "7 Categories of Classroom Computer Use". In fact, I am used to making use of the computer as an administrative and presentation tool. It also serves as intormation station.
As for the "Stratagies and Applications for the one computer classroom" they all are of common sense.
Finally, I consider the paper "Going to the MALL: Mobile Assisted Language" to be an in-depth overview of today's mobiles technologies which can be employed for language learning purposes. Unfortunately, the only gadget mentioned there which I have managed to deal with so far is a cell phone. Mobile language learning programs seem to be a rather motivating and convenient technique, but I suppose the lessons delivered per mobile can only be beneficial as outclassroom activities, primarily intended for self-study purposes.
The resources I have discovered this week are http://padlet.com/ and WordWeb.
One more thing, there is a BBC Learning English Words in the News lesson about my country. It is now that I have realized that the things we learn from news are different from what happens (and how it feels) in reality.

Week 6: Creating Student-centered Classes and Interactive PowerPoint

I was looking forward to learning more about using PowerPoint for teaching purposes, but now I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I have acquired some very useful skills of making my presentations more interective, on the other hand I see a lot of things to improve about the presentations I was pretty happy with before. I should definately find time to add action buttons to navigate between different slides and create more quizzes. From now on, I will also use button B to black the audience's monitor, Ctrl+H to hide the pointer, and F7 to check the spelling. I can also use a variety of presentation templates available at http://www.vickiblackwell.com/ppttemplates.html and http://teach.fcps.net/trt2/links/powerpointgames.htm.

Week 5: Project-based Learning, WebQuests, and rubrics

Time flies but now I can clearly see that each and every week I spend on doing the Webskills course is worthwhile. Moreover, now I can identify it as a skilfully designed long-term learning project - the objectives are clear, the material is interesting, everything is properly scheduled and everyone feels involved and apploaching to the final goal.  It is so great to be a part of Project-Based Learning event!
The two kinds of technology I discovered are RubiStar, a simple tool of creating rubrics, and Webquest (see http://www.webquest.org/ for details), which is inquiry-oriented on-line lesson. I like them both. There is nothing else to add, except for the fact that I have already prepared a rubric to accompany my Technology Enhanced Lesson Plan (reviewed after receiving the feedback from Sean) and started creating a Webquest for my ESP students. The outcome of practical value speaks louder than words alone.

Week 4: Skill-building Websites for Reading/Writing Skills and Technology-enhanced Lesson Plans

Another webskills course week is coming to its end and I can confess that I am gradually getting used to this hectic schedule of balancing between work, home and course duties under severe time pressure. In fact, I find the best examples to follow among my fellow course participants, they all are so diligent, inspired and devoted to what they do that I have no other choice than to get infected with the spirit of creativity and enthusiasm and carry on.

We continue to explore the web space in search for relevant internet ESL teaching resources. This time, trying to find materials to enhance reading and writing practices. When deciding what online activity to choose, it is important to remember what the students need and what the classroon facilities can allow you to bring in (more details in Jarek Krajka's paper "Using the Internet in ESL Writing Instruction").

The results of my exploration of muli skills websites
http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/ - grammar, vocabulary, listening exercise
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html - ESL Independent Study Lab
http://a4esl.org/ - Activities for Students
http://www.manythings.org/ - Many Interesting Things for ESL Students
include
www.onlinenewspapers.com - a search engine of subject-specific magazine/newspaper articles
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/section/level-two/3935.html - interactive lesson "Using E-mail in Business”
http://www.esl-lab.com/eslbasic/travel-sightseeing-2.htm - listening activity "Giving directions"
http://esl.about.com/od/readinglessonplans/a/newslesson.htm - Understanding Newspaper Headlines
"Job hunting" at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1401/140109-job-hunting-a.html ABCD objective^ after doing vocabulary, reading comprehension and listening activities intermediate students will be able to discuss the problems of job seeking at an appropriate level of fluency.

"How to wrtie a business e-mail" at http://www.tv411.org/writing/writing-work-ged/how-write-business-email/activity/1/2 (activities 1,2) ABCD objective: being given brief explanation (and a few examples) of the basic rules of business writing in English, (low-) intermediate students will perform Yes/No option and multiple choice activities in order to know the difference between formal/informal register and will be able to produce short e-mails choosing the correct professional tone and relevant subject line.
"Science in the news" at http://www.tv411.org/reading/understanding-what-you-read/science-news (activities 1,3) ABCD objective: intermediate students will revise common vocabulary related to ecology and energy issues so that to better comprehend the scientific facts in the news.

Writng an enhanced technology lesson plan was difficult, not because the lesson should have been enhanced with technology but because of planning itself. I feel I am not very good at planning either a lesson, a journey or a birthday party - there is always a risk that something can go wrong, so I'd better try and see if it works well in practice instead of planning in detail what might happen.

Week 3: Skill-building Websites for Oral/Aural Skills and Saving Bookmarks with Delicious

Writing these lines I am hoping to be just in time with this week's asignments. I have been extremely busy all the time at work and I was afraid I was going to be late with all the tasks. Luckily, there was more reading than technology this time, which allowed me to fulfil the tasks not only working on the computer but also on my way to and from the university. Now, I will put briefly down what I have done so far.

1. As I have proudly announced in Nicenet classroom space, I have read all three articles about CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) in terms of speaking/ listening skills development. All of them are worth reading and I am sure I will need to refer to them in the future, since they discuss different aspects of using computer for foreign language education. "The Employment of CALL in Teaching Second/Foreign Language Speaking Skills" by Juila Gong clearly explains how computer sofware can help to learn a foreign language, discussing both advantages and disadvantages of CALL. In "Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials" Lindsey Miller touches upon practical application of authentic materials available online for improving listening skills. "New Perspectives in Teaching Pronunciation", written by Maria Busa, is about researches in the field of teaching pronunciation through special software packages. I feel I need to go back to this paper some day and try all the links provided in order to learn more about newly developed tools for teaching pronunciation.

As for the web resources designed for improving listening and speaking skills I enjoyed finding Lindsay Clandfield's ready-to-use lesson about "Using OK" on the OneStopEnglish web-site, "Job hunting" activity at Randall's Cyber Listening Lab and and a BBC Learning English course about Pronunciation.

I know that resources for listening activities can also be found at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com, http://www.ted.com, and http://www.manythings.org/pp/, or in educational platforms like EnglishCentral, English,Baby, Busuu.com and LiveMocha.com but I guess I still need to explore what Larry Ferlazzo's blog offeres to try and the NPR podcast collection holds.

2. It is a shame I have never heard of social bookmarking before, but now I have a Delicious page https://delicious.com/tess_moli and can keep records of web-pages I would like to refer to in the future.
I wish I had more time to look through this week's additional resources, suggesting further readings about alternatives to Delicious and even more.

3. Finally, I have read a project report, which is the one written by Nadina Nicolici Carmen from Lorin Salagean Technical High School (Rumania). The main idea of the project was to enhance students' reading skills by creating a blog where they could share their thoughts and feelings, and do some vocabulary exersices. In addition, the teacher created a wiki space to upload the materials the students might need for studies, for example links to grammar games, on-line dictionaries, etc. In the end, the teacher created a class web-site so that to give the students extra materials to what they learn from the course book in class. I may well choose to do something similar in my final project, unless other technology tool turns my attention away from blogging. I am excited to learn more and more in the next weeks, the only thing that upsets me is that project reports are so long that they are really boring to read and, in all probability, to write!

Week 2: The ABCD Learning Objectives Framework and Effective Web Searches

This week there have been a number of assignments to complete, which means that I have learnt a lot of new things about technology. Trying to follow the instructions so that not to get lost, I first explored the variety of search engines and portals to look for materials I could use in my classes. Actually, the idea of using some other search engine than Google was stunning. After several hours of doing this research I came up with a shortlist of web-sites which I most probably will make use of for some teaching practice purposes:
http://www.cluuz.com - a visual search engine
http://www.definitions.net/ -a great tool for finding definitions along with translation of the word (the citation is produced automatically and can be easily added to the lesson plan's bibliography)
http://www.merriam-webster.com - as multiple-purpose dictionary (definitions, synonyms, rhymes, and examples of usage).
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/ - a search engine for breaking global news headlines (all the links of the search list are indicated as of British or American origin)
I should also thank the other course participants for sharing their findings, from which I have borrowed:
http://www.infotopia.info - search engine
http://education.iseek.com/iseek/home.page - search engine
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/187549/engineering - encyclopedia
http://www.doaj.org/ - directory of open access journals
http://ed.ted.com/ - design of video lesson plans
http://www.englishcentral.com/courses#!/index/3-business-english/all/easiest - English langauge courses
The next step was to describe the class I teach and create a learning objective, done in the ABCD style (Audience-Behavior-Condition-Degree), for that class. For now I can see it like that: "Given clear instuctions and examples to follow, the engineering students will be able to ask questions and give responses on the subject of short reports, when participating in a follow-up presentation discussion at B2 level (of Common European Framework Reference)". I am planning to arrange a blog so that the students could have a space outside the classroom for communication and would be able to present their scientific project's ideas and discuss them by leaving comments. Easier said than done, as the saying goes...

Week 1: Creating an Academic Blog

This is the first post on my own blog and it is very exciting. I used to think that running a blog is the matter of extremely diffucult technical aspects and never had an idea of learning how to create one. However, I liked reading posts on the English Language Teaching Global Blog of Oxford University Press and wondered how teachers can take advantage of blogging technology in addition to just being tuned to the latest news shared by other educators on the official websites devoted to EFL teaching issues.
Now that I started the University of Oregon’s Winter 2014 Webskills online course I discovered that it takes only a few simple steps to build a blog of the very design and content that I want. At the same time I clearly see that much effort and time is required to maintain the quality and relevance of the blog's content in the long term. But as always, any efforts will pay back. For example, when trying to add a photo to my profile I came across a Keep Calm poster generator, which can be introduced to students to have a little fun with writing their own motivational slogans in English.
I am looking forward to using my blog for reflecting on my ideas and sharing the knowledge of useful EFL teaching resources in my posts for the next weeks. As for the reasons to use blogs in my classes, I find the idea of doing project-based activities most attractive. I do realize that it involves much preparation work but thanks to the acticle "Blogging for EFL" I know what it is all about.