Well.. no! Is it the future? Well.. I would Say It is our present. Or we pretend to begin using Technology in 10? 20? years? Remember that we only have until 2012 to do it (According to the Maya Calendar hehe).Welcome to my Blog!. It might not look so sofisticated as I have seen in others blogs but little by little I will find the way to make them as attractive as the others look :). I'm an English Teacher from an University in Ecuador (Casa Grande., The Best)! enrolled in this on line course to learn to Use Technology in classes. (For for information about me click on "About me"). So far, I have found every single tool fascinating: Google pages, diigo, blogging.
What it's challenging, yet fascinating, is to use all this elements in order to apply them in a class I will be teaching next year :"Information Technology in the classroom "( No idea what it is. I'm waiting for my Carreer Coordinator to explain a little bit of it).
As an online student, now I can see the challenges and skills that my students would have and develop: Self discipline, group work, Researching and creativity. And that I have decided to explain in depth.
1.- Self discipline: Nobody tells you "Hey, turn off your cell phone" or "Shh girls and boys, put attention". Here is you against THE MACHINE jaja. You have to do what you have to do and in the time required. It is up to you to organize your time in order to complete the assignments. (Like me for example, I would love to be....
But I can't because I know I have to work on this and submit it tomorrow by 12. (although I don't think I will do it ) Although the teacher didn't say the exact time because he wants us to learn instead of doing everything fast without actually learning. I Think it's nice from him, this is new for most of us so this helps us discover new things, on the other hand I can't not be so flexible with students, especially teenagers, Most of them already know how to do it and if I don't give them time they will come us with excuses from "My dog died".. to "I was about to start when the light went off " (Right, As is the blackouts last for 24 hours)
2.- Group Work: Hey Man! or Girl! if you register to learn online, read the small letters in the contract! You have to find the time to get in touch with your friend and work in groups!. It's a good idea to decided from the very moment when they will meet online to do the assigments. (Come on! There is e-mail, chat, Facebook, Cell phones, text messages, regular phone calls and even mail. to dio it. No excuse.)
Although I don't want to accept it, Group work gives you peer pressure. As for example, My friend Cesar has been asking me whether I created my blog or not. This is an individual activity. Forty minutes ago I wanted to be like Homer, But then that message of "Ya hiciste tu blog?" Get me started. And here I am writing the first part!. He gave me a little push to start writing. Without him iwould have done it probably tomorrow.
3.- Creativity: Maybe it's because I graduated in UCG, or maybe is something that all humans develop at some point, but I love to make things diffent. I love to see all my wikis, blogs, PPP presentations to look appealing to someone's eye. I do take into consideration the content but for example I just couldn't continue writing until I has a nice template. And I notices there were nice ones when I saw Cesar and Justin's blogs. Students should be encouraged not only to be good at reflecting bot also at creating, decorating, finding the appropiate colors so that they feel proud of their masterpiece.
4.- Searching Skills: Any husband would find his wife reading "Cosmopolitan" "Hogar" "Biachi (a really good cooking magazine)., but not mine. He finds me reading books about Teaching English with Technology, on internet reading articles from the Diigo Bookmarks, Searching fro new gadgets to add to or even talking all the time about what I want to do in my next semester class. Most students love technology. I mean who wouldn't like to have a Blackberry or an I phone?. You see them all the time in the phone searching for backgrounds to download or new aplications. I think the same will happen with students who enroll in an online course. If teachers connect their interests to the content plus the technological tool, they will be addicted to it.
So far I have identifed these 4 aspects only. Maybe the more I am involved with it the more aspects I will find but so far like Michael Jackson's movie.. This is it!.
