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Rethinking technology
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- 2. Rethinking Technology Beyond Test Scores Confidence Motivation Student Engagement Use It Right Appropriate Use Preventing negatives of distance learning New Possibilities Authenticity Access Today’s Technology
- 3. Beyond Test Scores Confidence Student comments after S32: “I feel interested in performing using e-learning for role plays in class, I like to speak constructive role play: English actively instead of passively memorize English words.” S8: “I can really speak English out, not just read the same materials out.”
- 4. Beyond Test Scores Motivation Autonomy Motivation Competence Relatedness Lesson from Adventure Learning Activity: Bringing students with to Mount Kilimanjaro
- 5. Beyond Test Scores Student Engagement and Preparation Benefits of Blogs: Blogs have other benefits of blogs in education both for students and instructors: 2-Students can also practice their writing skills on the web, and they will be careful if they know someone will comment on their work; 3-Blogs empower students to become more analytic as well as critical; 5-Students can discuss with the others on the course topics and reflect their views with others on the blog; 6-Students are able to link their blogs to other resources of learning to gain knowledge. They may link their blog to other blogs or any other related media to the subject; 7-Students can converse and discuss with their teachers; 13-Blogs support class interaction (CHANG, et al., 2008) and discussions as well as enhance class presentations; 14-Blogs use an automatic dating system which helps tracks assignment submission. This dating system helps in searching and locating postings on a certain date. Student: “I think blogs increase the sense of community in the class, because it helps Student: “I like reading others students and teachers to know more about points of view and having each other’s through communication and flexibility in time when doing feedback sessions.” my homework.”
- 6. Use It Right Students now engaged: S15: “I really enjoyed the role play activity because it is quite active and I have the chance to speak Changing e-learning to use something out constructive role play: more instead of doing language generated through substitution, variation. some reading.”
- 7. Use It Right Distance Learning Distance Learning -isolation -community -disconnected -connected How do we do this?
- 8. New Possibilities Authenticity Adventure Learning, a virtual experience: Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa Videoconferencing in Taiwan: engaging with native speakers of target language in spontaneous, natural conversation
- 9. New Possibilities Access Location no longer a barrier: Connect with resources, information needed Experience another place virtually Reach the native language
- 10. Today’s Technology And the problems of yesterday •Affordable “In American education, •Lower cost videoconferencing technology •Netbooks, cell phones, webcams has been available since 1975, •Free and online collaborative •Blogs, Skype learning has become •Already in use, available increasingly common and •School networks, existing valuable.” systems, software •3G Network, the Cloud “An early decision was made •Simplified to deliver curricular content •Prevalence of technology via the Internet, a.k.a. “the •Comfort level cloud”, rather than through a •Less complicated than before device-centric software and hardware based system. This allowed us to keep the system low cost and highly portable.”
Editor's Notes
- #4 Evidence that appropriately using technology can increase student learning—test scores improve.But we can enhance other important qualitative areas of education: Confidence—Explain how school used technology to achieve more realistic, beneficial conversation practice that increased student confidence. Show student interview excerpts from Shen. Direct attention to some of the questionnaire results showing positive student response.
- #5 2. Motivation—Describe Adventure Learning (AL) activity used in Minnesota classroom; Explain self-determination Theory and how AL incorporates elements of autonomy, competence, and relatedness; Use lesson excerpts from Moos
- #6 3. StudentEngagement, preparation– explain need for finding ways to increase student preparation for in class discussions, by completing pre-discussion readings or activities, and therefore engagement in those discussions. Describe how blogging activity accomplished that for ESL students. Skim through excerpts from Al-Fadda on identified benefits from students engaged in blogging. Point out ESL student comments on blogging
- #7 Technology can be useless if we don’t use it appropriately, being careful to address the needs of students. Example: Chinese classroom using e-learning in role plays for conversation practice. Students bored, not engaged, not expanding skills(point to student response). Changed to constructive role play, changing e-learning style, that challenged students and improved ability and confidence, now generating substitution and variation in conversation role plays. Show comparison between original and constructive, point out how students changing and improving language.
- #8 Distance learning is another example of the importance of using technology carefully. Explain how/why distance learning had negatives often observed in rural medicine and how distance learning was not seen as a good fit for that situation. When used more appropriately, now promoting connectedness and community. Point to diagram and picture of some of the methods of the Palmer article to show how this was done.
- #9 Discuss the way advancing technology has changed what is possible in the classroom for authenticity:Adventure learning—students virtually participating in adventure—real place, real adventureVideoconferencing—able to hear native speakers, have real interaction and oral text from across the globeProductive role plays where students are no longer limited to script, but can do more spontaneous, natural conversation
- #10 Discuss the way advancing technology has changed what is possible in the classroom for access:Rural medicine--no longer separated from information and resources neededStudents in Minnesota—no longer unable to explore a mountain because of location and limited resource/opportunityEnglish language learning—can improve English skills that couldn’t weren’t an option before—access to native speakers
- #11 Address the issue of technology cost and complexityTechnologies not as expensive anymore, possibly free (quote)Many useful technologies very prevalent, students already have access, schools have already purchased or used (quote). Effective technology that is simple; so common that students comfortable, constant improvement making many technologies much more simple than before.