WEEK 8.0: What's on the menu?_ Hot Potatoes and....

Week 8.0 is a bit different from the previous ones. Reading assignments were missing and the focus was more on practical things. Learning by doing seems to be the motto of the week. We were introduced to a plethora of tools that are meant to facilitate our tasks and eventually boost our students' learning. In the first task, we were asked to create a Wiki site or an exercise using one of the recommended tools. Hot Potatatoes was the program I chose to experiment and create a few exercises with. In fact, I knew of the progarm years ago, but I haven't used it at all. So, this week our Guru Deborah made me rediscover this app and explore its hidden potentials. I'm grateful to you, Deborah. The tool is user-friendly and versatile at the same time. My Hot Potatoes creations consisted of three exercises: a JQuiz, JMatch and a JCross. My colleague and project partner Khuloud was the star of my JCross creation as all the clues were inspired by how I imagined her trip to Germany was. That's why I named it "Khuloud's Odyssey". I hope this won't make her angry. Anyway, explorong this tool and seeing what my coursemates did with it gave me lots of hints on how I could use it myself to positively impact my students' learning.

Looking at Arjana's and Cami's nicely and professionally designed class blogs convinced me of its educational uses even with beginner students. Before, I thought it would work only for advanced and mature learners. I was thankfully proven wrong. So, I created a class blog which I intend to incorporatre in my teaching this year. The link to it is as follows:

http://mirleftenglish.blogspot.com/

One of the ways I think I might use this tool is to give my students assignments and show them links that may help them consoloidate, review and further study issues related to each unit. We'll see what will unfold in two months' time.

Many of my coursemates created Wikis or course sites on Nicenet. I didn't, but I will give them a try in the future, though most coursemates confessed they experienced different difficulties while experimenting with those tools. This might sound a bit discouraging, but I will create a Wiki sooner or later. I'm a Capricorn and capricorn people are known to be stubborn.

This week, we were also shown links to three wonderful sites that any teacher must bookmark. The sites offers teachers an array of tools that would save them much efforts and time creating tests, exercises, games, wordsearch puzzles ... and even certificates, gratis! I had fun experimenting with some and I will certainly use them to prepare extra activities for my beginner students. The links to the aforementioned sites are to be found below.

Learner autonomy and how these tools could enhance it was the topic we had to discuss. The following is the post I wrote:

"Week 8.0 has brought with it a number of tools that will impact my teaching as well as students' learning tremendously. The lesson delivery and particularly exercises, tests and tasks meant to review and recycle language points will be done in different and more effective ways. Besides, learning won't be limited to classroom space only. Students, mainly willing ones, will have an opportunity to learn beyond the classroom boundaries and ultimately become masters of their learning. Change, I believe, is synonymous to the introduction of these tools in one's classroom be it on the levels of teaching or leaning.

Using such cool tools will considerably promote learner autonomy. A class blog, for instance, will hopefully maintain students' motivation and give them a chance to further study things that weren't thoroughly covered in the classroom. Students could be shown links to sites where they could practise more a particular language point, given tasks related to a unit to do before coming to class or even a set of mock tests to help them perform well in their exams. Wiki sites and Webquests, also, serve the same purposes and encourage students to learn in a variety of modes, in pairs, collaboratively and more importantly individually. Another plus of these tools is that students, while at home working on their own, can do a particular task over and over till mastery, a thing almost impossible in traditional teaching circumstances. Again, the interactive nature of these tools will make learning more appealing and enjoyable even when students are working in isolation yet in communion with the virtual learning reality created by their teachers.

Constraints, I have already mentioned them in previous posts, especially when we had to write about class issues. As my school is unwired and having no computer lab, I have to get myself a 3G internet modem to use in the classroom to be able to demonstrate to students how to work online while at home or in a cybercafé. A data show, which I will buy soon, will make my task much easier. However, uncooperative students are an inevitable reality teachers have to deal with worldwide. I hope to lure these students to learn trying these new tools with extra marks if they accomplish their online tasks with reasonable success. I know this is not the desired intrinsic motivation every teacher aspires to instill in his/her students, but I'm confident it will work. And who knows, it might develop into a true intrinsic motivation by the time!"

Regards,

Arbi

Links

http://www.techtrain.org/teacher_tools.htm

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/

http://www.toolsforeducators.com/

http://www.educationalpress.org/index.asp/

http://www.easytestmaker.com/