Overall Reflection

Ten fruitful weeks

What I learnt in this time? - easy! Use technology in an effective and productive way.

So many tools available since the very first week: online resources for teaching like Blogs and social networks, ABCD Objectives, Effective web searches, Delicious, tools for aural/oral development, CALL and tools for reading/writting development, PBL, Webquests, Rubrics, multimedia tools, theories about student centered classes, learner autonomy and learning styles, LoTi, and so much other things that come from experience.

I am really thankful to Donna and my e-classmates with whose experience and knowledge I learnt a lot.

I will always remember everyone of you: Abdullah Saykili who impressed me since the very beginning of the course, Makiko and Tomoko whose names sound similar to me but by the content of their blogs (so much interesting) and their photos on them I can realize the difference; Marialoly, José Carlos Manrique (Jota from Cultural Arequipa), Boris, Galo Palacios, Mr. Holguer Heredia (the three last from Ecuador), Sylvia Moncayo, Mónica Vaca whose names are very familiar to me for being Spanish names and being Latin American colleagues, Malu from Brazil, Karolina De Vrgna who is the only one from Eastern Europe I think; Nehir, Athar Hussain, Akifa,Yea-huey and Meita I remember your posts and your blogs, Kamal Raj and Hari Maya my two project partners I remember your posts and your blogs (Kamal Raj to whose blog I cannot access); and ofcourse, Donna whose guidance was all the time Highly exceptional.

Dear Donna, I learnt a lot from you. Thank you so much for your support and all the things I learnt these ten weeks.

Wish you all the best.

Loti

It is interesting put in practice self-evaluation and grade myself about what I am really doing in class in terms of LoTi and what Arthur W. Chickering and Stephen C. Ehrmann say in their artcle about The Seven Priciples Technology as Lever.

I can say that I wish I were in Level 6, which is a truly high level of students-learning and students-production of content learnt and teacher effectiveness. However, I barely get up to Level 2.

This situation makes feel kind of unconfortable but challenged to keep working on my new goal: Get to Level 6.

I am going to start by re-checking the material studied in this course and aplying the techniques and suggestions gotten. We are a great group of teachers and I learnt so many things from you. And I am definitely going so scan on every post to get details and ideas to work on this new goal.

I want to thank Donna for all the support I've been given and all my e-partners from whom I learnt a lot. I wish you the best.

Dalton

Learning Styles and Technology

A really productive Week # 9 with something I barely read and skim through: Multiple Intelligences.

I remember having read Daniel Goleman book about Emotional Intelligence a time ago, and afterwards the book about Social Intelligence and even Ecological Intelligence; and now, having read something about Multiple Intelligences and the research made by Howard Gardner broadens my capability to interact with my students and their individuality.

I aim to remark now the term individuality, which emphasizes the concept that we are all different, with individual learning styles and information-process pace that need to be respected at every place or activity.

We, the teachers, have much responsibility on sensing and respecting those different styles by designing class activities that go with both, active and reflective learners, a time for thinking what to do or say, and a time for taking it to praxis. Taking care of visual/verbal and sequential/global learners, or even assigning tasks that can involve different types of intelligence to mixed groups of students.

I remember an activity I worked with a group of students that were into a folklore music band. It was just amazing how motivated they were having known that they were going to travel to US for a presentation and how much important English was in their careers, and even better, designing activities linked to music really took them into classes.

I can think of an activity in which my students can make some kind of internet research, so active learners join reflective learners and allot the surfing work to active learners, and the process of discussing and making the report by email/blog to reflective learners.

There are so many things we can do. Some of those activities are well listed in Teacher Tap website: http://eduscapes.com/tap/index.htm, some others can be created using the tools we've already used in the Webskilled Teachers course like ANVILL, webquest, blogs or social networks, or Power Point for activities in classroom.

Dalton