Week 10: Final  Reflection

We are nearly at the end of this course. I am surprised how the days rushed lagging us behind.  It is true that time and tide doesn’t wait anyone. We are now wrapping up our entire course within few hours. I am really wordless in this situation. Being bold, I would feel proud myself that the course we participated is internationally recognized course.  We successfully completed it. It will have academic value as it promotes our professionalism. In fact, the course was wonderful. It was systematic, balanced and scientific. The course involved us in varieties of assignments such as: Discussion, Task, Project tasks, Reflective Blogs and Comments. Most of the class was run in Nicenet posts and comments along with weekly Blog Reflections. The Nicenet conferencing topics were as follows:

Discussion Topics: Ground Rules for Discussion, Web Searching (Finding the Best Search for information Needs), CALL for Aural/Oral skill-building, Reading/ Writing skill- building, Assessment/rubrics and Project-Based Learning, Interactive classes, Learners’ Autonomy, One-Computer Lesson, Online tools for enhancing learning, Learning Styles/Technology and Multiple Intelligences

Tasks : Creating Academic Blogs, ABCD objectives, Delicious pages, Creating Technology –enhanced Lesson Plan, Rubrics , Interactive PowerPoint, Sample Lesson  for a One-Computer Classroom, Creating Online course site or exercise to use online and assessing  our  Technology Integration Level  on the basis of LoTi ( Level of Teaching Innovation)

Project Tasks: Describing class we teach, Reading Sample Project Report, Describing some issues, Describing  how to begin to implement the change, Peer review of project Report/Plan, Writing final draft of project reports/ plans.

Extra-credit Task: Creating technology- enhanced project or WebQuest

 Weekly Reflective Blogs and comments: Each week we would reflect our experience we earned from the week posting blogs on the basis of what we did, what we learned and how would we implement them in the classrooms. We also had to comment on our friend’s Blogs.

All those activities we accomplished during nine weeks were very useful for us .I don’t find any of these topics is less successful and less useful. I think I successfully completed these topics categorized as above. They are equally useful in my context. As I am teaching Masters and Bachelors level students, I will try to use most of them to develop students’ autonomy, active participation in the class and to develop their reading habit. In fact, this course is PRECIOUS to bring innovation in our teaching. Finally, I would like to extend my vote of thanks to Dedicated/ Dignified Donna, collaborative/ hardworking E-friends and University of Oregon for providing me this grand opportunity!

I would like to request you to extend this course from 10 weeks to 20 weeks so that it can produce on- line teaching incubators. 

With Warm Greetings (Namaste)!

Hari Maya Sharma

Nepal

Email: hbhimasharma@hotmail.com/ harimayasharma@yahoo.com

Weekly reflection 9: Using Technology to Enhance Different Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences

Dear Donna and Friends,

This week was, especially, for discussion on learning styles/strategies, multiple intelligence and different types of technology tools that could be used in classrooms. Numbers of reading resources such as- articles, web links, and web pages state that a classroom is a composition of learners having different intelligences dominant, having sorts of learning styles/strategies and preferences .  Different learners help their learning by using varieties of techniques. Some learners tend to understand information best by discussing, applying it in real life situation or explaining it, whereas others prefer to think about it quietly first. Some learners like learning facts, solving problems by well-established methods, whereas others prefer discovering possibilities and relationships, they like innovation and dislike repetition. Beside these, some learners remember best what they see -such as pictures, diagrams and charts and some others (verbal learners) understand best by using words written and spoken. Some tend to learn in a sequence but others tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing materials almost randomly without seeing connections. Learners’ learning styles might be correlated to the pattern of multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner propounded the theory of multiple intelligences stating that individuals have similar types of intelligences but no one is exactly similar. It is because of different patterns of intelligences they possess. The other very important thing everyone must consider is that intelligences can be enhanced /maturated through carefully organized teaching strategies.   According to him there are nine types of intelligences: Verbal/Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Natural and Existentialist. Learners having these intelligences dominant should be helped using wider range of techniques and technology. For verbal/linguistic intelligence we can use web documents, PDF Files, word processing PowerPoint, story-creation software, e-mail, chats, social networks and e- reference tools etc. For Logical-Mathematical intelligence organizational tools, calculation tools, scientific equipment, spreadsheets, statistics animation, webquests etc are very important to be used. Similarly, tools such as photo sharing websites, comics and sequential art, CAD (Computer- Aided Design), Animation software, puzzle building tools, Draw programs, paint, match pictures with vocabulary words, etc. could be used to develop visual/ spatial intelligence. Likewise, we have numbers of technology tools such as video productions-skits, dances, sports etc, Animation, Virtual Field Trip, Digital still and video cameras virtual worlds etc to enhance Bodily- kinesthetic intelligence. Musical intelligence can be strengthened using video and audio recorders, sound and music files, DVDs and CD-audios and music sharing sites and so on. Some learners have intrapersonal intelligence dominant. They will be helped to understand the information best by using Computer-based journaling, Concept maps, Problem solving software, Internet research and so on. Similarly, Blogs, Chat, Video and teleconferencing, Group decisions software , Social networks, Video recording, Collaborative Computer software or games etc  are very good tools for interpersonal intelligence. Naturalist can learn best by using Audio and Video cameras, record of natural world, Digital cameras, Word processing, Data organization and calculation, Desktop presentations etc. and Existentialists would prefer learning the big pictures of natures and things that exist in the world.

With help of this rich amount of ideas to use technology I gained from this course, I am sure I could choose appropriate tools to develop my learners’ intelligences. First of all, I could take a survey of the dominant intelligence of learners who I am teaching to and put the record of that. On the basis of learners’ learning strategies, and multiple intelligences I could pick up some tools considering the context of availability and usability and then create environment so that different learners could choose what they want to do, in what way they could. From the piles of tools as mentioned above I could choose some considering their level and other variations.

This course has definitely brought innovation into my knowledge of teaching. I think it will be activator to bring computer in classroom, to shift the one-way PowerPoint presentation to interactive one, to give more and more alternative examples, assignments, resources to teach the same portion of information. In fact, this course will encourage me to practice human rights not only in general sense but also in learning styles/ strategies and multiple intelligences in my classrooms. Truly speaking, I am wordlessly feeling guilty for depriving from real learning to most of my previous learners who did not have verbal/linguistic, logical- mathematical intelligences dominant in my classrooms. I tagged them as intelligent and dull focusing only on verbal/linguistic and logical mathematical intelligences. I could not address their rights for learning using their own styles although I had responsibility to consider about equity and equality side by side.

Regarding the continuation of my learning about technology I could use three main strategies. The first is to search, as far as possible, for different learning tools, search engines and other links to use to collect varieties of ideas from different resources myself. Secondly, I could look for different universities, institutions and organizations that grant opportunities like the University of Oregon and apply for them. Thirdly, I will keep in touch with my instructors and e- friends of this class and share some experiences, knowledge from each others.

With Warm Greetings!

Harimaya

A virtual classroom

Week 8: Adventures in Climbing Web-peaks!

This week gifted me ANVILL, the wonderful tool created by Jeff to practice oral/aural language by the help of very modern web-based audio and video tools such as VoiceBoard, LiveChat, Quizzes and surveys, the newest tool Tcast. I found them very useful for  teachers to record and place audio/video files anywhere in a lesson and  for students to learn in their own pace, to create groups of their friends, to taste native voice anytime they like.In 

                                                                fact, it is PRECIOUS!

The most valuable experience I earned from this week is creating course sites: Nicenet Class,  BlogSpot and Wiki which are excellent tools we are using during this summer course.I am wordlessly very happy that Donna created this environment. She is successful to enhance autonomy within participants like me.
I definitely share this knowledge with my colleagues, and use these tools for teaching different subject in Bachelors and Masters levels. I am very glad that my students who are in-service teachers can also be beneficial from these tools.

Moreover, I got experience of working in group commenting and accepting others experience. I have now internalized the importance of peer review in academic writing. It is another new   experience I can use in my teaching.

Greetings!

Harimaya

Week 7 Reflection: Learners’ Autonomy and One –Computer Classroom

This week I learned mainly three new things: Learners Autonomy, One-Computer Classroom and creating one-computer classroom lesson. I would like to share what I learned in a bit more detail:

Learners Autonomy

Helec describes Learners Autonomy as the ability to take charge of one’s learning. It is ‘essentially a matter of the learners’ psychological relation to the process and content of learning -and a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making and independent action (Little1991:4). It is defined in terms of the learners’ willingness and capacity to control or oversee her/his own learning (Helec)

The autonomous learner takes a active role in the learning process, generating ideas and availing himself/herself of learning opportunities, rather than simply reacting to various stimuli of the teacher (Boud 1988). It is not simply ‘a rote memorization’; it is a constructive process that seeks meaning from events.

In addition to these, I learned three dominant philosophies such as positivism, constructivism and critical theory with the view to examining how each of them connects up with learners’ autonomy. Positivism assumes that learning can only ‘consist-in the transmission of knowledge from one individual to another (Benson& Voller, 1997:20) which is the congruent view of course is the maintenance and enhancement of the ‘traditional classroom’

Constructivism is another philosophy which leads directly to the proposition that knowledge cannot be taught but only learned (i.e. constructed) because knowledge is something ‘built-up by the learners’ (von, G & Smook: 1974). It encourages and promotes self-directed learning as a necessary condition for learners’ autonomy (Thanasolus).

Critical theory shares with constructivism in the view that knowledge is constructed rather than discovered or learned. Within this approach, learning concerns issues of power and ideology a process of interaction with social context.

Moreover, Thanasolus provides ideas of conditions such as learning strategies Meta- cognitive strategies for Learners’ Autonomy and ways to promote it such as Self-report, Diaries and evaluation sheets, persuasive communication are the main ways.

One- Computer Classroom

I love 7 categories of classroom computer use given in notes on a presentation by Donna Ashnus in the note entitled ‘But I Don’t Have a Computer Lab! Using One Computer in the Classroom ‘. It was prepared to provide teachers with methods of effectively using a single computer in the classroom. The 7 categories of classroom computer use are: Administrative tool, Presentation tool both for teacher and students, Communication station, information station, publishing tools, Learning tools and simulation center.( for detail  I recommend to go through: http:// www.seirtec.org/present. onecomptr.html , http:// www.lburkhart.com.elem/strat.htm )

One-Computer Classroom Lesson

Beside these, I created a lesson for one-computer class which enhanced my knowledge in teaching language skills with the focus in reading interactively with the help of one-computer in the classroom. It can be the best way to teacher better using limited number of resources.

Idea Sharing

I like idea sharing with others!

I am hurried to share these ideas with my colleagues, to transfer the idea by implementing in the classroom and by sharing it among NELTA friends, member of ELT Club (Blog). I am aware that ‘the more we give the knowledge, the more we gain.’

Greetings!

Harimaya