Week 10: It's time to say good bye

How time flies! It's hard to believe that this class is coming to its end. It's hard to say good bye to Sean, the friendly instructor, and other moderators,  who has persistently and patiently guided me, and  other participants,  in the application of technology in teaching and learning English.  

It is undeniable that this course has widened my insight about teaching and the application technology for learning and teaching.  I do not only know about different tools a teacher  might use for their class but also the advatages of using the tools for teaching.  Now I start using some of the tools introduced in this class and  become  more familiar with them.   Surely,  I learned a lot from this class.  

This week I read  two models  of indicators for technology intergation in teaching: ) Tiers of Technology Integration into the Classroom Indicators  and 2)  Technology of Integration Matrix  (TIM) According to Technology of Integration Matrix  (TIM), I discovered that I  am in the level of adaptation with active and colloborative learning environment. It means that students' can actively use a tool'. My students learned that their mobile phones or mobile devices can be used to improve their listening. They searched listening material using the devices from the Internet to improve their pronunciation,  grammar, or speaking. They learned how to develop a web blog on which they can write their reflection, post or share the listening materials they learned and encourage their friends to listen or watch the audio-video materials.  They will have an experience in making a short video after learning from the authentic audio-video materials on the Internet. 

I think other lecturers should start using technology for their teaching.  I am planning to have a one day workshop for this. 

Though it is hard, I have to say 'Good bye Sean. Thank you for the knowledge and guidance.  And 'Good Bye my dear  online friends'. Hope we can see each other again in another program.

Week 9: Learning Styles and Strategies, and  What can the Internet do for my classroom?

This week is quite tough as I have to finish my final project report and do some readings. However, I am very glad as I thin I have gone through them very well.  The topic for this week is very interesting as it deals with types of learner and strategies used by each type. I read some articles this weeks. I am very much interested in the  articles  Learning Styles and Strategies by Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman and Technology and Multiple Intelligences on Teacher Tap and articles on The Concept to Classroom  on http://www.thirteen.org/.

As written by Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman , there are various types of learner: active and reflective learners, sensing and intuitive learners, visual and verbal learners and sequential and global learners. Although difficult, it is  the teacher’s task to recognize what type of leaner their students are. I tried to encourage my student to both active and reflective learners through the use of web technology. I created a web class for my Intermediate Listening Class  (http://www.rinaesl.blogspot.com) on which I wrote  the weekly listening tasks for the students.  I feel very enthusiastic selecting materials from the Internet that might be of the interest of the students. The students  also created their reflective blogs and use their blog for sharing what they learn from the material. I was amazed by students’ creativity in choosing and redesigning the already available template.  The names of the blog are amazingly inspiring and motivating. As written by Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman “Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first’.
I found that now we, my students and me, now is becoming closer and communicative. My students can post their question or comment on my blog and I can follow their listening activities and leave my comment on their blog. Since this is a small class, it is not difficult for me to visit every blog and leave my comment.


What can the Internet do for my classroom? is a question that I have tried to answer during this e-teaching course. Internet in fact can do many things beyond my thought. It is not only a rich source which provides teacher with teaching knowledge and skills but also thousand of teaching materials. As can be read on Why Net? http://www.thirteen.org, Internet provides us ‘access to an an incredible wealth of information  and amazing number of resources which are updated and expanded.   

I have been using internet for my own need  in the last decade either for my teaching or my research. However, only recently, after joining this e-teacher program, that I used the Internet and the available tools to help improve my teaching into a better way. Now I use the Nicenet for my class ‘Linguistic Research Method’ whose students do a lot of reading and writing. I introduced the students  two weeks ago how to register and participate in the discussion or post their comment or task. It was amazing that the students did it without any difficulty in a short time. Others who came late to the class did not ask me any question about it as they learned it in a short time from their friend sitting next to them.  

What technology can I use for my class?  is another question I am trying to answer lately. I takes this question to ask myself about the teaching technique I have used  so far. This is the time to do some changes and start to adopt technology for my teaching. Yes, there are lots of technologies a teacher can use to improve the quality of their teaching. Internet provides various tools that can help teacher enhance learning environment and develop learner autonomy as well as encourage student to be an active and/or reflective learner. Richard M. Felder and Barbara A. Soloman widens my knowledge of the types of learner and how technology might help each type of learner to be successful in learning. 
I am thinking of using Web site for nest semester. I think website provides more space and various teaching activities . I have tried to build one several times but due to time limitation and complexity in its construction I have never finished one yet.  

Week 8: Enhancing Learning Through Different Web Tools

It is undeniable that this week is the busiest week for the particiapants of  the WIKI class. Despite working on the first draft of individual project report, the participants also have to explore some different tools  and exercises. I observed some tools such as Web blog, Nicenet, WebQuests, Web Sites and the new one,  Anvil. 

Web blog. I think web blog  is the easiest tool to create and the handiest one to use both by   teacher and  students.  It can be created and used almost without constraint.  I have started using this tool for my Intermediate Listening class. All the students have their personal blogs and used them  as a self-report media for what they have learned every week from their listening tasks and what they feel after using the internet to do  the task. Blog can enhance learner autonomy  as it make students do the assignment by themselves out of the class. It at the same time may enhance students’ different skills such as writing and grammar.   We also created a class blog last week and named it Andalas Listening Class 2013.     Before that, I also had created  one by myself which I named Interactive Listening (http://rinaesl.blogspot.com/) which I will use for the rest of this semester as a replacement for the Face book group I usually use to post the announcement and the task.

Nicenet. Nicenet is also a great tool to enhance good network between teacher and students and among class members. It is a good forum for discusion.  It is appropriately used for writing-based class.   I created one for my Linguistics Research Method as the students have to do lot of reading and write the reading report.   I provided them the links for the reading and put them on the Link Sharing.The name of the class is Linguistic Reserach Method 2013 and the class key is 3K66G3U48. I hope this tool can help motivate my students to do the reading assignement and post their ideas on the discussion class. 

Class survey.  We can make  a survey using Google.doc. A well designed class survey can help teacher obtain    information about their students’ learning habits, interest, needs and other preferences.  On the other side, it might enhance students’ interest and participation in the class.  I just designed a class survey to see my students’ preferences in listening activities.  

WebQuests  are Web-based projects which use World Wide Web sites to help students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. An effective WebQuest develops critical thinking skills and often includes a  cooperative learning component. Students learn as they search for information using the Web, following a prescribed format that focuses on problem solving and authentic assessment.  A well-written WebQuest requires students to go beyond simple fact finding, help them analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. I think  WebQuest is more appropriately used for advance learners.   I will used it next semester for my Seminar on Linguistics Class.

Class website or wiki.  This tools is very useful as it allows  both teachers and students to take an active role in the network.     ITeacher can post  tasks  and  teaching materials including videos  in a certain time frame.  However, it is quite tricky to build as we have to delete and replace the already existing information on the template. I have tried several times and ended up with several unfinished. The last one is ‘Listening 2013’.  

I checked several games through the Word search, bingo, crossword puzzles, board games, flash cards, matching, multiple choice exercises.  They are all interesting.  I like Easy Test Maker, Hot Potatoes, Web Poster Wizard!  These tools allow us create worksheets, lessons,    interactive exams (multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises).  I created  a jumbled sentence interactive exam using potatoes.     

This week we are fortunate as we have a chance to get to know Jeff Magoto in our online discussion. He is the creator of  ANVILL, a great tool for speaking-based class. It is great as it contains  various tools  such as  Practice Recorder, Image Template, Quiz Tool, Media Template, Response Tool , Livechat Tool, Voiceboards Tool,    Video template.  I think I would encourage my colleagues in my department to use this echnology for teaching speaking.