Reflection

This post is my final reflection on the overall effectiveness of this course for me. I am more than convinced that this course meets the needs of Armenian learners in general as it is rich in new ideas, new teaching methods and new sources of information. I can certainly say that this course is one of the most useful ones as it has provided me with some useful information, skills and knowledge.

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Firstly, during the course we have been exposed to new technologies which can be integrated into EFL teaching and learning. I have already tried many of them with my students and they have proved to be very effective in terms of increasing collaboration and interaction between the learners as well as the teacher and the learners. For instance, as many students do not have many chances of using English outside class, I have encouraged them to create their own blogs and reflect on their English learning experience. They say it gives them an opportunity to share their interests and ideas on various topics. Also, it helps them to improve their writing skills.

Some other technologies that I have successfully integrated into my English classes include podcasts and videos. I have noticed that since the day I started using these tools my students’ level of interest and engagement in the class activities have significantly increased. Besides, these technologies greatly contribute to the improvement of their oral and aural skills.

Generally speaking, technologies have helped me to make my classes more interesting, interactive and meaningful. In my view, they are a good means of connecting the classes to real-life situations and to the learners’ personal interests. They also foster team buildingwhich, I think is really important in EFL learning.

However, the integration of technologies into the class syllabus should be carefully considered and planned beforehand. When choosing a specific type of technological tool, educators should take into some essential factors such as user-friendliness, easy and free access, availability and some other related issues.

The action research project that we worked on during this course helped me to consider in detail the steps needed implement a specific tool effectively. You should consider the course syllabus, the topics covered during the course, as well as the time it takes to get the learners used to the tool.
Although I have already inegrated a few technologies in my courses I will certainly try to experiment with new tools so as to make my classes more interesting and useful for learners.

Finally, technologies are subject to constant change and development, and, I think, English teachers should always be informed on the current trends so as to be able to make use of the new tools and try to integrate them into their teaching experience.

Google Apps and Cloud Technologies

In this blog post I am going to discuss the concept of cloud computing and various google apps which provide users with a variety of opportunities, such as sharing materials, chatting, scheduling events, blogging, mailing, etc.

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It was very interesting to find out that there are many google apps that can be used not only for personal but also for educational purposes. 

According to Sara Ring there is a Google for Educators which combines the search engine's useful features. Here I have found many interesting apps which, I think, could be used with Armenian EFL learners as well.

For instance, with the help of Google Maps learners can create thier personalized maps where they can indicate their route, photos and videos. Later they can share the maps with their peers, discuss them or create a story based on the photos. This can turn into a really interactive and personalized activity which can help to connect the traditional in-class learning with their own lives outside.

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Another very useful google app is the Google Docs. I find this app really helpful and it can be used effectively in EFL teaching and learning. For example, the teacher can share a google doc with a specific assignment and the students can work collaboratively to accomplish the task. They can edit each others’ mistakes; reflect on each other’s work. Also, it is a good tool for the teacher to monitor the students and to give them his/her feedback.

In this post I would also like to mention cloud computing. Nowadays, cloud computing provides businesses and educational institutions with an opportunity to store and share a huge amount of data. It is a combination of on-premises software and cloud services. With the help of the Internet it is possible to get access to any type of information which is stored in the cloud.

Learning and Academic Analytics

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In my previous blog posts I have discussed various technologies that are widely used in Educational institutions. Generally speaking, all these various technological tools help educators to improve the quality of education. In this blog post I will focus on big data and analytics which can help educational institutions to make data-driven decisions, predict the future of the institution and improve its performance.

According to Long and Siemens (2011), higher education is a field that contains a large amount of data about its learners and staff. Analyzing this data will help to get a clear picture of what is happening in that institution; it will help to identify the gaps or even predict and prevent the potential risks. In order to be able to analyze data effectively one needs to decide what he/she needs to know, what the specific type of data can tell you and also try to identify the patterns.

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Next, it is important to identify between learning analitics and academic analytics. The former, is more specific than the latter. Learning analytics is the process of measuring, collecting and reporting information about learners in order to understand and improve the learning environment.

On the other hand, academic analytics is about using business intelligence in education at institutional , regional or international levels (Long & Siemens, 2011).

According to Goldstain (2005), present technologies help to analyse data effectively. As a result of a survey, the institutions that use academic analytics  report that it helps to make more effective decisions and to get a competitive advantage over other institutions.     

Online and Distance Education

Nowadays, people all over the world are provided with a variety of on-line courses developed by various educational institutions. I used to think that there is no better way of getting a high-quality education than face-to-face learning. However, perceptions change, and now I am well-aware that distance learning can be equally effective if organized and planned carefully.

In distance learning both the learners and educators are presented with new opportunities as well as new challenges.

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Firstly,one of the important features about distance learning as compared to face-to-face learning is that it requires greater autonomy form the learner. This implies that learner independence plays a  central part in this type of education. In order to have the maximum benefit from an online course the learner should be able to adapt to the new learning environment. For this the learner should process strong management and organizational skills. The learner is more isolated from study context and, therefore, does not always have an opportunity of receiving an immediate feedback from the teacher (White, 2003).

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Currently, one of my friends is taking an online management course and I asked her about the challenges and the positive sides of the course. What she really finds exciting about the course is that after having done the assigned readings on a particular topic she discusses it with her professor via skype. Besides, this is a good way for her to combine her work with her studies. One of the challenges, though, is that there is no group work and everything should be done by herself. Another limitation is the time difference between the countries.

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Another thing worth mentioning about distance education is that teachers here assign a different role. Here tutors have the role of a facilitator. They should help the learner's learn independently. Besides, while designing an online course the educators should take into account different learning styles and implement a variety of technologies such as skype, blogging, moodle, telephone conferences (White, 2004).

According to Hill (2012), at present some educational institutions are closely cooperating with other external organizations to get help with online content, curriculum and instructor/learner services.

Thus, distance education contributes to lifelong learning. Nowadays you can take as many coerces as you wish. In fact, you can become educated in many fields. I thing, in the future I will take some online coerces other than my chosen field of study.

LMS vs PLE

In this blog post I’m going to discuss two different learning systems, namely LMS (learning management systems) and PLE (personal learning environment). According to the video by Stephen Downes that I have recently watched on the YouTube, these are two different learning environments. LMS is a structured system set by an educational institution and it provides systematic and guided learning. Moodle is one example of LMS; it is a kind of repository where the teachers can share information with his/her learners, provide constructive feedback on their progress and monitor their learning process. LMS is widely used by many universities and schools abroad. However, in Armenia this kind of systems are not so widely spread and are used by very few schools. As it is mentioned in the video by Stephen Downes, one major drawback in LMS is the fact that you can benefit from such system as long as you are a student and once you graduate you don’t have an access to your materials. Another shortcoming about LMS is that it is limited to a particular group of learners of that school.

By contrast, PLE provides learners with more freedom. By this I mean learners are free to choose the learning materials and tools that they believe are more effective in their learning process. There is no content restriction. Besides, learners have more freedom in terms of sharing information with whomever they want. Thus, in PLE the circle of learners is much broader than in LMS. You don’t have to be member of that specific group to have an access to the content. Another great advantage in PLE is that you can always have an access to your material even after graduating as it “travels with you”.

Taking into account the advantages of both LMS and PLE, I think, a good educational institution should not limit itself to LMS only. It should find ways of integrating both systems to design an effective course. I think in Armenia, it would be a good idea to have this mixture of systems in all schools and universities. However, this kind of implementation needs careful planning and hard work.

Open Educational Resources

According to the article called “Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0” (Brown & Adler, 2008), in this rapidly changing world there is an increasing need for lifelong learning. Nowadays, due to the open educational recourses (OER) people can have a free access to educational recourses everywhere an at any time. Most of the valuable thing about OER is that they promote “social learning” where the main focus is on not what we are learning but how we are learning. The idea is that we can learn things through participation and interaction.

In open source communities people are not only able to use various materials for free, but also contribute to the creating or alteration of the content. For instance in Wikipedia or in other open sources you can easily track the editing process . “In this open environment, both the content and the process by which it is created are equally visible, thereby enabling a new kind of critical reading”  (Brown & Adler, 2008).

In many countries of the wold, this type of social learning has been integrated in formal education . It is interesting to mention that there are many interesting projects that enable students to work collaboratively with scientists. One of such projects is the Faulkes Telescope Project, that provides the UK students with free access to the high-powered robotic telescope.

Unfortunately, in Armenia the awareness of the notion of open educational resources is very low. This is partly because of the lack of competence and interest of the Armenian teachers in using and promoting open technologies (Danielyan and Alexandryan, 2008).

Thus, I think as teachers we have to realize the importance of introducing open technologies and contribute to raising other teachers’ and learners’ knowledge and interest in adopting and promoting the OER movement in Armenian schools.

Personally, I think that OER are a good way to become eduacated in the spheres other than my chosen profession, for example, by exploring some of the OER links I have found some useful and interesting cources, such as

Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/special-programs/sp-401-introduction-to-womens-and-gender-studies-fall-2010/

Minds and Machines
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-09-minds-and-machines-fall-2011/

Moral Psychology
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-120-moral-psychology-spring-2009/

Bilingual assessment
http://www.coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/projects/bilingual

MALL

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It is common knowledge that mobile phones have become an integral part of our everyday life and they can be used for various educational purposes. I think , this can promote successful language learning both in  and outside  classroom. For instance, learners can use the recorder to interview each other, they can take photos of the things and places they are interested in and bring and share them with the rest of the class. Mobiles are also widely used to interact with others in social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or Skype.  This is can be an effective way for learners to practice their English outside classroom.

In the article entitled “Action Research Approach on Mobile Learning Design for the Underserved” (Kim, 2008), the author carried on a research study for developing a mobile learning model for migrant indigenous children of Latin America. The children had no access to technologies, they lived in very poor living conditions, and most of the population was illiterate. I was surprised to learn that children (3-13-years-old) needed minimal help in operating the mobile devices and were able to learn to use them just in minutes. Also it is interesting to note that children with an early stage of reading proficiency could read the short stories at the same speed as in papers and magazines. Besides, they enjoyed using aural and visual animations and learned to browse the stories very easily. I think this study can serve as evidence of the effectiveness of mobile phones in any learning environment.

Also, mobile learning fosters collaboration among learners. In one of the articles by Kukulska –Hulme and Lesley Shield, mobile learning is described as a means of promoting interaction among learners. Mobile devices create an extra dimension for learning by allowing students to identify, edit and share information with other learners and teachers. According to the authors , mobile learning can successfully support collaborative asynchronous speaking and listening activities. However it was found out that it is more difficult to support synchronous interaction by using Mobile devises as you need you learners to be available at a specific time.

SECOND LIFE

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While reading the article written by Calogne, who has experience in teaching courses using the virtual world of Second Life in nine universities, I was surprised to learn that nowadays there are educational institutions that are using virtual worlds for educational purposes successfully. Second Life is a 3D graphical setting and each person can have an avatar representing themselves. In this new type of learning environment student can meet for class activities, which include lectures, discussions, various group projects and case studies. It was very exciting for me to learn that a teacher can transfer his/her regular class into a completely new setting. For example, you can have a class somewhere on the beach, or in a different country. Besides, in Second Life students can create content using virtual tools. Here they really have the chance of being creative. Here students are not passive; they are actively involved in the learning process.

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Another important thing that I would like to mention is that in Second life students’ participation is observable by the teacher throughout the course. This in itself makes it easier for the teacher to assess and give feedback.

According to the article by Welch, virtual worlds are a good way to capture students’ attention as they get excited when they have the chance of interacting in a new kind of environment, socializing and accomplishing tasks. Various kinds of virtual worlds, including Second life, can be adapted for educational purposes. However, for this teachers should consider many essential factors affecting the quality of virtual education.  According to Welch, one of the main challenges is transferring a safe physical environment into a safe virtual learning environment.

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Welch thinks that lessons conducted in a virtual setting are not well-developed and often lack proper guidance and monitoring. However, according to Cologne, teachers can have a well-structured course due to careful planning, a good syllabus defining the main objectives of the course and proper grading rubrics.

I think, it would be really exciting to introduce this kind of learning in the English courses in Armenia. However, we should realize that virtual worlds are not completely safe in terms of content, and this might not be appropriate for any age-group. Thus, together with benefits, teachers should be aware of the challenges Second Life  presents and try to face them in the right way.

The Role of Video Games in EFL Classrooms

I would like to continue reflecting on digital technologies, video games in particular, and their effect on today’s young generation. It is common knowledge that young people are actively involved in computer gaming. I think, as teachers we cannot deny the fact that computer games play a huge role on shaping our young learners’ minds and behavior. Therefore, their needs and interests are often different from those of the older generation. Research studies show that these digital technologies lead to “mind alterations” or “cognitive changes” in the area of learning (Prensky, 2001). If we are to accept this fact we should think of new ways and methods of teaching. Traditional in-class activities are no longer effective with such generation as they do not fit into their learning style and perception of things.

Patricia Greenfielad, a professor of psychology, has done a lot of research in this area and has come up with some interesting facts. One of them is that video games help to strengthen the learner’s skill in reading visuals as representations of three-dimensional space. Also, various computer games develop their ability to “discover“ rules rather than to follow them.  I think this implies that we, as teachers, should introduce the new material inductively rather than deductively. Even during the class young learners are “players”; they like to be actively involved in a rule discovery process, predicting the possible outcomes rather than being told about them. Besides, due to video games a person is capable of monitoring multiple locations simultaneously. Thus, as teachers, we can assign projects or activities that require the learners’ concentration on multiple tasks at the same time.

If a teacher wants to keep such “digital” learners focused on the lesson, she/he should find some ways to integrate video games into the curricula. For example, there are certain topic-based educational games that can help learners understand and use the newly learned material in meaningful, real-life situations. I have also learned that some commercial games can be adapted to classroom needs and integrated into the learning process as well.

Thus, today’s teachers are exposed to a variety of options that can be used effectively to satisfy the “digital youth’s “  needs and interests.

Digital Story-Telling and Video Production in EFL Classes

As  a continuation to my previous posts about implementing new technologies in EFl classrooms, I’d like to discuss digital story-telling as another interesting and useful tool to be integrated in regular English language classes. I personally think that video production can help English teachers to engage the learners in a meaningful task-based learning, which in itself promotes the target language use in a meaningful context.

Like some of the technological tools discussed in my previous posts, video production, first of all, fosters collaboration and interaction among learners. It is a good way of sharing interesting information with your peers. Last week we had a group assignment; we had to produce a short video and later share it with our classmates. I found this type of activity really engaging and informative. We produced a tutorial and I found it not only to be fun but also helpful in terms of language use. Besides, while shooting the video we had to pay attention to some technical issues such as the light, sound quality, music, etc. Although our video was not a perfect one, we all enjoyed the process of producing it.

I think in the future I ‘d like try this technology  with my students. This will help them to view the English language as a tool to produce something really meaningful. Furthermore, this kind of activity is a great shift from traditional language learning. This is something that the “digital youth” will definitely like doing. I think as teachers, we should help our learners use the target language in a context that really appeals to them.