Journal #7: Professional Learning Networking

This assignment provided me with a great opportunity to experience how teaching/practice and professional development/theory can be easily combined and enhanced through joining affiliation groups and following news feeds.

From the “Flipped Learning Community, and especially the group “First Time Flippers,” I learned a lot about the “Dos” and “Don’ts” for making engaging flipping videos and about  free flipped platforms – such as Knowmia - that allow you to make mini-units and embed quizzes and questions with any content, even from YouTube, Vimeo, etc. I joined their conversation asking more details about flipped platforms and I was amazed at how fast I received answers. Unfortunately, I can’t still contribute to their exchange of ideas.

What I also found exciting is that there is a wide variety of web-based tools and mobile apps that make comics creation a simple and easy drag and drop process. Although I have no such experience, I’m sure that using comics in the classroom can be a great way to engage students in learning activities and boost their motivation. Students can use them to unleash their imaginative potential and experiment with a number of various multimodal creative activities. I also liked the Tellagami iPad freemium app that allows you to make a cartoon characterization of yourself and have it speak, something that can bring students closer to you.

Through the Digg Reader, especially EmergingEdTech, I found out how you can share YouTube videos in the safest way so as to avoid distractions and inappropriate content. There are interesting tools and techniques that offer both privacy and safe delivery. Such tools are LMS, SafeShare, TubeChop, etc. Since I have never used YouTube so far, I found such information, together with everything I learned about Twitter two weeks ago, interesting and applicable.

Overall, I think I have started seeing teaching in a new light. I have always thought – and still think – that the teacher has an irreplaceable role in the classroom.  But technology, in all its forms and applications, has an unquestionable value as a motivator and facilitator for both students and teachers. Since technology is highly adaptable, judicious and effective use of it can be the key to making all content teachable and learnable.

Journal #6: Self-reflection

I started this course, this quarter, and this MA program with the wrong assumption that my educational background would help me deal with difficulties, if any, and I would easily get over my ignorance of using technology for purposes other than searching for resources, writing long research papers, and preparing Power Point presentations.  I have to admit that the first weeks of class were a torture for me since I strongly felt that I could not follow instructions, I could be left behind any minute, and I was probably the weakest link in the class chain. It took me four to five weeks to feel better and more confident. Rather recently I've started enjoying the class and looking forward to the next session and the new things I can learn and apply.

Now it has become like a hobby for  me to look at the HTML of everything that I find interesting. What I really like about HTML is that there is a structure, an organization, which – although it is rather strict – is at the same time immensely flexible and offers numerous possibilities to the designer. I find the way that each element is, or can be, embedded inside a bigger one – each with its own clear borders – and the logic behind such an organization fascinating.  This gives my mind a desirable structure, avoids confusion or chaos, and makes controlling each element more feasible. And when content and organization are there, CSS comes in to polish the ideas by giving them color and finesse and make the webpage both attractive and easy to read. Borrowing terms from my Rhetoric and Composition background, I could say that HTML provides logos (content, logical arguments) while CSS creates pathos (feelings to the reader); their successful combination establishes the web designer’s ethos (credibility and acceptance by readers).

Although it took me hours of practice at home, I was very proud of myself when I felt I was really able to use the FTP and transfer files to the server and then see them when opening a browser. What was also rewarding for me was when I created a very simple but still my very  first webpage, which of course needs a lot of CSS work.  The book assignment of Chapter 13  took me forever to finish and put my sanity at risk because I couldn’t find any mistakes (I had misspelt the word background – I had written backgound). But that taught me a good lesson – to pay attention to the detail. And I was to blame for my time wasted, not the assignment.

After a very hesitant – and even more stressful – start in this course, I now think I’ve started enjoying the course since I feel that I can understand and apply what we do in class.  It also makes me feel more optimistic about my future in this program. 

Journal #5: To tweet or not to tweet (in the classroom)?

I do remember my first impression after reading some tweets a few years ago: that’s nonsense; that’s a tool for celebrities to keep the spotlights on them; it’s a promotional trick; no serious, well-educated person with some dignity will ever tweet… And although most of my friends had Facebook accounts much earlier than me and tried to persuade me to join Facebook, they never actually asked me to join Twitter. Needless to say, I hadn’t had a Twitter account before I was asked to for this class.

Of course, in the meantime, I have to confess that I heard or read stories about people tweeting and warning and/or informing the public about accidents, catastrophes, attacks. And I thought that maybe something good and useful could come out of this useless fad. But nowTwitter in the classroom? What can students learn when restricted to writing within only 140 characters?

What I can now say is that Twitter and education are not mutually exclusive. First, Twitter is a great platform for teachers’ professional development, since they can meet and exchange ideas with like-minded individuals. I followed a couple of educational hashtags, such as TESOL Intl Assn, American TESOL, ELTchat, and ESLlibrary and read very interesting tweets by professionals in the field. I was also impressed by the information and the resources available.

As for using Twitter in the classroom, I have no such experience. But I read a lot of tweets and tips on using it as a learning tool, and I agree that it can have some interesting applications. First of all, it is motivating for students who may already have used it outside the class and are thrilled when using technology to do homework. It can also be used to make students feel part of a community, not only a national but even an international one by communicating with schools and students around the globe. And at a smaller scale, that of a classroom, Twitter can help students learn and practice necessary skills, such as writing concise topic sentences, summarizing, getting to the point when commenting, asking and answering questions, collaborating on writing stories, taking and sharing notes, and many more.

What I realized in such a short time is that Twitter has far more possibilities than I could ever imagine. It is up to the teacher’s imagination to use Twitter in productive ways, all of which can outweigh its limitations.