This assignment has given me the great opportunity to go back and revisit the classes that I have taught and those that I have planned within the TPACK framework. I realized how some technology advancement has made the use of technology more accessible and feasible in classrooms. I am speaking from personal experience.
The first class I taught integrating technology was a reading and discussion class where the Blogger was incorporated in my class for students to share their thoughts. I created a blog for this class. At the same time, each student also had to create his own blog. The biggest challenge I had was to track every student's blog and for each student to track others' blogs, which would have been solved with Google Reader as what we have been using for our blogging assignments.
Another class was a reading class where it is designed for students to enhance their listening and speaking English through American Cultures, which was hosted on the university customized class management platform. However, it didn't allow me to upload listening materials nor did it let student to upload their recordings. By the way, it was a lot of work for students to record their speech and for me to get hold of the recordings. Moreover, students were left with not much choice but PowerPoint for the final presentation they were required to deliver. This class would have been taught completely different should I teach it again now knowing what I have known. There will be more alternative tools that can be incorporated into my classroom that will facilitate my teaching and enhance studnets' learning, which is what technology is all about. In other words, it is critical for teachers to keep themselves up to date about what's available at all times so that technology can be incorporated nicely into the content and pedagogy of their classrooms. This is in fact a big help for me in the write up for this technology lesson plan assignment. :-)!
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You always offer such great insight! I envy your experience, because you have a unique perspective on the use of technology in the higher education classroom. I want to know more about your lesson plan. Is it something that you will actually be able to use in the class you are currently teaching?
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that even higher level teachers can be flexible and adapt their instruction to meet the needs of equipping students with technology skills. I have not begun my lesson plan yet, but I'm sure it will be fun to try to create how I can utilize technology into my lesson. Thanks for your insight and wealth of knowledge!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you are being so reflective and looking back at what you've done. Good teachers not only see what they do well but what they can improve on. It sounds like you were doing a great job integrating technologies into your class, even when they may not have been as easy to use as they are now. Definite props to you Diana! Your future students are lucky to have a teacher like you!!
ReplyDeleteYes, Beth. That's what lesson plans are for, isn't it? I'll be more than happy to share with you when I am done with it. In fact, I can share with you one of the web-based teaching unit that I have created, of course if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you, Nancy. I understand how tough it is for students learning the language in an EFL environment. With technology, the learning process can be facilitated to enhance the acquisition. That's my goal and I'll continue trying. :-)! In fact, that's the reason why I am back at school as a student right now.
I thought about doing EFL when I was in college the first time around, and it's something that I still might look in to. I'm glad you keep sharing what you're learning and hope you continue to do so even after this class! :)
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