Why I use technology?

From year one of my teaching career, technology has played a vital role in my classes. I’ve used various web tools to prepare for my classes, deliver contents in the classes, upload supplementary materials online, conduct various assessment activities, and so on. Even in the teacher training sessions that I’ve handled, technology has always been a necessary part. Very often, I would ask myself why I use technology in teaching. Was it because of its availability in my workplace, or, because of my overt enthusiasm for it? I wasn’t sure of my purpose. But today, after reading the first lesson in unit-1 of Fundamental Training for Google Educator – Level 1, I have become clear with my objective: I use technology to “better prepare students to enter an increasingly connected and globally-competitive workforce” and to let them become “effective citizens, workers, and leaders in society”. I do this by giving them practice with critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and working creatively.

The lesson also made me think of how technology has affected my life. I started using internet in 2005 when I was doing my undergraduate course. I still remember the day when I created an email account and wrote an email to my friend in Canada. I was so excited. Technology simplified and quickened my correspondence with my friends. I also spent a lot of time chatting in Yahoo messenger which encouraged me to find friends with similar interests. That experience actually helped me to define what I am. Technology has had a profound impact on all aspects of my life. Technology has saved my time and made me more efficient. It has prevented me from doing certain manual tasks repeatedly. I’ve become more organised.

I have seen many other teachers using technology in their classroom creatively and constructively. Some of them use only one web tool for all their classroom purposes. Others use an array of tools. Comparing my technology use with theirs, I often think that the way I use technology is more teacher-centric. I could have engaged students in acquiring the 21st century skills by using appropriate tools. So, henceforth I’m planning to use web tools and mobile apps in classes innovatively so as to encourage my students to do their assignments collaboratively, critically and creatively with a lot of student-student communication.

Last week not Lost week!

Dear all,

This is the last week in this course. I am happy that I have learnt a lot from this course. All the web tools were of highly beneficial to me and to my students. I will definitely make use of them now.

I went through the LoTi Framework. It was awesome. Dr. Chris Moersch has discovered seven levels of technology integration in the classroom: Non-use, Awareness, Exploration, Infusion, Integration, Expansion, and refinement. I can reflect on these levels. When I did my UG and PG, my course was at the Zero level, that is Non-use. None of my teachers used any technology. We, students, too did not use them at all. When I did M.Phil, my teachers used technology to make powerpoint presentation. So, it was the Level One, awareness.

Later when I joined the service, I used too used PPT in the classroom and later I started using other web tools like Google Sites. Recently I have learnt effective ways of fusing technology into a course. So, I hope my future classes will be of highly beneficial to students.

Thank you. Keep in touch

M. S. Xavier Pradheep Singh

Learning Styles

I worked out a quiz at http://www.edutopia.org/mi-quiz on "learning styles to find out mine. The following was the result.

Results

1. Linguistic - 83% Logical-Mathematical - 75% Visual-Spatial - 83% Intrapersonal - 63% Interpersonal - 88% Musical - 94% Bodily-Kinesthetic - 67% Naturalistic - 42%

This week was a wonderful one. I happened to learn more about different learning styles. Technology can address these different learning styles. Actually, I came to know about Multiple Intelligences in 2008 when I was doing M.Phil. It was an interesting topic for me then. Later when I joined as assistant professor in English in 2009, I conducted a workshop on "Multiple Resources for Multiple Intelligences" for school teachers. I demonstrated how different resources like news paper, drama, cartoon stripes, cartons, video, stories, etc can be used to scaffold different learning styles. That was really a wonderful experience.
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory states that each learner has different intelligences : verbal, Logical, Musical, Visual, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, and Existential. A language teacher needs to find out his/her learners' intelligences. Their learning style depends on them. So it is necessary. A teacher should try to address different intelligences by including a variety of activities in a single lesson.

I am also eager to learn more about Multiple Intelligences.

M. S. Xavier Pradheep Singh

Teacher Resources Online

This week's readings are thought provocative and action-oriented. This is what I expected in the courses. The online resources listed out in the course page were all wonderful. I would like to comment on each of the resources.

I have been using Google Sites for the past two years. I have just used it as a course site not as a wiki. After participating in this course, I have understood how I can use Google Sites for collaborative learning. Really Google Sites is the best among all wikis. The reason is that you can customize any page in Google Sites. You can modify the appearance, template, theme, layout, fonts, colour, etc. There are four types of pages available: web page, announcement, list, and file cabinet. You can move a page anywhere within the site. Collaboration is the highlight of Google Sites. You can have three sorts of collaborators: owner, editor, and viewer. Recent Site activity gives you access to the changes done by collaborators. You can revert a page to previous edition at any time. Deleted items can be retrieved within 30 days. You can add as many Apps as possible. You can merge a google document, form, you tube video, facebook, google group, etc. I have created a half dozen of Google Sites. Some of them are private which non-collaborators cannot access. Others are public which anyone can view. I have provided the URLs of those sites below:

1) My teaching site for Postgraduate Students at https://sites.google.com/site/pradheepforpg/
2) My department's site which has details regrading syllabus, resources & everything related to our Department at https://sites.google.com/site/englishdepartmentvoccollege/3) An online research journal "Journal of Technology for ELT at https://sites.google.com/site/journaloftechnologyforelt/
4) A site for the Association of English Teachers interested in Technology at https://sites.google.com/site/eltaicomputertechnologysig/5) An information site for the literary magazine which I run at https://sites.google.com/site/cuckoomagazine/

I really love working with Google Sites. After doing this course, I have decided to use Google Sites for collaborative work with my students. This will definitely encourage learner autonomy in classroom.

The next thing I would like to discuss is Google Docs. Google Docs is a wonderful way of organising your documents online. Here too, Collaboration is possible. You can publish the documents online; can download them as pdf; and can attach it in email. I often use Google Form (Spreadsheet) for collecting information. It is a easy way to organise a huge database.

I learnt about Nicenet only during this course. It is entirely new for me but I was very much impressed with its simplicity and user-friendliness. Nicenet retains all discussions. Hence, It will be an easy way to revise or some up any discussion. It will be very helpful for asynchronous discussions for planning a work. Students can learn form other students as well. It will lead to learner autonomy.I have used Hotpotatos several times. It is a wonderful software to create offline quizz: multiple choice, cloze test, crossword etc. We can also upload these quizzes online.

I also tried ANVILL. I think that it is similar to Moodle, a Course Management System or a Learning Management system. I have a moodle site too at www.pradheep.eduspoke.com. But I have not started using it with my students. After this course, I am plannng to use it. It will help students visualise their progress and therefore leads to learner autonomy.

M. S. Xavier Pradheep Singh

A Room of One's Own Learning

Learner autonomy is a buzz word in recent years. It is not giving up teaching and asking students take care of their learning. It is not giving freedom for a learner in the class. It is not learners doing anything in the class. It means that learners must be self directed individuals. They must first of all learn what their learning style is and what their strength and weakness are. After knowing oneself thoroughly as a learner, he / she can take responsibility of one's own learning. So, an autonomous learner knows what he knows and what he needs to know. Metacognitive strategies make him concious of what he learns. He can solve whatever problem he has in his learning.

Learner autonomy solves several problems in a large classroom where both slow learners and bright students study together. A teacher can give them individualised education. Learning will me more of learner centred. But in a learner centred classroom (where we have autonomous learners), teacher's role is crucial. A teacher must be autonomous too. He must have some freedom regarding the lessons he teach. This becomes difficult where the syllabus is framed by someone, materials are prepared by someone else, and evaluation is made by another one. A teacher must have freedom to make choice regarding the learning of his students. I believe that "learner autonomy is a room of one's own learning"

Pradheep