TECHNOLOGIES IN MY CLASSROOM

As digital  natives, today's students have instigated a transformation of the learning process. The Internet and immersive user-generated online worlds are changing the way that students gather and process information in all aspects of their lives

In this new era the link between higher education and 21^st century skills as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, autonomous learning and social interaction are essential. However, we see a huge gap between these two.  In formal education the characteristics of the ‘’digital natives’’ generation are not taken into consideration. The significance of networks and collaboration, the working environment and the development of information technology takes place at a speed that has no match in history. Digital natives are required to have new types of skills to be successful in the evolving knowledge society working environment. 

From the teachers’ perspective, they need to acquire the competences needed in 21^st century knowledge work and be technically prepared and aware to work with digital native learners. So we, as TEFL professionals, must be a change in wherever we would teach. We as a new generation of teachers are in a key role in building 21^st century formal education. So stepping into the world of the digital natives will empower us to find new perspectives to teaching and learning in the knowledge society.

Having first-hand experience with technology and becoming aware of the variety of the type of technologies make me think differently and look at the teaching and learning process from different perspectives. So we, as TEFL professionals, should introduce, raise students awareness of the type of technologies they can use and provide opportunities for the learners to become active learners, to be motivated and engaged in the learning process, an environment where students can interact, socialize with each other, create, explore, experiment and think critically.

It is really difficult for me to distinguish and name only some types of technologies. However, teachers in Armenia face a lot of challenges related to the freedom of choosing our own curriculum with much emphasis on the usage of technology. Also, we have to keep in mind the lack of computers and internet connection students may have problems with. So, keeping all the challenges and opportunities of Armenia in mind, we should more focus on using those types of technologies that are doable in Armenian context.

I will definitely use blogging in future teaching. Another types used will be podcasting, digital storytelling, Open Educational Resource, Google education applications, edmodo, etc. So, we should not fix on one type of technology. We should always be in a quest for the best ones in terms of features and ease of using for students. Having a pedagogical problem we should find a solution searching and surfing one that is more appropriate for the students and meets the pedagogical problems. 

Distance Learning

      Sometimes students are really tired of the overcrowded, stuffy lecture halls. They are tired of going to the classes on a regular basis at a fixed time. So distance learning is the best solution to this problem. The idea of distance learning is not new. It is increasing rapidly throughout the world. What makes distance education different from traditional education is that students have a much higher degree of freedom covering all level degrees and subjects often delivered online. We see tutors guiding, classmates discussing, taking exams all without the constraints of physical presence and strict schedule. 

Distance learning is an open distributed learning environment that uses pedagogical tools enabled by internet and web-based technology to facilitate knowledge building and meaningful learning. It is education that is delivered anywhere, anytime from different locations, using a variety of media. For example, students have the opportunity to learn at their own speed at different locations, at the same time through scheduled video conferencing events or at different times in the same location by attending guest lectures. So there are multiple forms of interaction going on there. So, students do not have to sit in their traditional classrooms for 45 minutes. It makes knowledge to become more expanded and not limited in time.

When speaking about distance learning it is always said that distance learning is a lonely learning and we ignore the importance of body language and the eye movements that we always give priority in interaction process. I was watching a video on the interview with Nada Dabbagh a professor from George Mason University who was an innovator of distance learning. She states that distance learning is not a lonely process and it is not just somebody sitting alone. The knowledge does not belong to a single person and does not reside within an individual person, It is dynamic, fluid and takes place in a social context. For example, educators communicate their own language, culture and community of practice and in this process knowledge is shared, it does not belong to a single person. It is distributed across the community. 

So this is distance learning, a great tool to engage student in online learning context, in learner-learner, learner-instructor interaction, learner-content, learner-group interaction (www.schooltalk.tv). Regarding the body language essential for interaction she stated that in this era of technologies we see that technology gets there as it gives us the opportunity to send smiley with gestures with messages to express our emotions and feelings. .

I have found two websites that I found very effective ones for taking distance learning courses.  spears.okstate.edu and distancelearningportal.com  

Thanks to recent technological innovations, the concept of distance learning has since grown over time. It provides students  a lot of advantages in terms of time management and the expansion of knowledge which is worth taking into consideration

Virtual World: Real Learning

No passport required: Second Life in higher education

Nowadays, social virtual world being an online ‘’space’’ attracts a growing number of adults and can be integrated into language learning curriculum. Virtual worlds are different from traditional course management systems in terms of 3D graphical setting, use of avatars and the ability to put the learner within the scene.

Virtual world has a lot of benefits for students. They offer an interface that is exciting and appealing to students. As I was searching in the Internet to find out more about Virtual World, I found the best virtual worlds and some articles related to it. I was reading the blogs of some professors who shared their experience about Virtual World. A professor of anthropology confessed that he wished his students to experience another culture and thanks to Second Life because his students experienced other cultures without leaving the classroom.  By virtually travelling to Second life they can experience the same skills needed to navigate a different culture. This virtual world exercise gives students an opportunity to experience community, communication and identity in a way similar to study-abroad programs, but in this case the students' bodies never leave the computer lab (facultyfocus.com)

Students can communicate with people of different nationalities, religions and interests and Second Life gives limitless context and areas for Ss to explore and experiment. They are attracting as they offer a shared social space that is totally created and evolved by its users and which provides a real-time interaction and content.

Based on my first-hand experience of Second Life, I was thinking about the extent Second Life can be meaningfully used for TEFL purposes in Armenia.  Activities like role-plays where students can be assigned different roles, science experiment to learn scientific words, debates, discussion classes through chatting will be effective for students.  However, there are some prerequisites for applying Second Life in EFL classroom. Developing compelling virtual learning environments are not easy to develop and it is going to take a lot of time.  It would be better to use it with adult learners provided with clear instructions and its purpose should be defined and clarified. So private groups should be created and controlled by the teacher. One important point to take into consideration is to ensure that there is a computer and a good internet (high speed) connection which is, alas, a big problem for students in .Armenia. Second Life provides a range of opportunities for groups due to its emphasis on collaboration and connection between users. It opens up a whole range of possibilities which may not have been previously considered that can lead to some very interesting outcomes 

Cloud Computing and Google for Education

      Teaching and learning is evolving for the last decades. I remember my parents telling us about their educational life spent in the libraries to seek information there. However, nowadays living in a world of Google glass, it allows us to access the world’s information easily and quickly.

Google has excellent features useful for education for both students and teachers. Google is free and its features make the teachers’ lessons more active and lively. One of the important benefits of Google Apps for Education is its security and privacy that helps to keep the data safe, secure and under control. It helps all the users to stay connected from anywhere as it is automatically saved in the cloud and can be accessed with any mobile device or tablet.

One priority for Google Apps is collaboration that distinguishes from other Apps. It saves a lot of time. For example, when students work on a paper in Google Docs, they save a lot of time as they see changes meanwhile they are writing rather than waiting for it to be sent via email. Another change Google has made is that learning is not only limited inside the classroom but is extended beyond the four walls of the classroom with nearly unlimited learning opportunities: just a click, a simple search and much and thousands of results. It creates a dynamic learning environment developing their 21^st century skills.

      I have been familiar with the main Google Apps and I used to mostly applying Google Docs during the study this year. The ones that attracted me a lot and I wasn’t familiar with are Google groups , sites and notebook. As a TEFL professional,  Google groups are effective for students as they give the opportunity for the students to use it easily and collaborate and communicate with others online. It can be used for online discussions between students, sharing information and notes with each other. They can also share research findings, collaborate on group projects and compare notes on classroom notes. With Google groups students can manage their personal lives and extracurricular activities easier helping students to become more effective outside the classroom.

       Cloud Computing is the next stage in the Internet’s evolution. The applications are not installed on user’s computer. We just need a computer and the cloud that can provide fast processing speed and large memory capacity. Cloud computing shares computing resources instead of having local servers or personal devices to handle applications.

It is a concept that involves a large number of computers that are connected via the Internet. As for the advantages of cloud computing, it allows companies to avoid infrastructure costs and allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster.

Academic Analytics: A New Tool for a New Era

OPENING THE DOOR TO NEW POSSIBILITIES THROUGH                        THE USE OF ANALYTICS

       The use of technology in education had changed over the years exploring methods to improve learning. Watching a video by John Campbell, I came across a very interesting comparison. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there… It does not make a sound. How about if we talk about students? What happens of a student who is struggling in class and the teacher is not aware in any way what can he/she do if there is no sound. Today with the emergence of academic analytics, an exciting set of tools is being built to improve student learning. The institutions and IT specialists should take advantage of this data to track students’ failure and progress. I found an interesting and effective way to track students’ progress watching a video on educause.edu.  Perdue University tracks students performance using signals with different colors. If students have bad performance, they are shown signals to care for their performance.

    Academic analytics provides data and solutions for universities. With its help, universities get objective data that administrators use during the decision-making processes. This also contributes the universities in recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, observe performance of the students and identify some areas that need some improvements.

     My friend and I had the chance to deal with and understand academic analytics more thoroughly. Last year we did a poster presentation about the use of Moodle as an e-learning tool in Academic Writing Course. We were given the opportunity to track data on AWC via Google Analytics and Moodle Reports. 

It gave us the chance to learn which pages of the course were viewed most and the least by the students, the average visit duration, course views, the bounce rate, the technology they used mostly to enter Moodle, etc. 

This really gave a big data for our research which helped us to make implications about the AWC course and areas to be improved. The data tracking method was really useful for our institution to evaluate and support students’ academic performance and track their progress. 

Learning Management System and Personal Learning Environment

Today’s blog will be devoted to learning management systems (LMS) and personal learning environments (PLE). I have encountered these two platforms during the study years but I did not have clear-cut distinctions between them until I have watched a video by Stephen Downes(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu).

A learning management system is teacher-centered, that is teachers create courses, upload content, initiate discussions and form groups. It presents a model where students consume information through independent channels as library, textbook (LMS) and gives students the opportunity to interact and construct knowledge in a collaborative environment. Two most popular learning management systems that we are familiar with are Moodle and Blackboard. 

I remember myself doing research on these two systems last year and found that Moodle as a learning management system is more widespread all over the world, is organized and more user-friendly. Moodle is used as an LMS to provide course content in our institution. Being a student, I like the features of Moodle especially after the changes done recently.

            In contrast to LMS systems, personal language environment gives the students opportunities to make connections from a bunch of resources that they themselves choose and organize. PLE has student-centric approach which allows students to select and use the tools that meets their individual needs.

I was really amazed at exploring the two language learning systems Edmodo and Twiducate as a new Web 2.0 tools. Tinkering around the two platforms I preferred Edmodo in terms of features and functions. What makes Edmodo so unique from other Web 2.0 tools is the fact that it is secure and closed network. In addition, it also combines many effective applications from Facebook, Twitter and Blogger. For example, students can take part in the online discussions like in Twitter and can post their work like Blogger. It is a safe social network community for classroom use, designed for both students and teachers. Both teachers and students can share notes, blogs, videos, notes, presentations links, files and resources with each other.
In addition to this, teachers have the ability to post alerts, assignments, grades, reminders, conduct a poll and share events. Another feature that caught my eye is parents’ involvement in the learning progress of children as they can view their child’s work and progress. Also students can create connections with other students from different schools and cultures.

While searching different LMS platforms, I came across another one called Schoology which gives you the tools and connections to engage students more effectively and adjust to changing student needs, learn from collective experiences.

To cut it short, these platforms are really invaluable in its nature and can be relevant to make education in Armenia effective and motivating. One limitation in using Edmodo in Armenian context is the access to computers and internet at home. Now, I cannot imagine the learning process without the support of Moodle. Alas, Armenian higher educational institutions do not provide students with the opportunity to use online learning management systems which is really a great gap for both the institution, instructors and students.

Open Educational Resources

The world has really become ‘’flat’’ as Friedman mentioned in his book ‘’The world is flat’’. As a result of drastic changes, individuals get the opportunity to collaborate and compete globally, share with others of different cultures, religion, languages, thus connecting with the rest of the world much more easily. Now the world is changing at a very fast pace and the access to higher education is extremely necessary. The advent of the Internet opened huge and immense possibilities for learning, giving the opportunity to access to all kinds of resources, educational materials and content that is easily distributed and contributed. Thus, the Internet has a great influence on The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. 

OER is a free access to a variety of online courses and other educational

materials. OER are very organized and present a real platform for social learning. As Brown Adler mentioned, there was a shift of the focus from what we are learning to how we are learning. There is a shift from ‘’I think, therefore I am’’ to ‘’We participate, therefore we are’’. This is really a great change as social learning is a process where student construct their knowledge themselves. So, OER and the resources of the Web 2.0 create new kinds of open participatory learning for students. I come across so many great websites, software and open source for OER, where students can easily enroll and take a course. It includes different subjects each having their syllabuses, reading materials, assessment strategies, course format and the procedure is very clear-cut. The most outstanding ones to be mentioned are the online courses coursera.org and ocw.org that I will definitely take some of them in summer.

The idea of online course is somehow a new experience for Armenian students. It is flexible in terms of time and place. OER can be used for high level of proficiency of students outside the classroom but only ensuring that the students have a computer with a headset and good internet connection. For example, it can be applied in a university setting meeting the needs and interests of the students. For example, I remember myself learning a subject called conversational English. We had a lot of readings and vocabulary specific to both American and British English. However, it lacked communicative activities. For example, it would be very effective to take an online course along with that subject. When doing group work in class, we found an online course about American English pronunciation and vocabulary that will fit the subject. It will compliment the course and give many benefits to students in terms of enriching their knowledge and broadening views by expanding their educational scope.

From teachers’ perspective, OER has the potential to support enhanced teacher collaboration as well as information sharing about resources, practices and teaching challenges. OER has many advantages as it reduces teacher isolation and contributes in expanding teachers’ roles and becoming more active innovators as they share and learn from one another.