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. 

MALL

Let’s look around. Everyone uses mobile phones everywhere becoming an integral part of our everyday lives. Mobile phones have great potential and ever-increasing functions that all the users are skillful at using. Viewing them from the learning perspective, so we can state that they highly support learning in the second language classrooms. Mobile phones are social tools that are easy and comfortable to use. Students really enjoy and are obsessive about using technology in the classroom because of easy access to materials and the ability to practice anytime and anywhere.

Thus, I quite agree with David Read that mobile devices are slowly becoming part of the furniture in the classroom just as the computer did before. When reading blogs about using mobile phones in ESL classroom I was really amazed at discovering Livescribe Pen as a Feedback Tool. It is really a fantastic tool as it allows to record both handwritten and audio at the same time using a Dictaphone on the pen and special dotted paper. The students will have the opportunity to make handwritten notes when listening in a lecture and be able to listen back to the precise bits of audio later on the word. Mobile phones have really incredible functions.  

However, as a TEFL professional, I should consider only the ones that can be applied in EFL classroom context. In my opinion, students using mobile phones first of all improve their listening skills. It gives them the opportunity to listen to audio-books and podcasts. Also, they can record themselves, thus improving their speaking skills. Reinders (2010) highlighted 20 ideas in his article for using mobile phones in a language classroom. It is really interesting to get to know these ideas  that can be employed in ESL context. Students can use the note feature to collect every day language. They can send the notes they have done during the class to their classmates as a text message. Also, they can also play games for mobile phones that involve a focus on language. But these games should be suitable for second language learners to encourage them to engage with the target language. They can largely use dictionaries and free programs for reinforcing vocabulary. But the main challenges that teachers will encounter in Armenian classrooms will be the lack of smart phones in all classes and the access to the Internet and an increase of noise and disruption in class.

       Therefore, we should be more cautious when implementing them in the classroom environment and should take into account the students’ proficiency level and easy access to mobile phones. 

GAME GENERATION

    With the advent of digital game-based learning and its increased popularity, today’s ‘‘Net Generation’’ or ‘’Digital natives’’ have really become disengaged with traditional instruction. Kids are different today. They are active, operate at twitch speed, privilege graphics and animations over text, prefer connectedness, see play as work and view technology as life, not a separate activity. They require multiple streams of information, frequent and quick interactions with content and visual literacy skills.

We should always bear in mind that when we say games are effective and powerful tools for learning we do not mean that all the games are good for all learners and for all learning outcomes.

Games are effective not because of what they are, but because of what they embody but what learners are doing as they play a game. Thus, learning that occurs in meaningful and relevant contexts is more effective as the learning takes place within a meaningful context.

Games provide forum in which learning arises as a result of tasks stimulated by the content of the game in which knowledge is developed through the content of the game and in which skills are developed as a result of playing the game.

As TEFL professionals, we need to know when, how, with whom and under what conditions games are engaging and how we can integrate DGBL in the classroom and how can games fit into schools.

We need to know how DGBL will look like at the institution, gather DGBL resources by creating map of what you will need to implement DGBL. Certain criteria have to be met in order to successfully implement COTS games into formal language learning contexts. The game itself has to be fully motivating and provide clearly defined and spaces goals. We must find appropriate content which ideally provides rich and meaningful narratives providing their users a feeling of choice. I, myself, really enjoyed playing games and when playing I already notice and become aware that video games have a great potential in offering high intrinsic motivation, rewards, feedback and meaningful language use.

I played the game ‘’Coffee Shop’’ which I liked a lot.  This was a good example of business plan about coffee shop. Players(like me and my peers) are really motivated as they make their own business plan of how to make great deal of money within 14 days and ,meanwhile, use the language much when reading all the instructions and when making their own version of the coffee by selection ingredients that will bring them a benefit.

Obviously, based on all the readings and the potential of games, computers in the schools will revolutionize learning, as kids are different today and computers are more motivating that traditional way of learning. 

VIDEO PRODUCTION

The digital resources and dynamics of the world have influenced how most of us work, think, live and communicate.

Digital video brings the power of studio production to the personal computer. With just a video camera, a computer, and the proper software, you can create your own innovative and unique movies for personal use. Digital Video Essentials shows you how to take advantage of today's technology to get the results you want. All it takes is a bit of know-how and the desire to create videos.

Digital video production is really interesting and appealing in nature but labor-intensive and time consuming. You must have a plan at first to start your video production starting with the decisions on the topic you want to focus on, the sequence of the scenes, the participants, the kinds of creative shots, lighting to finding appropriate software  to choose for the project that is more comfortable to use to video editing. This is really a long process that requires great efforts and creative imagination to make a good and successful film.

        It is really a good way of collaboration and social interaction to make projects and make films together. Students can really enjoy and benefit from this collaboration as all of them is involved in it and in their turn benefit from the whole projects (not only the final product but the overall process of producing a digital video). 

       By producing such kind of projects Students become more autonomous, creative and computer literate. But one important thing not to forget is the teachers’ engagement in it and with this newly accessible literacy practice to be prepared to teach students.

     Video production can be a wonderful way of assessment and can be definitely integrated into the portfolio of the students.

Having a wide variety of collections in their portfolio will motivate and engage students to go further and explore new and new things, be creative and imaginative.

Digital Storytelling

’’Tell a story and become a lifelong learner’’. This is really true with digital storytelling. Writing digital stories ignites a love of learning and creates powerful teaching stories for others to share and enjoy. This approach to learning is an exciting and compelling way to engage students in the learning process and to inspire them to become lifelong learners.

By incorporating digital storytelling projects into learning, we, as teachers, can reach today’s students and, at the same time, help them to develop the skills they need to be successful in our complex, technology-rich world and give students all the benefits to help prepare students for success in the 21st century.

Students of all ages enjoy creating stories, and more and more students are eager to use technological tools to create those stories. Digital storytelling, the art of combining storytelling with some mixture of digital graphics, text, recorded audio narration, video, and music to communicate information about a specific theme or topic, enables them to do both at once.

They develop cooperation and communication skills, practice problem-solving and critical-thinking skills as students think more deeply, clearly, and complexly about the content. They also encourage students to write and to work at becoming better writers. It empowers them to find their unique point of view and relationship to the material they are investigating.

 

When students integrate technology into their projects, these benefits increase. I think that if we ask most students which they would rather do – write a traditional paper or create a digital story that presents their research and learning – they will definitely tell you, “Create a digital story!”To tell the truth, going deeper into this web tool, I am really excited and fascinated and my response to the question will be definitely the same as it opens new and novel opportunities for learning both for students and the teachers. 

Educational Wikis

Wikis are powerful learning tools. They play a major role in learning. One feature that distinguishes from other online web tools is that they are collaboratively created websites where users can create a series of web pages, edit and revise their and other’s work, provide feedback, keep track of the changes and publish information online. 


 In classrooms students may not have time to read and build on each other’s work. However, in collaborative online environments, they are given this opportunity. Research, discussions and reflections started in the classroom can continue online. As they contribute to a wiki, students are creating course resources and building course content in a shared space where they can add, delete and revise their writing. Wikis are very suitable for educational use. They are very flexible: all you need is a computer with a browser and Internet connection. 
They have many advantages:     

• Wikis promote collaborative writing. The collaborative context provided by wikis enhances users to negotiate, collaborate with others as well as learn from other’s work.

• Wikis provide open-editing. Users can change their own and others’ work. They provide an easy way for completing collaborative projects, extending group work by continuing it outside the course and encourage learners to participate in discussions on their own in the online environment.
• The most distinguishing feature is wikis’ ability to incorporate graphics, audio, video and animation that allow learners to express themselves and communicate the meaning.    

  Wikis significantly changed the dynamics of online learning and collaboration, as well as students' and teachers’ perceptions of what online learning is about. The students and the instructors see value in using wikis as a collaboration tool. From the students’ perspective, wikis encourage better individual participation and are a good tool for collecting and organizing information for group projects. From the teachers’ perspective, Wikis enable instructors to create interactive activities for their students and to present course information such as resources, external links, project information.

The Power of Podcasting

Every time I feel happy witnessing so many powerful mediums of digital media. Along with blogging and microblogging, podcasting presents another powerful e-learning tool. Podcasting is powerful and accessible,    

  it has low barriers to entry, you just need a microphone and you have to search communication to create the power.

Podcasts are helpful in motivating kids and helping them to stay focused on the course. Podcasts give the opportunity to meaningfully participate in culture and society, not just in the classroom, but in the world. Learning from podcasts shifted control over the pacing of learning activities from the teacher into their own hands. Students identified podcasts as offering choices of how they could carry out their learning activities and flexibility to organize their learning. Podcasts have also the potential of tapping into the knowledge of peers and other students as a valuable learning resource.   

It gives the students the chance to record themselves and then they are able to immediately listen to their pronunciation, intonation and grammar usage. They can also record native speakers and practice mimicking intonation and pronunciation. It is also a very useful tool for students who are too shy to speak the foreign language in front of their peers. Therefore, the above mentioned are the evidence that podcasting has a huge potential to teach students.

As kids are becoming simultaneously consumers and creators of digital media, we have to teach them skills to how effectively use and benefit from podcasting. The activities discussed in the article can be applied in the classroom environment. Teacher must raise students’ awareness about podcasting and introduce the students its functions and the steps of creating a podcast.  Students must practice it at home to become used to it. Downloading Audacity to all the computers and having the webpage or weblog up and running will ensure that the activities will work and can be implemented in EFL classroom.

Am I ready to introduce blogging to my own EFL class?'

With the help of the book chapter ’’Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms’’ and the video about weblogs in school by Will Richardson I got the chance to deepen my knowledge about such powerful web tools as blogging, wikis and podcasts. According to Will Richardson, blog is really archive of ideas, it is a place where you chronicle your learning, where people collect links and comment on it, where they share their experiences and ideas.  Blog is not simply a discussion board or a diary or a journal, it is really a place where you can be reflective, where you can do critical thinking. It is where more learning, more investigation, more conversation and more engagement happen.

The possibilities of blogging are endless. The blogs provide students with real learning opportunities to improve not only their written English but also their reading in English by reading their classmates’ blogs and responding to them. Blogs provide students and teachers with an authentic task, as blogs are common and have become a relevant and credible forum for people to express their opinions, interact around ideas and share information throughout the world. Also, blogs provide students not only with opportunities to acquire and use new vocabulary but also with new and useful computer skills. It is also interesting to learn that kids are really engaged in social networks. They are more motivated to write in front of the real audiences as the audiences are much wider than simply the teacher giving feedback in ways that are different from the four walls of the classroom. So, it definitely enhances the way that they write.

Another powerful tool is micro-blogging which brings benefits to the learning experience. Using Twitter gives the opportunity to foster a strong sense of community within and beyond the walls of the classroom and students learn, share and reflect forming a collaborative community. Twitter does not replace traditional language instruction in the classroom. It does help extend learning outside of the classroom and encourage the students to use the target language more often. Twitter can be used to help students ‘’crystallize thoughts, focus attention and make connections’’.

Learning about the benefits of blogging leaves a room for me to think about integrating blogging in EFL classroom. As a TEFL professional, my mission is to change and make a difference in school programs. 

I will definitely try to use blogs and twitter in EFL class as a collaborative board for both teachers and students. The proficiency level of learners may vary from intermediate to the advanced level. I will encourage them to reflect in more depth on themes touched upon in class using blogs. As an assignment I will give a topic and several articles to read (sometimes links to the videos to watch). Students will have to read the articles, synthesize the information and provide a reflective writing. Also, they will respond to their peers’ blog posts through comments by providing supportive feedback to each other and offering additional suggestions. Students may also upload their drafts for writing and have an online portfolio of student written work. As a teacher I will respond to student posts quickly, write a short comment related to the content or even customized forms to collect feedback.

Students can tweet their own notes during lessons and share with their peers. I will ask students to review lessons using twitter and remind students what is going to be covered in class that day or the next.  Students can use Twitter to coordinate assignments: collaborate on different projects and keep a quick reference on any changes.

One predictable challenge will be students’ demotivation due to lack of interest. The solution will be carefully selecting topics and sometimes giving them the freedom to choose the topics. Another challenge is the inappropriate feedback that students may receive from their peers. T should raise their awareness about this issue and can put a class analyze the blog post of one classmate so that they can be more involved and engaged. 

          The videos I saw today made a great impression on me, that is why I want to share my new ideas and feelings with you. I am really amazed that watching these videos will make me see things in a new way and help to understand the changes that occur in the world. Most importantly, the framework of globalization has changed a lot. Drastic changes have occurred in the last fifteen years or so - events that have leveled the global playing field.

The World is Flat 3.0, an essential update on globalization, happened at the dawn of 21st century, a period when the world shrinks from small to tiny,flattening to such a degree that individuals can collaborate and compete globally, share with others of different cultures, religions, educational backgrounds and languages. 

    Friedman talks about ten flatteners which have completely changed our world as well as our world perception- ten "flatteners": things that have enabled us to connect with the rest of the world much more easily than ever before. (Friedman) From the 10 flatteners the ones that impressed me most are second and the third ones. The second flattener (the invention of the internet browser) was the most vital one as it was like a base one which the rest 8 flatteners were built. It also gave a start to something new which later changed the whole world. The third flattener is work flow software. The advent of work flow software was a quiet revolution that no one realized was happening. Work flow software allowed more people to collaborate within and between businesses and continents, at a faster pace than ever before.

    The flattening of the world has implications for teaching and learning. Students need skills and attitudes that should be taught at school. Students need to be able to teach themselves and be prepared to constantly absorb new information and develop new skills. Mastering these skills together with passion and curiosity will enable children to be innovative, creative and successful in the flat world. The greater their curiosity and passion for learning, the greater chances they will have for success later in life.

   

It is really amazing and striking for me to explore the digital worlds of these children. Watching all these videos,I noticed that today's kids are born digital - born into a networked world of infinite possibilities. Looking back to my childhood I remember myself being surprised at seeing the first computer in the world on Television. However, as time goes on, we observe that within several years we already see the advent and fast development of new kinds of technologies.These unique kids showed how they master digital tools. They show how they use new media to learn, create, collaborate,communicate, socialize in ways we in our generation could scarcely imagine. Another thing that struck me is that the

kids know technology so deeply that they express their willingness to teach others, even their teachers and make everyone understand what is probably going to be the future. 

     As a TEFL professional I learn and understand how digital tools are changing the classroom. Teachers need to know to teach all students according to today's standards in response to an increasingly complex society and a rapidly changing technology-based economy. I will definitely integrate at least one kind of technology into my curriculum as it is a perfect tool to teach and to learn. This will help me as a teacher connect students with sources of information and knowledge that allow them to explore ideas, foster creativity, acquire and synthesize information, frame and solve problems. 

      The project called Hole-in-The-Wall by Sugata Mitra is very important in understanding the main role of technology in human's life. It is such an idea that offers the world a surprisingly fresh and new perspective on the learning process. Breaking the

traditional confines of a school, Hole-in-The-Wall employs a unique collaborative learning approach and encourages children to explore together,learn and just enjoy,to collectively own and access,to express themselves,and at some stage to even brainstorm and come up with exciting ideas. They picked up skills and tasks by constructing their own learning environment. Even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher,an environment that stimulates curiosity causes learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge.

     Based on the three sources it can be concluded that the access to digital technology brings about a new way of learning. Technology can and does, support learning. Today digital youth generation cannot imagine life without technology. Different kinds of technologies can be used and employed in classroom environment both by teachers and the students for teaching and learning purposes. Students can make videos and movies, watch tutorials, work on projects, play games, create their personal websites. Technology brings new opportunities and competitive advantages in terms of accessing information, creating rich technology-based environments where students experience new and challenging things, and connecting students with new and different people, places and things. Having these opportunities, we can ensure that these technology-facilitated opportunities benefit learning and every child's future. So let digital natives learn on their own and allow them to pursue their passions in using technologies.