It’s really
amazing that we’re now in week 7! Only 3 weeks left and this rich and exciting experience
will be over. Everything I have been learning so far has really contributed to
my skills development in language education and especially in the use of
technology in class. This week, autonomous learning and the use of mobile
devices and/or one computer in class have been emphasized in the readings.
Autonomous learning is important to enhance students’ critical thinking.
Students should not be spoon-fed, nor should they be left alone in learning.
There should be a good balance between the students’ role and the teacher’s
role in the language education. Becoming an Autonomous learner entails taking
responsibilities in the learning and being able to develop one’s skills oneself
without expecting the teacher to give everything but just considering him/her
as a guide and a facilitator in the learning. One feature of general education
in Madagascar is that students are often seen as spoon-fed and reluctant to
work on their own. It’s only when they are at university that they realize the
importance of independence in learning as they have to do their own research
and work autonomously; so they tend to have some difficulties in pursuing their
studies. That’s why in our school, we always try to encourage students to take
responsibilities, be curious, be ready to overcome challenges and be a good
time manager through activities such as portfolios, video viewing and the use
of social networks to interact in English, in order to remedy the situation.
Other different ideas were stated in the article “Emerging
Technologies-Autonomous Language Learning” by Robert Godwin-Jones (URL: http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2011/emerging.pdf)
and some of them can be used in my class. The article “Twenty Ideas for Using
Mobile Phones in the Language Classroom” by Hayo (URL: http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/48_3_4_reinders.pdf)
Reinders also provided different ideas on how to use mobile phones in class but
still encourage learner autonomy. The readings were really helpful and useful.
Padlet: Just a great tool!
Four weeks
ago, we were introduced to Delicious, a very good tool to save and store links.
It has been very useful but this week, the online course has gone on spoiling all
the participants in presenting us another tool: Padlet. It is as very interesting as
Delicious because not only can it allow us to share links, but also we can
upload the videos or the file or copy the links we want to share and everyone
can access them right away on the Padlet site. It’s very easy to use and it is
like a virtual bulletin board! so coooool!! :) I like using it very much.
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