Week 9: Towards the End!

When I look back on these past weeks which went by during this E-course, I can’t help being amazed of the multitude of great things I have learnt along each week. They were all contributing in the development of my skills and I’m so glad of the experience I could get so far. Now it’s already week 9 and it’s the week of the final project. I remember reading sample projects written by former E-Webskills course participants in week 3, and while reading it, I was kind of a bit afraid I wouldn’t be able to do something like that. However, this week I realized that I did it. I could start implementing my project and share what I’ve done on our class wiki. Though the implementation hasn’t reached its end, I can say that I’m proud of myself because the different project steps I could cover so far have been enough to let me experience technology in class and taste how technology can work in class and what it’s like to use technology as part of the teaching supports. I wish I had enough time and was able to finish implementing the project till the end, but I hope the report I have shared will bring a clear understanding of how it went from start and would go till the end.

Apart from the project report, we have also been fortunate to have Russell Moon as a guest moderator this week. We could learn from him, discuss and exchange ideas about teaching strategies and learning styles. He has incited us to reflect on our teaching and brainstorm creative ideas on how to deal with different learning styles with technology use.

The discussion has been generated from the readings that were focused on “Learning Styles or Strategies and Multiple Intelligences”. The topic is really interesting and the readings provided a lot of information about how students learn and retain better, and how they can perform their capabilities and skills well.  “Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences” provided me with thorough knowledge of the 9 different intelligences that can define human potential. As it is said in the article, they can be used for curriculum development, lesson planning, course activity selection, and assessment strategies. The article “Learning Styles and Strategies”, by Richard M. Felder gave me a clear understanding about the different types of learners that can be identified according to their learning styles. Knowing the different learning styles of the students will help us, as teachers, to choose the teaching materials and balance our teaching strategies to cater different learning styles and meet the students’ needs. In considering myself as a learner, I think I’m more reflective, sensing, visual and sequential. I’m the kind of person who likes thinking hard before trying something, likes clear methods and ideas connection, and can memorize information more with the support of visual aids.

That’s what I can say about week 9 and now I’m looking forward to week 10 and especially to the feedback of my project report.