Module 2: Making Decisions about Technology

 

MY PHILOSOPHY IN TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Second Blog Entry

My teaching values

One of the factors I value in teaching is having the students self-regulate. To achieve this using technology, the students can be shown ways to learn actively on their own -when at home- and with their classmates’ help -when in the classroom. To achieve this goal, the class needs to be student-centered, with a great encouragement for the students to criticize and take criticism. If there are point allocated to correcting their classmates and themselves, they will be more engaged in what their classmates have to say, learn how to tell other people their mistakes nicely, and to correct themselves with the help of other students without the need to always look to the teacher for approval. Having the students engage in group activities with a shared grade will ensure that they are at all times actively participating and helping each other learn.

Appropriate Technology for the Classroom

The technology I will choose to use will reflect this value. For in-class activities, I would choose technology that isn’t individual, to encourage group-work. There can be chatrooms, forum discussions, wiki pages for group research, and interactive web-pages that allow multiple users to write in them at the same time. Using these tools, the teacher should instruct the students to peer-review their friends’ work and take feedback for their own work, then try and fix them together or with the help of the teacher.

Appropriate Technology for At-Home Learning

To instill the value of self-discipline, I would use technologies that allows self-reflection, individual learning, and correction. These technologies can be used by the students at home to finalize their learning and help them practice in a self-sufficient way. There are multiple self-study language learning mobile phone applications available for practicing. There are also websites that correct grammar, vocabulary, tone of writing, etc. There are also websites that teach and correct pronunciation. If the students self-correct using automated websites and applications before handing an assignment to the teacher, there is much more room for individualized feedback from the teacher rather than just doing what a robot could do -in terms of correction.

This blog post is based on collaborative writing completed on a group wiki.